Installing FreeSpace 2

How do I install FS2? I have the I have the retail CDs

The FS2 installer is pretty easy to use so I'm only going to point out a few pitfalls that could cause you problems later rather than guide you through the whole install.

• Do not install to C:\Program Files - Don't use any path with a space or a hyphen in it. This may cause you minor problems when using FS2_Open later. C:\Games is fine for instance.
• Do not untick the High Resolution Artwork - Unless you want to doom yourself to playing in 640x480 (Even in FS2_Open you may have problems with higher resolutions).
• If you skip the other options, you may copy them from the CD later.

Congratulations you now have a (hopefully) working copy of FS2. Even if you intend to install FS2_Open next you should run the game once. First to check if there are any problems and second cause you'll have to start the game once before you can patch it to 1.2 (which you should do before trying to install FS2_Open). Playing long enough to see the tutorial start should be long enough to detect most problems. Since you can skip the training sims if you have to restart you may wish to play the first one through anyway. It will give you an appreciation of the advances in FS2_Open if you do see the original in action. You can then quit and run the updater in the FS2 launcher.