
- FREESPACE 2 RESOLUTION INSTALL
- FREESPACE 2 RESOLUTION 32 BIT
- FREESPACE 2 RESOLUTION UPGRADE
- FREESPACE 2 RESOLUTION WINDOWS
The solution to this problem is rather simple, but easily overlooked. This requires your CD-ROM performance to be optimized, otherwise you may experience some difficulties loading animations and cutscenes in FreeSpace 2.
FREESPACE 2 RESOLUTION INSTALL
If you don't have the hard drive space to install the full 1 GB of FreeSpace 2, you'll use that CD-ROM drive even more frequently. Since FreeSpace 2 covers three CDs, you'll be using your CD-ROM drive quite heavily as the game loads.
FREESPACE 2 RESOLUTION 32 BIT
The nebula effect is simply stunning in 32 bit color, demonstrating to me that 32 bit color does make a noticeable difference on my TNT2. Among the changes to the graphic engine is a revamp of the bitmap and texture manager so that everything internally is in 16 bits, but video cards with 32 bit color support will have much nicer alpha blending in the nebula effect. The HUD scales back so that you can see even more of the jaw-dropping visuals that FreeSpace 2 does so well.įreeSpace 2 also supports both 32 bit and 16 bit color. You'll need an extra 252 MB on your hard drive, but the additional detail is definitely worth every last byte. Make sure you choose this option when installing FreeSpace 2, and look for the file "sparky_hi_fs2.vp" in the directory you've installed FreeSpace. Of course, even the best video card won't do any good if you fail to install the high-resolution art required for 1024x724 resolution. Either you have a high-end system or you don't, end of story. A resolution of 800圆00 is not supported, because this would require a third set of interface art and animations. You'll need two connected in SLI mode or one of the most recent generation 3D chipsets (TNT2, Voodoo3, G400, Rage 128 or later) in order to choose the 1024x724 mode. However, a single Voodoo 2 won't be able to handle this higher resolution. However, there are various levels of detail and features you can de-select in order to improve performance (all while still looking very good).įreeSpace 2 supports a larger screen resolution of 1024x724, in addition to the standard 640x480 resolution. The original FreeSpace engine often ran at much lower than the system minimum requirements, so I wasn't surprised when one demo beta tester reported satisfactory performance on a Pentium 166MHz and a Voodoo 2. There are several ways to reduce hard drive swapping, but the best solution is to have 64 MB or more of RAM installed.Ĭompared to the above, the CPU speed "isn't too much of an issue" if you have a decent video card (Voodoo 1 and later).

FREESPACE 2 RESOLUTION WINDOWS
The next important factor for frame rates is "definitely memory." One of the biggest sources of "lag" reports is hard drive swapping, where Windows uses much slower virtual memory on the hard drive to substitute for RAM. Recent generation 3D chipset for 1024x724 mode.Direct3D or Glide API compatibility (your choice).
FREESPACE 2 RESOLUTION UPGRADE
If you're looking to upgrade your 3d card with FreeSpace in mind, keep in mind the following critical requirements:

A Voodoo 1 will work well, but a Voodoo 3, TNT2 or G400 will be preferable for the most smooth framerate which results from their high fillrate speed. To achieve maximum performance, the fillrate speed of your 3d video card will be important for the nebula effect. Quite a few bugs in Direct3D have been fixed from the original FreeSpace.

The debate between the Glide and Direct3D APIs should no longer be such a major issue (for those who have not used these FreeSpace Direct3D registry tweaks), as FreeSpace 2 supports Direct3D at the same level as Glide. A high-speed 3D card and extra RAM will take the strain off your processor and will result in better performance. FreeSpace requires a 3D accelerator that supports either a Glide or D3D API.
