Topic: How to run multiple OP installs

[762_XC]

HOW TO DO MULTIPLE OP INSTALLS

by t00l

Step 1) Browse to your "Taldren Software Inc" folder
Step 1.5) Put a shortcut to this folder on your desktop
Step 2) Copy/paste your "Starfleet Command Orion Pirates" folder into the same location (it may take a while). It will be called "Copy of Starfleet Command Orion Pirates"
Step 3) Rename the copy to "4.0" or "OpPlus4.0" or whatever

Tadaa, you now have a backup of 4.0. You can do anything you want to your original folder now. Install a new server mod, install hardcore, whatever.

Let's say for example you want to install hardcore:

Step 4) Run the Uninstall for 4.0 (Hardcore installs over STOCK, not 4.0)
Step 5) Run the install for Hardcore

You now have Hardcore installed with 4.0 as a backup. To switch back to 4.0:

Step 6) Rename "Starfleet Command Orion Pirates" to "Hardcore"
Step 7) Rename "4.0" to "Starfleet Command Orion Pirates"

And that's it.

Explanation of all this: Whatever is in your "Starfleet Command Orion Pirates" folder when you launch the game is what the game will use. Remembering what's in there should be easy, just look at the names of your other folders and you know what it's not.

If your game does not launch for whatever reason, 99% of the time it's because you misspelled "Starfleet Command Orion Pirates".

Finally, don't try this if you are short on disk space.

[Bonk]

A picture of my OP installation folder to illustrate. though I have used different folder names for different versions of OP as the new version of OP+ Hardcore has a configurator and does not require running multiple installs.

[Bonk]

A note from Pestalence on multiple installs and SFC3, which for the most part applies to SFC2 as well. This will explain why it is a bad idea to run the game from a folder other than the one it was actually installed to:

10)SFC 3 is registry dependant. This means that the directory you instgalled to from the game CD the last time you installed the game, the game will have to be launched from that directory in order for the program to operate properly. As such, I have 2 examles :

#1. If you installed SFC 3 once from the game CD to say for example C:\Program Files\Activision\SFC3 and then you copied the SFC 3 game folder and pasted it into a different directory and renamed the Copy of the SFC 3 game folder, let's say for example, to SFC 3 GAW, then because the last place the CD installed to is C:\Program Files\Activision\SFC3, te player will have to rename his SFC 3 game folder to something like SFC3Orig and rename the SFC3GAW folder to SFC3 and put it in the C:\Program Files\Activision folder in order for the game to operate correctly online.

#2 If you installed the SFC 3 game from the CD first to C:\Program Files\Activision\SFC3 and then reinstalled SFC 3 again from CD to C:\Program Files\Activision\SFC3DOM, in order to play the first install of the game, you will need to rename SFC3DOM to something else like SFC3DOMWAR and then rename the SFC3 folder to SFC3DOM.-You can just rename the game folders as you wish to play the game, however SFC 3 is Registry Key reliant in order to play Multi-player. Problems that occur when playing SFC 3 outside the proper game folder are as follows :

1) Lock-ups or non connection during Direct Play test when joining the Dynaverse
2) CD Key in Use error
3) Dropping during mission
4) Ghosting in missions or on server
5) Causing the Server Economy for your race to not update correctly
6) Causing Server to give incorrect mission matching paramaters
7) Causing others to drop during missions.
Failing to join in missions.
9) Causing others to fail in joining in missions.

There are more problems that occur, but these are the top 9 problems occurring when running SFC 3 outside the proper game folder, not counting the problems that occur due to game bugs. These problems also occurs to those using a No CD exe file crack instead of the Taldren authorized No CD sfc.ini tweak mentioned below.The SFC.INI tweak mentioned below is designed to let the game operate properly. A NO CD EXE FILE CRACK is designed to rewrite code within the game exe file, which in itself is 100% illegal plus it removes the CD Key checks and the Install path check to the system registry, which would be identical to playing SFC 3 outside the CD Install folder as mentioned above.

In order to properly check which folder you need to launch the game from, the v534 patch will automatically show you the folder that your game should be launched from. If you are still not sure which folder the game should launch from, then go to your Start button, click on Run, type in "regedit" (without the quotes) and then look for
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Activision\Star Trek Starfleet Command III
and look for the sub key of "Install Path". This is where you must launch SFC 3 from in order to reduce the number of problems that you may experience with the game. Do not attempt to change the registry entry nor add entries to the system registry.. SFC 3 only allows for 1 valid entry in your system registry which is created by your CD install of the game (the last time the game was installed from CD).

[Pestalence_XC]

The easy way to run multiple copies is to not install multiple copies.. or at least change the directory name if you do.

for Orion Pirates, the easy thing to do is get either Strat's Mod Chooser 6 and use it to swap your mods or get OP Enhancement Package 5.1 and use Strat's Mod Chooser which is already included in it iwth the OP + stuff and it will leave you 2 empty mod slots to add servers.

To overwright a mod, put the game into the Original Taldren Configuration, install Mod, launch Mod Chooser, type in new Mod name, and select an old Mod in which you wish to over write..

HOWEVER : Mod Chooser does not back up scripts.. You have to make a back - up copy of mission scripts before you install any Mod.

ATOK 4 is using Older scripts .. The Forge is using New scripts.. IF you are playing on both, you will need to have 2 script folders to hold the proper scripts for both servers or you game will fail the CRC checking when trying to log in.

Thanks