Repack by MagiPack (includes Jason's Freelancer Patch v1.25)
Freelancer is a direct sequel to Microsoft’s mission-based space combat simulator Starlancer. However, unlike its predecessor Freelancer combines combat and trading within an open world environment. Due to the involvement of Wing Commander's creator Chris Roberts it is largely considered to be the spiritual successor to Origin Systems’ Wing Commander: Privateer.
Set 800 years after the events of Starlancer, the game revolves around the adventures of freelance pilot Edison Trent, survivor of an attack on the space station Freeport 7. Having lost the deal of a lifetime (worth a million credits) in the attack, Trent teams up with Jun'ko ‘Juni’ Zane, of the Liberty Security Force, and together they begin to investigate events connected to the attack.
While the story progresses through the completion of specific storyline missions, Trent is free to spend time exploring, trading, or even smuggling. He also has the option of taking freelance combat missions offered by the many factions that inhabit the 48 star systems within the game.
The star systems themselves are beautifully detailed. A vast range of planets await exploration, along with brightly burning stars, nebulas, treacherous asteroid fields and vast expanses of space junk (often home to hostile outcasts).
One striking feature of Freelancer is the way it is controlled. A joystick is not required as the game is keyboard and mouse driven. Keys control the forward movement of the ship while moving the mouse with the left button held down allows the ship to change direction. At the same time the targeting crosshair is dragged across the screen by the movement of the mouse and the right mouse button is then used to fire the ship’s guns. This works surprisingly well making it an instantly accessible game.
Developer(s)
Publisher(s)
Theme(s)
Sci-Fi / Futuristic
Space Combat
Space Flight
Recommended Emulator
Freelancer NO-CD (zip, 975 KB)
Official Strategy Guide (zip, 101 MB)
Official Patch v1.1 (zip, 1 MB)
Jason's Freelancer Patch v1.25 (zip, 3MB) Adds widescreen support and more gameplay features, read the Notes
AgencyFB Font (zip, 93 KB) Put in C:/Windows/fonts folder if you have broken fonts in game
Freelancer still has very active fan community, you can find many mods, fixes and fan patches for the game on fansites like The Starport or Discovery Freelancer. We made the guide how to play original version of the game without mods, but if you're looking for more gameplay experience of Freelancer - make sure to visit that websites.
The game version 1.1 with Jason's Freelancer Patch v1.25 and NoCD has been tested on Windows 7 64-bit and Windows 10, works fine. You may experience some small troubles when you play the game on modern systems, check our Guide and Notes for details, additionally you can check the guide by PlayOldPCGames or video guide by j76
Install & play guide:
- Mount the disc image. You will need the utility for mounting disc image files, like WinCDEmu, UltraISO, Alcohol 52%/Alcohol 120% or Daemon Tools Lite. If you are installing using the repack you can skip this first step.
- Install the game. Install it not in default path C:/Program Files/Microsoft Games/Freelancer, but in some non-system folder, like C:/Games/Freelancer, otherwise you may have difficulties with fixes
- Also it is recommended to install DirectX 8 from the disc (if you're using Windows 10 - enable DirectPlay, read this or this guide how to do it)
- After you installed the game - install official patch 1.1
- Then install NoCD, simply copy Freelancer.exe from the archive and put it into Freelancer/EXE directory, agree to replace original file
- Right click on Freelancer.exe - Properties - Compatibility - Set "Run this app in compatibility mode with Windows XP" and "Run as administrator"
- Launch the game and play. If the game doesn't work in compatibility mode with Windows XP - try to launch it in compatibility mode with other version of Windows (Windows 95, 98, Win2000, etc.)
That way you will get "vanilla" Freelancer game properly working on modern systems. But original game works only in 4:3 resolutions, so if you want to play in widescreen, you need to do few more steps.
