FS Source Code Project Frequently Asked Questions

Q. Where can I find the latest release of FreeSpace Open?

A. The latest release is available by clicking the Files link in the left menu.

Q. What features does FreeSpace Open contain?

A. The list of features is also available from the Features link in the left menu.

Q. I just downloaded FreeSpace Open and it won't start. What's wrong?

A. Are you using the FSO Launcher? You must run the FSO Launcher the first time you use FreeSpace Open. This step sets up many registry variables that FreeSpace Open requires in order to run properly. Please do not edit registry entries unless instructed to do so by a member of the FSSCP team.

Q. Every time I run FreeSpace Open with my existing pilot, it crashes.

A. Switching between FS2 and FreeSpace Open using the same pilot has sometimes led to problems. In most cases, FreeSpace Open should accept the pilot without complaint and save it in a FS2 compatible format, but this doesn't work for everybody. If you run into this problem, you must create a separate FreeSpace Open only pilot.

Q. I'm playing a user-made campaign with different ships and the tech room is displaying the wrong entries.

A. There are two solutions to this problem. Create a new pilot at the pilot selection screen before going into the main hall. This will display the tech room entries correctly, but you lose your old pilot stats. A better solution is to persuade the campaign designer to use the "custom tech database" flag in FRED. This will set up the tech room correctly, and you don't have to make a new pilot.

Q. Why hasn't multiple ship docking been implemented?

A. This would require a fundamental reworking of very important code and is too complex to implement at this time.

Q. Why hasn't dynamic ship damage (i.e. Geomod) been implemented?

A. Geomod is basically impossible with the current rendering system. A good deal of the entire engine would need to be reworked, and is not feasable at this time, and most likely never will be.

Q. How do I enable the cloaking feature?

A. The cloaking feature is still largely undeveloped. However, to enable cloaking you must have the graphics mode set to OpenGL. It works best with a Radeon or Geforce series card. First enable the cheat keys by typing www.freespace2.com during a mission, then do the following:

~ (and) X : toggles cloaking for the player ships
~ (and) shift (and) X: toggles cloaking for the player's target.

While cloaked a ship is not targetable and will be slightly visible within about 3 times the radius of the cloaked ship. At about 17 times the radius, it should be virtually invisible. When a ship fires a turret, gun, beam, or missile, or engages afterburners, it uncloaks for a short period and then recloaks. Ships will lose their cloak when departing or if their hull integrity drops below 25%.

Q. Why doesn't cloak work in Direct3D?

A. Currently it is not implemented under Direct3D.

Q. Why doesn't cloak work on older video cards?

A. Older video cards don't have enough texture stages required to produce the cloaking effect. This issue is being looked into at this time.

Q. When running FreeSpace Open, I get the error "D3D5 not suppoerted in this build, please you launcher to set D3D8 or OGL settings."

A. Please run the FSO Launcher, select the video tab and select a video mode other than Direct3D5. OpenGL or Direct3D 8 is recommended.

Q. The text in-game looks really nasty. How can I fix that?

A. Try enabling the GeForce Text fix in the video tab of the FSO Launcher. If that doesn't work, try setting your antialiasing to a lower setting.