Boomslang.oxp not recognised by v1.77

[Chipmunk2]

I have just (Weds 16 January) downloaded Oolite v1.77. Before that I had v1.73 (I think!) but I have now mistakenly trashed it. I am running an iMac with OS 10.6.8.

In the previous version of Oolite I had a saved game in which I had reached "Deadly" level. When I open up my new version 1.77 by clicking on the Oolite icon, I get the option to select a previous commander, but when I do, the screen reverts to Commander Jameson with a score of 0 and a warning saying that "boomslang-player is not recognised. Please download the appropriate OXP" The only way I can get my saved game to load is to firstly open the "boomslang.oxp" ( I have, of course, downloaded it a couple of times) by clicking on it. This opens up the initial oolite screen with the spinning cobra spacecraft and the question"Do you wish to load a previous commander" I press the "Y" for "yes" key and then I am able to choose my saved game from my desktop.

This seems unnecessarily complicated. In the previous version (1.73?) my latest saved game appeared on the desktop and I could open it up immediately. I must be doing something wrong, but in a vain attempt to sort out my problems I now have two or three Oolite icons in different locations. Can any help me out and tell me what I am doing wrong. I'm just a player of advanced years and have no knowledge of programming or of how the Mac works. To complicate matters, I have also two or three "AddOns" folders, one of them containing several oxp packages. Interestingly, the boomslang OXP was not among them and so I downloaded it again yesterday.

Ken Welham

[maik]

Hi Chipmunk2 and welcome!

I guess having multiple Oolite installations is what trips you up. After you start Oolite, use the application's menu to open the associated OXP folder. This makes sure that you catch the right one. If the boomslang.oxp is not in it then copy it there. Then quit Oolite, start it again (from the same icon) and everything should be fine!

Afterwards, I recommend to delete the other Oolite applications that you have to avoid further confusion.

[Thargoid]

It sounds like your OXP isn't installed in the right place, hence by default the game isn't seeing it. But as you're starting Oolite via the OXP (Mac is the only version I think that can do this, as the OXP folder is treated as a file and the filetype .oxp is associated with the game executable) then it's getting loaded.

And I'd guess your save game commander is flying a ship from that OXP, hence if the OXP isn't loaded then the save game can't as basically your ship is missing.

Unfortunately I'm not a Mac user so I can't assist further as to exactly where the AddOns folder should actually be. But I'm sure someone more suitable will be along in a moment to assist . There should be some info about that on the wiki though, but I can't vouch for where or its accuracy.

[Disembodied]

You can have different versions of Oolite running, as long as you keep them (and their individual AddOns folders) in separate directories. For example, I've got

Games/Oolite/Oolite 1.77

within which is the Oolite 1.77 application and my AddOns folder. I could also have

Games/Oolite/Oolite 1.76

containing the Oolite 1.76 application and another AddOns folder. Obviously if there are some OXPs that work with 1.76 but don't work with 1.77, I don't put them in the 1.77 AddOns folder, and vice-versa.

[Eric Walch]

...to firstly open the "boomslang.oxp" ( I have, of course, downloaded it a couple of times) by clicking on it.

Oolite is not that flexible I assume. When you click on the oxp, the OS sees that it belongs to Oolite and opend Oolite, but than Oolite is doing nothing with the link, but instead is looking at the default locations for its AddOns folders.
But as Maik writes, on the mac you can select to open the associated AddOns folder through the menubar. That you can be sure you have the correct folder Oolite will be using, and put the oxp in that folder.

Since OOlite 1.77, the menubar is even available in fullscreen mode.

[Commander McLane]

Here's another tip: I'm usually opening Oolite by double-clicking my save-file. This way I don't need to bother with file dialogues at all.

However, this still requires my OXPs to be installed in the right place, which in my case, just like for the other guys, is inside the main Oolite folder. If I've multiple Oolite versions installed, this means that there has to be an AddOns-folder in each of the program folders.

You can also put your AddOns-folder in ~/Library/Application Support/Oolite/. Anything in there can be used by all Oolite versions.

[Chipmunk2]

You can have different versions of Oolite running, as long as you keep them (and their individual AddOns folders) in separate directories. For example, I've got

Games/Oolite/Oolite 1.77

within which is the Oolite 1.77 application and my AddOns folder. I could also have

Games/Oolite/Oolite 1.76

containing the Oolite 1.76 application and another AddOns folder. Obviously if there are some OXPs that work with 1.76 but don't work with 1.77, I don't put them in the 1.77 AddOns folder, and vice-versa.

May I thank you and the several other contributors for their suggestions. I have now managed to get around the problem by putting all Oolite folders and associated folders into the trash and starting again by downloading version 1.76 and putting my boomslang.oxp into the associated Addons folder. After initially selecting my saved game, prompted by the opening screen, I am now in the happy position where successive saved games open up immediately.

At a later date, when I feel more secure about my current set-up, I will try again with version 1.77. Until then, my thanks go once more for the rapid way in which forum contributors have given me advice. I hope I have posted this in the right place.

Ken Welham