Common FRED Issues
Q: I placed a ship in FRED, and now I can't deselect it by clicking in an empty area.
A: You probably have models and/or wireframes turned off, and can't see the actual size of the ship you placed. FRED still knows how big it is, though. Turn on wireframes or models, and if necessary zoom out, then try again.
Q: When I play my mission, the background nebulae are showing up in front of the planets.
A: Backgrounds are rendered in the order they are placed. Make sure you don't place your planets until after placing all the nebulae.
Q: None of the ships in my mission use their beams.
A: You need to either check 'All Ships Beam-Freed By Default' in the mission specs editor to free beams on all ships in the mission, or use the beam-free/beam-free-all SEXPs to free beams on a specific ship.