(Der "Freedom Force FAQ v2.0" stammt aus dem offiziellen englischsprachigen Forum und ist im Orginal von Irrational Games erstellt worden - Lediglich für die HTML-Formatierung und das Fett-Hervorheben einiger Fragen ist Taktikzone.de verantwortlich.)

GENERAL QUESTIONS

• What is Freedom Force?
  
• When will Freedom Force be released?
  
• What platforms is Freedom Force be available on?
  
• What are the system requirements for Freedom Force?
  
• What is the story to Freedom Force?
  
• What sort of game is Freedom Force?
  
• What sort of perspective does Freedom Force use?
  
• What is the atmosphere of Freedom Force?
  
• Where and when does the game take place?
  
• Do you have any plans for a sequel?
  
• Who is the publisher for the game?
  
• Where can I find out more about Freedom Force?
  

GAMEPLAY QUESTIONS

• Can I create my own hero?
  
• What kind of missions will feature in the game?
  
• How many different superheros will there be?
  
• How many heroes will you control at a time?
  
• Can you build a team of Super Villains?
  
• Will characters think for themselves?
  
• How does the skill system work in Freedom Force?
  
• To what extent will the player be able to developer their characters through the course of the game?
  
• What kinds of attributes and super-powers will your team be able to learn?
  
• How interactive will the environment be?
  
• Will there typically be innocents wandering around the streets?
  
• How many single-player missions will there be?
  
• Is the game real-time or turn-based?
  

MULTIPLAYER QUESTIONS

• How will the multiplayer game work?
  
• How many players are supported in multiplayer?
  
• How do I control the pause speed in multiplayer?
  

TECHNICAL QUESTIONS

• What engine does Freedom Force use?
  
• Why does Freedom Force use the NetImmerse engine?
  
• What kind of polygon counts do the characters, buildings and so forth have?
  
• How customizable are the characters from within the game interface, and will you be supporting “skins” from the mod community?
  

IRRATIONAL GAMES

• Who is Irrational Games?
  
• Where can I find out more information about Irrational Games?
  

TROUBLESHOOTING

• My copy of Freedom Force reports: Startup error "alert: init renderer". What does that mean? Can my video card run Freedom Force?
  
• I know I have DirectX 8.1 and the game still won’t run!
  
• I have a video card with an Nvidia chipset. What drivers should I use?
  
• I’m having trouble running the game with my Voodoo video card, or I’m seeing significant graphical distortions. What should I do?
  
• Freedom Force appears distorted under my ATI Rage 128 or Rage Fury video card.
  
• The textures seem to flicker when I run Freedom Force on my Matrox G550.
  
• Freedom Force isn’t working properly with my Kyro card under Windows XP!
  
• The game is very dark, or the screen has gone black. Help!
  
• I just tried to install Freedom Force, but the install button was blanked out. I have the Freedom Force demo installed. What happened?
  
• When I play the game, I play for awhile and it crashes, but I have no problems running Windows applications like Internet Explorer or older games. What’s going on?
  
• I cannot rotate the camera in Freedom Force. How is it done?
  
• I’m not getting any sound in Freedom Force, or the sound I am getting is messed up. What should I do?
  
• Is there anything I should do to better run Freedom Force?
  
• Freedom Force just crashed and rebooted my system. What happened?
  
• When I try to play or install Freedom Force under Windows XP, I get a message saying “Permission Denied”. What’s that mean?
  
• I’ve heard you can download custom characters and skins. Where can I get them and how do I use them?
  

General Questions

What is Freedom Force?
Freedom Force is the first game that recreates the experience of controlling a team of superheroes with all their own strengths, weaknesses and personalities. It combines a fully 3D real-time tactical combat engine with deep RPG character development and a rich storyline. Players must use the varied abilities of their characters to defeat an array of super-villains in a dynamic interactive environment - everything is destructible!

When will Freedom Force be released?
Freedom Force was released on the 26th of March in the United States and many other places. French and German localized versions should be available shortly.

What platforms is Freedom Force be available on?
Currently Freedom Force is only available on the PC / Windows platform.

