****The Ultimate Descent: Freespace 1 & 2 Noobie Guide Thread****
Ok, I KNOW there have been one or two Freespace 2 threads before, and I know i've been banging on about it a lot lately, but this thread is not only intended as an FS2 "zomgilovethisgame" thread, but a guide for anyone looking to get back into the game using the upgraded Source engine, and especially anyone who may not have played the game yet, but that is interested by my ranting and raving about how ****ing amazing it is.
So, without further ado, here is my simple guide to getting people to play this classic, in all its' revamped glory. Lets begin, shall we?
------------------------------------------
Well, the wiki is here and will tell you everything you want to know, but i've summed it up for those who can't be arsed to explore it.:
Wiki: http://www.hard-light.net/wiki/index.php/Main_Page
Not only did it boast visuals that were at the time like being in some kind of film, it had one of the greatest, most epic storylines to boot. Nothing made you feel like you were fghting the greatest battle in history like this game. We're talking an engine that supported oodles of ships on screen at once without breaking a sweat, cruisers so big that you had to fly down the length of them for a minute or two before you got past them, and which fired Babylon 5-style beam weapons at each other whicle you sat there in your piddly little fighter thinking "fapfapfap". Added to this the atmosphere was immense... frequent comms chatter from allies giving a real feel of being part of something, and the constantly changing dynamic mission objectives giving everything a "wing and a prayer" feel. The sense of scale was (is) simply unparalleled in my humble opinion.
The reviews agreed:
Freespace 1 Roundup: http://www.gamespot.com/pc/sim/desc...w.html?mode=web&tag=scoresummary;critic-score
Freespace 2 Metacritic: http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/pc/freespace2?q=freespace
Let me stress again that BOTH games have been given this lovin', and you can play not only Freespace 2 in D3D8 goodness, but also the original Freespace and Silent Thread expansion pack campaigns. Hell, Silent Threat has even been completely revamped and re-written to make it the campaign it should have been in the original game. We're talking new missions, new scripting, new voiceovers. Epic.
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Freespace Source Step-by-Step Installation Guide For Windows (it's really not difficult):
Install it to to wherever you like, but I reccommend C:\games\Freespace 2 if you want minimum effort and not have to do anything really complicated like change an install path when you install the Source mod.
Once it's downloaded, run it, and click Next, then point the program towards the install path of your Freespace 2 install. The default is C:\Games\Freespace2, but if you changed it to something different then you'll need to do the same here so that everything is pointed towards the right place.
Click Next again and it will now give you a choice of options of what the program will download. Click "The Works: Absolutely Everything" if you want to get the full benefits of all this.
Click "Next" again and you'll see all the options ticked. Click "Next again to start the download process.
The updater will then go away to the internetz and download every component it needs to update the game, and install it for you too. It WILL take a while, so leave it to run for an hour or two or however long it takes until the log displays "Done" and the "Next" button becomes selectable. Congrats, you've just installed FS2 Source.
Ok, so you have the main bulk of it done, but there are still some things to sort out... after all, you want it to look like the dogs nadgers, right? Well, this involves installing some Media VP files for the 3.6.10 build.
Check your Freespace 2 installation root directory and look for a folder called "mediavps". If it is there, go into it and delete anything in there. If it's not there, create it as a new empty folder.
You now need two sets of files to place in the folder, the first being the following:
Right-click and save each one to your "mediavps" folder.
Now we need two more that contain all the sexy eye/ear-candy: "Media VP Complete" and "Media VP Music"
Media VP Complete: http://sectorgame.com/f2s/downloads.php?action=downloads&id=493
Media VP Music: http://cp.nukelol.com/mv_music.zip
Unzip both of these files to the "mediavps" folder we talked about earlier. Good, now we're almost there.
Download the 55d launcher and unzip/unrar it to your FS2 root directory to replace the existing one:
55d launcher download: http://fs2source.warpcore.org/exes/Launcher55d.rar
Go to said directory and now click the updated "Launcher" file. Send a shortcut on your desktop to make things easier in future. Once it's been clicked and opened you'll see a bog-standard launcher.
At the moment the launcher is set to use the older 3.6.9 version of the siftware, and we want it to be running the improved 3.6.10 version of the software.
To do this click the "Browse" button at the top of the launcher and it will open up to your root directory. Scroll down to where the "fs2_open_3_6_10" executable is and double-click it to set the Launcher to point to the 3.6.10 build like in the screenshot below.
