A Return to Freespace...



Well, I've managed to play through the Freespace 1 campaign again for the first time in years.  I then a way to acquire and run Freespace 2.  Several years ago the source code for Freespace 2 was released and the Source Code Project or SCP has produced their improvement of the game called Freespace 2 Open or FSO.  This version has entirely exclipsed the retail version by advancing the graphics by almost a decade and improving the efficiency and functionality of the engine that runs the game.



Freespace 2 Open is absolutely gorgeous, runs much smoother even with the enhanced graphics, and the original FS2 campaign as well as countless mods are all available for free!   For a simple installer to give you Freespace 2 Open along with multiplayer content and many mods (including FS1 Port - the full Freespace 1 campaign playable via the FSO engine) check out Turey's Online Installer.  Basically the installer asks you what you want and  then downloads and installs everything for you - which takes a while.  If it doesn't show a progress bar for a given download and seems to be very stuck (no change in a hour) just close the installer and run it again - it autodetects what you already have and will continue the install instead of being stuck.  That's my experience anyway.  Also to make this work you'll need the "Open AL Installer" which you can google easily.



I recommend Freespace 2 Open to anyone with the time to play it... heck drop whatever you're playing and just play it anyway!



As I was getting Freespace 2 to work I first wanted to get a version of the retail game working to play it with the original engine and graphics for a more genuine experience (and because a future speedrun would likely need to be done on the retail version).  To this end I acquired the entire game about 4 times - using Turey's installer to only instal the retail files twice, getting the Home of the Underdogs version (and the necessary files to complete it) at one point, and I also learned the wonderful trade of downloading torrents of the CD images and using daemon tools to mount the images.  In the end, using the CD images worked for me.  However when I actually began running FS2, my computor had a very horrible time of it anytime the dogfighting intensified and I was unable to even complete the 3rd mission.  That's when I decided that I needed to be running FSO with it's enhanced game engine.



Even with way higher graphics settings, FSO ran on my computer beautifully where I could barely run the game's retail counterpart.  My hat is off to the Source Code Project for their fine work!



In the Meantime...



While I'm loving freespace, I'm still playing some other things.  Notably I've made progress in Rogue Squadron, but not like I'd hoped.  The game has a massive learning curve for me and now I'm stuck on one of it's most dreaded levels  - uh... the volcano one (great... now I'm too lazy to look up a level name!).  Based on the amount of experience others have with the game and the fact that I've been under the rock all these years, I'm doubting that I'll ever produce the speedrun.  Yeah it would be another great mainstrain space shooter from the early N64 - just like Star Fox 64 - but I didn't grow up playing it, and it seems to have a control scheme completely unlike any other space shooter out there (well, except the sequels...).  I'll probably just try and beat the thing if I can and follow the forum which is now somewhat bustling with nastalgic players dusting off their all gold medal copies of the game.



The Star Trek Elite



Having learned how to download a torrent and mount a ROM image it's no surprise I've found another new game in recent days!  I once owned Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force, but my copy stopped working and eventually the CD was lost.  So I've now reacquired the game and am enjoying one of the best Star Trek games ever made!  It's an FPS based in the Quake III engine that earned extremely high ratings.  What's great is that the sequel is supposed to be even better! A LOT like the Freespace franchise really... and since the sequel is $50 on Ebay, which basically gives it "collectible" status, I went ahead and got that over a torrent as well, though it' not installed yet.



Elite Force 2 was actually one of the highest rated games when it came out and is almost certainly the best Star Trek game ever released.  It supposedly is more fun than Quake 3 whose engine it runs on,  and is said to be the only instance of a perfect conversion from TV show to a perfectly executed video game.  Even better is the fact that there is a very extensive modding community surrounding the game, especially making maps for multiplayer and the typical fare of FPS mods.



Needless to say I'm looking forward to playing through both of the Elite Force games as I play through Freespace 2.  Once I'm through with Freespace 2, I'll likely explore some of the available mods, and perhaps even play through a Co-op camppaign with a friend.



My gaming fronteirs are wide open with new possibilities!  Of course, I'm still keeping my eyes out for something good to speedrun, and I've got a feeling it'd be fun to see how quickly some Freespace 1 missions can be completed.



Until next time, this is Psonar signing out!