[Asteroth]

Ah, yes, I had assumed that was for uploading a completed project so that others could access it. I guess its to compile a mod for knossos locally and then you can upload it later?

[mjn.mixael]

I have already switched to using Knossos as my dev launcher. Create a mod with the Dev tab.. put your files in there and you're good to go. When you're ready to release, click upload!

[ngld]

I'm back after the christmas holidays and it looks like I missed a few posts. Let's see...

@Novachen: That shouldn't happen with the latest version (0.7.4), can you upload your mod.json so I can take a look at it?

@Asteroth: The idea is that you can create/edit/upload and delete your mod through the dev tab. It should allow you to do everything without learning how the mod.json stuff works. The dev tab already has a lot of help texts which hopefully explain the various fields and how packages work. If anything there is still unclear or missing, feel free to tell me so I can fix that!
I'm not sure how to handle the initial introductions for HLP veterans. It should be clear enough for new people but I guess we'll need a migration guide for everyone else. Maybe we can integrate that into Knossos but I currently have no idea how to do that.

The most confusing thing about Knossos is probably the directory structure which is designed to make managing multiple versions of mods and TCs side-by-side easier. The most important part is that Knossos can automatically manage it (which simply wasn't possible with the old structure everyone used in the past).
Importing mods has been requested several times but so far we haven't figured out a sane way to make that possible. The core problem is that there is no way for Knossos to detect which mod and version the existing files belong to while also making sure that the files haven't been modified and nothing is missing.
As mentioned before, this only matters if you develop mods and in that case you should be using the dev tab which explains at least part of it.

@chief: Axem was working on a tutorial for Knossos but I think he stopped because we keep changing Knossos.   


Just as a heads up: There's a bug which might cause trouble if you try to update an installed mod which will be fixed by 0.7.5. I should be able to release that before the end of the year.

[jr2]

Perhaps put a quick FAQ section for previous users, and have Knossos ask if the user has used FSO before.  If they answer yes, it will then ask them to please check out that FAQ section for their own sanity (explicitly state that some fundamentals have changed).

[ngld]

Sounds like a good idea. I'm currently working on a proper website for fsnebula.org and I'll probably include the FAQ in that. At the end of the first run wizard I could add something like:
"If you've used FSO before, you should read this short FAQ to learn about a few important differences between other launchers like wxLauncher and Knossos." with a link to the FAQ on fsnebula.org

[Novachen]

@Novachen: That shouldn't happen with the latest version (0.7.4), can you upload your mod.json so I can take a look at it?

I completely recreated my mods in the meantime from scratch. If i select the 3.8.0-2 build in the development tab it seems to work. Interestingly i always get an error message if i want to play it, after i save the command line with a selected nightly build in the development tab. But when 3.8.0 is selected in the mod.json  i can play it even with the latest nightly.

So i get rid of this error at the moment as it seems.


But another topic, actually i would like have the possibility to setup a proper loading preference of invidual packages of a modification. For example, i have included the extended ancients 4 cutscene (Ancients 4 monologue + Lucy attack Vasuda Prime) as an optional downloadable package in my FSPort translation... but this cutscene only works if i create the package BEFORE the package that includes all the other movie files. If i create the Addon after the main video package... only the shorter video of the main package is used. Actually it seems, that Knossos loads the packages in reverse order as they are created... so the last one is loaded first and all files will be overwritten by packages that were created before.
That does not make much sense IMO.

[ngld]

I'll keep looking into the executable error.

The second problem only affects mods in dev mode but I think it should be fairly easy to fix. Knossos doesn't reverse the order anywhere. It seems this way due to how FSO works: It goes through the list passed to -mod and uses the first file it finds. As a result, all files in earlier packages "overwrite" files in later packages.
I plan to sort the packages by folder name. I'll also change the name of the generated .vp files to be based on the folder name instead of the package name. This should make load order and precedence consistent between dev mode and normal mode.
This won't make the load order more logical but more consistent with already established FSO behaviour. This way you could name the folder for the cutscenes "5_cutscenes" and the folder for the extended ancients cutscene "4_ancient_cutscene".

[Cyborg17]

Just thought I would let you know that I figured out what was wrong on my end.  It turns out the download from gog I had was incomplete, but my connection sucks, so my computer thought it was a valid download.  I downloaded it on another connection, and no problem installing with innoextract.

Using the other installer, however, innoextract downloaded, and then was failing.  My guess from the log is that it was trying to read the temporary location of innoextract.

[Eratharon]

Hello! I just returned to FSO to play Retail, JAD, Derelict and Wings of Dawn (the original) a little and decided to try out Knossos (awesome work) but I have 2 questions. First my HUD is all messed up. The windows overlap each other and are really big (my res is 1366x768) but that was never a problem before. Is there a way to resize them? Second I'd like to know if you can add mods not on the Explore tab like the original Wings of Dawn which I would like to play. Thanks in advance!

[ngld]

First of all thanks for testing Knossos! I haven't heard of that HUD issue before. Could you please post a debug log? (Open the dropdown on the mod that causes the problem, then click on "Run Fast Debug". FSO should now start. Enter a mission, exit and back in Knossos open the dropdown again and click "Upload Debug Log". Finally post the link Knossos gives you.)

Everyone can add new mods, that's what the Dev tab is for. However, I think Spoon intentionally removed all download links for old WoD. Unless I'm wrong about that and you can point me to a download link for it, I can't add it.