4) Graphics/MVP configuration for maximum eye-candy:
Thanks to this thread http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php/topic,53294.0.html
Remember those MVP's that we dropped in the "mvpmedia" folder earlier? Good, because to get them active in game we just need to get the launcher to link into them, which will take two seconds:
Click the "MOD" tab of the launcher and click the "Select MOD" button. This will open an explorer window. Locate the "mediamvp" folder we created earlier and dumped all those files in and highlight it then click "OK" like in the screenie below:
------------------------------------------
IMPORTANT CAMPAIGN INFO:
The Freespace 2 campaign is the one enabled by default. If you want to start from the very beginning of the Freespace 1 campaign (and I see no reason why you wouldn't) then you need to use the "MOD" tab on the launcher and select the original campaign using the instructions below:
Simply click "Select mod", select "fsport-mediavps" folder from the list, and click "OK". Voila. When you are done with the original campaign and want to try "Silent Threat: Reborn", you can select this campaign from within the main Freespace game "Available campaigns room". When you're done with both of those and want to play the daddy, FS2, then simply click the "No Mod" button to clear it and load regular FS2 using the instructions at the top of Stage 4.
------------------------------------------
Now to finish the rest of the settings and get all the graphics options set in the launcher:
First set the basic resolution and engine... OpenGL is far superior to DX8 in this game so use it. Mine are currently as follows:
Now click the "Features" tab and use the drop-down box to select the different aspect of the settings, like in the screenshot below:
Under "Graphics", enable:
Under "Gameplay" enable:
------------------------------------------
IMPORTANT PILOT PROFILE INFORMATION:
I am told that using the same pilot profile accross different mods can can cause erratic behaviour in-game. Go to the pilot selection room from within the game and click the "Clone" button to create a duplicate of your pilot profile, and rename it to reflect the mod you are running (eg: RICHDOG FS1), and do this for each mod, ensuring you load the correct profile each time in each different mod.
------------------------------------------
Also remember this is a hardcore space-sim, so there are a LOT of controls to master and configure, though to start with you can get by with the core basic shoot/targeting/comms options for a good few missions until you really start to gel with the game and then start hungering for more.
------------------------------------------
That was ****ing awesome! Are there any MODS?
Yeah baby yeah... there are mods... quite a few actually http://www.freespacemods.net/download.php
(some as yet unreleased) very briefly that I personally consider suitably epic and that i'll definately be keeping an eye on:
I downloaded the "DVD Install" just so that I got all the extra goodies, user-made campaigns, missions etc and just installed the lot.
Screenshots: http://babylon.hard-light.net/gallery16.php
Video 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FiTYFyn7w4
Video 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gs6f1EL7n0M
Forums here: http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php/board,105.0.html
There is currently only a demo of this on the site, but the full release is most definately live and well, and is scheduled for some time pretty soon.
Screenshots: http://www.pixelrage.ro/screenshots/Battlestar-Galactica-Beyond-the-Red-Line-751,0.html
Video 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLcHtKcB0nI
Video page on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/BeyondtheRedLine
Forums here: http://www.game-warden.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=36
Screenshots: http://swc.fs2downloads.com/sshot.php
Videos (old): http://swc.fs2downloads.com/movies/trench.wmv
Forums here: http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?board=143.0
Screenshots: http://www.wcsaga.com/component/option,com_ponygallery/Itemid,89/func,viewcategory/catid,1/
Videos: http://www.wcsaga.com/content/view/59/90/
Forums here: http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php/board,46.0.html
------------------------------------------
Well that's it... i'm spent. Even is this guide only sucks in one or two people to this awesome game then I will consider my work done. I hope the guide helped to make the process as simple as possible, and if you have any questions please let me know.
Ok, I KNOW there have been one or two Freespace 2 threads before, and I know i've been banging on about it a lot lately, but this thread is not only intended as an FS2 "zomgilovethisgame" thread, but a guide for anyone looking to get back into the game using the upgraded Source engine, and especially anyone who may not have played the game yet, but that is interested by my ranting and raving about how ****ing amazing it is.
So, without further ado, here is my simple guide to getting people to play this classic, in all its' revamped glory. Lets begin, shall we?
------------------------------------------
Well, the wiki is here and will tell you everything you want to know, but i've summed it up for those who can't be arsed to explore it.:
Wiki: http://www.hard-light.net/wiki/index.php/Main_Page
- What is Descent: Freespace?