What are the system requirements for Freedom Force?
The minimum system requirements to run Freedom Force are:

• Windows XP, Windows Me, Windows 2000, or Windows 98 (Windows 95 and Windows NT not supported)
  
• 300 MHz Intel Pentium II or AMD K6-2 processor
  
• 96 MB RAM
  
• 4x CD-ROM/DVD-ROM drive
  
• 31 MB free hard disk space plus space for saved games (with additional space required for Windows swap-file and DirectX 8.1 installation)
  
• 16 MB Direct3D capable video card using the NVIDIA GeForce3, NVIDIA GeForce2, NVIDIA GeForce 256, NVIDIA Riva TNT2, NVIDIA Riva TNT, ATI Radeon 8500, ATI Radeon, ATI Rage 128 Pro, ATI Rage 128, PowerVR3 Kyro II, PowerVR Kyro, Matrox MGA-G450, or Matrox MGA-G400 chipset with DirectX 8.1 compatible driver
  
• DirectX 8.1 compatible sound card
  
• Keyboard
  
• Mouse
  

What is the story to Freedom Force?
That would be telling J Suffice to say it’s got everything a good comic story should have – alien invaders, evil communists and insane supervillains intent on world domination! Freedom Force features a rich storyline in the tradition of the great Silver Age of comic books.

What sort of game is Freedom Force?
Freedom Force is a real-time tactical RPG that lets the player assume the roles of an evolving team of superheroes as they do battle against evil. The game features both an intense 3D tactical battle engine and a rich RPG system.

What sort of perspective does Freedom Force use?
The game is fully 3D with arbitrary camera movement. However, the majority of the game will be played from a pulled back top-down camera.

What is the atmosphere of Freedom Force?
Freedom Force strives to re-create the classic feel of super-hero comics from the 60s. This era is commonly referred to as the "Silver Age" of comics.

During this era many of the classic comic book themes were explored. Comics hadn't yet descended into 90s style cynicism but the artists and writers had moved on from their simple beginnings to tackle more interesting stories and themes than they did in the earlier "Golden Age". At this stage, the heroes are still real heroes and the villains are still clearly villains. The themes are big and the plots are daring. Heroes and villains always discuss their intentions during combat sequences, villains are motivated by some bizarre twisted obsession, and so on.

Much of the classic comic book art style was developed during this time. Freedom Force strives to re-create this period both artistically and thematically. But we use the latest technology to present it.

Where and when does the game take place?
The game takes place in the early 60s. It's largely based in and around the fictional Patriot City, though expect to travel to many different and exotic locales as the game progresses...

Do you have any plans for a sequel?
Yes indeed, the game story is designed as a trilogy. The second game will deal with the 70s & 80s, while the third game will deal with today's grittier heroes. An expansion pack isn’t out of the question either.

Who is the publisher for the game?
Freedom Force is co-published by Crave Entertainment (www.cravegames.com) and Electronic Arts (www.ea.com).

Where can I find out more about Freedom Force?
Check out the official website at www.myfreedomforce.com or MGON’s site www.freedomforcecenter.com. There you can find screenshots, desktops, bonus art, character skins and models and more! There are also discussion boards where you can discuss the game with the team!

Gameplay Questions

Can I create my own hero?
Yes, yes, yes. We will be providing a powerful RPG system which will allow you to create your own characters and powers. You can define the characters stats, powers and attributes or even create new powers from scratch. Better yet, you can download free meshes and skins from the internet and use them for your own custom characters. If you need help using custom meshes or skins, look under the ‘troubleshooting’ section of this FAQ.

What kind of missions will feature in the game?
Freedom Force features a wide range of mission types and nefarious foes to battle. Foil bank robberies! Rescue innocent people from the clutches of an evil underground empire, or even save the city from a nuclear holocaust! Battle over 25 original enemies, each with their own abilities and tactics.

How many different superheros will there be?
The player will have access to 14 heroes who can be recruited onto his team. Not all of them will be seen on any given play-through of the game and the player is given choices about which he wishes to recruit each time he or she plays the game. You can easily create more heroes through the RPG system.

How many heroes will you control at a time?
Your team will consist of up to 4 heroes, but your total stable of superheroes can be much much larger.

Can you build a team of Super Villains?
You can build a team of villains in multiplayer (or, if you like, a mixed team of heroes and villains!).

Will characters think for themselves?
Characters have some independent behavior. They will defend themselves if somebody attacks them in melee, and certain attributes may also affect the way they behave. A berserker, for example, will ignore your orders when he goes berserk, and a timid character may ignore your orders if she runs away from a fight.

How does the skill system work in Freedom Force?
The player is rewarded with both prestige points and experience points. Prestige points are a measure of overall player success and are essentially used to help recruit new heroes onto the team. They are not necessary for winning the game. Experience points allow you to level up your heroes, which gives them a certain number of character points that they can spend on new powers and attributes.

