Hard Light Productions Forums

Off-Topic Discussion => Gaming Discussion => Topic started by: Davros on December 28, 2009, 11:05:12 am

Title: Freespace 1 Free
Post by: Davros on December 28, 2009, 11:05:12 am
On gametap
they have a habit of rotating the free games so im not sure how long this offer will last
Title: Re: Freespace 1 Free
Post by: Thaeris on December 28, 2009, 01:27:23 pm
Is that version DRM-free/moddable, though?
Title: Re: Freespace 1 Free
Post by: Commander Zane on December 28, 2009, 02:34:23 pm
Use GOG.com.
Title: Re: Freespace 1 Free
Post by: Mongoose on December 29, 2009, 01:32:11 am
Is that version DRM-free/moddable, though?
It'll never be the former, and it's not the latter, at least not right now.  GameTap's original encryption scheme completely changed the whole file layout, so the games encoded under it couldn't use third-party mods.  Fortunately, the new scheme that's currently being implemented to enable 64-bit compatibility for PC games has the added bonus of also being compatible with mod content.  Every new game being added to the service is encoded under this new encryption, and the team's been working on re-encoding one or two back-catalog games every week, starting with the most-played titles on the service.  FS2 has a very high player rating on the site, and I've pimped it once or twice on GameTap's blog, so I'm hoping it gets re-encoded sooner rather than later.  As for how long FS1 will be available for free, I think the free offerings are rotated out every month (I'm a subscriber, so I don't really pay attention to that side of things).

I'd never recommend GameTap to someone who's just looking to play FS2, as there's no point in purchasing an entire subscription service for the sake of a lone game; that's what GOG's wonderful offer is for.  But if/when the game does get re-encoded, I think it could definitely drive some more traffic our way, provided everything SCP-wise works fine with it.  I know I'll definitely hop on the forums and try to talk things up.
Title: Re: Freespace 1 Free
Post by: Galemp on December 29, 2009, 12:53:27 pm
FreeSpace is on GameTap? Huh.
Title: Re: Freespace 1 Free
Post by: Mongoose on December 29, 2009, 09:34:23 pm
Has been for a couple of years now, minus the short time period when all of Interplay's titles were temporarily removed.