Not only did it boast visuals that were at the time like being in some kind of film, it had one of the greatest, most epic storylines to boot. Nothing made you feel like you were fghting the greatest battle in history like this game. We're talking an engine that supported oodles of ships on screen at once without breaking a sweat, cruisers so big that you had to fly down the length of them for a minute or two before you got past them, and which fired Babylon 5-style beam weapons at each other whicle you sat there in your piddly little fighter thinking "fapfapfap". Added to this the atmosphere was immense... frequent comms chatter from allies giving a real feel of being part of something, and the constantly changing dynamic mission objectives giving everything a "wing and a prayer" feel. The sense of scale was (is) simply unparalleled in my humble opinion.
The reviews agreed:
Freespace 1 Roundup: http://www.gamespot.com/pc/sim/desc...w.html?mode=web&tag=scoresummary;critic-score
Freespace 2 Metacritic: http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/pc/freespace2?q=freespace
- What's the plot?
- So why should I play it?
- Ok ok I get the message... but aren't they a bit old now?
Let me stress again that BOTH games have been given this lovin', and you can play not only Freespace 2 in D3D8 goodness, but also the original Freespace and Silent Thread expansion pack campaigns. Hell, Silent Threat has even been completely revamped and re-written to make it the campaign it should have been in the original game. We're talking new missions, new scripting, new voiceovers. Epic.
- Do I need anything special to play?
- OS: XP, Vista, Linux or MacOS
- OpenGL capable GPU (Shader Model 3 reccommended)
- CPU: Anything respectable made in the last few years
- Joystick: (proper one preferred) or X-box 360 pad
- HD space: a few gigs
- Alright i'm sold, so what do I do?
------------------------------------------
Freespace Source Step-by-Step Installation Guide For Windows (it's really not difficult):
- 1) Get a legit copy of Freespace 2 (this is all you need to purchase to play all three games):
Install it to to wherever you like, but I reccommend C:\games\Freespace 2 if you want minimum effort and not have to do anything really complicated like change an install path when you install the Source mod.
- 2) Get a copy of the FS2 Source Windows Installer and installing:
Once it's downloaded, run it, and click Next, then point the program towards the install path of your Freespace 2 install. The default is C:\Games\Freespace2, but if you changed it to something different then you'll need to do the same here so that everything is pointed towards the right place.
Click Next again and it will now give you a choice of options of what the program will download. Click "The Works: Absolutely Everything" if you want to get the full benefits of all this.
Click "Next" again and you'll see all the options ticked. Click "Next again to start the download process.
The updater will then go away to the internetz and download every component it needs to update the game, and install it for you too. It WILL take a while, so leave it to run for an hour or two or however long it takes until the log displays "Done" and the "Next" button becomes selectable. Congrats, you've just installed FS2 Source.
- 3) Getting the MediaVP's installed (they provide all the fancy eye-candy)
Ok, so you have the main bulk of it done, but there are still some things to sort out... after all, you want it to look like the dogs nadgers, right? Well, this involves installing some Media VP files for the 3.6.10 build.
Check your Freespace 2 installation root directory and look for a folder called "mediavps". If it is there, go into it and delete anything in there. If it's not there, create it as a new empty folder.
You now need two sets of files to place in the folder, the first being the following:
Right-click and save each one to your "mediavps" folder.
Now we need two more that contain all the sexy eye/ear-candy: "Media VP Complete" and "Media VP Music"
Media VP Complete: http://sectorgame.com/f2s/downloads.php?action=downloads&id=493
Media VP Music: http://cp.nukelol.com/mv_music.zip
Unzip both of these files to the "mediavps" folder we talked about earlier. Good, now we're almost there.
- 4) Initial configuration and launcher update:
Download the 55d launcher and unzip/unrar it to your FS2 root directory to replace the existing one:
55d launcher download: http://fs2source.warpcore.org/exes/Launcher55d.rar
Go to said directory and now click the updated "Launcher" file. Send a shortcut on your desktop to make things easier in future. Once it's been clicked and opened you'll see a bog-standard launcher.
At the moment the launcher is set to use the older 3.6.9 version of the siftware, and we want it to be running the improved 3.6.10 version of the software.
To do this click the "Browse" button at the top of the launcher and it will open up to your root directory. Scroll down to where the "fs2_open_3_6_10" executable is and double-click it to set the Launcher to point to the 3.6.10 build like in the screenshot below.
