[Klaustrophobia]

I decided I would like to play through the original FS1, not the port, as I was combing through all my disks for stuff to install onto my new build.  But FS1 retail is ALL KINDS of ****ed up on any sort of modern system it seems.  I remember it being odd before on my old pc, but it worsened considerably for this one.  Is there a thread/wiki page hidden somewhere with tricks to get retail FS1 working decently?

[jr2]

Righter here.  Costs $5.99, but works!

OFC, you did patch to the latest version, right?  (1.06 / 1.06EAX)  here

EDIT: To use 3dfx Glide, use zeckensack's Glide Wrapper (Glide made FS1 a bit prettier than DirectX, IIRC, and FS1 does NOT have OpenGL... AFAIK, OpenGL was based in part from Glide... I might have that messed up, however.)

[Klaustrophobia]

I tried installing the patches, but I got the classic "file not found.  Old file of the same name found" error.  I'm pretty sure it says 1.06 in the corner version number, but the fonts are so ****ed up it's hard to be sure. 

[jr2]

Try zeckensack's Glide wrapper, then detect the available cards in FS setup... see if you can do Glide and maybe that will fix it.  What OS?

EDIT: In zeckensack's configurator (Start Menu, under Glide Wrapper), try doing "application-specific overrides" and setting it for Descent: FreeSpace.

EDIT2: To make FS Setup detect Glide in WinDOwS 7 (most likely Vista as well), you must needs to set its Compatibility Settings (right-click>Properties>Compatibility) to WinDOwS '98.  Seeing as I have UAC disabled, you may need to set it to run as Administrator as well, but I can't tell.

EDIT3: This seems to get the game to work for me, and I can see all the fonts; however, I now have invisible ships.  HOWEVER, I'm using the GOG.com version; this might work for your install / system configuration.  Try and see.