FreeSpace Wiki - User contributions [en]

Getting FreeSpace

2025-05-03T18:55:50Z

DAK:

There are a few different ways of getting your hands on FreeSpace 2.

==[https://www.gog.com/ Good Old Games] (GOG)==

A new digital distribution service for classic games, including both FreeSpace titles, which launched in late 2008. GOG is selling FreeSpace 2 for $9.99 (USD) and the original FreeSpace for $9.99 with no digital rights management strings attached. Definitely the most highly-recommended means of obtaining the games at the present time.

Links:

Descent: Freespace Battle Pack: https://www.gog.com/en/game/freespace_expansion

FreeSpace 2: https://www.gog.com/en/game/freespace_2

==Steam==

FreeSpace 2 is available on Steam in 2025.

Link: https://store.steampowered.com/app/273620/Freespace_2/

==Physical Copies==

There are still copies of FS2 floating around, but finding them is not always easy.

So where could you grab a copy?
* [https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2380057.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.H0.XFreeSpace+2.TRS0&_nkw=FreeSpace+2&_sacat=0 There are usually some up for sale on eBay].
* A Bargain Bin.

FreeSpace 2 has not been mass-produced for several years, so checking places that sell used software is your only recourse if you need to buy locally. The original FreeSpace has been out-of-print (so to speak) for even longer, but luckily for you you can play FS1 by getting the [[FreeSpace Port]], but you'll need FS2 set up first.





[[Category:Acquiring FreeSpace]]
[[Category:Source Code Project]]

Knossos (mod manager)

2025-04-30T19:15:43Z

DAK:

:''This article is about the application. For the subspace portal, see [[Knossos]].''

<h1>Introduction</h1>

Knossos is a centralized, cross-platform mod manager for FreeSpace Open, available on Windows, macOS, and Linux. Featuring a user-friendly GUI, it allows users to easily set up, install, update, and manage FSO engine versions and a growing library of mods with minimal effort. Knossos supports automatic dependency resolution and updates, ensuring a seamless gameplay experience. Additionally, it integrates with the Nebula backend, enabling mod creators to develop, upload, and distribute their mods efficiently. There are 2 variants of Knossos available, as listed below.

<h2>Knossos.NET</h2>

Knossos.NET is the latest version of Knossos mod manager. It is continually updated and well maintained. It also supports a tracker for tracking games online, providing integration with Parallax Online (PXO).

The source code for Knossos.NET is available on GitHub: https://github.com/KnossosNET/Knossos.NET

The Download and Install instructions can be found here: https://knossosnet.github.io/Knossos-Release-Page/

<h2>Knossos (Legacy)</h2>

The original Knossos mod manager which is not maintained actively. This has been succeeded by Knossos.NET. It features a similar set of functionalities.

The source code for Knossos is available on GitHub: https://github.com/ngld/old-knossos

For better support and a reliable program to manage the FreeSpace 2 mods and engine versions, please use Knossos.NET.

<h1>Related Links</h1>
*The <tt>#knossos</tt> channel on [https://discord.gg/YNVP3WR HLP's Discord server]
*[https://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=98702.0 Development thread on HLP]

Fs2 open on Linux/Acquiring the Game Data

2025-04-30T18:35:49Z

DAK:

{{Page Navigation|
BookName=[[The fs2_open on Linux Guide]]|
CurrentPage=Acquiring the Game Data|Acquiring the Game Data|
PrevPage=[[Fs2_open on Linux/Compile Script|Compile Script]]|
NextPage=[[Fs2_open on Linux/Extracting data from CD|Extracting data from CD]]}}

<h1>Extracting Game Data</h1>

This page shall walk the user through on how to extract the game data from an installation media or from an existing installation.

<h2>The Easy And Modern Way</h2>

The FreeSpace Open binaries require the FreeSpace 2 data for the game to work.

Currently, it is highly recommended to use Knossos.NET for the management of game data and libraries. Knossos.NET will help extracting the required game data from the CD, installer or the user can point to the game data manually. Knossos.NET is a launcher that helps to manage the mods and FSO releases on your system. It is open source and the source code can be found on: https://github.com/KnossosNET/Knossos.NET

Download Knossos.NET from here: https://knossosnet.github.io/Knossos-Release-Page/

<b>Please do note that it is illegal to share or download shared game files off of unauthorized sources. The game can be bought on GOG and Steam for very low prices.</b>

<h2>For Advanced Users</h2>

<b>THESE ARE THE OLD METHODS! PROCEED ONLY IF YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING!</b>

This tutorial deals primarily with providing you with an executable, but in order to play the game you also need the game data. FreeSpace 2 game data is available from a number of sources, see [http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php/topic,38195.0.html this thread], or use [[FreeSpace_Open_Installer|the installer]].

