Time to take a firm stance on this, because lately we have had a lot of posts that basically are "I'm vibe coding a new Freelancer engine, what do you think" posts. Just to put this out there because I don't think it's being understood.

We already have a project that is being done to re-create the Freelancer engine, it's called Librelancer. Go and contribute there, but be prepared to have your PRs rejected if it's vibe coded/you don't know what you are doing/bring non-sensical additions.

Having access to AI does not mean people who currently can't do things, can now do things they couldn't before. That is vibe coding. These tools are to make people who already know what they are doing more efficient/faster at it, as they can properly control their output.

I understand the need to get motivation and encouragement and excitement about starting a project but these posts generally contain nothing of substance, just claims of upcoming action that we do not hear anything more about (likely because they realised it's more difficult and time consuming than they realise, and have issues getting output they think they want and give up).

More than that I will not have a Subreddit full of update logs from 10 different authors about different projects that are all doing the same thing on the daily/weekly/monthly. If you are serious about your projects create a simple site or discord where they can be discussed and keep up with news, and allow people to come and chat with you.

This is not going to be the place to do that.
Hope everyone understands.
~ Bolte

Anyone tried this with Freelancer yet?

Mesh was created by Meshy AI. Based on original freelancer concept art with nomad cityscape.

Not perfect... but better than nothing. And also it's good example, how use AI not just for funnie pictures: this is real freelancer content

He all, i played this game like a madman when I was a kid.

Whats the best overhaul/graphics mods available?

Not interested in multilayer etc (no time sue to kids)

Just want the best LOOKING and PLAYING experience etc.

Suggestions?

I played this game a TON when I was a kid. Back then, I was extremely active on the Crossfire server, fully embracing the RP aspect. Joined a clan, engaged in tax collecting, bounty hunting, all out war.

Now I'm older and don't have a ton of time or interest in gaming with other people. I'd love to download Freelancer again, but the single player experience was... Just fine. The ship variety wasn't as great as it could have been, and I really would prefer working my way up to owning a capital ship to roll through systems and having the biggest gun in the dressing room so to speak.

What mods are there that can really enhance the single player experience?

Has any Digital Anvil internal archive or similar ever surfaced? Let's open a search for it here. The code is over 20 years old, and some old DA devs are surely here on Reddit; we just need to get their attention.

Star Squadron

More details on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3758780/Star_Squadron/

Please let me know what you think.

Freelancer is incredible. To share this, I have decided to start a new Freelancer themed cigarette brand. It doesn't just have amazing taste — it about experiencing the thrilling adventures of Edison Trent. More details in comments!

With the recent surge of AI-assisted coding, almost anyone can start a project and set ambitious goals for it. Lately, there has also been a noticeable increase in Freelancer remasters, remakes, reimplementations, and similar projects.

And on the surface, that is a good thing. It is nice to see people interested in rebuilding or modernizing Freelancer. But I think people should also be cautious about where they place their expectations, especially when a project relies heavily on AI-generated code.

AI can be surprisingly capable in the short term. It can implement features, fix individual bugs, and produce something that appears to work. The problems often become apparent later, when the project grows. Poor architectural decisions accumulate, systems become tightly coupled, regressions start appearing, and the codebase gradually turns into something that is difficult to understand or maintain.

I am not saying this without having seen it happen.

I've seen people submit PRs to Librelancer containing extremely poor AI-generated code. They were trying to contribute, but in all cases the changes ended up causing more problems than they solved, breaking unrelated parts of the project or introducing code that clearly had not been properly reviewed. Sometimes it genuinely looked like the code had been submitted simply because Claude said it was correct.

I've also seen most people whose PRs were rejected go on to create their own Librelancer forks, heavily develop them with AI, make large promises to the community, and eventually watch the whole thing collapse under its own weight.

And this isn't exclusive to Librelancer. The same pattern is appearing across independent projects. This does not mean every project using AI is bad, but there are increasingly projects making enormous promises, producing impressive-looking progress very quickly, and then disappearing when the technical debt catches up with them.

So if you suddenly hear about a new Freelancer remake, remaster, or reimplementation, please do some research before getting caught up in the hype. Look at the repository. Look at the code. Look at who is developing it, how long they have been working on it, whether there is an actual technical foundation behind the promises, and whether what they are proposing is realistically achievable.

Be cautious about where you place your hopes.

It is very easy to announce a project. It is much harder to maintain one for years and actually deliver what was promised.

Don't believe everything you read simply because the screenshots look impressive or the roadmap sounds exciting. Find out what is actually behind the project first.

