Installing FreeSpace 2

There are several methods to installing FreeSpace 2. The supported methods include installing from the boxed media, manually setting up the retail data, or installing using the GOG distribution.

Installing from CDs/DVD

This is the default way for Windows users. Perform a normal install of FS2 if you are in Windows, or if you want to use this method in Linux or OS X, you should be able to run the installer via Wine. That exercise is beyond the scope of this article however. Once the game is installed, it leaves the movies on the installation media. You will want to copy the .mve files from the CDs/DVD to the data/movies folder inside your FS2 dir, for example C:\Games\Freespace2\data\movies\, creating the data and/or movies folders if they don't exist. If it's not already, you will want to patch the game to version 1.2 (GOTY editions already are). Now you will want to proceed with Installing fs2 open

Installing with only the game data files

For this method, you will need a collection of .vp files. These include:

• root_fs2.vp
• smarty_fs2.vp
• sparky_fs2.vp
• sparky_hi_fs2.vp
• stu_fs2.vp
• tango1_fs2.vp
• tango2_fs2.vp
• tango3_fs2.vp
• warble_fs2.vp

Create a Freespace2 folder and put these .vp files in it. Generally these are the only .vp files that should be in your folder, save for a few exceptions. These all need to be v1.2 files. You can safely put the multiplayer misison pack and multiplayer voice pack in with these, and if you don't have the .mve cutscenes, you can put the FS2OggCutscenePack.vp file in this directory as well. Any other .vp files should typically be installed as a mod, by creating a folder in the Freespace2 folder and putting it in there. Multiple mods can be used through mod.ini files, so there's not usually a need to stick a new experimental .vp file (or other game data files) inside an already working mod folder.

You may also want to get the HUD color presets.

Installing from Good Old Games (GOG.com)

The installation should be similar to that for retail FS2 media. At first, the GOG version installed one .vp file that was not updated to version 1.2. This should have been fixed in newer versions though.

Installing from the .cab files on Linux/OS X

If you have access to the installer files from GOG or retail media, but you can't run the installer, Linux and OS X have access to a little tool called Unshield (OS X version is in Darwin/MacPorts). It can be used to extract the retail data from the cab files. Then proceed with the Installing with only game data files instructions.