[Phil5000]

Hiya everyone. I've just started playing Freespace 2 having downloaded it from Good Old Games, I don't know what version it is.

It installed fine and it's playable but I was wondering about one or two things.

Is it possible to change the resolution? Models look ok but the HUD looks kinda low res, I don't know if it's possible to change that.

Is it possible to change the movie refresh rate? The game seems to play at the same refresh rate as Windows but the movies default to 60Hz. Not a biggie but it would be nice if I could change it.

Communications windows; I don't know if it's supposed to look like this but when characters appear in the comms window they appear green like the HUD. Is it supposed to be a coloured image? I remember playing Wind Commander 3 and 4 which I think are from this time and they looked much better.

Screen brightness; I've set the screen brightness in the options all they way to five but it makes no difference and the screen still appears quite dark. Is there some other way to raise it?

Joystick throttle; Is there a way to use my joystick's throttle?

Anti Antialiasing; Is there a way to add AA without the graphics appearing distorted or some other way to increase sharpness of the models?

Many thanks.

[General Battuta]

You will want to install FreeSpace Open.

Grab it here. Not mandatory, but it will fix a number of bugs and bring the graphics up to near-2010 standards. However the comm ANIs will still be colorless, I believe this was an intentional stylistic choice.

For an example of what you're missing:

[General Battuta]

Ah - and you'll need to force AA driverside with a tool like ATI TrayTools or Catalyst Control Center (or the Nvidia equivalent.)

[Zacam]

Is it possible to change the resolution? Models look ok but the HUD looks kinda low res, I don't know if it's possible to change that.

Install 3.6.12 Final and it's Launcher from HERE
Recommended: Get the INF SSE or SSE2 builds.

Is it possible to change the movie refresh rate? The game seems to play at the same refresh rate as Windows but the movies default to 60Hz. Not a biggie but it would be nice if I could change it.

A lot of things will default to 60hz. The engine has an upper coded limit of 120 (unless you're a coder/know a few tricks)
You can disable the Refresh lock in you Video card options, as well as disable VSync in the Launcher. Mileage may vary.

Communications windows; I don't know if it's supposed to look like this but when characters appear in the comms window they appear green like the HUD. Is it supposed to be a coloured image? I remember playing Wind Commander 3 and 4 which I think are from this time and they looked much better.

Depending on the mod you are playing, that might change. For FreeSpace 2 however, the Head ANI's are whatever color you set in your Options->HUD choices.

Screen brightness; I've set the screen brightness in the options all they way to five but it makes no difference and the screen still appears quite dark. Is there some other way to raise it?

The Launcher has an option to not Set Gamma as well as additional comm line options that can be used to adjust things. You may also have a driver overlay setting somewhere that may be causing a conflict.

Joystick throttle; Is there a way to use my joystick's throttle?

It should be a bind-able Axis, even under Retail. If not, using an FSO Exec will allow you to Bind the Throttle Axis in your options, just click on it, click BIND and then move the Throttle axis. (I Use a Saitek X52-Pro, so yes, it works)

Anti Antialiasing; Is there a way to add AA without the graphics appearing distorted or some other way to increase sharpness of the models?

The Launcher (for windows) has an option for setting AA, but at this current moment, it does nothing in Windows. You will need to set it Driver Side or using a driver profile tool to set it. Be aware that Post Processing and Anti-Aliasing don't particularly mix well in all cases.

[Jeff Vader]

Is it possible to change the resolution? Models look ok but the HUD looks kinda low res, I don't know if it's possible to change that.

FS2 supports 640x480 and 1024x768. FSO supports those and pretty much anything above.

[Jeff Vader]

Communications windows; I don't know if it's supposed to look like this but when characters appear in the comms window they appear green like the HUD. Is it supposed to be a coloured image?

Yes.

[Jeff Vader]

Screen brightness; I've set the screen brightness in the options all they way to five but it makes no difference and the screen still appears quite dark. Is there some other way to raise it?

The gamma setting?

[Jeff Vader]

Anti Antialiasing; Is there a way to add AA without the graphics appearing distorted or some other way to increase sharpness of the models?

FSO.

[Phil5000]

Thanks everyone. I'm keen to install the Freespace Open mod the General linked, it looks amazing but I'm a bit confused. Zacam, what are you talking about when you say to install 3.6.12? Is that the official patch or are you referring to a patch for the Open mod? What do I install first?

And is that mod the same as The Source Code Project? http://scp.indiegames.us/bnr_installer.php

Sorry to be a total noob but I'm a bit confused.

