I had jumped on the FSO bandwagon shortly when it was released years ago, but have not installed it on any of my last few systems. Therefore, a few years had gone by without me keeping up or even playing. Little did I know, the fans behind the FSO have been consistently updating and supporting the project with nightly, yes nightly, updates and new builds.
Wow. Have I been missing out. The present state of the project is simply stunning. It takes an aging game that was and may still be the finest space combat game of all time and brings it really damn close to modern standards. Free Space was so far ahead of its time, and FSO totally bridges the gap between the original excellence of the game and the technical capability of modern computers.
I had been meaning to get back into this for awhile, but I was put off by the rather complicated installation "dance". This afternoon, I forced myself to sit down, wade through all the technical jargon in the official forums and cut down to the main files. Once I had everything I needed, it was smooth sailing. Running this game again was a real nostalgic treat...and the best part, unlike running most older games after a period of years, this time, the game actually seemed better. Having been let down by one space combat game after another, it was so awesome loading something up that scratches every itch. Immersive menus, fantastic briefings, great ship design, capital ship operations, great story line, spectacular effects...just a wonderful gaming experience.
I just ran through the tutorials and earned my wings for the Mermidon Space Superiority Fighter. I'm ready to join the fleet and my squad mates in the 53rd Hammerheads for combat operations in the Deneb System.
You just wait until I start posting screenshots. You'll be begging me to give you the straight skinny on how to install his thing...
And you paid 100 dollars for elite? :P
Looking forward to shots
Quote from: undercovergeek on May 10, 2014, 05:43:50 PM
And you paid 100 dollars for elite? :P
Looking forward to shots
No. I paid $150 for it. ???
But, I do believe Elite will be worth it. It obviously surpasses FSO in several ways. Still, FSO deserves to be on EVERYONE'S hard drive.
I purchased it and installed a battle star galactica mod called "Diaspora" some time ago. It is fantastic. Obviously Elite is a different game with a procedurally generated universe and trading. FS is fantastic
I played one of the iterations of the FSO years ago and it was one of the most memorable games I have ever played.
Is it pure combat then? No trading or rpg elements?
Quote from: mikeck on May 10, 2014, 06:04:16 PM
I purchased it and installed a battle star galactica mod called "Diaspora" some time ago. It is fantastic.
please speak more of this mod kind sir.
And post some pics!!
Quote from: undercovergeek on May 11, 2014, 01:57:26 AM
Is it pure combat then? No trading or rpg elements?
Correct. But don't say this like its a bad thing...it does it right.
Quote from: GDS_Starfury on May 11, 2014, 04:29:56 AM
Quote from: mikeck on May 10, 2014, 06:04:16 PM
I purchased it and installed a battle star galactica mod called "Diaspora" some time ago. It is fantastic.
please speak more of this mod kind sir.
Here you go: basically a series of missions in a campaign:
http://www.hard-light.net/wiki/index.php/Diaspora
And download/forum
http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?board=175.0
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^You know it's free Martok...
It's amazing how damn good it looks! Could easily be released as a new game no probs. Plus they are constantly improving it.
I have my eye on the long been in development Star Wars mod. When it will be done though is another thing..been a few years already.
I thought you had to own Free Space 2. Is that a requirement?
Quote from: RyanE on May 11, 2014, 03:10:24 PM
I thought you had to own Free Space 2. Is that a requirement?
Yes. It costs about $5.99 on GoG.
Quote from: Jarhead0331 on May 11, 2014, 03:44:27 PM
Quote from: RyanE on May 11, 2014, 03:10:24 PM
I thought you had to own Free Space 2. Is that a requirement?
Yes. It costs about $5.99 on GoG.
Works for me, I never finished FS2.
Screen shots posted. They really do not do the game justice. Looks much better in action.
http://grogheads.com/forums/index.php?topic=948.new#new (http://grogheads.com/forums/index.php?topic=948.new#new)
Quote from: Jarhead0331 on May 11, 2014, 03:44:27 PM
Quote from: RyanE on May 11, 2014, 03:10:24 PM
I thought you had to own Free Space 2. Is that a requirement?
Yes. It costs about $5.99 on GoG.
FS2 was released for free as an open source game.
Why/How GOG started selling it for money later on is another question.
I don't think that is correct tpek. I thought just the source tools for modding were released for free. Not the actual game.
From the Freespace 2 Open wiki;
QuoteStep One: Understanding what you need
There are three main components that you need to get the most out of fs2_open.
First, you need to install the retail data from FreeSpace 2 (http://www.hard-light.net/wiki/index.php/Installing_FreeSpace_2)
Second, the fs2_open build. This is the core game engine, a single executable file.
Next, the Launcher. This lets you configure the fs2_open executable for your particular system, in much the same way the original FreeSpace 2 launcher is used to configure it.
Finally, the MediaVPs. These contain all sorts of graphical improvements and are highly recommended. Version numbers of mediaVPs generally agree with the fs2_open build that they're supposed to be used with.
Clicking on the red link gets you here: http://www.hard-light.net/wiki/index.php/Installing_FreeSpace_2
Quote... There are several methods to installing FreeSpace 2. The supported methods include installing from the boxed media, manually setting up the retail data, or installing using the GOG distribution....
Looks like you need to plunk down at least the $6 to get the GOG version if you don't want to troll eBay or Amazon.
Its 10 now it seems.
Quote from: RyanE on May 12, 2014, 09:18:20 PM
Its 10 now it seems.
I stand corrected. The GOG Guys must have read this thread and seen revenue opportunity.
BTW, they have a FS2 mod page folks might be interested in. It includes info about the 'Beyond the red Line' Galactica mod and also a Babylon 5 and a Wing Commander mod:
http://www.gog.com/news/freespace_2_open_source_code_project_spotlight