FreeSpace Watch welcomes you to our expanded section on FRED and FreeSpace mission development. FRED is the mission editor for Volition's marvelous space combat game Descent: FreeSpace -- The Great War (known as Conflict: FreeSpace outside the United States). FRED is a very powerful tool, but its full potential can only be tapped if you know enough to use it correctly. In this section, we have collected the best FRED tips into an easily accessible format and then expanded on these ideas to answer your design questions.

This document began with Peter Drake's original "Using FRED," which attempted to address a minor shortcoming -- the original documentation included with the game. This classic document (HTML or DOC) covered all of the basics of mission design and answered many questions. However, this document was never updated after the end of August and no longer included all of the tricks known to the FreeSpace design community. Even though most of the document was correct and still on target, it became clear that an update and revision was required.

This document was updated by Zarathud and expanded to cover additional questions which are still commonly asked. This revised document should answer most, if not all, of your design questions. Months of discussion and collective wisdom have been condensed in this document, so please read carefully before sending any questions. If you are still unable to find an answer, please direct your question to the FreeSpace Developer's List (FDL). Any question posted there will almost certainly be quickly answered by helpful FRED users. The participants on that list have been a tremendous source of tips and information for the update of this document.

If you have a correction or additional FRED tip/trick for these documents, please contact Zarathud. We're also interested in suggestions to improve this document. Thanks for your cooperation!

NONE OF THE UPDATES HAVE BEEN COMPLETED AT THE MOMENT

FRED HOW-TO SECTION

This section will introduce and guide mission authors through the process of creating a new mission and specific design problems.

1. A Really Quick Start by Peter Drake: A walkthrough that builds a playable mission as quickly as possible.
2. FRED Walkthrough by Peter Drake: A walkthrough of building a real, polished mission.
3. FRED Examples by Zarathud: (Not Yet Complete)
4. FRED Design Tips by Zarathud: (Not Yet Complete)

FRED REFERENCE SECTION

This section will answer those specific questions you might have with FRED and its features.

Basics: The fundamentals of how to use the FRED interface and commands.

• Movement Commands: Moving the camera or ships with the keyboard.
• Mouse Commands: Things to do with the mouse.
• Toolbar: The row of buttons under the pull-down menus.
• Menu Commands: Commands from the pull-down menus (File, Edit, View, Speed, Groups, Misc, and Help)

Editors: The specialized tools of FRED which change the properties of objects and missions.

• Ship Editor
• Wing Editor
• Object Editor
• Waypoint Path Editor
• Mission Objective Editor
• Event Editor
• Team Loadout
• Background
• Reinforcements
• Asteroid Field
• Mission Specs
• Briefing
• Debriefing
• Shield System
• Command Briefing
• Campaign

Sexps: The joy of symbolic expression trees, used in the events which make FreeSpace unique.

Frequently Asked Questions: Problems that come up a lot.

Tables of Useful Information: Handy reference information for designers.

1. Inflight WAV File List (Both FreeSpace and Silent Threat)
2. Briefing ANI File List (Both FreeSpace and Silent Threat)
3. Standard Ship and Weapon Tables (Only FreeSpace)
4. GTA Technology Chart (Both FreeSpace and Silent Threat)
5. Plot for FreeSpace Main Campaign
6. Plot for Silent Threat Campaign

A Note on this Document:

Strongly emphasized green text deals with non-obvious details. It can be difficult to find out what happened if you run into one of these deathtraps, so you may wamt to scroll through and look for them before exploring FRED on your own.

Emphasized (italicized) text deals with things that I don't yet clearly understand. Any comments or suggestions are welcome.

Special thanks to:

• Peter Drake (Mundungus on PXO), for creating the original "Using FRED" document and for his permission to edit and update his FAQ.
• Michael Diedrich (Zarathud on PXO), for revising the original "Using FRED" document and for the FreeSpace Design Resources.
• Pastel, for many insightful comments and suggestions on the workings of FRED and FreeSpace in general.
• FreeSpace Developer's List (FDL), for answering so many initial questions and for promoting improved FreeSpace designs.
• Volition, for releasing FRED along with FreeSpace and for all their wonderful help and support for the game.
• Interplay, for the FreeSpace Mission Design Contest and for the FreeSpace Short Stories.

OTHER CRITICAL DESIGN RESOURCES

• FS Reference Card - A handy reference tool listing FRED quick keys, default wing names, and commonly-used file names for music and animations. This creation of Dynamo is also available in a printable HTML format.
• Unofficial FRED Checklist - A checklist of things to be aware of when creating quality missions. A critical tool for those interested in creating Volition-quality missions. Created by Solrazor.
• Official FreeSpace Map - Star system and subspace node map. Officially released by Volition, superceding any information used in the Command Briefing ANI files.

FreeSpace Modification Archives - An archive of custom FreeSpace modifications, including Briefing Animations, Ship and Weapon tables, Ship Skins, Ship Models, and Pilot Images. Also provides additional information and help on FreeSpace modifications.

DESIGN EDITORIALS

• How to Succeed in FRED Design - Dynamo gives some pointers about how to do well when designing FreeSpace missions.
• Beta-Testing Editorial - Zarathud explains the need to beta-test missions and some of the most common design mistakes.
• User-Created Missions Editorial - Elemental explains several problems with the earliest FreeSpace missions. Unfortunately, some of these same mistakes are still committed by new authors.
• Battle of Endor Syndrome Editorial - Mission authors often try to create "grand battles" on the scale of the Battle of Endor in the Return of the Jedi. Zarathud explains the cause of this infection and the design flaws which result.
• Subspace Editorial - Mission authors also create missions set in subspace because the effect is "neat." This editorial by Ouroboros explains why those missions just don't work.
• Storytelling Editorial - In a Guest Editorial, Thespian explains how important storytelling is for mission design and provides tips on how to create an interesting story.