Hard Light Productions Forums
General FreeSpace => FreeSpace Discussion => Topic started by: MatthewPapa on February 20, 2026, 05:52:48 pm
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After a long downtime, VolitionWatch is back online. It has been restored from cold backups and made to live again over 20 years later.
https://archives.game-warden.com
https://freespacewatch.game-warden.com
https://volitionwatch.game-warden.com
https://redfactionwatch.game-warden.com
The goal of this first release is preservation and access. Core pages, historical content, and forum read access are now available again. Some legacy features are still being repaired, and a few pages may be missing images that were absent from the initial backup. Content has been pulled from archive.org where possible to backfill any missing stuff. We should be >90% of the way there!
Any major issues feel fee to report them here. I have had to nerf some login/account/poll features for the sake of security (after all this site was taken down originally because it was hacked) but much functionality should be intact. Most of the PHP code has been completely rewritten to work with newer versions of PHP/SQL and be more security conscious.
Thank you to my codex assistant for doing all of the legwork. There is no way this would have been finished anytime this decade without it.
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This is cool and interesting, very much a relic from before my time.
There's a few things - the images over in the Freespace 2 download section lead to q website that has since been taken over by domain squatters
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thanks for the heads up!
Im sure someone else can describe the history of VW well; it probably deserves a wiki article. I joined VW when I was like 13-14 or something so I dont have the best recollection. But I can take a shot at it if no one else does.
I think my favorite site was the archives. I played the vast majority of missions/campaigns on there and even left some reviews. Funny to read over 20 years later haha
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Im sure someone else can describe the history of VW well;
Well whilst it has its obvious origins in Nazi Germany i would actually make a spirited argument that the Beetle is as much a symbol of post-war reconstruction - in no small part because the plant actually only build them in earnest after the war under orders of the British occupation.
Oh wait you meant volition watch not Volkswagen my bad.
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That's a neat thing :yes:
Were you planning on bringing back the download section too?
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Oh wow, what a massive blast from the past. I don't think I was ever a member of the forums (or if I was I've long since forgotten), but I know I downloaded every single campaign from the archives. Nothing like seeing that brown-on-beige color scheme again. :D
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Excellent work! I thought all those pages were for good long gone. Looks like a lot of reading for cozy evenings :D
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Very well done - does it mean we may recover campaigns once believed to be lost in the void?
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What a nostalgia hit! Thank you (or Codex? 😂) for bringing those sites back. 👍 Reading them, I feel like I am 14 again. I have almost forgotten what the original FS graphics looked like..
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What a nostalgia hit! Thank you (or Codex? 😂) for bringing those sites back. 👍 Reading them, I feel like I am 14 again. I have almost forgotten what the original FS graphics looked like..
Yeah, over time we tend to forget how imperfect things were back then and only remember the good parts. In my case it's quite different, and I remember exactly how they looked. Meaning: they're fantastic!
By the way, this revival deserves a highlight.
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Very well done - does it mean we may recover campaigns once believed to be lost in the void?
Are there any lost campaigns that were only ever on VolitionWatch?
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Fun to see how what became the GTC Aeolus started as a concept art for the Terran supercarrier.
Also, one of the space stations did not make it into the game, but there is a mod that fixes this.
I don't think I've ever seen VW sites when they were originally active, fun stuff to have this reactivated.
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Are there any lost campaigns that were only ever on VolitionWatch?
I'm not a VBB survivor myself but I do recall people mentioning content that may have been lost over time, including campaigns. I'm also referring to the backups created by community members who became inactive at some point.
EDIT: I may be wrong, but many of the campaigns listed here (https://archives.game-warden.com/fs2/missions/campaigns.php) were indeed lost. The FS Wiki does not mention them at all. Unfortunately, direct downloads are no longer available.
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Oh wow, this has been a long time coming. Great to see this finally online!
I have the same VolitionWatch backup that MatthewPapa does (in fact I think I gave it to him) and it does contain all the downloadable files. So making those files available is simply a matter of repairing or reconstructing the download functionality.
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Goober, I was wondering if perhaps you could pass those old downloads to someone to go through them, categorize and re-upload? I won't deny I wanted to replay some old campaigns on retail like if it was 2000 again and I suspect there may be more people like me who'd love to do the same :cool:
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I don't think I've ever seen VW sites when they were originally active, fun stuff to have this reactivated.[/color]
Well not active anymore, but I'm pretty sure they still were online when you registered here
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most stuff doesnt work not restored
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Ah I did not realize the campaign links were broken, good tip! They worked at some point during my restoration but i think when I locked down security i broke the download functionality because the queries were not read only. Try to download again, it should be fixed!
I also fixed the mission download and mod cross links. Additionally it is no longer necessary to be signed in to read reviews.
Please find other issues! Need to fix as much as possible.
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Are there any lost campaigns that were only ever on VolitionWatch?
I'm not a VBB survivor myself but I do recall people mentioning content that may have been lost over time, including campaigns. I'm also referring to the backups created by community members who became inactive at some point.
