Topic: Ok, so I finaly bought EAW & OP, now what?

[Chopper Greg]

I have been playing SFC 1 all these years  , and don't know where to look for all the patches and mods to make sure that it is XP compatible?

[Pestalence_XC]

Well.. First.. Make sure you turn off your Anti-Virus or you will corrupt the game and / or patch.

for full patching instructions.. go to

www.nightsoftstudios.com/effhq/op.html

DL and install

ftp://www.dynaverse.net/sfc2_op/patches/SFCOP_Patch_2500-2552.exe

this is the full patch

next DL and install

ftp://www.dynaverse.net/sfc2_op/patches/sfc2_directory_server_updater.exe

This will allow you to join the Dynaverse again..

Next you will have to find the file Starfleetop.exe and make a desktop shortcut to point to this file.. the shortcut in the start menu is broken (SFCOP.exe) and it is just as broken as the SFC 1 shortcut (SFC.exe) in SFC 1 you had to launch from the Starfleet.exe file to remove many game bugs.


OP is the same as EAW only with more races.. so hardly anyone even loads EAW any more..

You may want to look at my OP Enhancement Pack or Firesoul's web site and get the OP + v.40 and the EAW to OP single player campaign conversion so that you can play the EAW campaign in OP.

the OP + v4.0 is located at

ftp://ftp.xenocorp.net/game_files/Star_Trek/starfleet_command/Starfleet_Command_OP/shiplists/opplus_40_models.exe

the EAW to OP Single Player Campaigns are located at

http://klingon.pet.dhs.org/EAW_missions/EAW_campaigns_for_OP-20030330.zip

The Sulu Bonus EAW Missions

http://klingon.pet.dhs.org/EAW_missions/Sulu_Bonus_missions_for_OP-20021124.zip

The single player Co-Op Ace script v4.0

http://klingon.pet.dhs.org/sources_and_utils/coop-ace-4.0.exe

Alternatively, you can get this and a whole lot more using my OP Enhancement Package v5.1..

It just depends on how much you want.. look at the first and second post for the OP Enhancement Package and look at all the content.

http://www.dynaverse.net/forum/index.php/topic,163378640.0.html

Anyhow, wither way you want to go.. you will be all set up.


for EAW, the patching process is a bit tricky..

www.nightsoftstudios.com/effhq/eaw.html

Hope that this helps.

[Chopper Greg]

Thanks, it helps.

Now I have only two more things to do - figure out what mods do what ( and which would be best for my system )  , and how to get over to the nightsoftstudios.com site - for some reason I keep getting a " can not find server " message every time I have tried in the last couple of hours  .

[Pestalence_XC]

Raven Night's server has terrible bandwidth.. so please bear with it..

Everyone uses OP + v4.0 as the standard and all Dynaverse servers have that as a required install before putting on the server mod..

for gamespy arcade, OP + v4.0 is the universal standard for everyone.

So putting on OP + v4.0 will only help, not hurt..

the OP Enhancement Pack already has that.. and it also had a Mod Chooser, which allows you to have OP Stock game + 4 more mods installed.. the OP + v4.0 will take 1 slot.. and the OP + Hardcore (Gamespy use only) takes up a second slot (however you can skip this if you like) and that leaves you with 2 empty slots for upcoming servers.. I include instructions on how to remove a mod if necessary as well.


As for the NightsoftStudios site.. that was my old web host from 4 years ago.. I haven't updated the site in years.. it does remain online.. however during high traffic times.. it is hard to get the site to stay up.. which is why I have abandoned updating it.

[Chopper Greg]

OK.

Quick question - if I understand right, you can play EAW with OP ( with the proper mod ) - are you able to specifically choose between playing the EAW campain and the OP campain or are they intermixed?

[Corbomite]

OK.

Quick question - if I understand right, you can play EAW with OP ( with the proper mod ) - are you able to specifically choose between playing the EAW campain and the OP campain or are they intermixed?

The EAW to OP scripts are stand alone from the OP Pirate Campaign. There is no Empire Campaign in OP.

[Chopper Greg]

OK.

I don't play the campains other than a way to learn the controls and a feel for ship handling - I never understood the campain in SFC 1 - first it was missing Ograinians, then something out of Mirror, mirror alternate universe, and no matter what it was I did, it was virtually the same.

[Pestalence_XC]

In the Firesoul EAW to OP conversion.. Firesoul includes the Single Player Campaign for each empire race.. it is to be played in orion Pirates.. it basically eliminates the need for Empires at War all together since you would have the Storyline Singleplayer Campaign added to Orion Pirates.

However the Campaigns are not needed for Multiplayer sue.

Now for Emp[ires at War.. I have not seen anyone online in over 5 months playing Empires at war on Gamespy Arcade (even though Gamespy Arcade will play all 4 Starfleet Command games).. And there is only 1 heavily modded Empires at War dynaverse 2 server currently running.. Stray's Tavern.. However he also has it running for Orion Pirates as well..

Now Orion Pirates usually has between 10 to 50 players a night on Gamespy Arcade, and there are several who play on one of the 3 to 4 Dynaverse servers each night.. like my server Hardcore, which is testing out new mission scripts on a mini map.. and Die Hard's server which is also testing a smaller set of new scripts for campaign usage (same scripts as mine, but limited to the basic scripts, not the difficult scripts)

Now most Dynaverse servers require a mod to be installed on top of OP + v4.0 since a lot of models from OP + v4.0 are used in the mods.. OP + v4.0 is SFB converted to SFC on a vast majority of ships, with the original Taldren ships included (unchanged).. most Mods for the Dynaverse servers strip the excess cheese ships out and most of the Taldren original ships that are not truly SFB accurate..

However on the Gamespy Arcade, OP + v4.0 works just fine and as I stated before, it has become the standard.. no one plays the original Taldren shiplist any more..

Campaigns in Orion Pirates and Empires at war are easier to understand than SFC 1 and easier to accomplish.. however the mission quality in SFC 1, many feel was much better (strictly speaking single player of course).