Posts by Emdeec

Yes.. thanks guys for all your suggestions. Truth be known though.. I already covered most of the suggestions but I'm beginning to see the picture now as to what's happening because of them.

husker..

My AV is Kaspersky and although it's good at not spewing out false positives.. I DID disable it anyway during install.. and even play.. because it takes forever to scan that huge install executable before it lets it run and I just couldn't have that. I thought possibly letting Crossfire sit too long before it gets ''permission'' from Kaspersky.. may be mucking it up some, so I can say my AV is not involved.

Daywalker..

I think I'm gonna' try what you suggested again and just go back to v1.9. I didn't try all the features of 1.9 out (regular SP and MP) but what you say about the launcher downloading current updates and applying them to older installs makes sense as I suspected that was what may have been happening and then messing up my older installs (even though the launcher versions are different). I guess the only way to get around that would be to disable my internet connection during play.. but then I wouldn't be able to try out MP without it wanting to download the updates anyway. BTW.. I did disable 3D sound right off the bat. I do have FL installed to my C: drive (C:\Games\) but FLMM installed in it's own dir on my E: drive (along with mods); both drives have over 100GB free on them though. I used to install FL,FLMM,FLID and FLAM all together in Freelancer's own dir.. but I stopped doing that this round because I thought it best.

Michael..

Thanks for your suggestions as well. What you say about Crossfire ''breaking'' from FLMM on deactivation makes sense.. and also would explain my ''Unable to..'' messages. Like I said.. what I actually did last night was to back up the entire ''clean'' game dir.. the saves dir.. and I even (hadn't mentioned yet) exported all of FL's reg entries to mergeable executables. So at worst.. all I would have to do is deactivate the mod.. delete everything (ignoring the restoration ''errors'') and then ''restore'' my clean install back after crossfire.. I can live with that.

@Cresthen..

Not certain.. but I think I may have read one of your older posts about your problems with open SP (may have been somebody else's though). It was from those previous posts that guided me to try what I did already.. thanks.

@SWAT_OP-R8R..

Thanks chief! I DID try the openspfix with 1.9 but the install was already broke by then, and then I even noticed it after my 1.82 install which is what led me to believe that no matter what version install I had.. the launcher would download the latest files. I didn't think the .cmd file was even supposed to be there in a clean 1.82 install, at least.. I didn't see you mention it to anybody until after 1.9 came out, so I didn't run it after that.

What I'm gonna' do is another fresh clean install (Uninstall,>My Games dir delete, reg wipe [BTW.. besides a manual reg sweep I DO use CCleaner and Wise registry Cleaner first to keep me from having to manually delete as much as possible]then a new FL and CF install of v1.9) then I'll try to only use the openspfix.cmd start like SWAT_OP-R8R said. Even if that doesn't work.. I'm sure the rest of the mod will work fine and like I said it's not that open SP is a ''must'' for me anyway.

I'll report back.

One last question though..

When using the openspfix.cmd file though.. what is the proper sequence of events? I noticed that when you execute the command.. a command prompt comes up and says something about making sure your internet is disabled.. then it says something about press any key. IIRC after that there's a quick blip about some files being written and then nothing (at least for me). Is it itself supposed to launch the game? Is this the order? Disable internet>Activate CF in FLMM>run command fix>Launch CF from FLMM using the CF Launcher and pick ''Single Player"? I'm a little confused as to how.. or what launches the game when using the .cmd fix.

Thanks again to all.

..to get a version of Crossfire that is stable, particularly in a open single=player game? I have NEVER had a problem with FLMM (1.31) and even Crossfire (for that matter) running several mods on my PC (XP x86 SP3). I've had Freelancer installed in the past and admittedly it's been awhile; but last night I decided to install it (a NEW, clean XP installation BTW.. with VERY little else on it) and try out the new ''crop'' of mods (mainly Crossfire 1.9 and Discovery 4.86). I never even got past Crossfire though.

My ''nightmare'' began late yesterday. I installed Freelancer then updated it to 1.1. I had a fresh install executable of Crossfire 1.9 as well (just to clear the air.. the installer verifies itself just fine) but I couldn't remember what version of FLMM to use (I have 1.31, 1.4 and 1.5) so I did the logical thing and picked the one in the middle (1.4).. big mistake. After installing Crossfire and activating it I noticed the warning asking for 1.31 (Would be kind of neat if it told you before installation). I know enough about Freelancer and past experience to know that the second something gets screwed up in the game's files you're SOL and nothing short of a reinstall will do. So..

Round 1.. uninstall Crossfire.. uninstall FLMM.. uninstall Freelancer, then manually search and delete ANY mention of Freelancer or Crossfire using regedit (Man.. I HATE that part.. dozens of entries still left everywhere.. a half hour job). Reinstall Freelancer.. install FLMM 1.31.. then Crossfire 1.9. I start up Crossfire and for some reason (probably because i wanted to check out the MP 'verse without socializing yet) I pick open single player. Game starts up, and I end up somewhere out in space but the minute I click the inventory tab the game minimizes to the taskbar and I'm stuck. Can't restore it and basically the PC freezes up. I reboot.. but of course.. since FLMM didn't close down properly either.. I know I'm in for trouble.