To what extent will the player be able to developer their characters through the course of the game?
Each of the pre-built characters that appears in the single-player game can be developed and refined by the player over the course of the game. There are constraints on this development to keep them "in character" - we don't let you turn El Diablo into an aquatic character, for example. As you progress, you may buy more powerful powers and attributes for each of your heroes.

With your own characters, we allow even more freedom - players can build custom characters up from scratch using whatever attributes or powers they like, then recruit them into the campaign or take them into multiplayer. With our extremely powerful and flexible character creation system, you can create almost any hero in minutes!

What kinds of attributes and super-powers will your team be able to learn?
Attributes are more or less permanent features of the heroes and villains. Abilities like razor sharp claws, the ability to fly or being able to jump tall buildings are all attributes. Attributes aren’t always positive - there are also disadvantageous attributes, like a tendency to go berserk and lose control in combat. Powers are things that can be developed during the game. There's an incredible variety of these including straightforward combat powers like energy projection and more wacky special powers like the ability to tunnel through the ground or create copies of yourself in combat.

How interactive will the environment be?
You can pick up a tree and chuck it, buildings can be toppled, cars can be carried to the tops of buildings and hurled at the bad guys! Rip traffic lights out of the asphalt and use them to clobber evildoers! The most unique feature of Freedom Force is the game is designed to allow almost anything to be used or destroyed.

Will there typically be innocents wandering around the streets?
Absolutely, innocent citizens wander the streets of Patriot City as they go about their daily lives, and it’ll be up to you to keep them out of the crossfire as you battle the forces of villainy. Protect the civilians and they’ll love you for it, but if you fail to keep them out of harm’s way your prestige may suffer.

How many single-player missions will there be?
There are 23 missions, some composed of multipole sub-missions, in the game, most of which take place in and around Patriot City. Expect to see all manner of environments, from cities to floating islands to underground tunnels and other mysterious destinations beyond normal time and space.

Is the game real-time or turn-based?
It's real-time with a pause component. In the game you're controlling a small group of units (four heroes) on a mission and you have very tight control over them. Each character has a deep set of options and powers that they can use so we are providing a command system that allows you to express much more complicated commands than you would normally be able to in a real-time game.

Multiplayer Questions

How will the multiplayer game work?
Freedom Force comes with full multiplayer support. The multiplayer game is designed to take advantage of the tactical combat and RPG features of the game but employ them quite differently. Currently Freedom Force supports deathmatch on over a dozen made-for-multiplayer maps.

How many players are supported in multiplayer?
Multiplayer supports up to four players, each commanding a squad of up to four heroes.

How do I control the pause speed in multiplayer?
Pause speed is controlled by the pause speed setting on the host’s machine. To vary this speed, go to the options and select the pause speed from the General tab.

Pause speed defaults to fully paused. Although many people prefer this for single player games, multiplayer gamers may prefer to use partial slowdown rather than full pause.

Technical Questions

What engine does Freedom Force use?
Freedom Force uses the NetImmerse engine from NDL (www.ndl.com).

Why does Freedom Force use the NetImmerse engine?
Our engine combines a state-of-the-art renderer with a complex simulation system. Using NetImmerse to provide the foundational rendering system allowed us to focus our technological efforts on the simulation and game systems.

What kind of polygon counts do the characters, buildings and so forth have?
NetImmerse provides a level of detail system that allows us to build very high poly characters. Our characters range from one to two thousand polys each.

How customizable are the characters from within the game interface, and will you be supporting “skins” from the mod community?
Irrational will strongly supports the mod community with this title. Months before the game was even released, we gave the community our character tool to allow them to create their own meshes and skins for the game. We also plan to release the development tools we used to make Freedom Force to allow the modding community the maximum amount of flexibility in creating their own missions and campaigns.

Irrational Games

Who is Irrational Games?
Irrational Games is the award winning developer of System Shock 2. Irrational Games has studios in Boston, MA and Canberra, Australia. Irrational team members have worked on some of the premier titles of the industry, including Thief: The Dark Project, Ultima Underworld and System Shock.

Founded in 1997, Irrational Games is dedicated to bringing deep RPG and strategy games to both the PC and next-generation console markets.

Where can I find out more information about Irrational Games?
More detailed information about Irrational Games can be found on our web site at www.irrationalgames.com.

