This is excellent stuff Freelancer! I know Gibbon's forum is always busy with mod news, but its nice to see Freelancer goodies being highlighted on the SSC :girlcrazy:

Nice will have to have a look at all this. <img src="' http://spacesimcentral.com/forum/public/style_emoticons//biggrin.gi f"' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':biggrin:' />

Does anyone here still play Freelancer ?

Some time back i built a Storyline mod that added a couple of extra missions to the SP storyline..

Im thinking of remodelling the storyline into something great and new.

...but first im vey curious is there still people who would play a brand new Freelancer campaign? and how many?

I still play through freelancer from time to time

Sorry I didn't respond to this sooner.

There are a lot of people who still play Freelancer - granted, most people have moved onto the mods, but there's still a decent userbase out there.

Santa Claus is coming to town :santa: and it is time to update this thread as well. Thanks to the awesome modding community, the Vanilla Freelancer got even better.

So here goes the X'mass 2015 edition for the pimped up vanilla playthrough:

1) Freelancer Unofficial Patch 1.4 ( http://www.moddb.com/games/freelancer/downloads/freelancer-unofficial-patch-14 )

- although included in how-to guides throughout the internetz, it is not needed actually, as UP 1.4 is already incorporated in JFLP 1.20

2) JFLP 1.20 and 1.21 dll Update (get it here - http://adoxa.altervista.org/freelancer/index.html)

3) Swag Pack HD - this is a major update compared to previous HD packs, and it is compatible with both Vanilla Freelancer and Discovery mod as well ( get it here - http://discoverygc.com/forums/showthread.php?tid=98156)

- be sure to get the 0.5 update as well

- if you don't like the included ENB, just delete d3d8.dll in the EXE folder (or rather do not copy over the EXE folder at all)

4a) HQ Original Music ( http://www.moddb.com/games/freelancer/addons/hq-original-music )

4b) New Ambiences Sound Mod ( https://www.mediafire.com/?rb12cg94x9826 )

- these sound mods do make a difference, just try them out!

(note that sometimes if you are saving a game the ambient sounds for the particular room you happen to be in while you are saving it will get turn off, just change the room and the ambient sounds will be back)

5) HD Asteroids ( http://www.moddb.com/games/freelancer/addons/hd-asteroid-textures-for-freelancer )

- not included in the Swag Pack HD texture pack

6) HD Starsphere ( http://www.moddb.com/games/freelancer/news/freelancer-hd-starsphere-pack )

- the second (final) tga version is included in the Swag Pack HD Pack, but you might want to try more bright stars from the first tga version, but it does not feature the new HD stars

- just to be sure you can download the first pack ( http://www.gamefront.com/files/21595997/Freelancer+HD+Starsphere+pack.rar ), then the second one ( https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B9NecvwzJ6fsNUJOVHNsYkdoNG8/edit?pli=1) /a> and copy the content of the second pack into the content of the first pack - this way you will get the final version's backgrounds and first version's stars, then finally copy the content of your V1+V2 version of HD Starsphere into the respective folder in the Swag Pack HD

- in order to get a version (dds) with HD stars get https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B9NecvwzJ6fsSDd4Y2U2a2dyVG8/edit?pli=1 (you can also find latest dds version, without HD stars here: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B9NecvwzJ6fseHhVdWdKMDBMYm8/edit?pli=1)

7a) misc. mods , like Realistic Lightning Mod (get it here - http://fl-guide.de/downloads.php ), set to 10%-30%, greatly enhances ambience, or check some other Vanilla friendly mods (Adoxa's or bundled with FMM etc.)

7b) ini edits - there are various inis that you can edit and some of those can really make a difference

Widescreen support works out of the box, so to say, using this set up, just be sure to select your screen resolution in the Options. No need for "taking-to-space-once" workaround anymore. Be sure to apply the usual PerfOptions.ini modifications (especially disable 3D Sound, and enable advanced graphical options) and also pump up the AA and AF in your GPU drivers settings, that is really important. You might also want to enable the professional version of Fraunhoffer codec (see  here http://www.komeil.com/blog/enable-fraunhofer-mp3-l3codecp-acm-windows).

Enjoy the 2015 X'mass edition of the Vanilla Freelancer. I take no credit at all for this, kudos go to awesome modders and also to the author of the 2014 reddit guide ( https://www.reddit.com/r/freelancer/comments/2g93u6/2014_freelancer_graphics_mod_only_guide/ ) - in that guide there is some additional info, like the font you might need (just google it to get to some working download, but check first if you have it or not), note that you can get SweetFX rather here - https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2VW1jH4Ja2AOFVKbDNmb3diT28/view?pref=2&pli=1, and you can find settings here https://sfx.thelazy.net/games/game/39/, be aware that it may unduly stress the game (just like the ENB included in the Swag Pack HD) introducing stuttering when being hailed by an NPC in space (depends on the video/sound drivers and hardware combos I guess), so if you run into something like this and have ENB and/or SweetFX enabled, disable it (those) and you will see that the game is butter-smooth otherwise, with all the bells and whistles, including HQ audio), obviously this differs from rig to rig, so you might not be affected.

