Descent Freespace 2 was an awesome showcase of a space-combat/flight sim game back in the day. So much so, it was bundled with logitech joysticks, and for fans like me it was a nice way to relive the ‘Wing Commander’ experience in a ‘modern’ graphical engine.

However, when Interplay bit the dust, so did all distribution of this game. However, the original developers saw fit to release the source code. Then came the birth of the FreeSpace 2 Source Code Project (SCP). This project improves upon the original game in several ways:
— Improved DX8 and OpenGL support
— Support for high-res textures
— Support for resolutions greater than 1024×768
— Fixes several bugs and issues with the original game
— Replacement of net-code, to allow multiplayer support with a freely availabe game server

Here is a good place to get started, and learn about what exactly has been done to date. The game is currently very playable, but complete progress has not been made in reproducing the data/graphical assets, so you’ll either need to find a copy of the game, OR, read on further for a few locations to obtain the original via a large download.

Links of interest:
—FreeSpace Zone, host of downloads + torrent of original game. I used the torrent of the pre-installed, as it includes everything you need to play, including the latest versions of the newly developed assets.
—Hard-Light Productions , community of developer and modders of the FreeSpace2 including the FS2-Open project. Good forums, and links to FreeSpace 2 info.
—GameWarden’s BSG Mod site, home of an in-progress BSG mod for FreeSpace 2! They already have most modeling finished, and are now looking for Voice Actors. Check out the in-game screenshots here.

So, if you have any questions, let me know. I had a ton of fun firing this up after the torrent finished, and playing through the first few missions. If you live in the TC area, I can save you the download time by bringing you a DVD if you like.