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I posted this to the official support area, but thought I'd crowdsource the knowledgeable people in this forum too :)
I recently downloaded and installed Freespace + Expansion. The game appears to be working fine, but with any on screen activity (ships, etc.) performance becomes extremely sluggish (less than 10fps). I have a dual core Athlon X2 4200+, an Nvidia GeForce 7900GT, and 2 gigs of ram. I am running the latest drivers and up-to-date windows XP.
The performance decrease is odd, because while frame rate might be terrible when looking at a ship up close (the second training mission's drone, for example) if I target that ship, the performance increases greatly only while I'm looking direcly at the targeted ship. If I look away, the frame rate drops immediately to unplayable levels. I've tried switching the graphics quality to the lowest possible setting, which makes no difference in performance.
Running in software mode is smooth, but the graphics are terrible, so that is not a viable alternative.
This question / problem has been solved by dkloftonimage
Hey spiffae, I believe I'm having the same problem. I created the post "Q:Stuttering Performance" earlier, regarding Freespace 2, but I've since purchased Freespace 1 from GOG, and had the same problem. For me, whenever I look at anything with a lightsource (like a ship, star, or a laser blast), the game starts to chug. But once it's viewed that object, I'm fine until I turn away from it. Then, the moment I see a new object, the framerate takes a dive again.
I emailed GOG support with my problem, and to their credit, they were quick to respond, but haven't found any solutions yet. They recommended trying new video drivers, or to use the FSOpen mod. Neither option really works for me, as I've tried all the official (and several beta) drivers for my 8800GT, and using FSOpen is a little to much of a "grey area", as I'm not 100% certain it's truly legal (especially the Freespace 1 conversion, which uses all the art and sound resources of the original game).
That's a lot of text to say I'm no better off than you, but there you have it. Should GOG find a solution, and they let me know, I'll be sure to post it here.
Thanks for the reply - I guess I don't have the moral qualms you do - I'm going to try the FSOpen mod - I figure I've bought FS1 and 2, I might as well make full use of the things I've purchased. Haven't got it all set up yet - but I'll keep everyone posted - Still would like to fix the original games!
I see from your last post that you've decided to run the FSOpen mod to get your game up and running. If that's the path you took, I hope it got it running right for you, and that you are currently enjoying the game. I believe I found a workaround that doesn't involve the FSOpen mod, and per my previous post, I wanted to drop an update here in case you wish to use the same method.
Cut and pasted from my other thread:
I believe I may have found an alternative. I downloaded a Glide Wrapper (allows a graphics card to emulate an older 3dfx based card) from here:
http://dege.freeweb.hu/
Specifically, the v1.40+ release.If you download this file, unzip it, and then copy the following files:
dgVoodooSetup.exe
Glide.dll
Glide2x.dll
to your Program FilesGOG.comFreespace 2(or Freespace) directory, then run the launcher application (ie FreeSpace.exe or FreeSpace2.exe), and have it autodetect your graphics card, it should detect the 3dfx Glide option, allowing you to run the game, 3D accelerated, but without the choppy framerate that Direct3D provides.
I Purchased my copy of Freespace 2 from GOG.com I have had the same choppy issue, was disappointed when turning down the graphics acceleration did not affect the problem I am using an nvidia 6200 Turbocached graphics card, and a dual core pentium D processor, so far I am unable to find a patch/update to fix this problem, plus when I went to the Http://dege.freeweb.hu/ I was attacked by malware. Sorry dude but you must have some heavy protection to be able to get download from there without catching something, Sorry.
Freespace 1 the great war runs PERFECTLY on my computer so I don't understand the issue
http://www.zeus-software.com/downloads/nglide

N-glide may also be worth a look. There are several other Glide wrappers, but most seem to be really out of date.
N-glide worked perfectly and fixed the color banding, thanks a ton.
I apologize for reviving a dead topic, but I run sites through the virus scanner mywot.com, and the link in the solution didn't exactly paint the most safe image for the site. I'm not sure if watchful's link is virus-free, either, even if WOT says it's okay...

Isn't GOG supposed to make running these games on modern systems easier, so you don't have to download a mysterious, possibly malicious file from a site you've never heard of? Which is EXACTLY what I'm trying to do?
EDIT: I downloaded from Zeus Software, yet it's still not working somehow...
Post edited August 18, 2013 by Supereor
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Supereor: I apologize for reviving a dead topic, but I run sites through the virus scanner mywot.com, and the link in the solution didn't exactly paint the most safe image for the site. I'm not sure if watchful's link is virus-free, either, even if WOT says it's okay...

Isn't GOG supposed to make running these games on modern systems easier, so you don't have to download a mysterious, possibly malicious file from a site you've never heard of? Which is EXACTLY what I'm trying to do?
EDIT: I downloaded from Zeus Software, yet it's still not working somehow...
Did you select the Glide option in the graphical setup?
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Supereor: I apologize for reviving a dead topic, but I run sites through the virus scanner mywot.com, and the link in the solution didn't exactly paint the most safe image for the site. I'm not sure if watchful's link is virus-free, either, even if WOT says it's okay...

Isn't GOG supposed to make running these games on modern systems easier, so you don't have to download a mysterious, possibly malicious file from a site you've never heard of? Which is EXACTLY what I'm trying to do?
EDIT: I downloaded from Zeus Software, yet it's still not working somehow...
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crazy_dave: Did you select the Glide option in the graphical setup?
No, I forgot to, but the game is working now :D Thank you for your suggestion.
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crazy_dave: Did you select the Glide option in the graphical setup?
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Supereor: No, I forgot to, but the game is working now :D Thank you for your suggestion.
Glad it is working - good hunting! :)

P.S. Have you thought about installing FSOpen? You can play FS1 and FS2 through it and it looks wonderful.
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dklofton: Hey spiffae, I believe I'm having the same problem. I created the post "Q:Stuttering Performance" earlier, regarding Freespace 2, but I've since purchased Freespace 1 from GOG, and had the same problem. For me, whenever I look at anything with a lightsource (like a ship, star, or a laser blast), the game starts to chug. But once it's viewed that object, I'm fine until I turn away from it. Then, the moment I see a new object, the framerate takes a dive again.

I emailed GOG support with my problem, and to their credit, they were quick to respond, but haven't found any solutions yet. They recommended trying new video drivers, or to use the FSOpen mod. Neither option really works for me, as I've tried all the official (and several beta) drivers for my 8800GT, and using FSOpen is a little to much of a "grey area", as I'm not 100% certain it's truly legal (especially the Freespace 1 conversion, which uses all the art and sound resources of the original game).

That's a lot of text to say I'm no better off than you, but there you have it. Should GOG find a solution, and they let me know, I'll be sure to post it here.
As long as you OWN the original art assets the mods are perfectly legal. And having the original files is a requirement for freespace open if you want to use to original campaigns.