The game is still rad! And right now there is no game quite like it - arcadey space sim (yeah, I am looking forward to SC, but that is going to be really something different, a heavy-weight space sim... and I think that there will always be a place for a light-weight space arcadey sim with fun factor as cool as that of Freelancer), with a mix of freeplay and a campaign and (!) the cockpit view (yep, I came to Freelancer from WC series, so that is important to me). SpaceForce: Rogue Universe came close to it, but it still missed some important features (like NPC interaction on planets and bases and being mod-friendly), but at least it had more varied mission types (heck, Escape Velocity had more varied mission types compared to Freelancer!). Starpoint Gemini series and the newly released Rebel Galaxy have a lot of that Freelancer vibe going on, but for me the lack of any kind of bridge view (in both cases we are talking about big spaceships of course, so no cockpit view here) is a big let down (though in both cases it is understandable and the games are cool as they are... though the bridge view could be great at least for the cruising parts of the gameplay and for those who would have AI handle the weaponry in battles, with bridge input perhaps). X Rebirth is kinda the only modern Freelancer-like game and that is just fine with me (I get the "it's not the X-type of game anymore" thing, but I am quite cool with that, since it is from the gameplay point of view really like a (gameplay) sequel of Freelancer, yay!), the only thing that is really annoying is the one ship thing going on (and the NPC interaction on bases should be enhanced, this whole part of the game has some cool potential to be tapped, hopefully in some next DLC). So what am I trying to say here? This - go get the mods and let's go for a X'mass 2015 Vanilla playthrough of pimped up Freelancer!

Cheers mates

EDIT: new version of how-to guide above

Well done!! I am in the process of reinstalling Freelancer, with the TNG Mod. Are these add ons compatible? And can you suggest an SPadd on , compatible with the Campaign SP (Not interested in Mutliplayer TBH)?

Well done!! I am in the process of reinstalling Freelancer, with the TNG Mod. Are these add ons compatible? And can you suggest an SPadd on , compatible with the Campaign SP (Not interested in Mutliplayer TBH)?

TNG mod is pretty good, and I am surely not going to dissuade you from that one. Having said that, if you want a SP extension of Freelancer I would recommend Crossfire 2.0. It continues the campaign well beyond the original Vanilla and features lot of new systems, ships, equipment etc. etc. I have just finished a CF 2.0 SP playthrough. It is quite good, but probably due to the technical limitations they have to deal with the new campaign as one long mission. You can take a break, say from finding the datapads, but the flow of the new campaign would be so much better if there were those levels in-between, like in the original campaign. But I think there was no other way around. So there are like time gaps when you get dumped on a planet right after you did something major and you are expected to go for another major thing (and you can just roleplay in your head what were you doing those couple of months that supposedly passed). Of course some people do not like the crazy AI (but it seemed to be nerfed compared to previous iterations of the mod) and Nanobots/Shield Regen thing going on with NPCs, some fights can be rather protracted and kind of no fun. But you can get used to it and develop some tactics, if you stick with it. You can also set the difficulty scale in the Options and that helps quite a bit as well (although  the fights still take a lot more time than Vanilla). Getting money is too easy though, you start with way more than 500 Creds like in Vanilla and there is also a way to make millions of creds right there in Liberty. So on the one hand the combat is more challenging than Vanilla, but you can be swimming in money like Uncle Scrooge in no time already during the original campaign. Compared to that Vanilla is more challenging.

I have collected the info I posted above because after all those playthroughs of modded Freelancer I wanted to go back again to simple Vanilla experience, with its own challenges. If you want simple add-ons for SP, consider perhaps using the Speed Mod (included in FMM), but beware of Hovis race :gamer:  (can be done using various tactics, or just turn off the Speed Mod for the race and then turn it back on... or consider using the Thruster part of the Speed Mod as well) and some of Adoxa's little add-ons.

As for your question, I think that Swag Pack HD is compatible only with Vanilla and Disco, but of course you can manually incorporate it into your TNG install. But I am not sure you really need that. Starsphere though is something that I would recommend replacing in most mods, since I think that Hunor did really great job there. The Lightning Mod should also be compatible with quite a few mods. Artofeel's HQ sound packs can be compatible with some mods as well and are really cool.

Mods are great and Freelancer is great and fresh with them, but sometimes the Vanilla is just the best (of course, a pimped up Vanilla, that's why I updated this thread). You can't go wrong either way :imsohappy:

I will try the Crossfire then, and  apply compatible Mods!!! Thanks again for the heads up!!

I will try the Crossfire then, and  apply compatible Mods!!! Thanks again for the heads up!!

CF 2.0 is not really compatible with any other mods (apart from like two FMM minimods) and frankly you really do not need any. CF 2.0 is a complete package, so to say. Enjoy it, but get ready for non-Vanilla combat (for better or worse, depends really...).

Updated Vanilla X'mass 2015 guide above ( http://spacesimcentral.com/ssc/topic/3033-pimped-up-vanilla-freelancer/?p=56359 )

 

 

CF 2.0 is not really compatible with any other mods (apart from like two FMM minimods) and frankly you really do not need any. CF 2.0 is a complete package, so to say. Enjoy it, but get ready for non-Vanilla combat (for better or worse, depends really...).

Since it;s a whooping 2.6 GB download, the people behind the mod, must have incorporated a lot of graphical updates in it. I wonder if I will encounter any Babylon 5 or Star Wars ships!!!!