[Fineus]

Hello folks, I need your help with a quick question.

This goes out to those of you that have bought FreeSpace 2 through GOG.COM.

I need to know what form the game came in, once you purchased it. Was it in one, complete self-extracting EXE file? .ZIP file? .RAR file? Was it split into several different files / folders at first?

If you can provide screen shots, that would be greatly appreciated.

If any of you have done this AND originally owned FreeSpace 2 on CD as well, I'd like to know how the two differed in terms of installing etc. Whether the GOG.COM version used a custom installer as opposed to the Volition one that came with the original game?

Many thanks in anticipation of a response folks, you'll be helping the community with this one!

[Talon 1024]

The GOG.com version of both FS1 and FS2 is an EXE installer.  The FS1 installer is 830 MB and the FS2 installer is 1.6 GB.
There are two ways to download it.  You can either download it immediately or add it to a downloader.

When you purchase the game from GOG.com, you can download "extras" in addition to the game itself.

FS1 extras:
Manual (74 page PDF, 1 MB)
Wallpaper (4 JPG files for 1280x1024, 1600x1200, 1920x1080, and 1920x1200, 6 MB)
Reference Card (PDF, 1 MB)

FS2 extras:
Manual (41 page PDF, 2 MB)
Wallpaper (4 JPG files for 1280x1024, 1600x1200, 1920x1080, and 1920x1200, 6 MB)
Reference Card (PDF, 1 MB)
Soundtrack (11 MP3s, 1 JPG, 20 MB)

[Fineus]

Fantastic, thanks Talon

I think that covers everything except.. when you download the game, what happens next? Does it automatically unpack itself ready to be played - wherever you want it (ala Steam), or just download the 1.6GB installer to your desired location for you to run at a later date?

If it's the second one, is it the standard Volition installer for the game, or a propitiatory one made by GOG.com?

[Talon 1024]

You have to run the EXE that you downloaded to start the installation process.  From there, IIRC, the first thing you do is set the installation directory with the settings button.  It's been a while since I've installed so I can't remember exactly.

The EXE is a proprietary installer made by GOG.com based on Inno Setup (http://www.jrsoftware.org/).

EDIT: When you run the installer EXE, it first checks the integrity of the file (You can skip that if you want).  You can then change the install directory by pressing the "Options" button at the bottom.  Once you are ready to install, check off the box where it says "I agree" and let it install.

[The E]

It should be noted that that installer puts the cutscenes from discs 2 and 3 into "data2" and "data3" directories, meaning that FSO will not find them by default.

[Mongoose]

We really do need to contact GOG and clue them in on that.

[Fineus]

This is great stuff folks - particularly the bit about the Data folders.
 
To tell you a bit more about what's going on. I'm writing a guide to get new comers quick-started on FreeSpace 2 / FSO etc. as it's all currently a bit daunting (I know I get lost wading through the masses of forum / Wiki content). So documentation on the GOG.com installer etc. will be useful.

Given the cheapness of the game - I think I'll bite the bullet and buy it again over that system so I can try it for myself.

[The E]

 

Is this not good enough?

[Fineus]

It's a great start - it's actually the basis for my work. But it's also on the forum and I want something we can add to the HLP site proper. Like I said, the forum is a great wealth of information but there's masses of it and it's hard to distinguish that one golden thread that solves everything from all the other threads that only make sense if you have been here a while.

[Kopachris]

Just a tad off-topic: Does anyone know what sort of format an Inno Setup standalone exe is in?  Is it a self-extracting archive?  If it is, I wonder if there's some way selected files could be extracted from it without running the installer (i.e. to make installation of the retail files easier on Mac/Linux)?  The Delphi/Pascal source code is available at their website—maybe they have some documentation to go with it...