Note that if you use the retail CD, you'll need to extract the files and to copy them on your drive, reproducing the same layout as in a working win32 installation (just make sure every file is lowercase). All that really means is that you need the retail *.vp game data files in the same folder as the binary fs2_open_(r|d).

There are three ways of doing this,
* Copy the files over from an existing FS2 Windows install (by mounting the Win partition), or
* Use [http://www.winehq.org/ Wine] to install the game in the right directory, using the Setup.exe found on the first CD, or,
* Extract the files manually from the CD.

The third method is detailed in the next page. The wine one is straightforward and you shouldn't need any specific instruction as it behaves like a Windows install, but you'll have to fix permissions and lowercase the filename as well, so keep reading.

[[Category:FreeSpace Open on Linux|Acquiring the Game Data]]

Fs2 open on Linux/Acquiring the Game Data

2025-04-30T10:08:16Z

DAK:

{{Page Navigation|
BookName=[[The fs2_open on Linux Guide]]|
CurrentPage=Acquiring the Game Data|Acquiring the Game Data|
PrevPage=[[Fs2_open on Linux/Compile Script|Compile Script]]|
NextPage=[[Fs2_open on Linux/Extracting data from CD|Extracting data from CD]]}}

<h1>Extracting Game Data</h1>

This page shall walk the user through on how to extract the game data from an installation media or from an existing installation.

<h2>The Easy And Modern Way</h2>

The FreeSpace Open binaries require the FreeSpace 2 data for the game to work.

Currently, it is highly recommended to use Knossos.NET for the management of game data and libraries. Knossos.NET will help extracting the required game data from the CD, installer or the user can point to the game data manually. Knossos.NET is a launcher that helps to manage the mods and FSO releases on your system. It is open source and the source code can be found on: https://github.com/KnossosNET/Knossos.NET

Download Knossos.NET from here: https://knossosnet.github.io/Knossos-Release-Page/

<b>Please do note that it is illegal to share or download shared game files off of unauthorized sources. The game can be bought on GOG and Steam for very low prices.<b>

<h2>For Advanced Users</h2>

THESE ARE THE OLD METHODS! PROCEED ONLY IF YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING!

This tutorial deals primarily with providing you with an executable, but in order to play the game you also need the game data. FreeSpace 2 game data is available from a number of sources, see [http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php/topic,38195.0.html this thread], or use [[FreeSpace_Open_Installer|the installer]].

Note that if you use the retail CD, you'll need to extract the files and to copy them on your drive, reproducing the same layout as in a working win32 installation (just make sure every file is lowercase). All that really means is that you need the retail *.vp game data files in the same folder as the binary fs2_open_(r|d).

There are three ways of doing this,
* Copy the files over from an existing FS2 Windows install (by mounting the Win partition), or
* Use [http://www.winehq.org/ Wine] to install the game in the right directory, using the Setup.exe found on the first CD, or,
* Extract the files manually from the CD.

The third method is detailed in the next page. The wine one is straightforward and you shouldn't need any specific instruction as it behaves like a Windows install, but you'll have to fix permissions and lowercase the filename as well, so keep reading.

[[Category:FreeSpace Open on Linux|Acquiring the Game Data]]

Fs2 open on Linux/Extracting data from CD

2025-04-30T10:04:29Z

DAK: Undo revision 66139 by DAK (talk): Edited the wrong page

Fs2 open on Linux/Extracting data from CD

2025-04-30T10:02:30Z

DAK:

{{Page Navigation|
BookName=[[The fs2_open on Linux Guide]]|
CurrentPage=Extracting data from CD|Extracting data from CD|
PrevPage=[[Fs2_open on Linux/Acquiring the Game Data|Acquiring the Game Data]]|
NextPage=[[Fs2_open on Linux/Installing unshield|Installing unshield]]}}
<p></p>
<h1>Extracting Game Data</h1>

The FreeSpace Open binaries require the FreeSpace 2 data for the game to work. Currently, it is highly recommended to use Knossos.NET for the management of game data and libraries.

Knossos.NET is a launcher that helps to manage the mods and FSO releases on your system. It is open source and the source code can be found on: https://github.com/KnossosNET/Knossos.NET

Knossos.NET will help extracting the required game data from the CD, installer or the user can point to the game data manually.