Open FLMM again and try to deactivate the mod and I start getting error messages along the line of:

Warning: Unable to un-rename file; 'C:\Games\Freelancer\DATA\SOLAR\STARSPHERE\cf_starsphere_rh01.cmp.flmmbak' doesn't exist

.. dozens of them. So I figure something about the original files isn't getting saved in the first place.. or the manager now thinks the Crossfire files ARE the ''good'' files because it didn't get a chance to restore it. As I recall.. it DID ask me if I wanted to restore the back ups and I said yes.. and it did.. but this was the only time it went OK. Since then.. it always says there are none next. Another odd thing.. when the CF launcher starts it almost every time.. says it's downloading the same numbered update files again.

I peruse the forums here and see the problem with open single player.. also to make sure both the Freelance and FLMM dirs have read-only disabled. I also saw op-r8tr's mention of the opensp.cmd fix. Off to another uninstall and reg wipe. Start over.. and thi9s time.. make sure everything's done perfect again. I use the command to start the game (making sure my cable connection is disabled first.. like it asks) but nothing happens.. the game doesn't start after I follow the ''press any key'' prompt in the command dialog box. Yes.. I tried launching the game from within FLMM as well AFTER using the .cmd file.

It's 4AM in the morning and I'm tired.. so I give up.. but before I do.. I do another FL reinstall.. wiping again and I just relent to going back to Crossfire 1.82 (which I download ''fresh'' from ModDB). I just know that things will be right in the morning (uh.. huh). I saw some other guy saying he went back to v1.6 and someone said the server for that version wasn't updating correctly so I figure 1.82 is okay, and late enough.

This afternoon I started over, only this time i used Crossfire v1.82. When I started the Crossfire launcher I noticed that it was again downloading some files.. but I didn't think much. Again.. someone else mentioned that launcher versions might change and that one should actually shut down the launcher a few times and let it check for even more files before actually starting the game (Makes sense to me.. I know why.) so I did that, but I never see a launcher version change (2.01 with CF 1.82 and 3.X something with 1.9).

This time I also looked in the Freelancer dir before launching the game and I see that opensp file and thought it was strange since no one mentioned that problem.. or that ''fix'' being available in 1.82. So that's when i thought maybe the launcher was blindly downloading the latest files regardless of launcher or mod version, and might possibly overwite perfectly normal files in the process. I suspected the worst again, but I went ahead and launched the game again through the launcher and didn't use that .cmd file.. because I didn't think (or hear) that it was available or needed for v1.82.

the game started in open SP and I was in space again (just like in 1.9).. but only this time a message popped up saying I needed to fly somewhere (a planet IIRC). Silly me.. thinking everything is OK.. I went to the inventory icon again whereupon the game did the same thing again.. CTD and then pretty much freezes up.

So.. here I am.. finally deciding to ask for help. I've read many threads concerning these kinds of things, and the solutions offered up (use the .cmd file.. rename some other file.. overwriting another with it.. etc.) but they get closed.. and usually the OP hasn't gotten any satisfaction.

I love Crossfire guys.. and I really appreciate all the hard work you put into it, but the odd thing is I'm simply going through the same motions on the same ''box'' I've had for years.. and although I can't recall HOW far back Crossfire was in development the last time I played with it.. I know I didn't have half the problems (actually.. none of) that I'm having now and the ironic part also is that I haven't even installed any other mods yet (Discovery, Flak, Dynamic Itano, Pheonix.. etc) and they ALL used to coexist with Crossfire.. side-by-side.. happily.

What I know right now is this..

I can't get open SP to run in the last two versions.

Deactivating Cross fire always gives me errors along the line of files that don't exist.. as stated above.

After errors.. even though FLMM asks to restore back ups.. I get: 0 files restored and 0 directories deleted

After that.. everything gets pretty much screwed up. I know it's not a problem with read/write attributes on the game's files and in FLMM because I've checked and everything has read-only disabled. BTW.. I DID get a brain and starting today.. just backed up the Freelancer dir so when Crossfire messes up.. I simply restore it like someone said and I don't have to jump through all the hoops again.

It's a shame that I may miss out on all the shiny new features and all, but at this point.. I just want a build that works. If it's one that didn't even HAVE open SP.. I can live with that. It's not that that feature's important to me.. I just want one that is working 100% as touted.. that's all.

I apologize for such the long read.. but I wanted to let anyone with suggestions know that I understand what's happening.. how I've tried to fix it myself and that I've ''RTFM''' already.

Thanks to every one for their time and attention.