Troubleshooting

My copy of Freedom Force reports: Startup error "alert: init renderer". What does that mean? Can my video card run Freedom Force?
This means that the game cannot initialize the renderer. Most likely this is due to either having a video card that does not properly support the game or to not having DirectX 8.1 properly installed. The full version of Freedom Force will install DirectX 8.1 when you install the game if you don’t already have it.

The following video cards are supported and should work with proper drivers, the correct version of DirectX and other compatible hardware:

16 MB Direct3D capable video card using the NVIDIA GeForce3, NVIDIA GeForce2, NVIDIA GeForce 256, NVIDIA Riva TNT2, NVIDIA Riva TNT, ATI Radeon 8500, ATI Radeon, ATI Rage 128 Pro, ATI Rage 128, PowerVR3 Kyro II, PowerVR Kyro, Matrox MGA-G450, or Matrox MGA-G400 chipset with DirectX 8.1 compatible driver.

To address these issues, ensure that you have the latest drivers for your card, check for information about your video card below or in the section below that tells you how to install DirectX 8.1.

If you don't know what version of DirectX you have you can check through your control panel (accessed from the Start menu/Settings/Control Panel). This should contain an icon labelled "DirectX", the first tab of which shows you which version you currently have installed. If this version is less than 8.1 then you will need to obtain and install the latest version as described above.

Alternatively, you can run the DirectX diagnostic utility using the Start menu/Run command and then typing "dxdiag". This will also show you what version you currently have installed.

If you run the DirectX installer on a computer that already has the current DirectX on it, the installer will NOT damage the existing DirectX installation. It might give you newer versions of the DirectX files, but it will NOT replace the files on your computer with older files.

I know I have DirectX 8.1 and the game still won’t run!
Make sure you have 3D acceleration enabled in dxdiag.exe. To do this, run dxdiag.exe, which normally lives in the system32 subdirectory inside your windows folder. Go to the ‘display’ tab and make sure both DirectDraw Acceleration and Direct3D acceleration are enabled.

At least one person has reported that dxdiag.exe has displayed 3d as being enabled when it wasn’t. If you believe this might be the case, click on the ‘disable’ button next to the DirectDraw Acceleration. If the message displays “This will enable DirectDraw for ALL display devices on your system…” then hit OK.

I have a video card with an Nvidia chipset. What drivers should I use?
Those running the game with NVidia chipset graphics cards should obtain the latest drivers from the NVidia website (www.nvidia.com).

I’m having trouble running the game with my Voodoo video card, or I’m seeing significant graphical distortions. What should I do?
Those attempting to run the game on Voodoo cards may find the following helpful. Although Voodoo cards are no longer supported by the manufacturer, the latest drivers can be obtained from www.voodoofiles.com.

Freedom Force is expected to run properly on Voodoo 3 & 5 cards under Windows 98 and Windows ME. However, there are known problems under Windows 2000 and Windows XP. The following hints may be helpful:

* Enable full screen anti aliasing. To do so, right click on your desktop and select "properties". Then, from the display properties dialog, select the "settings" tab and click on the "advanced" button. Now, select the "anti-aliasing" tab and ensure that the "Direct 3D" toggle is selected. From the list, select any option other than "best performance". This has been found to fix problems with flickering displays.

* For Voodoo 3 chipsets, the 4.12.01.0666 drivers have been found to be stable. If you have problems with other drivers, we suggest obtaining and using these.

Voodoo 1 and Voodoo Banshee chipsets will not work with Freedom Force.

Freedom Force appears distorted under my ATI Rage 128 or Rage Fury video card.
Owners of ATI Rage 128 or Rage Fury cards should disable the shadows feature in the video options tab. Running the game in 16 bit mode may also solve some problems.

The textures seem to flicker when I run Freedom Force on my Matrox G550.
Matrox G550 users using older drivers may observe edges of textures flickering. Users of Windows 98, Windows ME or Windows XP should use version 5.8x drivers or higher, not the 5.72 drivers. The 5.8x drivers will not work with Windows 2000. Check www.matrox.com for the latest drivers.

Freedom Force isn’t working properly with my Kyro card under Windows XP!
The game should work with Kyro chipsets as listed above. However, some users have apparently experienced problems with Kyro drivers for Windows XP. At present there is no known work around for this.

The game is very dark, or the screen has gone black. Help!
If you experience very dark lighting on a Radeon card, try reloading a saved game or changing the video resolution.

If you experience a black screen on a Radeon card, try the following. First, select a 32 bit mode resolution in the video options. If this doesn't work, disable w- buffering in the Radeon Direct3D settings. To access these settings, right click on your desktop and select "properties". Then from the "Display Properties" dialog, select the "settings" tab and press the "advanced" button. Then in the Direct3D settings tab find and disable"w-buffer support".