<b>Please do note that it is illegal to share or download shared game files off of unauthorized sources. The game can be bought on GOG and Steam for very low prices.<b>

<hr>

THESE ARE THE OLD METHODS! PROCEED ONLY IF YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING!

Continue to follow the following chapters extract the game data from the retail FreeSpace 2 CDs.
*[[Fs2_open_on_Linux/Installing unshield|Installing unshield]]
*[[Fs2_open_on_Linux/Data Installation script|Data Installation script]]
{{stub}}

Fs2 open on Linux/Compiling

2025-04-22T07:23:29Z

DAK:

{{Page Navigation|
BookName=[[The fs2_open on Linux Guide]]|
CurrentPage=Compiling|Compiling|
PrevPage=[[Fs2_open on Linux/Optimization|Optimization]]|
NextPage=[[Fs2_open on Linux/Compile Script|Compile Script]]}}
<p></p>
{{Note| This step is only for those who want the bleeding-edge source code to compile on their own. You can skip this if you intend to use a provided binary executable.}}

<h1>Compiling The Source Code</h1>

The source code can now be compiled to a desired binary. This binary can be in 3 variants:

<ol>
<li>Release - Good for playing the game normally</li>
<li>FastDebug - Used to find errors during gameplay (Used for mod level debugging)</li>
<li>Debug - Used to find errors on a code level. Please check this if the user wants to develop and debug the code further</li>
</ol>

<h2>For New Users - Compile Using Visual Studio Code</h2>

To compile the code in Visual Studio Code, the user must first set the desired build variant. To select this, the user must:

<ol>
<li>Open the Command Palette (CTRL + SHIFT + P)</li>
<li>Search or Type CMake: Select Variant<li>
<li>Select the desired variant</li>
<li>
Build the code by using any of the following methods:
<ol>
<li>Open Command Palette and type CMake: Build</li>
<li>Press the Build button</li>
</ol>
</li>
</ol>

<h2>The Build Artifacts</h2>

The build artifacts should be inside the build directory. The full path of the binary must be:

${workspaceFolder}/build/bin/fs2_open_<version>_<instruction_set>-<variant>

The version will be the version of the source code.

Instruction Set will denote which type of CPU SIMD instructions are executed, SSE2 or AVX.

Variant will be the type of variant that the user selected earlier.

For eg. File name for the version 24.2.0, instruction set of AVX and of debug variant will be

fs2_open_24_2_0_AVX-debug

If you see the build in the build directory, congratulations! The binary is ready to be used to play and debug!

<hr>

Run from within your fs2_open directory:
$ make
Sit back and enjoy gcc work its magic.<br>
You will find the binary executable in <i>code/</i> as either fs2_open_r if you built a release build or fs2_open_d if you built a debug build.

NOTE: in 3.6.15 and higher, quiet compiles are turned on by default. To get a verbose compile:
$ V=1 make
Also, the binary executable in <i>code/</i> is now called fs2_open_3.6.15 and fs2_open_3.6.15_DEBUG

[[Category:FreeSpace Open on Linux|Compiling]]

Fs2 open on Linux/Acquiring the Code

2025-04-22T06:05:36Z

DAK:

{{Page Navigation|
BookName=[[The fs2_open on Linux Guide]]|
CurrentPage=Acquiring the Code|Acquiring the Code|
PrevPage=[[Fs2_open on Linux/Installing the Development Libraries|Installing the Development Libraries]]|
NextPage=[[Fs2 open on Linux/Pre-Compile Configuration|Pre-Compile Configuration]]}}
<p></p>
{{Note| This step is only for those who want the bleeding-edge source code to compile on their own. You can skip this if you intend to use a provided binary
executable.}}

This guide will walk the user through on how to acquire and download the source code locally to their machine.

<h1>For New Users</h1>

This section of the code will explain on how to acquire the source code and download it to your system. For the sake of simplicity to new users, I am using Visual Studio Code to demonstrate on how to clone the source code.

<h2>📖 Prerequisites</h2>

The following accounts will be required to get started with acquiring and downloading the code.

<ol>
<li>git program</li>
<li>GitHub Account</li>
<li>Visual Studio Code</li>
</ol>

<h3>ℹ️ INFORMATION</h3>

You will need to sign in to the GitHub account within Visual Studio Code to download the code seamlessly.

<h2>✅ Forking And Downloading The Code</h2>

It is usually a good practice to fork the code locally to your GitHub account. This will help in opening Pull Requests (PRs). On the FreeSpace Open GitHub page, please fork the code by pressing the fork button and following the instructions on the page.

