kfmfe04: Hi,
Could you clarify the steps you went through to get Freespace 2 running on a Mac?
I'm a little confused as to why you need Freespace Open to run this...
Has GOG rebuilt Freespace 2 so that it requires Freespace Open libs?
In other words, the original libs aren't in the download?
FSO is a completely different engine, not just libraries. No, GOG has nothing to do with FSO, they have only distributed the original retail binaries. If you have a Windows machine, you can run just the GOG version without FSO (though you'll be missing a whole lot of fan-made updates).
You need FSO to run on Mac or Linux at all, because GOG doesn't distribute non-Windows-based binaries.
kfmfe04: I understand the need for Wine, but not sure about Freespace Open...
TIA for any advice.
BoxOfSnoo: You have to get the Freespace Open stuff installed, and then you have to run the installers to get the data files out of it. Do you have a VM product or some version of Wine to be able to do this?
It's not super simple to do, but you end up with a very nice end product. It works beautifully on my Mac.
1- First, install the FS2 from GOG, somewhere. You may need WINE or an emulator or something.
2- Copy the whole folder over to your Mac. I put mine in /Applications/Games/FreeSpace2. You want the existing directory structure to remain the same. If you also have FS1, put the .vp files in the fsport folder
3- Next, download the FSO installer from
here. When you run it, it will point to a DOS-based drive letter and path combo (C:\Games\FreeSpace2). Change this to the folder you selected in step 2
Choose one of the 4 types of installs, and let 'er rip. It will probably take quite a while.
Ideally what should have happened is all of the files were updated or replaced in the proper locations. You should have a data folder with the FS2 game data in there, as well as a whole bunch of mods on the same level as the data folder.
4 - Run the FS2_Launcher that was installed in the game folder. It might do its own updating to make sure it's the latest version. Try it plain vanilla if you can. Then go to the "GamePlay+Speed" tab and make sure the "Selected Mod" is "mediavps". If it wasn't, you should notice some pretty impressive upgrades. Drop down this list and see all of the other mods installed - like "fsport" if you installed FS1 data (this is a CONSIDERABLE upgrade).
5 - Beware the Shivans.
Lots more info
here