Creating start.ent files for Darkplaces

[Sirrion Sunblaze]

I need to do this to make some mods work, as all of them that aren't the Mission Packs or Prodigy: Special Edition come up with errors involving seven_init when trying to start a game. I think this is because they're trying to run their own start.bsp maps, and DP isn't liking it.

Also Prodigy starts me inside a wall, so there's that.

[JLaw]

Before you start creating .ent files, would you mind backing up a little bit and saying more specifically what error you're seeing, and what exactly you are doing when the error happens? DarkPlaces isn't the most widely-compatible engine for playing things outside of the original Quake campaign, but still that sounds like a weird error.

[Sirrion Sunblaze]

Let me rustle up a screenshot. It's some kind of Parse error.

[Sirrion Sunblaze]

Here's a screenshot of the results of me trying to start a new game of Alien Quake. http://imgur.com/Iek6Kqt
It also does this with X-Men: Ravages of Apocalypse, and and other mod that's not DPmod, one of the Mission Packs, or Prodigy: Special Edition, which has a messed up start position that puts me in a wall.

So, the error is 'Can't find seven_init in server'.

[JLaw]

Have you had the "small mod compilation" (SMC) or some other mod installed in the past? Or do you currently have DPmod installed in the id1 folder? There's some sort of mod-related tomfoolery happening (and I'm guessing SMC because a guy nicknamed Seven works on it).

These problems might go away if you started with a clean id1 folder (only containing pak0.pak and pak1.pak). Including removing any current config file.

Although, Steam Cloud does back up your config, so you'd have to be careful that it didn't just reinstate the deleted config. Launch Quake outside of Steam, at least first (as a test), just to make sure that Steam Cloud doesn't interfere.

[JLaw]

Yep, I got a quick reply from Seven over at quakeone.com and the issue is in fact that you have the SMC mod in your id1 folder. Using a clean id1 folder should fix things.

If you want more details and other solutions (if you want to keep using SMC), see the last part of his post here: http://quakeone.com/forums/quake-mod-releases/finished-works/6076-small-mod-compilation-244.html#post158144

[Sirrion Sunblaze]

I must have an old version of SMC, as I haven't got the 'progs.dat' file mentioned. I'll try the autoexec fix and see what happens.

[Sirrion Sunblaze]

Okay, so I tried the sv_saveentfile thing in the autoexec, which didn't work, but sv_entpatch 0 did. It even fixed the problem with PSE!

I actually made a QuakeOne account to try and ask there, but I couldn't figure out why I couldn't post. Maybe I can now, whatever.

[JLaw]

Glad it's working. :-)

Even if you don't have the progs.dat anymore, maybe there's still a start.ent file from that mod lurking in your id1\maps folder.

[Sirrion Sunblaze]

No, I found it hidden inside one of the .pk3s.