Cd Version

[Leviathan]

After Teseng telling me about his op2 install showing up dlls which wernt there..

He installed the small op2 with just 5 map dlls.

He had the cd in, and in multi it showed up all the map dlls, so op2 scans from the cd as well as the folder for dlls.

I think the movies and music worked from cd also.

[Hooman]

Yes, OP2 scans the Outpost2 folder first, then checks the VOL files on the harddrive, then checks what's on the CD.

Kinda nice to know when you're testing sheet changes since you don't have to repack to test them, just make sure they're in the Outpost2 folder and not in a sub folder. You can also remove your changes simply by moving or deleting the unpacked file.
 

[BlackBox]

Oh, by the way, here's a list of all the locations OP2 checks, and in what order, for most types of files in the game. (Exceptions below):

OP2 folder
maps04.vol - empty, reserved for next update
maps03.vol
maps02.vol
maps01.vol
maps.vol
sheets.vol
sound.vol
voices.vol
story.vol
OP2 CD - if inserted
The items at the top of the list take precedence over the items further down: For example if multitek.txt exists in both maps04.vol and sheets.vol, OP2 will see the one in maps04.vol first and then stop searching.
If OP2 failed to find the file it will give a typical error message (on a map or techtree file it will say "Failed to initialize game" and stop loading the DLL, for the rtf files in the story it pops up an error, wav files I think just don't play)

Some exceptions that I know for sure:
OP2_ART.bmp - this can't be inside a VOL file. Otherwise, the game refuses to start.
op2.clm/music1.wav - I don't think this can be inside a VOL either.
*.avi - same goes, I believe.
I'm not certain on music1.wav and the .avi files, if someone checks can they update me on this? I did try to put the OP2_ART in a vol file and the game wouldn't load.
DLL files - won't work inside a VOL. DLL's are executable code, so they need to exist on disk or in the CD to be loadable. This goes for mission DLL's as well as the game core DLLs (op2shell, the resource DLLs)

Another note: You don't have to put certain types of files in a certain VOL (for example the techtree files would work fine inside the mapsXX.vols or sound files in story.vol, etc) but it's nice for making it easier on humans. (Humans would expect to only find the sounds in the sound.vol)

I was also thinking of doing things like scanning the game dir or an INI file and dynamically add VOLs to the search list that op2ext.dll patches into the game at startup, that way it'd be very easy to make mods that change the entire game.