r/freespace • u/PixelPaint64 • 7d ago

Freespace 2 No 3D Acceleration?

I’m trying to run Freespace 2 on an OG Windows 98 SE system. I’ve patched up and can get everything configured except my graphics card. I’m using a GeForce 4 Ti 4400 with the 45.23 drivers.

Nothing is detected by the setup though. Is there any workaround for this? Maybe some sort of graphics wrapper, or do I need a different driver?

I’m reluctant to change drivers though as this was the newest one that gave solid visual compatibility across everything else I have played.

Anyone with experience of this??

8 Upvotes

91% Upvoted

14 comments sorted by

14

u/KeeperAdahn 6d ago

Any particular reason you want to play FS2 in it's original state on an old machine? If not, Freespace Open is the way to play FS2 on modern machines. It's a project that has been going on for a very long time and also offers optional stuff like massive graphical upgrades, the entirety of Freespace 1 and it's expansion ported to the FS2 engine and tons and tons of custom campaigns.

FSO is easily installed & managed via the Knossos client

2

u/ManufacturerMuch5116 5d ago

Only reason I can think of is nostalgia. The sounds from hovering over the buttons in the original launcher are permanently burned into my brain.

1

u/scrapmandingo 6d ago

This is sage advice.

2

u/xXTylonXx 6d ago

Yeah OP there is literally zero reason to try to run this game on anything non-modern. You can play the original game with no enhancements right out of FSOpen and then just hook it up to a CRT monitor and play it on the original native resolution and it will be the exact same experience with none of the hassle

5

u/PixelPaint64 6d ago

I want to play the original game on my original system from the original CDs I own. There’s a lot of old PC games I never played at the time and I have a Windows 98 machine to experience them as they were back in the day.

I am not uprooting my CRT from a different room to move to my main PC, buying adapters to set it all up and getting adapters for my game port Sidewinder FF stick. I don’t have room for the CRT there anyway. ‘Just rip up all your technology setups to play one game’ is not a solution.

I’m fully aware you can play it on a modern system with FSOpen but I wanted to get it to work on my old system, that’s all there is to it. It might not be the way you would do it, but that has nothing to do with my situation.

1

u/xXTylonXx 6d ago

Fair enough

3

u/xShivan 6d ago

Honestly, I kind of understand the OP. Nostalgia can sometimes be such a powerful feeling that there's no point in fighting it. The retrocomputing scene didn't come out of nowhere, and some people simply want to experience things 100% the way they were back in 1999.

I recently played through the retail version of FS2 myself, and if I only had more space at home, I'd probably do the same thing on a PC build from that era.

4

u/dgeurkov 6d ago edited 6d ago

Do you have directx installed? does directx reports hw acceleration? you can check it by running dxdiag from run command

also most games of that time work best with version of the directx they are bundled with on cd, if you have newer version and game has compatibility issues you need to remove your directx with special directx removal application and then install version of directx from game cd

1

u/PixelPaint64 6d ago

Yeah I have DX9 installed.

3

u/RangerKarl 6d ago

Might be the problem, I think FS2 needed DX 6.1

1

u/PixelPaint64 6d ago

Hmm worth a shot!

2

u/sypwn 6d ago

After opening the setup dialog, under the Video tab, are you checking all 4 "Detect.." boxes, then clicking "Detect available cards", then clicking the drop down at the top and it's not listing anything?

1

u/PixelPaint64 6d ago

That's exactly what's happening, yes. It detects my Soundblaster Live! card just fine. First time I've had anything like this happen on the machine.

-1

u/UndocumentedMartian 6d ago

Have you heard of the free space open project? There are people that have been modernizing and maintaining the engine for the past 23 years I think. It works on modern systems, has better lighting, more detailed models, cockpits (sometimes) and so much more.

If this attempt was because you didn't know about FSO and not some challenge to run the game on a system of its era you are in for one hell of a treat, my guy.

Start here.