Freespace 2 (catch-all)

I will admit, I'm a little late to the party.

The podcast has sparked a strong interest within me, an obsession if you will, to really peel back the layers of this game and relish in its glory of controlled complication. Space sims are something I never had a chance of getting into. Back in the day, I had only Apple computers and focused on a lot of console gaming. So far I've purchased a cheap flight stick (a Logitec ATK3), bought the game off of GoG.com, and installed the FreespaceOpen graphical upgrades (http://scp.indiegames.us/). The game is super fun from what I've played, but I'm running into an issue of further controller upgrades. I'm talking foot pedals for throttle/roll control, additional attachments for analog throttle control, etc.

Since this game had quite the following, I ask you GWJers to recount strategies, tips, control setups (I'm a southpaw on the joystick), and maybe get a throwback community started for, "... the last of the great space sims" as my friend told me.

I'm looking to hear all of your input.

FreeSpace 2 was one of the few games to take advantage of the axial twist on the stick, which I mapped to roll. For whatever reason, I always had an easier time tracking targets if they were moving "upwards" relative to me, and so being able to alter my viewing angle was an important part of my flight technique. DIVE! DIVE! DIVE! HIT YOUR BURNERS PILOT! I suspect this was mostly a holdover from other space combat sims of the era, well, mostly X-Wing, which included a rolling motion whenever the stick was pulled to the left or right (i.e. banked turns).

SuperDave, I played through Freespace and Freespace 2 with nothing but a keyboard (no mouse) so trust me, it can be done.

If you want to go real fancy, look for a CH Products throttle:

IMAGE(http://www.flightsim.com/howto/getreal1/prothrottle.jpg)

It is a fine piece of equipment, if not expensive and rather specialized. I was lucky to find a great deal on one. They're supposedly modeled after the throttle in an F-16, if that does anything for you. I would have loved to have had one of these and a decent flight stick when I first played Freespace. In fact...

Itsatrap wrote:

DIVE! DIVE! DIVE! HIT YOUR BURNERS PILOT!

Ahh, that takes me back.

Freespace 2 is one of the very few games i finished, I believe I did it with just a stick with a few extra buttons, nothing fancy. It can be done.

I personally found the MS Sidewinder perfect for Freespace 2. It is probably my all time #1 game - even wrote a level for their faux expansion. Maybe that was freespace 1...?

Anyway, it's a fantastic game that ages really well. There's even high rez mods out there for it. I still play it from time to time.

So this seems to be the catch-all for the game.

So, it's on sale at GOG right now for $3. After buying that you're legally able to download all of the FreeSpaceOpen project, including a FS1 port.

Here's the links to the installer. 2 versions in the first post, one for Windows only, another for Win/Mac/Linux, using Java.

Currently installing EVERYTHING and we'll see how far I can get through the first 2 games this weekend. Happy 4th haha.

Is this an open world like Elite, or more focused/on-rails ? Can I just be a trader?

It's a space fighter sim. Actually no, it's THE space fighter sim. You cannot be a trader. You are in a war and you are a pilot going out on missions as directed to you by one Robert Loggia. Missions vary by type, but generally your job is to shoot stuff dead. It is not on rails but you don't have an enormous area within which you operate. There are sometimes enormous capital ships (like 6km long) with huge beam weapons destroying each other while you're in the middle of it.

It is still one of my top 5 games of all time. I highly recommend a joystick, though, to give you the true flying feel (as we all know, in the future they don't fly with mouse and keyboards, but joysticks).

I would argue that foot pedals for rolling and a throttle are necessary too. SO MANY BUTTONS.

Speaking of FS2, did the Battlestar Galactica mod ever get finished? I played the teaser/demo, but that was a long time ago and I haven't heard anything about it since.

$3 is the deal of a lifetime on the best, and last, true space fighter sim. It is not possible to oversell this game.

It is a ridiculously awesome game. I have my Sidewinder out for playing Privateer, may have to re-install and fire up Freespace 2 as well.

Anyone got any hints on calibrating an old Logitech Wingman Extreme under Win7.

The twist needs dampening as I am rolling around like crazy.

For whatever reason, I didn't play it originally, and have been playing back through the FSOpen version of the base game.

It's the last, and best, of the pure space fighter games, a la X Wing, Tie Fighter, and the various Wing Commanders. I think I avoided it originally because it wasn't Descent; if they'd just called it Freespace, I think it might have sold better.

On the modernized engine, it's very playable, and I'm doing okay with just a 360 controller and a keyboard. X-Wing and the various Tie Fighters absolutely require a joystick, because you have to aim with single-pixel precision. So far, at least, Freespace 2 doesn't seem to need this, although I think it would make me more effective at dogfighting if I could control the ship more precisely. I'm slopping through it okay, although some of the missions have been extremely difficult; there's one where you face about six enemy fighters by yourself, and that was HARD, even on Easy. A joystick would likely have let me snap off accurate shots during all the evasion, where the thumbstick made that damn difficult.