I hadn't noticed there was a launcher. It didn't start when I started the game. I've got my joystick sorted now so thanks for that.

[MatthTheGeek]

*** MatthTheGeek facepalms at Jeff Vader's quadruple post ***

3.6.12 is the current version of the FreeSpace Open (FSO) engine, aka the .exe file. The same version number is used for the Media VPs (MVPs), which are the visual enhancements provided by the FreeSpace Upgrade (FSU) team, and which are a mod. Despite the identical version number, those are two separate things.

You need to install FSO 3.6.12 first, and be sure to select the .exe in the launcher - more info here and make sure to follow the instructions to the letter, they are very explicit and detailed. You'll always want to have the more recent version of the engine, stable, or nightly if you feel adventurous.

Then, preferably after you made sure the former step has been successfully completed, you can download the MVPs 3.6.12 here, and select them as a mod in your launcher.

Keep in mind that the MVPs are optional to play Freespace 2, although they are required to play most of the user-made mods and campaigns around there. Most modern hardwares can run the MVPs very smoothly, but lower rigs like netbooks or old laptops with integrated graphics will have severe issues. If that's your case, don't force, and play with retail assets (select No Mods in the launcher).

[General Battuta]

These guys are successfully making all this incredibly complicated. The thing I linked you will install FreeSpace Open 3.6.12, the 3.6.12 MediaVPs asset packs, and a bunch of mods. FreeSpace Open is developed by the Source Code Project.

[MatthTheGeek]

Oh come on, installer is for teh weak. Real men do it the real way

[Luis Dias]

60 Hz is the refresh rate of general tfts.. unless you have a crt monitor, putting fps rates above 60 will only make you feel better in your ego, there's no actual big difference being delivered to your eyes at all.

[Jeff Vader]

Oh come on, installer is for teh weak. Real men do it the real way

Actually I think the Installer is getting manlier. Considering every week there is a new thing that isn't working in it.

[Phil5000]

I'm not having much luck. I used the installer the General linked to, ran it, entered my game directory and selected Freespace Open 3.6.10 with MediaVPs: The mimimum, plus shiny graphical updates. (all I really want is the graphics updates.

It gives me the message "A section specified in the install config could not be found. (Freespace OPen 3.6.10 Windows Executables."

So I tried selecting the Absolutely everything option and it worked and started downloading... but it didn't STOP downloading. It just went on and on, one file after another. I only have a data allowance of 5gigs a month and if I go over I get penalized so I was forced to quit.

I think I'll just play it as it is but I wanted to say thanks to everyone.

I'm still having trouble with the brightness. My game's quite dark and the brightness option does nothing. I don't know what you meant Zacam when you said the launcher has an option to not set gamma. I can't find anything like that. I found the command line in the Misc tab but have no idea what to put there.

[Phil5000]

60 Hz is the refresh rate of general tfts.. unless you have a crt monitor, putting fps rates above 60 will only make you feel better in your ego, there's no actual big difference being delivered to your eyes at all.

I do have  a crt monitor (I know... retro). At 60hz the side of the image are severely bowed. Not a biggie though.

[Jeff Vader]

It gives me the message "A section specified in the install config could not be found. (Freespace OPen 3.6.10 Windows Executables."

It probably worked ok. It just failed to download the 3.6.10 executables, which shouldn't matter since you're supposed to use the newer 3.6.12 executables.

So I tried selecting the Absolutely everything option and it worked and started downloading... but it didn't STOP downloading. It just went on and on, one file after another. I only have a data allowance of 5gigs a month and if I go over I get penalized so I was forced to quit.

Yeah, that would be "everything". It includes this huge pile of user-made campaigns. Some of which contain hefty amounts of textures, models, sounds and so forth. The MediaVPs in their highly compressed downloadable form are roughly 0.5GB if I recall correctly, the FSO exes are a couple dozen MB and the Launcher is insignificantly small.
And this is why some people around here recommend the manual way. You have complete control over what you're downloading.

[Phil5000]

Cheers Vader.

[Phil5000]

Do you guys use a lot of other mods when you play? What would make it more fun for me is a high res HUD and a mod that stopped your ship from bouncing around when you're trying to aim. I suppose it's a realistic flight model but it drives me nuts.

What I mean by bouncing is when you move the stick in one direction then stop, the ship keeps moving in that direction for a bit due to momentum. So realistic but I find it extremely hard to keep my sight on the target. Are there any mods that address that? Or is it just a peculiarity of the Mermadon?

[Luis Dias]

Wouldn't know, I always use my mouse to frag my shivans