Sectorgame

Downloaded FS 2 from gog.com and it runs well until you get into a battle, then it slows down, seems like each progressive battle it gets worse until it is unplayable. I have read two threads on the gog forums, one suggested some registry edits, another pointed to the FS2 SCP as the solutions.

I tried turning off my firewall, antivirus, antispyware and everything else I could... helped, but not enough.

Machine:
ASUS P5W DH Deluxe
Pentium D, 960, 3.6Ghz.
2Gigs Corsair Dominator (2X 1gig sticks)
XFX GeForce 7600GT Fatal1ty, 256Mb DDR3 650MHZ core.
250 Gb Seagate Barracuda SATA.

Windows XP pro SP3

FS2 version 1.2

So... what do you guys think? Surely this machine is fast enough for an older game such as this... should I try installing the SCP? Edit the registry? Or does anyone think another course of action is needed?

Weird...

Might be caused by the very old version of DirectX that Freespace uses?

The SCP is always worth a go anyway, but I've noticed the odd bit of stuttering in that anyway (some of the textures used in the VP are waaay bigger than I'm really comfortable with, and it can take time to pass those textures through the pipelines)

I'd try the registry edits first, as they are the least drastic changes, and if that doesn't work, give the SCP a go

You should be using the SCP anyway, it's superior in every respect.

WillyP wrote:Downloaded FS 2 from gog.com and it runs well until you get into a battle, then it slows down, seems like each progressive battle it gets worse until it is unplayable. I have read two threads on the gog forums, one suggested some registry edits, another pointed to the FS2 SCP as the solutions.

I tried turning off my firewall, antivirus, antispyware and everything else I could... helped, but not enough.

Machine:
ASUS P5W DH Deluxe
Pentium D, 960, 3.6Ghz.
2Gigs Corsair Dominator (2X 1gig sticks)
XFX GeForce 7600GT Fatal1ty, 256Mb DDR3 650MHZ core.
250 Gb Seagate Barracuda SATA.

Windows XP pro SP3

FS2 version 1.2

So... what do you guys think? Surely this machine is fast enough for an older game such as this... should I try installing the SCP? Edit the registry? Or does anyone think another course of action is needed?

What sound setting are you using? Aureal 3d (I think - a 3d sound setting anyways) used to cause severe slowdowns.

Thanks for all the replies, FS scp took care of it... the registry mods suggested in the gog forum were included in the install. It's working great now, took hours to d/l it all.

One more question...

FSscp included a bunch of extra missions, or mods, or whatever they were... how do I play them? They don't show up in the mission manager.

Open the launcher, click the 'mods' tab, an select the folder with the mod you want to play.

Thanks, man that works! When I choose a mod the original campaigns also show up, but crash if I pick them. Picking the campaign that goes with the mod seems to work...

My kids have been playing FS2 all day... They love it! I want my computer back!

Yeah, you should only play the campaign(s) associated with a particular mod when running from that mod's folder. A mod's campaign is meant to be used with that mod's particular set of table files, models, and textures; mixing and matching usually leads to a nice big crash.

Ok. No biggie, but would be nice to be able to see only compatible missions. Not to complain though, I know a lot of people put a lot of work into the missions, mods and the Source code project, and I am grateful for their efforts!

It really depends on where the other campaigns are installed. Anything in the data/missions directory of your FS2 folder will appear with any combination of mods, or even retail FS2, since they're in the base retail directory. Anything in the data/missions folder of the MediaVP updated graphics files will appear with any mod that uses them as a secondary mod, which should be most mods (although there shouldn't be any missions in there by default to begin with). And any missions in a particular mod folder will be used only when that mod is selected. It's a rather sensible system, at least once you get used to how it works.

I think I understand... Should I move the FS2 and Silent Threat campaigns from the base folder? (hmmm... where would put them?)

The FS2 campaign files shouldn't be in data/missions to begin with; they're stored in the VP archives that came with the retail game. And Silent Threat's missions should be in the FreeSpace Port's mission pack VP. It sort of sounds like you might have an issue with your installation.

Perhaps GOG messed with it a bit when they modded it to remove any DRM. Or whatever they did. IIRC, it was a 1.2 gig download. Or perhaps I pointed to the wrong folder during install of SCP.