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The campaigns I'm referring to are fan-created, of course.

The ones I still have in my FS2 folder are (and I'd recommend them to others if you haven't tried them):

1. Sync (creepy, and damn good)
2. Transcend (a sequel of sorts to Sync, just as creepy, and just as good)
3. Blue Planet (a newer one, and very good)
4. Into The Hands of Valhalla (pretty good)
5. Derelict (unplayable for me, but I've heard it's good )

What are the ones you like and would recommend that are compatible with the 3.6.9 release of FS2 Open? I'm looking for others to try.

Into the Depths of Hell is pretty good. Ch's 1 & 2 are kinda generic, but 3 & 4 pick up nicely (Shivan battlestations can be hard targets). Awakenings and Shrouding the Light weren't too bad, either.

Sync, Derelict or Homesick. Sync suffers from the designers inexperience (about 60% 'race for node' missions), but tying in with the FS2 campagin was awesome, and it had a great atmosphere. Derelict (which isn't unplayable at all, either retail or SCP) is good if all-over-the-place (focussing on one of their plots would have been better) and uses Lovecraft all over the show. Homesick has a great adventure feel, and isn't just a bunch of contrived scenarios. Some whole missions last 45s and are just a step on the road with some dialogue, which is cool.

Man, Blue Planet was a mindfuck. Seemed like every other mission the story just went in a completely different direction. The first arrival at Earth was like one of the last missions in episode 4 of Wing Commander Standoff, only so much more. Trying not to spoilerize there.

I agree on Derelict, it's all over the place, and maybe a little overrated, but it does so much so well. Transcend - well, that last mission in subspace is one for the history books. It manages to be fairly clear what you need to do without pounding you over the head with it.

Hmmm, I haven't played Blue Planet yet: only the older campaigns.

Thag wrote:Into the Depths of Hell is pretty good. Ch's 1 & 2 are kinda generic, but 3 & 4 pick up nicely (Shivan battlestations can be hard targets). Awakenings and Shrouding the Light weren't too bad, either.

Those always crash for me.

Also, it's a dead campaign, so it won't be resolved.

ItDOH dead? I checked a couple weeks back, and Ch.5 had a tentative release date of 3-4 months.

Thag wrote:ItDOH dead? I checked a couple weeks back, and Ch.5 had a tentative release date of 3-4 months.

really?

Where did you check it?

Maybe i'm looking at a dead website.


Also, chapter 3 always crashes for me on the mission to destroy the Shivan base with those subspace torpedoes. Have you ever encountered this problem at all?

Link Actually, it was four months back in September, but I figure I'm not going to call dead until winter.

As for Ch.3, I've had intermittent crashes, but nothing I would call consistent. Are you talking about the mission where you have to knock out the power core of the base that looks like four Sathanas's bolted together?

Thag wrote: As for Ch.3, I've had intermittent crashes, but nothing I would call consistent. Are you talking about the mission where you have to knock out the power core of the base that looks like four Sathanas's bolted together?

Yeah. that's the one.

EDIT: Also, the hades combine download link for chapter two seems to be down. Is there anywhere else to download it? I keep looking but my google-fu appears to be weak.

Some of the other sites off of HLP may have it, but I don't know of any other definite sources besides Hades. If you want, I can take a look around my hard drive and see if I still have the original .rar from when I last downloaded it.

That's ok. I've got it on a storage drive in my old computer, i'm just to lazy to take the drive out and put it in my new one.

I'll get around to it eventually.

Are there any that should be skipped and avoided?

I've always had a soft spot for Inferno, even with all the wanking. The number of new ships was all fun.

Do any of these campaigns actually have voice-acting, or do they all rely on the Microsoft voice reader?

Blue Planet is a bit of a disappointment so far. The levels seem too sparse, with no sense of distance in movement. And there are no gun effects. I only see the blast when the shot impacts with something.

Derelict and Awakenings have voice acting.


On another note, I just found the Source Code Project Version of Into the Depths of hell Chapter two on Hades combine, but I have no idea how to make it work.

All it downloads is a single file called chapter2.7z. I have no idea what these .7z files are, and don't know what to do with it.

Battlehymn Republic wrote:Do any of these campaigns actually have voice-acting, or do they all rely on the Microsoft voice reader?

I can't speak for the MS Voice Reader, but all of the above simply show text - the ones I listed don't have voice acting.

Battlehymn Republic wrote:And there are no gun effects. I only see the blast when the shot impacts with something.

That may be an issue with your mediavps; make sure that the Blue Planet ini file references your mediavps correctly.

Ah. When I got Blue Planet, all I had was the VP file, not the ini. I guess I'll have to find a better version.

Battlehymn Republic wrote:Ah. When I got Blue Planet, all I had was the VP file, not the ini. I guess I'll have to find a better version.

I apologize, I gave you incorrect information. I only have the vps files as well in my /blueplanet1 directory; perhaps it's an issue with your mediavps?

Also, this page at the HLP forums describes additional files. See if there's anyone else who mentions the issues you're having with weapon effects and such.

Also, I'd downloaded additional effects from Lightspeed's packs before and forgotten about them; they apparently caused the effects you describe for me, for Blue Planet and other mods. Perhaps you've done the same?

Darksider wrote:Derelict and Awakenings have voice acting.


On another note, I just found the Source Code Project Version of Into the Depths of hell Chapter two on Hades combine, but I have no idea how to make it work.

All it downloads is a single file called chapter2.7z. I have no idea what these .7z files are, and don't know what to do with it.

I believe 7z files are another form of compression. I've seen a couple files there that have started using it instead of winrar. Don't know why, but it's annoying.

http://www.7-zip.org/

I like the Derelict campaign all the way up until the mission entitled "The Number of the Beast," because the programming on it is FUBARed. I just now finally managed to destroy all the bombers, so it said I successfully defended the Sai, but the Nero destroyed the Sai immediately thereafter, so I both succeeded and failed in the objective simultaneously. Also, from the dialogue triggered by the Nero's destruction, I would hazard a guess that the blast from the Nyarlathotep was supposed to destroy the cruiser, but it doesn't. Its destruction triggers exclamations along the lines of "my God, that blast came from the derelict," even though I have to finish it off myself, and usually several minutes later.

Darksider wrote:Derelict and Awakenings have voice acting.

Ah - so you're right. I haven't played Derelict for quite a while, and this thread convinced me to try again, after I cleaned out my mediavps directory and other things.

The last time I played, I stopped on the mission where Governor M'Kembe's shuttle first arrives at the Vasudan station (where you get to fly the Vasudan craft for the first time), and rams repeatedly into the closed docking bay doors. Hopefully it'll go better this time.

EDIT: Clarified.

Thag wrote:

Darksider wrote:Derelict and Awakenings have voice acting.


On another note, I just found the Source Code Project Version of Into the Depths of hell Chapter two on Hades combine, but I have no idea how to make it work.

All it downloads is a single file called chapter2.7z. I have no idea what these .7z files are, and don't know what to do with it.

I believe 7z files are another form of compression. I've seen a couple files there that have started using it instead of winrar. Don't know why, but it's annoying.

http://www.7-zip.org/

Newer versions of WinRAR support 7-Zip archives, you needn't download the 7-Zip archiver.

7-zip is free software. WinRAR nags at you to buy it. Why would I want the latter? Assuming I was actually compressing anything, I suppose WinRAR might be marginally better. Okay, so it can't unACE, but I don't remember the last time I've seen an ACE.

In addition to the already-recommended Babylon Project, I'd like to throw Heat 'em up into the mix. Essentially, Heat 'em up provides additional campaigns for the Babylon Mod, including an excellent Severed Dreams mission.