NEW MEMBER NEEDS POINTERS ON GAME

[Oster Hagen-Key]

Hi All, I am a bit of a techno - Phobe with PC'S Etc but here goes.

Could someone point me to the correct downloads I need to start playing Oolite. I am Running Windows XP, Keyboard and Mouse at the moment, no joystick or Bluetooth or any gadgets yet!!

I see there are quite a few downloads/versions/and other executable files, just point me to the basic requirements to download so I can start from the beginning (I do have a bit of the original Elite Ex. but that was 2o years ago!!)

Thanks

Oster Hagen-Key.

[Thargoid]

Greetings,

The basic thing you need of course is the game itself (from here). Personally I'd recommend the test version (1.71.2) as there are a lot of nice expansion packs (OXP's) which need it, rather than the last "stable" version (1.65). And 1.71.2 doesn't seem to give issues in terms of reliability.

Beyond that, it depends a lot on what hardware you're running (processor, memory and graphics card) and what you want from the game. You can get the OXPs from here and use them to add flavour. Personally I like to add a few missions plus some of the new ships to taste (if you want a lot of new ships try Realistic Shipyards, but it takes a fair amount of machine to run it without affecting performance). If your system does struggle, Clear skies can help a bit by removing some of the nebula effects, as can tweaking the in-game settings (via the F2 menu and game options when docked).

Mission-wise, for galaxy 1, try Tarantis, Asteroid Storm, Long way around and Local Hero for starters, after building your ship and cash up a bit. To install them, just unzip them somewhere temporary, and then move the folder ending <name>.oxp into the addons directory of the main game tree. On a PC you don't need any of the _MACOS bits.

Lastly of course the instruction manual and FAQs are worth a browse too

Hope that helps, from a (relative) newcomer too...

[Oster Hagen-Key]

Hi, about the Game Download, that offers 2 downloads

download.berlios.de is option 1


download2.berlios.de is option 2


Which one, or do I need both? Please explain.

Thanks

Oster Hagen-Key

[Disembodied]

One or the other, they're both the same – just two different places to download from, to spread the load a bit.

As for OXPs, you might want to consider some of the expanded trading options – flavour OXPs which add other stations to certain systems, like Commies or Dictators. There's Anarchies, too, but you might want to wait until you've got a decent ship before visiting them! Same goes for things like Random Hits and Galactic Navy.

[Oster Hagen-Key]

Thanks for that, but I am a Techno-Phobe don't forget, I deleted a shed load of DLL files the other day "Wrecked my PC" So I am on a new (Second hand one) and cannot afford to blow another one!!!! So Basics first.... Will that download be enough to get the game going?

Thanks;

Oster Hagen-Key

[LittleBear]

Download the file. Then double click the installer (It'll appear with the Oolite Icon wherever you've downloaded it to). The Installer will install the game for you. It'll be added as an Icon to Programmes under Oolite. Click the Oolite Icon to run it.

Thats enough to get the unexpanded game going. If you want to add OXPs then you have to download the ones you want separately and put them in Oolite's AddOns folder. The game runs without OXPs (you just get the Classic Elite Ships, Stations and Missions). If you want more Stations Ships Missions, pretty planets etc then you can add OXPs. But you don't have to.

[Oster Hagen-Key]

Right, game now dowloaded and opened!!

1st Query: How to change Commanders Name???? tried Y and N got Jameson with Y and a Red Box and Cross Hairs? how to change Commanders name please...


Please be basic

Thanks

Oster Hagen-Key

[Oster Hagen-Key]

Hi, if my requests seem really basic, basic, basic (SORRY) is their a thread/topic/sticky that has all this sort of info? I searched change name, Comm Jamesson etc but it brought just about every thread ever!!!

Thanks

OHK (Short Name)

[LittleBear]

When you load up for the first time say N to Load New Commander (you ain't got any yet. ). Then Press F2 to bring up the options menu. Use the Curser keys to highlight Save Commander. Then press ENTER to select it. Where it says "Commander name : Jameson" either press ENTER to save as Jameson or use backspace to delete Jameson and type in your name. Then hit ENTER to save. Checking the Wikki under Instruction Manual will give you the basics. Check out Mr Gimmlet for some tips.

[Daminios]

Gentlemen .. Your responses & comments to the newbies question have swayed me from the old 1.65 to the new 1.71.2 .. downloading it as I speak .
Ok , Thargoid & Disembodied ..
Your both mention certain OXP's
LittleBear ,, I noticed your own OXP's , well done .
>> Which OXP's do you recomend I get straight away to add to 1.71.2 ?
I don't mind adding as many as you folk recomend .
Reason ask is I prefer to begin this way , being a vet from my C64 & Amiga Elite II days .
cheers ....
D

[Thargoid]

Firstly greetings and welcome to this place, the friendliest board this side of anywhere (I'll leave the patented greeting to those who normally do it ).

As to OXPs, as mentioned before it depends both on what your PC is capable of hardware-wise and also what your personal tastes are. But offhand I would say the following:

• Pretty graphics - System Redux, PaGroove's stations, Sungs textures (if you're not installing Realistic Shipyards), Your Ad Here!.
• Ships - Realistic Shipyards and it's required other OXPs (it provides a round-up of a lot of other ship OXPs although takes a bit of processor power) - or if not then whatever ship OXPs take your fancy from the OXP list in the wiki
• Missions - Again more or less whatever takes your fancy. Most of the Galaxy 1 based ones are for the newer/less equipped player, so worthwhile. Beyond that Random Hits and Galactic Navy.
• "Flavours" - Commies, Anarchies, Dictatorships all make alterations and upgrades to those planetary government types.
• Equipment - Missiles & bombs, cargo & wrecks and/or pods

Plus of course I'd have to recommend my own OXPs The Aquatics ships aren't in Realistic Shipyards, as they're too new...

All OXPs downloadable via the wiki page (click here)[/color]

[Daminios]

Thanks Thargoid ..
I will finish downloading & installing & report back here with a green light .
Then I'll start adding the OXP's & other goodies .
My machine is a good 5 yr old .
XP SP2
512mb Ram
2.8ghz
and the card is a Radeon 9200
cheers
D

[DaddyHoggy]

Hi Daminios - we have similar spec' machines (Mine's an Athlon XP2800+, Ubuntu7.10/XPSP2, 128MB FX5900) - However I've got 1GB of RAM - I suspect that you may suffer with memory/texture intensive OXPs - there are many historical threads that report 768MB RAM is a near min for memory and the more OXPs you install the more memory you need - some of the newer OXPs use lots of very nice textures but to have them all floating around you need a bit of gfx mem spare - I've notice my 128MB card is now suffering.

All you can do is suck it and see - if performance drops off to unreasonable amounts pull the offending OXP or invest in more memory!

PS - Welcome to the forums

[Daminios]

Thanks DaddyHoggy ..
I'll double my memory ram as its not expensive .
I don't mind turning down the eye candy , to re-experience the thrills .
btw > Whats the most popular way to control ?
Joystick & kb
or Keyboard & Mouse
cheers
D

[DaddyHoggy]

Re: control - to each their own!

Ahruman (and others) will swear that keyboard and mouse is the only way to go.

Some play purely on the KB.

Me, personally, I've got a dual analogue stick gamepad with lots of buttons and I've mapped a lot of the key presses to the buttons on the pad...