Posted December 27, 2018
There's a good chance that the Freespace series may be the best space sim games ever made, and have been favorites of mine for years. However, they're both about 20 years old and may not run well on modern systems. The source code for Freespace 2 has been released to the public and has been maintained and improved in the intervening years, resulting in the addition of many new features and effects that make the game look and play much better than retail. The improved game engine (Freespace Open, sometimes called the Freespace Source Code Project) is free to use, and requires only the files from the original Freespace 2 to play (which you have). I would strongly recommend that you take a look at Hard Light Productions (which hosts Freespace Open), the Freespace wiki, and GOG's own Freespace forum for instructions on how to install it. It used to be a hassle, but I understand that the process has become considerably more user-friendly over the years.
Since you're a fan of Wing Commander, you may also enjoy Darkest Dawn, a 50-mission fan-made standalone game that runs on the Freespace Open engine and is intended as a "companion" campaign for Wing Commander III. Like Freespace Open, it's free to download.
I discovered Darkest dawn some years ago and there was no download possible at that time, but it's been long time since then and website indicates they took 10 years to complete the game !
Awesome, my holidays break until new year will be in the deep black space ! :-D
Thanks again shrill for all your advices, you're my secret Santa of 2018. :-)
P.S. : sorry for the off-topic zeogold
Post edited December 27, 2018 by KrysTOFF
