Getting started - Revision history

P4wn4g3: /* FreeSpace 1 */

2025-10-10T18:43:44Z

‎FreeSpace 1

Goober5000: title case

2023-09-17T20:59:30Z

title case

PIe: /* Total Conversions */

2018-09-02T21:10:57Z

‎Total Conversions

PIe: /* Post-installation instructions */

2018-09-02T21:08:42Z

‎Post-installation instructions

PIe: /* Related links */

2018-09-02T20:47:23Z

‎Related links

PIe: /* Installing FreeSpace Open */

2018-09-02T20:46:31Z

‎Installing FreeSpace Open

PIe: /* Buying the Games */

2018-09-02T20:43:03Z

‎Buying the Games

PIe: /* FreeSpace 3? */

2018-09-02T20:41:15Z

‎FreeSpace 3?

AdmiralRalwood: Stop telling people the new installer isn't ready yet.

2016-07-17T17:38:06Z

Stop telling people the new installer isn't ready yet.

SpaceFreak: /* Total Conversions */ Fixed TC link.

2013-01-30T19:04:47Z

‎Total Conversions: Fixed TC link.

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 ''Descent: FreeSpace — The Great War'' (also known as ''Conflict: FreeSpace — The Great War'') is the first part of the series, released in 1998. The player is a pilot for the Galactic Terran Alliance. The GTA and the PVN have waged a war for 14 years and there doesn't seem to be an end in sight. However, suddenly a third race appears. These aliens, designated Shivans, are technologically superior, do not respond to diplomacy, and stage attacks against both the Terrans and the Vasudans. As a result, the GTA and PVN forge a truce and join forces in order to stop these alien invaders.
-FreeSpace 1 was well-received in its time by critics and players. Though it didn't offer much innovation in terms of gameplay and story, all aspects of the game worked well. The controls were easy to assume and the plot was quite compelling, as well as leaving a few questions in the air. Also crucial to the success of FS1 was the excellent mod support. Mod tools were released for the use of players and the game itself shipped with FreeSpace Editor (FRED) that allowed every player to design and create their own missions.
+FreeSpace 1 was well-received in its time by critics and players and all aspects of the game worked well. The controls were easy to assume and the plot was quite compelling, as well as leaving a few questions in the air. Also crucial to the success of FS1 was the excellent mod support. Mod tools were released for the use of players and the game itself shipped with FreeSpace Editor (FRED) that allowed every player to design and create their own missions.
-It is good to note that although in certain regions the full title of the game is ''Descent: FreeSpace &ndash; The Great War'', FS1 has very little to do with the Descent game series. The prefixes "Descent" and "Conflict" were used in some titles because there was already an archive tool called FreeSpace on the market.
+It is good to note that although in certain regions the full title of the game is ''Descent: FreeSpace &ndash; The Great War'', FS1 has very little to do with the Descent game series. The prefixes "Descent" and "Conflict" were used in some titles because there was already an archive tool called FreeSpace on the market and Interplay wanted to associate the new FreeSpace games with the classically successful Descent games.
 ===Silent Threat===

← Older revision		Revision as of 20:59, 17 September 2023
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	[[Category:Main]]		[[Category:Main]]
−	[[Category:The ~~games~~\|*]]	+	[[Category:The Games\|*]]

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 ===Total Conversions===
-In addition to improving the original FS2, the FSO engine has also made it possible for people to create new space sim games ([[Total conversions]]). Note that all of these games are standalone, which means that they do not require the original FS2.
+In addition to improving the original FS2, the FSO engine has also made it possible for people to create new space sim games ([[Total conversions]]). Note that all of these games are standalone, which means that they are completely free do not require the original FS2.
 ==Hard Light Productions==

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 If you want to set things up yourself and possibly learn some things about the game in the process, you can install FSO manually. There are manual installation instructions for [http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=78710.0 Windows], [http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=79545.0 Linux], and [http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=79546.0 Mac OS X] among the stickied threads in the [http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?board=7.0 General FreeSpace Discussion board], as well as a vast amount of [http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=56279.0 troubleshooting help] and some additional information on [[Installing FreeSpace 2 Open|this page]]. Don't think about manual installation as a 1337 h4x0r thing: there's more work involved, but none of it is hard.
-==Post-installation instructions==
+==Post-installation instructions for wxLauncher==
 After you've installed FSO, there are some things you need to do in order to enjoy FSO to its fullest (these steps are also mentioned in the manual installation instructions mentioned earlier):
-*Open the Launcher and click the "Browse" button at the top.
+*Open wxLauncher and click over to the Basic Settings tab.
-*Select fs2_open_3_6_14.exe (do not use a debug build) and click OK.
+*Set the game root folder and select FS2 Open 3.8.0 (do not use a debug build) from the dropdown list.
-*Open the Audio/Joystick tab and make sure that Generic Software is selected.
+*In the Audio section, make sure that Generic Software is selected.
-*Open the Video tab and make sure that OpenGL and 32-bit colors are selected.
+*In the Video section, make sure that 32-bit depth is selected.
 *If you installed the MediaVPs (the graphical updates):
-**Open the MOD tab.
+**Open the Mods tab.
-***Click "Select MOD" and select the "mediavps_3612" folder. Just select the folder, you do not need to select files inside it.
+***Click on "MediaVPs 2014"
-**Open the Features tab of the Launcher.
+**Open the Advanced Settings tab of the Launcher.
-***Select "Graphics" as the list type.
+***In the Graphics section:
-***Tick at least "Enable specular", "Enable glowmaps", "Enable environment maps", and "Enable normal maps".
+****Tick at least "Enable post processing", "Enable soft particles" and "Enable FXAA anti-aliasing".
-***Select "Gameplay" as the list type.
+****Shadows provide a graphical upgrade but degrade performance significantly.
-***Tick "Use models for ship selection" and "Use models for weapon selection".
+***In the Gameplay section:
 *Save the changes by clicking "Apply" at the bottom of the Launcher.
-*Start the game by clicking "Run" (it is easiest to always use the Launcher to start FSO, so you may want to create a shortcut of it to your desktop).
+*Start the game by clicking "Play" (it is easiest to always use the Launcher to start FSO, so you may want to create a shortcut of it to your desktop or Start Menu).
 **If this is your very first time running the game, you'll be asked for a "callsign", that is, a name for your pilot/profile. Type it and press Enter. In subsequent runs, a list of pilots is shown here and you can select the one you like.
 **When you get to the main hall, press F2, then select "Detail" from the top of the screen.

