Getting FreeSpace

There are several different ways of getting Freespace.

Buy it

Of course, there are still a few copies of Freespace 2 floating around, up for sale on eBay, or maybe lying in the bargain bin at your local computer store - although the latter's pretty doubtful. Freespace 2 has not been mass-produced in the States for several years, so checking places that sell used software is your only recourse. Freespace, of course, has been out-of-print (so to speak) for even longer.

Get it from a friend

Oddly enough, Freespace 2 actually has a clause in the license agreement that states that it's legal to give a copy of Freespace 2 to a friend - as long as it's for noncommercial use. So, be nice to anyone who has it, and maybe they'll burn it for you.

Get it from HOTU

HOTU also has Freespace 2 listed in their downloads. Although this download went down for a brief time in the past, it is one of the most reliable ways of getting Freespace 2 over the internet. Unfortunately, the version included with HOTU is stripped-down.

As of January 30th, 2006 "The game is already updated to v1.2 so there is no need to run the update." according to the readme.txt included with the HOTU version.

Freespace Zone

The Freespace Zone has .bin type images of all three CDs of Freespace 2 and the single CD of original Freespace, archived in the RAR format. Unfortunately the .cue files are not included. There's three ways to deal with this problem.

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Using Virtual Clone Drive

The first way to fix this is to install using Virtual Clone Drive. Virtual Clone Drive is a free program that creates a virtual drive on your computer, but instead of using a physical CD/DVD, it uses a ripped disk image. When you install Virtual Clone Drive, it will ask you to pick which file types you want to associate with it. Make sure you select at least .bin. When the install is finished, you'll get an icon for Virtual Clone Drive (It's a weird sheep picture). Double-click it, and you'll get this:
File:VCD1.JPG
Since there's three disks, select 3 from the drop-down box. When you open My Computer, you'll notice three of the drives have the weird sheep icon. Right click on one of these drives, and select "Mount...":
File:VCD2.JPG
In the Open dialog, navigate to the folder with the .bin files. Change the file type to "Other Images: to view them, then select the first disc. Repeat with the other disks, and you will be ready to install FreeSpace 2.
File:VCD3.JPG
When you're done with the install, just open up the Virtual Clone Drive window again and change the number of drives back to "Disabled".

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Other Methods

There's also a freeware program called "CD Mage" that can automatically create the .cue files for you. (You'l have to search for it as its site is mirrored all over the web on free hosts, thus the site linked today may not be there tomorrow.) The Freespace Zone does not mention that the Freespace 2 image files they have are MODE 2 with a block size of 2352.

If you want to just use notepad or other text editor to make .cue files, here's the info. Just copy and paste each into an empty text file and save at disc1.cue, disc2.cue and disc3.cue, placing each in the same folder with its matching .bin file.

FILE "disc1.bin" BINARY
  TRACK 01 MODE2/2352
    INDEX 01 00:00:00

FILE "disc2.bin" BINARY
  TRACK 01 MODE2/2352
    INDEX 01 00:00:00

FILE "disc3.bin" BINARY
  TRACK 01 MODE2/2352
    INDEX 01 00:00:00

BitTorrent

Freespace 2 is soon going to be made available via HLP's BitTorrent tracker. See the main BitTorrent article for more information about this method of distribution.

Get it from another source

There are other sources out there, that may have ISOs of the CDs, the VPs, etc. You may find some info on this thread of the HLP forums : http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php/topic,38195.0.html