Owners of ATI Rage 128 or Rage Fury cards should disable the shadows feature in the video options tab. Running the game in 16 bit mode may also solve some problems.

If you are running the game on a Voodoo 5 or SIS 300 chipset in a resolution using 32-bit color depth and the screen is very dark, try running with a resolution setting that uses 16-bit color.

I just tried to install Freedom Force, but the install button was blanked out. I have the Freedom Force demo installed. What happened?
If you have the Freedom Force demo installed and you insert the release version of the Freedom Force CD the autoplay menu will not show the option to install the full game. To work around this, first uninstall the demo by selecting the "Uninstall Freedom Force Demo" shortcut from the Start menu. Alternatively, run "setup.exe" from the CD using windows explorer or a command prompt.

When I play the game, I play for awhile and it crashes, but I have no problems running Windows applications like Internet Explorer or older games. What’s going on?
This is often due to old video card drivers. As time goes on and as people who make games get better at using video cards, more and more of your video card's abilities are used and this can reveal defects in your video drivers that, before, were not important. If your video card drivers are more than a few months old, they may be causing the game to crash andthey should be replaced if you want to play Freedom Force Demo or any other new game.

Replacing video card drivers is not difficult, but you have to be patient and follow directions from the card maker carefully for the best results. An important step in getting new video card drivers is knowing where to go for new drivers and, for that, you have to know who makes the video card or who makes the chips used in the card.

For example, if the card has "GeForce" or "Riva TNT" associated with it, the manufacturer of the card's chips is NVIDIA (http://www.nvidia.com/). Matrox (http://www.matrox.com/) makes video cards like the Millennium G400/G450, etc. ATI (http://www.ati.com/) makes the "Radeon", the "Rage 128", and "Rage 128 Pro" set. For users of the "Voodoo" series of cards (Voodoo 3 and 5), 3dfx, the makers of the Voodoo chipsets, is no longer in business, but this website (http://www.voodoofiles.com/) has the latest drivers.

If you are unable to discern the maker of your graphics chipset, please refer to your computer's documentation.

I cannot rotate the camera in Freedom Force. How is it done?
To rotate the camera, go the options screen and under the "general" tab check the "camera rotate" option. Now, in the game hold down the Alt key and move the mouse to rotate and zoom the camera.

I’m not getting any sound in Freedom Force, or the sound I am getting is messed up. What should I do?
If you experience problems with sound (missing or corrupted sounds) try changing the sound provider in the "sound" tab of the options panel.

Is there anything I should do to better run Freedom Force?
Ensure that you are not running any other applications including virus scanners or screen savers. This will cut down on miscellaneous problems and crashes for almost any 3d game.

Freedom Force just crashed and rebooted my system. What happened?
This may be caused by a driver error. If you have a NVidia based card, check that you are using the latest drivers as described above. Also, don't Alt-Tab away from the game while running.

When I try to play or install Freedom Force under Windows XP, I get a message saying “Permission Denied”. What’s that mean?
Since you need certain rights to files while playing Freedom Force, limited users under XP will need to be given write access to the Freedom Force folder and all subfolders in order to play the game. Limited users may also need a higher permissions level in order to install Freedom Force. Please consult your system administrator.

Fast User switching is not supported since only one instance of Freedom Force can be running at any time.

I’ve heard you can download custom characters and skins. Where can I get them and how do I use them?
There are many fansites that have custom characters that you can download and use in Freedom Force. Go to http://www.irrational.com.au/links/links_fansites.cfm to check out the latest and greatest fansites with these custom skins.

After downloading the custom skin, you will need to place it the correct folder so you can use it in the game.

If you installed the game to the default directory, the custom skins will need to be placed in C:\Program Files\Irrational Games\Freedom Force\Data\Art\custom_characters\.

From there, you will see many folders. These are character meshes. You must place the custom skin with the correct mesh, otherwise it will not appear correctly in the game. If you have the demo only, please note that the demo contains a very limited number of the meshes and skins that are included in the full version of the game.

Check the custom_chars_note.txt file to help you figure out which skin goes in which folder.

After you have figured out what mesh your skin is made for, open that folder and the skins subfolder. Create a new folder with the characters name and place the files within. The skin filenames (*.tga files) must begin with the mesh name (ex: male_cape.tga and male_cape_cape.tga).

You should now be able to choose that skin when creating a character in the game.