One warning: the updated engine comes in this absolutely stupid download mechanism that you can't avoid. You download a small program, and then it "makes sure you have the most recent files", by downloading them from some source at GLACIAL speeds. It took more than a day to fully download the mod. Effing ridiculous. If they packaged it decently, it would be mirrored everywhere, and you could get it in a few minutes, instead of twenty plus hours.

Well I got everything updated from that FSOpen installer in a couple hours. Except that the one part, FSPort (FS1 missions) keeps giving an error that the server isn't responding. It just loops forever instead of skipping the file.

Trying to download them manually now. As I would really like to play through the core FS missions in order. It's been over a decade...

I tried the "easy" installer option but ended up downloading all the files manually after it got stuck a few times. It also went more quickly when I downloaded the updates myself.

The new graphics do look great. It's been a long time since I played a space sim (I think StarLancer might've been the last one).

Man oh man did I love me some Freespace 1. I played the hell out of that game. With all the talk of Freespace 2 being better and the open updates, I'll have to jump on it for $3.

Is there a preferred, not-crazy-expensive joystick these days?

I've had a Logitech Extreme 3D Pro for a couple of years now, and am happy with it. It costs not quite $30.

Polliwog wrote:

I tried the "easy" installer option but ended up downloading all the files manually after it got stuck a few times. It also went more quickly when I downloaded the updates myself.

I got that fixed BTW. If it was the getting stuck on FSport problem that I had. Something was in place for the new updater that is "coming soon" but one of the guys fixed it after I posted a question about it stalling out. As of this afternoon everything downloaded without incident.

Apparently the automatic installer will also work with anything you installed yourself, checking to make sure it's updated or whatever.

My childhood was inundated with space combat sims. My favorites definitely being the X Wing vs. Tie Fighter, Wing Commander and FreeSpace series. I never got to enjoy the full "joystick" experience, and Wing Commander: Prophecy didn't have mouse support, so I remember rockin' that game all night with nothing but keyboard. Those were the days.

Don't actually need FSOpen to run this, but since it's based off it, it's kind of cool. The Wing Commander Saga fan game released a couple months back. It's mentioned in the space thread, but not sure who has tried it. It's a 3gb download plus a patch. Standalone. Think I'm finally going to delve into it this weekend while my wife is busy with some stuff.

Since this came up in the bargain thread, I just wanted to mention that the best way to install Freespace Open is manually via these instructions:

http://www.hard-light.net/forums/ind...

As the installer hasn't worked right in a long time, sadly.

And yes, Wing Commander Saga is AMAZING.

Why do I feel like I'm just about to entere a very long, deep, enthrawling, life-conquering rabbit hole?

Looks like Interplay repurchased the rights to Freespace in the THQ firesale awhile back for a whopping 7500 bucks. Maybe we'll be seeing a new one?

http://www.joystiq.com/2013/06/09/in...

billybob476 wrote:

Looks like Interplay repurchased the rights to Freespace in the THQ firesale awhile back for a whopping 7500 bucks. Maybe we'll be seeing a new one?

http://www.joystiq.com/2013/06/09/in...

Yeah we discussed it a bit in the general Space Sims thread. Seems that interplay already had some rights, and now acquired what they were missing. Not sure if that paves the way for a new game or just more avenues for the old games to be redistributed.

Does Interplay have the resources to actually make a real game anymore?

Edit: Though I'd kickstart the hell out of Freespace 3.

I'd only want a Freespace 3 if it had at least SOME of the folks who worked on the original two. I know moving from one company to another in a franchise can be done well (SWAT 4, for example), but for this one, the story and everything is just so...I can't even think of the word, but whatever the case, I'd want some folks who created that story to be the ones continuing it.

omnipherous wrote:

Why do I feel like I'm just about to entere a very long, deep, enthrawling, life-conquering rabbit hole? :-P

Dude, nearly 14 years later, Freespace 2 is still the pinnacle of the genre. You're in for one helluva ride.

Nevin73 wrote:

Does Interplay have the resources to actually make a real game anymore?

Edit: Though I'd kickstart the hell out of Freespace 3.

No, they don't. And you'd best avoid any kind of kickstarter that Interplay itself launches.

...and amazingly I've never played either of the "Freespaces". I was a Wing Commander guy. This needs to be rectified!

billybob476 wrote:

...and amazingly I've never played either of the "Freespaces". I was a Wing Commander guy. This needs to be rectified!

Dude, get it now and tweak it out with FSOpen. You'll not regret it.