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 Here are a few useful FreeSpace-related links.
-*[http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/freespace_2 FreeSpace 2 at Good Old Games] - The best place to buy FreeSpace 2 from.
+*[https://www.gog.com/game/freespace_2 FreeSpace 2 at Good Old Games] - The best place to buy FreeSpace 2 from.
-*[http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php/topic,56279.0.html The FreeSpace Troubleshooting FAQ] - A FAQ that includes solutions to all the most common problems with FreeSpace, FreeSpace 2 and FreeSpace Open. If you have any problems with the games, start here.
+*[https://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php/topic,56279.0.html The FreeSpace Troubleshooting FAQ] - A FAQ that includes solutions to all the most common problems with FreeSpace, FreeSpace 2 and FreeSpace Open. If you have any problems with the games, start here.
 *[http://www.freespacemods.net/ FreeSpaceMods.net] - A site that hosts a ton of FreeSpace-related things, including campaigns, mods and total conversions.
-*[http://www.hard-light.net/ Hard-Light Productions.net] - The largest FreeSpace community on the web, where most modders and coders are available to provide help.
+*[https://www.hard-light.net/ Hard-Light Productions.net] - The largest FreeSpace community on the web, where most modders and coders are available to provide help.
 [[Category:Main]]
 [[Category:The games|*]]

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 ==Installing FreeSpace Open==
 Installing FreeSpace Open is not rocket science as long as you follow the proper guidelines.
 ===Installer===

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 ===Buying the Games===
-Although the FreeSpace games are old, they are far from lost. [http://www.gog.com/ Good Old Games] (GOG) sells numerous old classic games, including ''FreeSpace'', ''Silent Threat'', and ''FreeSpace 2''. People who do not yet own these games are recommended to buy them from Good Old Games because GOG's games are cheap ($5.99 or $9.99), DRM-free, and completely legal.
+Although the FreeSpace games are old, they are far from lost. [https://www.gog.com/ Good Old Games] (GOG) sells numerous old classic games, including [https://www.gog.com/game/freespace_expansion ''FreeSpace 1'' and ''Silent Threat''], and [https://www.gog.com/game/freespace_2 ''FreeSpace 2'']. People who do not yet own these games are recommended to buy them from Good Old Games because GOG's games are cheap ($5.99 or $9.99), DRM-free, and completely legal.
 ==The FreeSpace Source Code Project==

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 ===FreeSpace 3?===
-There is no ''FreeSpace 3''. Volition was bought by THQ in 2000, with the licenses remaining with Interplay. Volition couldn't create a new game in the series, and Interplay was not interested in publishing space simulation games because the genre was deemed dead. Volition was recently sold to Koch Media after THQ filed for bankruptcy. More information about FreeSpace 3 and related things can be read from [http://homepage.ntlworld.com/karajorma/FAQ/general.html#WhenFS3 Karajorma's FreeSpace FAQ].
+There is no ''FreeSpace 3''. Volition was bought by THQ in 2000, with the licenses remaining with Interplay. Volition couldn't create a new game in the series, and Interplay was not interested in publishing space simulation games because the genre was deemed dead. Volition was recently sold to Koch Media after THQ filed for bankruptcy. More information about FreeSpace 3 and related things can be read from [http://fs2downloads.com/general.html#WhenFS3 Karajorma's FreeSpace FAQ].
 ===Buying the Games===

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 ===Installer===
-The installer no longer works. A new installer is being worked on, but it isn't finished yet. So for now, manual installation is the only install option. Don't worry, though, since manual installation is pretty easy.
+The FSO installer can be found at [http://www.fsoinstaller.com www.fsoinstaller.com] and requires Java to run, but automatically handles downloading and extracting the mods that it knows about (it can even extract FS2 itself from the GOG installer file on non-Windows systems). You can read more about it on [[FreeSpace Open Installer|its own page]].
 ===Manual installation===