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FreeSpace 2

From PCGamingWiki, the wiki about fixing PC games
FreeSpace 2
FreeSpace 2 cover
Developers
Volition
Publishers
Interplay Entertainment
Engines
CTG[1][2]
Release dates
Windows September 30, 1999[3]
Taxonomy
Monetization One-time game purchase
Modes Singleplayer, Multiplayer
Pacing Real-time
Perspectives First-person, Third-person
Controls Direct control
Genres Action, FPS, Shooter, Vehicle combat
Vehicles Space flight
Art styles Realistic
Themes Sci-fi, Space
Series FreeSpace
FreeSpace 2 on HowLongToBeat
FreeSpace 2 on MobyGames
FreeSpace 2 on Wikipedia
FreeSpace
Descent: FreeSpace - The Great War 1998
FreeSpace 2 1999

FreeSpace 2 is a singleplayer and multiplayer first-person and third-person action, FPS, shooter and vehicle combat game in the FreeSpace series.

General information

GOG.com Community Discussions for game series
GOG.com Support Page
Steam Community Discussions
Source Code and Modding Community

Availability

Source DRM Notes Keys OS
Retail
Disc check (requires the CD/DVD in the drive to play)
Oversized DRM (lead-out area shortened and used for data, to prevent most contemporary CD-RW drives from copying the method)
Windows
GOG.com
DRM-free
Windows
Steam
Icon overlay.png
Windows
All versions of the game can be played on OS X and Linux using FS2Open.
A demo is available.

Essential improvements

Patches

The latest version is v1.02. Digital distributions are up-to-date.

Ports

Unofficial Linux port

An unofficial port of Freespace 2 is available here. The installer and the source code of the port itself is available. Keep in mind that the installer is not compatible with GOTY/Sim and non-English version.

FS2Open open source port

FS2Open is an open source port for Windows, OS X and Linux. Aside from bug fixes and optimizations, it includes improved graphical capabilities, and deeper mod support using new functions, support for the Lua scripting language, and the Knossos Launcher for mod management. It has also resulted in 8 standalone games made so far.

Game data

In-game general settings.
In-game general settings.

Configuration file(s) location

System Location
Windows
Steam Play (Linux) <Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/273620/pfx/[Note 1]
This game does not follow the XDG Base Directory Specification on Linux.

Save game data location

System Location
Windows <path-to-game>\data\players[Note 2]
Steam Play (Linux) <Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/273620/pfx/[Note 1]

Save game cloud syncing

System Native Notes
GOG Galaxy
Steam Cloud

Video

Launcher video settings.
Launcher video settings.
In-game detail settings.
In-game detail settings.

Graphics feature State WSGF Notes
Widescreen resolution
Use FS2Open.
Multi-monitor
Use FS2Open.
Ultra-widescreen
Use FS2Open.
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)
-fov flag in the Community launcher command line (format: -fov #.##). Community recommendations are for a value of 0.39.[4]
Windowed
Under Dev Tools in FSO Community Launcher.
Borderless fullscreen windowed
Run in fullscreen window under Dev Tools in FSO Community Launcher.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anti-aliasing (AA)
FXAA option available in the FSO Community Launcher.
Vertical sync (Vsync)
The Vertical Sync option in the launcher under Game Speed.
60 FPS and 120+ FPS
Will need to disable VSync and perhaps enable Don't limit frames-per-second in the launcher under Game Speed. Then FPS will be completely unlimited.[citation needed]

Launch problems

If you're not using Freespace Open and the game only appears in a part of your screen, that means that your desktop resolution is too high. Set your desktop resolution to something like 1920x1080 and launch the game again. 4k is too high.

Input

Launcher joystick settings.
Launcher joystick settings.

Keyboard and mouse State Notes
Remapping
Fully re-bindable controls under the in-game options menu
Mouse acceleration
Unmodded Mouse is best use for precision work as it lacks the movement range for big changes in direction.[citation needed]
Mouse sensitivity
Controls sensitivity in-game and not in menus
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support
Optimised for Joystick as number of Axis support is limited, community fix for this using SDL is being developed but still under testing.[citation needed]
Full controller support
Controller remapping
In-game options menu alongside key bindings
Controller sensitivity
Joystick sensitivity and deadzone settings
Controller Y-axis inversion
Every axis can be inverted in the in-game menu
Controller types
XInput-compatible controllers
PlayStation controllers
Generic/other controllers
Additional information
Controller hotplugging
Haptic feedback
Digital movement supported
Simultaneous controller+KB/M

Audio

Launcher audio settings.
Launcher audio settings.

Audio feature State Notes
Separate volume controls
Effects, Music, Voice. On/off toggle for Briefing Voice.
Surround sound
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
EAX support
Community Launcher option under Basic Settings.
Royalty free audio

Localizations

Language UI Audio Sub Notes
English
German
Retail only, but can be added to digital version via this download or with Freespace Open (Freiraum).
Polish

Many further fan translations via Freespace Open.

Network

Launcher network settings.
Launcher network settings.
In-game multiplayer settings.
In-game multiplayer settings.

Multiplayer types

Type Native Notes
LAN play
Online play
The official multiplayer service has been shut down.

VR support

Devices State Notes
TrackIR
Use FS2Open.[5]

Other information

API

Technical specs Supported Notes
Direct3D 5
DirectDraw 2
Glide
ExecutablePPC 32-bit 64-bitARM Notes
Windows
Linux
[6]

System requirements

Windows
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS) 95, 98
Processor (CPU) Intel Pentium 200 MHz
System memory (RAM) 32 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 400 MB
Video card (GPU) 3D accelerated graphics card
4 MB of VRAM
DirectX 6.0 compatible


Notes

  1. 1.0 1.1 File/folder structure within this directory reflects the path(s) listed for Windows and/or Steam game data (use Wine regedit to access Windows registry paths). Games with Steam Cloud support may store data in ~/.steam/steam/userdata/<user-id>/273620/ in addition to or instead of this directory. The app ID (273620) may differ in some cases. Treat backslashes as forward slashes. See the glossary page for details.
  2. When running this game without elevated privileges (Run as administrator option), write operations against a location below %PROGRAMFILES%, %PROGRAMDATA%, or %WINDIR% might be redirected to %LOCALAPPDATA%\VirtualStore on Windows Vista and later (more details).

References

  1. Volition on X - last accessed on 2023-10-16
    "It's our own in-house engine that we call CTG after our Core Technology Group."
  2. Volition on X - last accessed on 2023-10-16
    "It's been updated and changed over the years, but certain aspects of the engine like slew mode have been the same since the Freespace days."
  3. FREESPACE 2 SHIPS TO RETAIL (retrieved) - last accessed on 2023-06-02
    "Interplay Entertainment Corp. (NASDAQ:IPLY) is pleased to announce that the sequel to the highly acclaimed Descent FreeSpace: The Great War entitled FreeSpace 2 began shipping to retail on September 30, 1999."
  4. http://www.hard-light.net/wiki/index.php/Command-Line_Reference#-fov
  5. TrackIR and Freespace II - MediaVPs 3.6.12 - last accessed on May 2023
  6. Debian -- Details of package freespace2-launcher-wxlauncher in buster - last accessed on 2020-12-17