[Spoon]

First of all thanks for testing Knossos! I haven't heard of that HUD issue before. Could you please post a debug log? (Open the dropdown on the mod that causes the problem, then click on "Run Fast Debug". FSO should now start. Enter a mission, exit and back in Knossos open the dropdown again and click "Upload Debug Log". Finally post the link Knossos gives you.)

Everyone can add new mods, that's what the Dev tab is for. However, I think Spoon intentionally removed all download links for old WoD. Unless I'm wrong about that and you can point me to a download link for it, I can't add it.

There are still working links here: https://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=71092.0 but I'd rather not have old WoD on Knossos
Old WoD was made for 3.6.12 which are kind of ancient builds by today's standards, I'm not even sure it runs on new builds... I'm going to assume there's going to be a lot of errors when you try.

Hello! I just returned to FSO to play Retail, JAD, Derelict and Wings of Dawn (the original) a little and decided to try out Knossos (awesome work) but I have 2 questions. First my HUD is all messed up. The windows overlap each other and are really big (my res is 1366x768) but that was never a problem before. Is there a way to resize them? Second I'd like to know if you can add mods not on the Explore tab like the original Wings of Dawn which I would like to play. Thanks in advance!

Is the hud issue, something that happens with every mod you try and play on Knossos? Can you rule out if it's related to just using new builds

[Eratharon]

Okay, thanks for replying. Spoon had the right idea in that I tryed Derelict, the Retail campaign with MediaVPs and FSport also with MediaVPs and the HUD was ok in them. I am going to work soon and after getting home I will try other mods also. So the problem at the moment seems to only show up in JAD being overly large and overlapping. Here's the link to the log and while loading the mission it wrote out some errors for me that it did not in the non-debug build:

https://fsnebula.org/log/5a4dc771cb8db11ef566acd1

There are still working links here: https://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=71092.0 but I'd rather not have old WoD on Knossos
Old WoD was made for 3.6.12 which are kind of ancient builds by today's standards, I'm not even sure it runs on new builds... I'm going to assume there's going to be a lot of errors when you try.

I am very sad to hear that cause it's one of my favourite campaigns in existence along with the other classics.
Hm, maybe I can scrounge up ye olde MediaVPs for it from somewhere on the forums.

[Eratharon]

Oh, aside from the previous I have another question! Does Knossos have a Global FSO settings (maybe I'm blind as a bat) or do I have to turn on different options for each mod?

[ngld]

I'm not sure what's causing the bug. You don't seem to be missing any file and I don't see any obvious issue with the flags passed to FSO. I'll keep looking though.

Global FSO settings are planned but haven't been finished, yet. Unfortunately, you have to set the options for each mod for now.

In other news 0.7.8 has been released. I haven't announced the versions between 0.7.4 and 0.7.8 because there were a few embarrassing bugs. 
Since the last release, mod updates have been fixed (they no longer abort during the "Copying old files" step), downloads for macOS users have been fixed and debug information has been improved which should help me catch more bugs.
A few smaller issues and UI bugs have been fixed as well. See the commits for the full details.

[Eratharon]

I'm not sure what's causing the bug. You don't seem to be missing any file and I don't see any obvious issue with the flags passed to FSO. I'll keep looking though.

Thank you your help but I think you can leave it as is. I tried the other JAD 2.21 and 2.22 where HUD layout is the same but it when I play those two campaigns the HUD is the right size and not too big. On other mods there aren't any problems either. This only occurs on JAD original and it gets some getting used to but other than that it's perfectly playable. If there is a way to resize it please let me know but other than that I will just chalk it up on my computer either trolling me or having momentary insanity.

BTW how can you make FSO screenshots? When I printscreen and paste it on paint it's always completely black.

[Spoon]

BTW how can you make FSO screenshots? When I printscreen and paste it on paint it's always completely black.

There's a screenshots folder in where you installed Freespace, with older builds they're saved as .tga, with newer builds they'll be .png

[m!m]

Since 3.8 FSO saves the screenshots in the same %AppData% folder the log gets written to and not the FreeSpace installation directory. Knossos actually has a button for opening the correct folder automatically. It's the small picture icon in the top right corner.

[Eratharon]

Just 2b clear I attached a screenshot of how the HUD is. Keep up the good work and thanks for all the help.

[attachment stolen by Russian hackers]

[Novachen]

Looks like Axems 2_ HUD modification that is intended for use in higher resolutions.

So i think that JAD use this modification by default... you are using a resolution that is too low for that unfortunately.

The only Knossos compatible solution seems to be the use of Downsampling technologies... so to speak Dynamic Super Resolution in nVidia or Custom Resolution (or how is it called) in AMD.
With that you can select and play Resolutions like 1920x1080 on your monitor.

[Spoon]

Since 3.8 FSO saves the screenshots in the same %AppData% folder the log gets written to and not the FreeSpace installation directory. Knossos actually has a button for opening the correct folder automatically. It's the small picture icon in the top right corner.

 
When I hit printscreen on any of the new builds, it just saves the screenshot in the Freespace2\Screenshots folder, like it always has. Thankfully. Because I wouldn't appreciate it at all if it for some random reason it would suddenly start saving the screenshots in bloody AppData of all places. Or am I misunderstanding you in someway? Actually hitting the screenshot button in knossos says the folder doesn't exist. Is this just a Knossos thing?