How to get Vanilla Freelancer running in 2025 (no cd)

Hellravenger

thank you so much to giving this information out I can finally play the most amazing game of my teen years again, the HD isn’t even needed it looks epic still

Squ1dly

installed from CD, downloaded and installed the 1.1 Vanilla patch, but the version says 1.0 still AND I’m invincible, which is not fun

Raikkonen

@Squ1dly Version will always say 1.0. 1.1 does not change the visible version number.

If you’re invincible take a look at PerfOptions.ini in My Games/Freelancer and see if DIFFICULTY_SCALE is set to 0.00. it needs to be set at 1.00 to take damage.

Squ1dly

Danke Herr Raikkonen!

GoobleGaming

Hello, I just installed the game and followed all instructions. I kept everything vanilla in the settings and only chose my 16:9 resolution. When I launch the game, it pops up and shows the FREELANCER logo for 1 second and then shots down. I am running as admin but have no idea what to do here.

IrateRedKite

@GoobleGaming Hi there, would you be able to provide your FLSpew.txt file? It can be found in C:\Users\User\AppData\Local\Freelancer and might give us a better idea of what’s going wrong when you launch the game!

Raikkonen

@GoobleGaming are you sure you are launching the Freelancer HD shortcut instead of the Freelancer shortcut? The original one won’t launch in the same way you are describing.

robocop

Running Windows 11 Pro.
Game installs fine, noCD patch applied, no other mods.
Game opens fine, I get to the character selection screen, select my char, enter game, and a black window opens up and nothing…
When I alt-tab out to switch the black window closes and Freelancer.exe is not running in task manager.
What’s up?

Raikkonen

@robocop Try wiping out the Freelancer folder in My Documents/My Games (after backing up your MP ID of course)

Also as its MP, are you 100% sure you are loading a Vanilla character? e.g. no FLU modified equipment/ships mounted?

robocop

Thanks Raik, that was the problem… Dummy me.
Worked fine with a brand new vanilla character. Once I got FLMM working properly everything loads fine.
Sometimes you just need to work out these things by talking it out with someone else.
Thanks for steering me in the right direction.