[Mebber]

Hi guys,

I'm planning to replace my german version of Freespace 2 with an english version. Buying it from GOG would be cheap and easy, but i could also try to find and import an original CD-version. Point is, i'm not very adept with the technical stuff of the SCP - are there any differences between the GOG version and an original version when using FS open? GOG sometimes modifies the games to run better on modern systems, so my thought was this might somehow interfere with FS open. I had some issues with my german version from time to time because it differed in parts from the original english version, so if i'm going to buy a new copy, i want to make sure it's perfectly suited for FS open use.

[The E]

There are a few differences, mostly relating to the placement of some files, which you may have to copy from one directory to another.

[Veers]

I run the original disk copies myself, but I'd recommend GOG based on it's easy availability.

[deathspeed]

I'd think that the GOG version would be easier to get and probably cheaper than an import.  Plus, there is always a chance that a 15 year old CD can have errors, even if no scratches are visible.  Since even in the wiki they recommend the GOG version, I doubt you will run into any problems with it, but if you do, this community is among the most helpful (and patient!) I have ever encountered. 

http://www.hard-light.net/wiki/index.php/Getting_started#Buying_the_Games

[Mebber]

Thanks for the input guys, i'll import an original version. Found a nice offer on amazon.uk, it's not that expensive and i don't mind the few bucks more.

Plus, there is always a chance that a 15 year old CD can have errors, even if no scratches are visible.  Since even in the wiki they recommend the GOG version, I doubt you will run into any problems with it, but if you do, this community is among the most helpful (and patient!) I have ever encountered.

Guess you can never be sure 100% the CD you buy actually works, but i've never run into problems like this yet, and i've bought quite a bunch of old CD's over time. Large-scale Amazon sellers with a good rep are quite reliable in my experience. And if i'll eventually run into someone who sells me a broken copy and refuses a refund, well... bad luck.

Sure, the GOG version would probably work just fine, and any problems could be solved with community help and a bit of simple file moving. But it's still nice to have a really "clean" base version which doesn't require even minor tweaking at all.

Greetings, Mebber

[The E]

Except of course installing the game, which may be tricky on modern systems (I am not sure, did the original discs ship with a 32-bit installer?), and installing the 1.2 patch.

[Mebber]

That's a good question. I'm running Win7 x64 and was able to install my current FS2 version several times on this rig without problems - but my current version is a 10+ years old budget version, and not an original copy. Has anyone still lying around his original copy and mind to check if the installer is 16 or 32 bit?

[General Battuta]

I don't think there is any practical reason to go with anything except the GoG version.

[CT27]

I don't think there is any practical reason to go with anything except the GoG version.

I already had my retail copy of FS2 (SOTY edition) installed before I heard about GoG?

[nijineko]

The original disk installer is 16 bit.

I'm still browsing the forums in order to figure out why it flatly refuses to even launch the autorun or the setup.exe file on this old Vista laptop I have. I may have to scare up my old 98 disk to copy the command.com file off of it and see if that helps, as updating the autoexec.nt and config.nt files have had no effect alone. 

And I do believe I bought my disks before GOG even existed. 

[niffiwan]

oh the irony, the original installer runs fine under WINE 

[deathspeed]

I'm glad you have done so well with used disks!  I only posted that because I did have one disk fail - my original, OEM copy of Windows XP.  There are no visible scratches, but the installation crashes at the same point every time I try to use it.  I finally acquired an unaltered ISO image and burned that to DVD and it has worked fine.

I had no Freespace installation issues using the original disks on my Windows 7 64-bit machine, but I remember seeing another thread on here where someone was having that sort of trouble. Although I don't remember installing a patch...maybe I bought my disk late enough (late 1999 or early 2000) that it was already patched?  The readme says "version 1.20".

[The E]

The original disk installer is 16 bit.

I'm still browsing the forums in order to figure out why it flatly refuses to even launch the autorun or the setup.exe file on this old Vista laptop I have. I may have to scare up my old 98 disk to copy the command.com file off of it and see if that helps, as updating the autoexec.nt and config.nt files have had no effect alone. 

You will not be able to get a 16-bit executable to run on Vista, period. MS specifically removed compatibility with 16-bit programs in Vista and later, so you will have to look for alternative means of extracting the files from the installer program.

[Mongoose]

You'd think that someone would come up with a 16-bit wrapper or emulator or somesuch to resolve that problem, if they haven't already.

[Mebber]

Isn't it possible to extract the content of the launcher and repack it as a 32-bit launcher? I read about this awhile ago when i had problems with another game using an 16-bit installer, but haven't tried. Maybe i'll try it this time.

The only other workaround i know of is to install the game in a VM, copy the files to the main OS and manually add registry entries if necessary.

[The E]

It should be possible to extract the game's data files from the .cab files on the first CD. Given that the content on the other CDs isn't packed in something obscure, those files can just be copied straight off of the discs into the FS2 directory.

[jr2]

http://wiki.winehq.org/WineOnWindows



Of course it doesn't work yet.  Of course.