How to play in widescreen:
- The easiest way to play the game on modern systems with widescreen support is to install Jason's Freelancer Patch. That patch includes developments of other fan patches, including Freelancer Unofficial Patch 1.4, and fixes some bugs, adds additional improvements and some new features (additional controls, including rolling and vertical strafing), plus full widescreen support. We recommend to use it if you want to play singleplayer campaign of Freelancer without any troubles on modern machines
- Another possible way is to install Freelancer Unofficial Patch 1.4 with Freelancer Advanced Widescreen HUD mod
- However, if you don't like the changes that were added in unofficial patches - you can manually edit ini-files to launch the game in high resolution, the guide is available on PCGamingWiki
How to play with mods:
- Freelancer has a large number of mods, ranging from simple enhancements like HQ Music addon and HD textures, to global mods like Freelancer: HD Edition that aims to recreate original Freelancer with HD models and textures. Plus there's a lot of total conversion mods with completely new storylines and locations, such as Freelancer: The Nomad Legacy or Crossfire 2.0
- The number of projects is too large, so we leave researchings at your discretion. To find more mods visit PCGamingWiki, ModDB, The Starport, Discovery Freelancer forums, SWAT-Portal or any other Freelancer fan site you will find, there's a lot of them, just type "Freelancer game mods" in any search engine
How to play in multiplayer with other people:
- Microsoft officially stopped supporting the game on April 8, 2008 which included the shutdown of the global list server. However, it is still possible to create your own multiplayer game with Freelancer listserver utility
- Thanks to unofficial multiplayer utilities, fans launched a big multiplayer server, such as Discovery Freelancer mod, that sometimes gather over 200 players at once, making it like a small space MMO. We recommend to visit Discovery Freelancer forums or The Starport community, and then follow their guides how to start playing Freelancer in multiplayer. Here's also short video guide for Discovery Freelancer
- Please note that some of singleplayer mods/patches may be non-compatible with multiplayer mods, like it is not recommended to use Jason's Freelancer Patch with multiplayer mods
Notes:
- If the installation doesn't start - try to launch Setup.exe in compatibility mode with old version of Windows (98, 2000 or XP)
- NoCD is required for the launch because the game is using SafeDisc DRM protection, which doesn't work on modern systems. That NoCD "breaks" DRM protection and allows the game to work on modern systems
- The game works on DirectX 8, so if you're using Windows 8, 8.1, 10 or 11 - you need to enable DirectPlay: Go to Control Panel, and select 'Programs'. Select 'Turn Windows features on and off', click on 'Legacy Components' and check the box 'DirectPlay'. Select OK, once the installation is done, restart your computer
- It is recommended to install all versions of Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable for the correct work of the game
- Also it is recommended to install RAD Video Tools and K-Lite Codec Pack for the correct work of the game
- Official patch 1.1 fixes some minor bugs in multiplayer part of the game, so in main menu you will still see V1.0. That patch is not necessary for singleplayer game, but we recommend to install it, because most of the mods require the game version 1.1
- If you have trouble with fonts in game, like when instead of menu elements you see "????" - it means you don't have required fonts in system. The game is using Agency FB and Agency FB Bold, so just download that fonts and put font files in C:/Windows/system directory
- There's a bug when the game may crash if you press Alt+Tab to minimize the game, so better not to press it
- There's a rare bug when the game crashes at second launch, like when you ran the game first time, played it a little bit, closed and then ran it for second time, and it crashed. If that happens - go to Documents/My Games and delete/remove Freelancer folder
- The game was using EAX sound system, so you may have sound issues on modern systems, like some voices or music cut in, or no sound at all. If that happens - disable 3-D sound in game settings
- Another solution can be to enable EAX with DSOAL utility: install OpenAL and then DSOAL, that will make DirectSound (and EAX as well) to work through OpenAL sound system. Here's the guide how to install DSOAL (it's on Russian, use translator)
- Also, if you're using old Windows system, like for retro-gaming, and have same sound issue - you may need to install sound codes mentioned here
- If you have graphical glitches, like flickering models or black lines at UI elements - try to run the game through dgVoodoo(copy the dll-files from the MS/x86 folder, dgVoodooCpl.exe and dgVoodoo.conf to Freelancer/EXE folder, then run the game from Freelancer.exe). Also, with dgVoodoo you can play the game in high resolution with anti-aliasing and texture filtering, for better graphics. Run dgVoodooCpl.exe, open DirectX tab and select the settings you want. After that click "Apply" to save settings, close dgVoodooCpl and run the game. We tested the game with Jason's Freelancer Patch and dgVoodoo on Windows 7 64-bit, it worked fine
- For Windows 10 & 11 users: if you enable Vsync in setting of your video card, it probably won't work with Freelancer, because Microsoft disabled DX8 support in some revisions of Windows 10 & 11; if that happens - download this d3d8to9 wrapper by croise and put d3d8.dll in Freelancer/EXE folder. After that Vsync should be working stable
- Also, use that wrapper if you have graphical glitches, like broken lights, on Windows 10 or 11
- If you have troubles with Russian version of the game - check this thread
- Don't forget to check PCGamingWiki page if you have troubles