EDIT: I may be wrong, but many of the campaigns listed here (https://archives.game-warden.com/fs2/missions/campaigns.php) were indeed lost. The FS Wiki does not mention them at all. Unfortunately, direct downloads are no longer available.
Figured I'd go over the list:
Aftermath - Is it the one tagged "CE" on Knossos? If not, no
Allied Worlds - No
Battle of Midway - No
Biowar - No
Boomerang - Yes
Dantes Ascension - No
Derelict - Definitely yes
Desperate Times - No
Enemies United - Yes
Escort Duty - Yes
Evil Heart - No
Gateway - Yes
Home Sweet Home - No
Hyper Crisis - No
Imperium - No
Independence Warriors - No
Inner Troubles - Yes, if the only released part is part 1
Into the Darkness - No
League Of Free Worlds, Part One - No
Millennium - Yes
NTF - I think yes, listed as "NTF Campaign Part 1" on Knossos
NTF Saga - Yes
Operation Odin's Spear - No
Pandora's Box - Yes
Pirates Of Delta Serpentis - Yes
Revolution - No
Search for Knowledge - Yes, at least the prologue
Second Great War Part II - Yes
Special Ops Command - May be under "The Special Operations Command."
Technological Superiority - Yes
The Aeos Affair - Yes
The Allied Forces - Don't think it's the one already on Knossos, no
The Deuterium Connection - Yes
The Enemy From The Past - Yes
The Jake War - No
The Jake War 2 - No
The LDK Campaign - Yes
The Regulus Campaign - Yes
The Titan Rebellion - Yes
Trinity - Yes
Unholy Alliance - Yes
Vortex - Yes
Warzone - Yes
A lot of the campaigns seem to have been uploaded by GaryDD without any information other than their original VW descriptions about a year and a half ago. Most of them are surprisingly already here, but it's good to have the ones that aren't.
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Besides, it’s nice to have them downloadable from other location than Knossos so one could simply unpack a campaign into data/missions and experience it the classic way :)
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Let's not forget that they need to be fswikified too. It's going to take a while but it's definitely worth it.
The restored websites also feature fan fictions, many of which seem pretty good. We should do something about them.
Figured I'd go over the list:
Aftermath - Is it the one tagged "CE" on Knossos? If not, no
Allied Worlds - No
Battle of Midway - No
Biowar - No
Boomerang - Yes
Dantes Ascension - No
Derelict - Definitely yes
Desperate Times - No
Enemies United - Yes
Escort Duty - Yes
Evil Heart - No
Gateway - Yes
Home Sweet Home - No
Hyper Crisis - No
Imperium - No
Independence Warriors - No
Inner Troubles - Yes, if the only released part is part 1
Into the Darkness - No
League Of Free Worlds, Part One - No
Millennium - Yes
NTF - I think yes, listed as "NTF Campaign Part 1" on Knossos
NTF Saga - Yes
Operation Odin's Spear - No
Pandora's Box - Yes
Pirates Of Delta Serpentis - Yes
Revolution - No
Search for Knowledge - Yes, at least the prologue
Second Great War Part II - Yes
Special Ops Command - May be under "The Special Operations Command."
Technological Superiority - Yes
The Aeos Affair - Yes
The Allied Forces - Don't think it's the one already on Knossos, no
The Deuterium Connection - Yes
The Enemy From The Past - Yes
The Jake War - No
The Jake War 2 - No
The LDK Campaign - Yes
The Regulus Campaign - Yes
The Titan Rebellion - Yes
Trinity - Yes
Unholy Alliance - Yes
Vortex - Yes
Warzone - Yes
Those are FS2 campaigns. There's also a list of FS1 campaigns (https://archives.game-warden.com/fs1/missions/campaigns.php) which should, in principle, be compatible with the FSPort. Some of them are already available but many others were unheard of, at least from my perspective:
25th Year -- By: KolChak, Added: 06/27/98
Alliance Fights Back -- By: Travis, Added: 07/13/99
Awakenings -- By: Ahayweh Gate Productions, Added: 11/24/98
Battle for Altair -- By: Adam N. Rorabaugh, Added: 10/15/98
Black Horizon -- By: Jason 'Ryzbre' Wollenberg, Added: 05/09/99
Cardinal Spear -- By: Adam 'Ace' Rorabaugh, Added: 07/08/99
Cardinal Spear: Vega -- By: Adam 'Ace' Rorabaugh, Added: 08/18/99
Crucible -- By: Matthew Guenther, Added: 10/04/98
Dark Daunting -- By: James J. Smith, Added: 10/25/98
Dark Raji -- By: James J. Smith, Added: 01/20/99
Darkness Rising -- By: Adam 'Ace' Rorabaugh and James 'Omega' Smith, Added: 05/08/99
Duke Squad -- By: T.O.Doggie, Added: 07/14/01
DW -- By: Joacim Holst, Added: 08/09/99
Eagle -- By: Robert, Added: 01/19/99
First Crusade -- By: Damian Hartmann, Added: 03/17/00
Hellwolf -- By: Hsiong Chen & Lloyd Lin, Added: 06/22/98
Infinite Dimension -- By: Laser Ray, Added: 01/09/99
Internal Conflicts -- By: The Emporper, Added: 11/24/98
Main Campaign (Co-Op) -- By: Nysos C. Dedes, Added: 07/16/98
Marduk's Shroud -- By: Enkidu, Added: 11/29/98
McCarthy -- By: Matthew Anderson, Added: 06/17/98
New Beginnings -- By: David Carter, Added: 07/13/98
Nubian Conflict -- By: Marcus Harris, Added: 08/22/98
Second Vasudan War -- By: [email protected], Added: 06/18/98
Second Wave -- By: Jacob Bock aka Omega47, Added: 07/06/98
Slaser -- By: James J. Smith, Added: 10/15/98
Special Operations -- By: Haskett, Added: 07/25/98
Start of the Vasudan War -- By: Richard Chan, Added: 03/25/99
Suppression -- By: Michael Sawicki, Added: 01/17/99
Tango -- By: Julian Egelstaff, Added: 11/17/98
Terran-Vasudan Alliance -- By: Serge Lachapelle, Added: 11/14/99
The Counterstrike -- By: Derek McBurney, Added: 07/26/98