4) Graphics/MVP configuration for maximum eye-candy:
Thanks to this thread http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php/topic,53294.0.html
Remember those MVP's that we dropped in the "mvpmedia" folder earlier? Good, because to get them active in game we just need to get the launcher to link into them, which will take two seconds:
Click the "MOD" tab of the launcher and click the "Select MOD" button. This will open an explorer window. Locate the "mediamvp" folder we created earlier and dumped all those files in and highlight it then click "OK" like in the screenie below:
------------------------------------------
IMPORTANT CAMPAIGN INFO:
The Freespace 2 campaign is the one enabled by default. If you want to start from the very beginning of the Freespace 1 campaign (and I see no reason why you wouldn't) then you need to use the "MOD" tab on the launcher and select the original campaign using the instructions below:
Simply click "Select mod", select "fsport-mediavps" folder from the list, and click "OK". Voila. When you are done with the original campaign and want to try "Silent Threat: Reborn", you can select this campaign from within the main Freespace game "Available campaigns room". When you're done with both of those and want to play the daddy, FS2, then simply click the "No Mod" button to clear it and load regular FS2 using the instructions at the top of Stage 4.
------------------------------------------
Now to finish the rest of the settings and get all the graphics options set in the launcher:
First set the basic resolution and engine... OpenGL is far superior to DX8 in this game so use it. Mine are currently as follows:
Now click the "Features" tab and use the drop-down box to select the different aspect of the settings, like in the screenshot below:
Under "Graphics", enable:
- Specular
- Glowmaps
- Environment Maps
- Mipmapping
- Normal Maps
- Lighting to Missiles
Under "Gameplay" enable:
- Use Models For Ship Selection
- Enable 3D Warp
- Enable Flash Upon Warp
------------------------------------------
IMPORTANT PILOT PROFILE INFORMATION:
I am told that using the same pilot profile accross different mods can can cause erratic behaviour in-game. Go to the pilot selection room from within the game and click the "Clone" button to create a duplicate of your pilot profile, and rename it to reflect the mod you are running (eg: RICHDOG FS1), and do this for each mod, ensuring you load the correct profile each time in each different mod.
------------------------------------------
- 6) Configuring Multiplayer:
- 7) ZOMG that actually wasn't too painful... is that it?
Also remember this is a hardcore space-sim, so there are a LOT of controls to master and configure, though to start with you can get by with the core basic shoot/targeting/comms options for a good few missions until you really start to gel with the game and then start hungering for more.
------------------------------------------
That was ****ing awesome! Are there any MODS?
Yeah baby yeah... there are mods... quite a few actually http://www.freespacemods.net/download.php
(some as yet unreleased) very briefly that I personally consider suitably epic and that i'll definately be keeping an eye on:
- The Babylon 5 Project http://babylon.hard-light.net/official_downloads.php
I downloaded the "DVD Install" just so that I got all the extra goodies, user-made campaigns, missions etc and just installed the lot.
Screenshots: http://babylon.hard-light.net/gallery16.php
Video 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FiTYFyn7w4
Video 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gs6f1EL7n0M
Forums here: http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php/board,105.0.html
- Battlestar Galactica: Beyond The Red Line http://www.beyondtheredline.net/demo.html
There is currently only a demo of this on the site, but the full release is most definately live and well, and is scheduled for some time pretty soon.
Screenshots: http://www.pixelrage.ro/screenshots/Battlestar-Galactica-Beyond-the-Red-Line-751,0.html
Video 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLcHtKcB0nI
Video page on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/BeyondtheRedLine
Forums here: http://www.game-warden.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=36
- Star Wars: Fate Of The Galaxy
Screenshots: http://swc.fs2downloads.com/sshot.php
Videos (old): http://swc.fs2downloads.com/movies/trench.wmv
Forums here: http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?board=143.0
- Wing Commander: Saga http://www.wcsaga.com/component/option,com_frontpage/Itemid,1/
Screenshots: http://www.wcsaga.com/component/option,com_ponygallery/Itemid,89/func,viewcategory/catid,1/
Videos: http://www.wcsaga.com/content/view/59/90/
Forums here: http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php/board,46.0.html
------------------------------------------
Well that's it... i'm spent. Even is this guide only sucks in one or two people to this awesome game then I will consider my work done. I hope the guide helped to make the process as simple as possible, and if you have any questions please let me know.
Last edited:
let me run through this a little more carefully...
. I also need to have a read through the instalation again.