SS2 Videos / Cutscenes questions

[6667ea171fd8eDanny]

I installed the ss2tool and the modmanager and I have divx for the HOTU version (I didn't install from a cd, just from HOTU) but I am getting a crash every time I start a new game. As soon as I click start game it goes black and crashes to the desktop. It still has it running and I have to end the task with ctrl-alt-delete. I renamed the lgvid file and everything works fine, but I want to play the game with cutscenes. Have any ideas on what could be wrong?

[6667ea1720211Kolya]

Can you play the cutscenes outside the game?

A few people mentioned having problems with the DivX cutscenes because FFDSHOW tried to decode them (instead of DivX).

To find out which filter/codec is actually being used to decode the movie you should download GSpot  and open the movie you are having problems playing. After loading the movie into GSpot, use the "Render" option at the bottom of the program and look at the value of the "Video path". If the video path says "DivX Decoder Filter" then the installed DivX codec is being used to decode the movie, so either the codec is outdated or the file is damaged/corrupt. If the video path says "ffdshow MPEG-4 Video Decoder" or anything else then you need to figure out how to disable this filter/codec.

To disable the "ffdshow MPEG-4 Video Decoder" from decoding DivX videos, simply goto the Start->Programs->ffdshow folder and select the Configuration option. Then switch to the "Codecs" section and change the DivX setting from "libavcodec" to either "disabled" or the "DivX" option. This should tell your computer to use the installed DivX codec to decode DivX movies instead of FFDShow.

[6667ea172037eDanny]

I can play the cutscenes in windows media player just fine.

I used GSpot and it looks like divx decoder filter was used for audio and ffdshow audio decoder were used to play the video. I played it in GSpot and I can view and hear it perfectly. Could using ffdshow for audio mess it up in the game?

I have that mixed up:            divx:video           ffdshow:audio

[6667ea1720478Kolya]

You should be able to figure that out yourself with GSpot by testing Audio and Video.

[6667ea1720563Danny]

Well I went into ffdshow audio and I disabled it for mp3's and GSpot says that mpeg layer 3 decoder is being used for audio but that still doesn't fix the problem.

[6667ea1720672Kolya]

Make sure that lgvid is registered before you test. If you enter this at START->Run:

Code: [Select]

regsvr32 "c:\your\path\to\SS2\LGVID.AX"Do you get the Succeded-message?

[6667ea1720775Danny]

I got the succeded message and now I just get the error screen for sending the error report and the reason is lgvid.ax again.

[6667ea172090fNameless Voice]

Try configuring FFDShow to not be used for Shock2.exe.
(Go to FFDShow Video Decoder Configuration, DirectShow Control, and add Shock2.exe to the list of "Don't use FFDShow in..."

If the problem persists, uninstall FFDShow and then install the latest version.

[6667ea1720a1cDanny]

I already disabled it in ffdshow and added shock2.exe. I also changed divx to disabled in ffdshow so GSpot tells me that divx is the video player. I'm still getting a crash every time I start a new game though, or try to play the intro from the main screen.

[6667ea1720b24Danny]

Now the game doesn't crash or give me the error report anymore but it just minimizes when I try to play the intro but when I pull it back up, it just goes back to the main screen, like it tried to play the video but failed and reverted to the main menu. The same thing happens when I try to start a new game. The game will start now, but the video still won't play.

[6667ea1720c18Kolya]

Wait a second... are you trying to play SS2 on Vista?

[6667ea1720cecDanny]

Of course not. I have a dual boot set up but I hardly ever use vista.

[6667ea1720e2cKolya]

Haha, sorry for asking.

[6667ea1720f61Danny]

I don't know if my problem is totally unique and can't be fixed, but that's what it looks like. So I was wondering, is there a list of the cutscenes with corresponding events where they occur? I know there are visual walkthroughs that tell you when they happen, but the name of the cutscenes are like cs1, cs2, landing...and the walkthroughs don't tell you the name of the file. I don't want to watch them before they happen and ruin the story. At this point, I really don't care if I have to minimize the game and play the videos separately.

[6667ea1721082Kolya]

Rename LGVID.AX. Play CS1 before starting the game. Play CS2 after the training years. Play CS3 at the end of the game.
On the other hand, you might want to try the original cutscenes (torrent, 90MB), I never had a problem with these.

[6667ea1721176Danny]

This torrent doesn't seem to be working, I'm not connecting to the peer. Maybe it's because there is only one peer. Anywhere else I can get the files?
Also, there are more cutscenes than the 3 cs's. There are: landing, shuttle 1, 2, and 3 and starport.

[6667ea1721262Kolya]

And all are in this torrent, and all you have to do is either wait a bit or download an ISO somewhere.
The landing/shuttle/starport minimovies play during training, they're not really important.

[6667ea1721343Danny]

Yeah I saw that after I played the ship ones. They're pretty pointless. Oh and the videos just started downloading, really slow, but downloading nonetheless.

[6667ea172143cDanny]

AWESOME. The indeo vids work perfectly. I can't thank you enough. I've read about this game for years and years and finally get to play it: with the videos.

[6667ea1721519Kolya]

Glad it works. Help seeding these videos for a while, that would be cool. I have linked the torrent in the guide.

[6667ea1721628Danny]

https://www.systemshock.org/torrents/announce.php I put this as my tracker for seeding. Is this right? I'm using utorrent.

[6667ea172171cDanny]

I just started using torrents about 2 days ago and I haven't seeded before. It looks like I did something wrong because it says: "failure: this torrent is not authorized on this tracker". Not sure how to get it to work.

[6667ea17217fcKolya]

Usually after downloading you just need to leave the file in the folder it was downloaded to and the application will start seeding by itself.

[6667ea17218c9Danny]

Alright I'll leave it in there for a few weeks.