The Day After -- By: Gil, Added: 08/22/98
The Destiny of Peace -- By: Justin, Added: 07/29/98
The Road to Victory -- By: Michael Cook, Added: 03/04/99
Topgun -- By: Terminator, Added: 03/16/99
Vasudan Academy -- By: Laser Ray-IDS Productions, Added: 11/20/98
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I think I downloaded all of those waaay back in the day but at some point a few of the compressed archives got corrupted. Not sure if that was on my end or the site's.
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Besides, it’s nice to have them downloadable from other location than Knossos so one could simply unpack a campaign into data/missions and experience it the classic way :)
Well the wiki has working FSMods links.... (not that more redundancy would be a bad thing)
And I also do old school installs and setup.
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Wow I guess I did not realize that these FS1 missions were not backed up or uploaded anywhere else. Thats awesome.
BTW I noticed the forum quit working, I just fixed that. Another casualty of my security hardening.
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I think I've uploaded all the VW stuff here including the FS1 stuff but apparently not anything made it to Knossos
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This is lovely news :)
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I guess in case these campaigns are meant to work with the MVPS, they'll require some balancing, wouldn't they?
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MVPs are just visual updates no?
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Oh right. Was it FSU then? But didn't the MVPS also made changes to the tables changing some parts of the balancing?
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Ideally speaking the MediaVPs should be able to play retail (or retail-made) missions just as they were. There may be some minor discrepancies that have crept in over the many years though.
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What's a quarter century 🤔 😜
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Oh right. Was it FSU then? But didn't the MVPS also made changes to the tables changing some parts of the balancing?
They're not supposed to and the table files generally don't. But there are things inherent in the models that can break things (subsystem pathing issues, turrets working slightly differently) as well as the occasional bug (such as the Sathanas forward flak guns not working for a while).
It generally isn't an issue but sometimes a small change can cause bigger issues in modded campaigns. Fsport had the original model of the Orion for a long time as the mvp model was bigger, breaking some fan made campaigns that demanded precise placement.
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Please correct me if I'm wrong, my impression from various comments in the past were that for example the Freespace AI behaviour underwent several changes over the years and I thought this was something that is specified in the ai.tbl. But it's likely just a misinterpretation on my end.
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As I understand it, any AI tweaks added over the years are in the form of opt-in flags, for the exact reason that they won't affect missions balanced against retail behavior.
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Yeah what Mongoose said. And the Freespace Upgrade Project doesn't enable any of those flags.
But there is a small chance of changes in AI behaviour due to unintentional side effects from changes in FSO's code, as well as aforementioned changes to models. It shouldn't change things, but sometimes it does.
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Haha VWBB saw the most distinct IP addresses ever recently
Most users ever online was 124 on 03-01-2026 at 12:04 AM.
of course most of them are bots for search engines or LLM companies. at least now GPT5.4 and Claude Opus 4.7 may have much more early knowledge of Freespace and Volition
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After a long downtime, VolitionWatch is back online. It has been restored from cold backups and made to live again over 20 years later.
https://archives.game-warden.com
https://freespacewatch.game-warden.com
https://volitionwatch.game-warden.com
https://redfactionwatch.game-warden.com
The goal of this first release is preservation and access. Core pages, historical content, and forum read access are now available again. Some legacy features are still being repaired, and a few pages may be missing images that were absent from the initial backup. Content has been pulled from archive.org where possible to backfill any missing stuff. We should be >90% of the way there!
Any major issues feel fee to report them here. I have had to nerf some login/account/poll features for the sake of security (after all this site was taken down originally because it was hacked) but much functionality should be intact. Most of the PHP code has been completely rewritten to work with newer versions of PHP/SQL and be more security conscious.
Thank you to my codex assistant for doing all of the legwork. There is no way this would have been finished anytime this decade without it.
now that’s a site I’ve not thought of for a long time. A long time.