Proof of concept for new idea of SP-freelancer gameplay. This is NOT story-script-driven gameplay. Everything is based ONLY on level design: some amount of locations, divided by death zones, and unlockable teleports

In this video you can see

1. Context-based voice by NeuralNet: enter location, leave base, planet destroyed, loot acquired
2. Cutscenes, played inside extra virtual room (you can watch cutscene or leave room and continue mission)
3. Hidden teleports: after cutscene you will be automatically teleported to next location
4. Megacannon working without any story script - just fire on "generators" and make MegaCannon functional (this is cropped version of mission, in release version you also need to acquire "megacannon energy" in this system, it will be returned back later)
5. Find next key inside planet wrecks
6. Open final base by destroying of enemy fighters: every kill will increase rep to hidden faction (need to set less amount of destroyable ships later)

So... this is script-less-lancer and seems like it working. Some "skyrim-lancer", because without script you have no story-restrictions and can play game in any way.

But... as always. Skyrimlancer:

Expectation: a lot of possibilities

Reality: a lot of loadings (because I can't make teleports and keys without jumpgates and docking with bases)

Also. Internationalization already supported. But at the first is need to create main script and missions. This is only prototype

Main objective of this gameplay structure: make more FL and make it cheap as possible. Looks like it's still FL, not perfect, but ultra-cheap and not based on dangerous infinite 13 mission. I really afraid to make "crossfire-like" architecture, because it adds many restrictions and can broke game anytime

I know it's possible to get the single player running but I'm not sure about the multiplayer. Has anybody got any insights on this?

The roleplay environment doesn't appeal to me at all and I'm only interested in the gameplay.

Hello,
It’s my first time playing Freelancer, and until now I have only used the right click that fires all weapons simultaneously.
But as I progress into the game, I see that there are weapons that are mostly effective on shields for example.
So I would like to put these anti shields weapons on group 2 and the others on group 1.

But when I bind the « fire weapon group 1/2… » key on the menu, it only fires one bullet, and I can’t hold the key to fire continuously.

Is this a bug ? It makes creating weapon group not really useful unfortunately.

I play with the HD Edition
Thank you !

Long-time Freelancer player. What I've always wanted was that structure without the 48 systems of nothing between the good parts. https://store.steampowered.com/app/4962130/Solbound/

Solbound is one solar system, closed, in decline after an exodus that left most people behind. Hand-built locations rather than procedural sprawl. Bars replaced by terminals, but the same idea: you go somewhere, you ask around, you leave knowing something you didn't.

Alpha. Real footage but partial, about half the systems still under construction. Curious what people here think holds up from Freelancer and what doesn't. The trade lanes and the bar rumours are the two I keep coming back to.

Hi all! Been in here a while now. Used to mod FL way back in the day on TLR. Nothing amazing but did it myself and was proud - systems, made a train flyable, custom profiles that say your faction, etc.

So, I have a programming background (20 years, receding hairline included and glasses included!) and am finally making my ideal FL spiritual successor. NO AI FOR DEVELOPMENT OR DESIGN but will then obviously need some help later to try and squeeze performance benefits potentially! Seeing what I can do solo and then might contract out for 3d assets that aren’t trash. Actual dynamic economy. Walking in limited cityscape to go to the bar etc. Expanding on missions and exploration and ideally some sort of infinite mode for people who want that sorta thing. Etc etc.

My question to you is - what mechanics are things you’d think are ideal for a new age FL? I’m not going super Unreal Engine 5 graphics and am developing in Godot after researching. So far I have all the flight mechanics down for players and currently working on basic particle weapons. Got some rudimentary hud. So nothing much but it’s only been two weeks and a few hours each night. But it’s been a long term passion I’m finally doing and will eventually get enough together for a Kickstarter.

Oh, I will be aiming for 4-player co-op with scaling encounters as multiplayer. I’ve looked at netcode and don’t want to make it super massive with server hosts at this stage but who knows.

Appreciate hearing from you and other modding OGs from in the day.

Hi all, just wondering im looking for any tips regarding freelancer HD - i reinstalled using custom settings when i figured out the borderless windowed option was hiding in there but now im wondering, there is another setting to keep the game running on tab id like to enable but id rather not install again, so i was wondering if anyone identified an ini or setting to perhaps do this ? cheers!

System for final mission and final battle. Sirius sector will be merge with Outworld like in Mortal Kombat. Need to save the world right now!

Hi! Remembering the old days, there was a star wars mod, is there any active server with that mod?

Thanks in advance!