Few questions from a newby.

Does www.freelancerpatch.com help you?

Upgrade Vista to SP2.

What? Service Packs are free.

Free download from windows update, just did it yesterday or day before on the media-pc (though I am still planning to toss effing Vista in the trash and install XP pro ).

Your connect problems may also be due to not having the required mod installed. If the Freelancer version does not match, you won’t be able to join the server.

This section here on the board has some useful info for starting on Multi Player.
If you’ve beat the storyline, you know the controls well enough to dip into online play, though there are definitely differences versus other players and turning techniques, loadouts, etc. Which all vary with each mod installed.  Personally, I liked visiting a different mod every couple weeks or months to keep things fresh and see what elements fit with my gaming style best.

But anyhoo, people for some reason get scared of PVP when playing online. Ya just have to look at it like… ok it’s a game, it’s not like I’m getting kicked in the crotch when my ship explodes, each fight I’ll learn something and end up having more fun. And there really is no rush like a good PVP fight It gets the heart racing, adrenalin flowing, etc. Good stuff.

In the list of servers, some will have different versions than 1.0. You won’t be able to select them as they are incompatible with your version. You’d need to activate the proper mod to log on a server with a special version number.

Yup, characters are server-specific. The way FL handles char files also stores ship loadout, factions, and a few other things. These change from server to server, so it causes problems when things listed in your save do not exist on that server’s mod.