Once the code has been forked, open the Visual Studio Code editor. In the editor, open the command palette (CTRL + SHIFT + P) and type

$ git clone (recursive)

A window shall pop up, asking where the files need to be cloned to. Please choose a location where the user has write access to, preferably under $HOME/$USER. For the sake of simplicity, I will be using

$HOME/$USER/Projects

The path to the FSO code should look like

$HOME/$USER/Projects/fs2open.github.com

If everything is done correctly, you'll be able to see the files in the Explorer tab in Visual Studio Code.

<h1>For Advanced Users</h1>

This section is for users who are already familiar with the git commands.

<h2>✅ Download The Repository Using Git</h2>

This requires the user to have downloaded and configured git on their system. Please see [[Fs2_open_on_Linux/Installing Git|Installing Git]] in case git has not been downloaded and configured.

To download the repository using git, the following command needs to be entered in a terminal:

$ git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/scp-fs2open/fs2open.github.com.git

Please be advised that the repository needs to be cloned to a location with read and write access to the user. A good location would be in

$HOME/$USER

<hr>

<h1>⚠️ ATTENTION</h1>
<ul>
<li>Please clone the repository recursively. If not cloned recursively, the code may not compile on your machine.</li>
<li>In case you have cloned the code non-recursively, please remove the project directory and clone it recursively.</li>
</ul>

<BR>

Once done, congratulations! You have the source code ready to be built!

[[Category:FreeSpace Open on Linux|Acquiring the Code]]

Fs2 open on Linux/Acquiring the Code

2025-04-22T06:04:58Z

DAK: Guide to acquire the source code from GitHub

{{Page Navigation|
BookName=[[The fs2_open on Linux Guide]]|
CurrentPage=Acquiring the Code|Acquiring the Code|
PrevPage=[[Fs2_open on Linux/Installing the Development Libraries|Installing the Development Libraries]]|
NextPage=[[Fs2 open on Linux/Pre-Compile Configuration|Pre-Compile Configuration]]}}
<p></p>
{{Note| This step is only for those who want the bleeding-edge source code to compile on their own. You can skip this if you intend to use a provided binary
executable.}}

This guide will walk the user through on how to acquire and download the source code locally to their machine.

<h1>For New Users</h1>

This section of the code will explain on how to acquire the source code and download it to your system. For the sake of simplicity to new users, I am using Visual Studio Code to demonstrate on how to clone the source code.

<h2>📖 Prerequisites</h2>

The following accounts will be required to get started with acquiring and downloading the code.

<ol>
<li>git program</li>
<li>GitHub Account</li>
<li>Visual Studio Code</li>
</ol>

<h3>ℹ️ INFORMATION</h3>

You will need to sign in to the GitHub account within Visual Studio Code to download the code seamlessly.

<h2>✅ Forking And Downloading The Code</h2>

It is usually a good practice to fork the code locally to your GitHub account. This will help in opening Pull Requests (PRs). On the FreeSpace Open GitHub page, please fork the code by pressing the fork button and following the instructions on the page.

Once the code has been forked, open the Visual Studio Code editor. In the editor, open the command palette (CTRL + SHIFT + P) and type

$ git clone (recursive)

A window shall pop up, asking where the files need to be cloned to. Please choose a location where the user has write access to, preferably under $HOME/$USER. For the sake of simplicity, I will be using

$HOME/$USER/Projects

The path to the FSO code should look like

$HOME/$USER/Projects/fs2open.github.com

If everything is done correctly, you'll be able to see the files in the Explorer tab in Visual Studio Code.

<h1>For Advanced Users</h1>

This section is for users who are already familiar with the git commands.

<h2>✅ Download The Repository Using Git</h2>

This requires the user to have downloaded and configured git on their system. Please see [[Fs2_open_on_Linux/Installing Git|Installing Git]] in case git has not been downloaded and configured.

To download the repository using git, the following command needs to be entered in a terminal:

$ git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/scp-fs2open/fs2open.github.com.git

Please be advised that the repository needs to be cloned to a location with read and write access to the user. A good location would be in

$HOME/$USER

<hr>

<h3>⚠️ ATTENTION</h3>
<ul>
<li>Please clone the repository recursively. If not cloned recursively, the code may not compile on your machine.</li>
<li>In case you have cloned the code non-recursively, please remove the project directory and clone it recursively.</li>
</ul>

<BR>

Once done, congratulations! You have the source code ready to be built!

[[Category:FreeSpace Open on Linux|Acquiring the Code]]