Music
Music tracks in FreeSpace are determined by the music tables. Mission designers can use the Mission Specs editor (Shift-N) to set the music track that the mission will play. In-mission music is dynamic: it changes depending on in-mission events. This is the list of such events:
- Arrival of enemy ships (can be disabled for certain ships in FRED)
- Arrival of friendly ships (can be disabled for certain ships in FRED)
- Completion of mission goals (can be disabled for certain mission goals in FRED)
- Player death
- Ambient (when enemy is either not present, or are well outside firing range)
- Battle
Apart from in-mission music are briefing music tracks that are played only in command and mission briefings. They can be set in FRED through the Briefing editor (Shift-B). Briefings are limited to one track per mission; command briefings share the same track as the briefing. In FRED 2 Open, the Fiction Viewer uses its own music.
Furthermore, there are three music tracks for debriefings: "Success", "Average", and "Failure". "Success" is played if all mission objectives are met and the player is allowed to progress in the campaign. "Failure" is played if the player is not allowed to progress in the campaign. "Average" is played if the player is allowed to progress, but has not satisfied all primary and secondary objectives. Recent builds of FRED 2 Open allow mission designers to select which tracks are played under each of these three circumstances through the Debriefing editor (Shift-D). The engine had been capable of this since at least 3.6.10, but FRED 2 had yet to integrate it into its GUI.
Lastly, each main hall has its own music track. These tracks can also be used in command and mission briefings.
FreeSpace Open supports much finer control of in-game music, allowing mission designers to specifically tailor musical scores to the events and tempo of a mission. Soundtracks can now be changed during the mission when desired, and any track can also be played at any time (including briefing and mainhall tracks, or any tracks placed in the music folder). This is possible through several new SEXPs:
Retail supports only *.wav files, but FreeSpace Open also supports *.ogg files.
Contents
List of tracks
Most tracks were created by Dan Wentz, who composed the majority of the music for both FreeSpace 1 and FreeSpace 2. Some FreeSpace 1 cutscene scores were collaborations with Steven von Kampen, a composer and sound designer from Noiz Audio who was hired for the project.
FreeSpace 1
(This list is based on the FreeSpace Port version of FreeSpace 1)
Main hall music: "Choco Mousse"
- 1. "Fortress"
- 2. "March"
- 3. "Chaser"
- Small Deadly Space
- First Strike
- A Failure to Communicate
- Secret Recovery (Silent Threat expansion pack)
- 4. "Worlds Apart"
- Avenging Angels
- The Aftermath
- Reaching the Zenith
- Cloak and Dagger (Silent Threat expansion pack)
- Exodus (Silent Threat expansion pack)
- 5. "Spook"
- 6. "Haunted"
- Pandora's Box
- La Ruota della Fortuna
- Black Omega
- Ghosts (Silent Threat expansion pack)
- 7. "Marauder"
- 8. "Strike"
- 9. "Monolith"
- This soundtrack may have been specifically designed for Good Luck; see note below.
- The Pursuit (Silent Threat expansion pack)
- 10. "Darkside"
- Silence All Voices (Silent Threat expansion pack)
- Hellfire (Silent Threat expansion pack)
- Secrets Revealed (Silent Threat expansion pack)
Note: The last mission, Good Luck, has no soundtrack. However, a CD of enhanced music tracks provided by Dan Wentz implies that this track was intended to be used in Good Luck. It would have been the only standard single-player FS1 mission with this music.
FreeSpace 2
Music tracks in FreeSpace 2 are named after books of the Bible.
Main hall music tracks: "Aquitaine", "Psampik" [sic] (Terran and Vasudan main halls, respectively)
- 1. "Genesis"
- 2. "Exodus"
- 3. "Leviticus"
- 4. "Numbers"
- 5. "Deuteronomy"
- 6. "Joshua"
- 7. "Revelation"
Extra Music
Higher-quality versions of the music in FS2 were made available for download as ZIP files on the game's official website while it was still available. Each ZIP file contained the audio track and a text file containing some technical and historical details. The tracks available were:
- Ancients — Genesis battle track A with extended opening
- Ambience I — Unsuccessful debrief music; a note on the website mentions it originally used as main hall music
- Revelations (sic) — Three parts; Chapter II has an extended ending
- Joshua — Three parts
- Numbers — Three parts
- Ending Score — Combined ending cutscenes music
Edited variations of these tracks are included in MV_Music.vp and will play in-game if high-quality music is enabled.
Some additional music tracks created for FS1 and FS2 but were not included in the game files were released to the community in a music pack named "FreeSpace Music Pack (Extras).zip". This pack included variations of game tracks, several unused outtakes, cutscene scores and trailer music, as well as a humorous bonus track, "BiteMeJason2.mp3". The pack was first uploaded to ShackSpace by Hard Light Productions Forums user Nix, and discussed on this thread.
The music files downloadable on the official website and "FreeSpace Music Pack (Extras).zip" are mirrored on SectorGame's FreeSpace Files section.
Remixes
In early 2012, composer Dan Wentz started creating remixes of the main tracks in FS1, as well as Aquitaine, Exodus, and the Credits music in FS2, publishing most of them on his SoundCloud page], and creating this thread for further discussion of the works.
Edited versions of the FS1 remixes are included as an optional component of the FreeSpace Port, and a trimmed version of the Aquitaine remix is used as main hall music in Blue Planet's FreeSpace Blue campaign. Like the extra music previously released, all remixes are mirrored on FreeSpace Files.
