MS didn't make Freelancer. Digital Anvil did.

I'm sure if they intend to release a patch they are working on it now, or have plans to work on it in the near future. Petition is more likely to rush them into a bad release than speed up the process.

They might not even have it on their to-do list...

i think that like... microsoft has lotso $$$$$$$$$ in their to-do list.


ohhoh yah. well, a multiplayer petition could help. like...

people have made characters online, n' either can't get in their server with their level 38 character chillin in it OR their tired of tha multi-player shizzness.

sooo.. DA might be miss guided by how many people are currently playin online.. when people are tryin to force themselves into servers.. or jus gave up. now a rush of people are tryin out multiplayer. DA can't lose that rush@!# so many new people joining a server n' gettin booted off when they FINALLY get to level 1`6 o somethin. TONS o these people are jus droppin freelancer n' movin on.

a petition would SHOW them that there are still TONS of people tryin to play multiplayer.

bdnfglsdfndfnlasd asdl i donno

People....Microsoft BOUGHT DA....


This was during development of Freelancer, a while back.

ROFL... yeah, when was the last time you tried going to the Digital Anvil website?

Anyway... The point here is that this is an AWESOME game engine... IMHO, it would only take a small amount of work from the development team to have servers send out server specific data when the client connects, as opposed to making the client have to download, and hack/install a mod. The Freelancer community would BLOSSOM if server ops could modify their servers with different universes, modified ships, etc. The thing holding the game back is having to download modified ini's if you want to connect to modified servers, and that's just stupid. It doesn't matter what internet connection you're on, sending over the data in the INI would only take a small amount of time.

Now, I realize that there's the potential for a MASSIVE amount of changes to INI's, especially when it comes to solar layouts and such... But heck, they could have solar information load up while we're going through jumpgates... They could load up base information as we're docking, etc.

A typical solar is about 150k. To load up a solar at 56k would take about 30 seconds. And once it was loaded, it could be saved to a temp directory for that specific server. That way, the files could be cached. When entering a system, the client would pass some kind of version number or CRC check on the already downloaded ini to make sure it was the correct version. If not, the server would send over the new one.

Bases are made up of several small files, all of which are under 1k. Typical docking time to a base is about 5 seconds, which should be PLENTY of time to transfer over ALL of the base information, even on a 56k modem.

Also, with regards to ships, they can be sent over when the client connects to the server. You don't have to transfer large model or texture files, so simply sending over the ini's associated with the ships would be enough.

Anyway... IMHO, doing this would GREATLY improve the longevity of Freelancer. After an initial product release, gamers always gravitate somewhere else for a bit, while the mod part of a community goes to work. The problem here is that the POTENTIAL is there to have a game which requires no client side modifications unless there are new graphics or sounds. Games that do not require client side mod downloads end up doing WAY BETTER than games that require client side mod downloads.

No one else has any feedback here?

Don't rush the patch. It'll be out when it's done. If you rush DA then they will probably release some steaming pile. Let them take their time. I have no glitches or bugs so far that I have found. No random crashing except when I screw around with things that aren't meant to be screwed with. Give it time. Take a deep breath. Exhale. Now run around waving your arms and prtending your a chicken!

I used to hate weddings cause all my aunts and grandmas would poke me and say "Your next sonny!" They stopped when I started doing it to them at funerals

I AM NOT TALKING ABOUT RUSHING A PATCH. What the heck do you keep babbling about that for? All I am trying to get across is that they SHOULD address this. I don't care how long it takes.

Actually I agree with Robert Olson in a couple of regards. I think that Microsoft / Digital Anvil needs to release a patch for Freelancer and SOON or it's going to kill out the current fanbase fast.

The current design and mechanics behind the game make it very fun and configurable in Single Player. That's severely fantastic and is really driving my playing right now. But I can tell you this.. I see myself getting sick of Freelancer inside of another week at present rate, and I REFUSE to play on a Multiplayer Server with current game mechanics and design in place.

I tried playing on MP Servers for the first few days, and cheating was RAMPANT across several servers that I played (and this was a short few days after the game had his the shelves!). Guys with semi-indestructible ships, amazing refire rates, mind boggling ship speeds, and usually obscene amounts of cash at these cheaters fingertips.

1.) All the ship missions are kill missions. That actually gets old for someone like me who would love to do trade runs. I would LOVE to be able to find cargo missions.

2.) There are notes and options in the INI files hinting towards combineing and crafting of various items... but it apparently didn't make it into release. That's a bit of a disappointment to me honestly.

3.) No security features for Administrators who want to run "pure servers", not allowing anyone who's INI files differ from Serverside INI files.

4.) Items that exist in INI Files (such as cloaking devices, cloaking detectors, radar jammers, etc) show a very apparent intent to have these items in game for player use. NPC's do not need such items designed for them if cloaking is always taking place in Cinematic Cut-Scenes during Storyline gameplay. I find it a tad disappointing that they haven't even hinted an intent to get these items "Player buyable & useable" by a patch .. much less not being a working feature at release.

5.) There are also existing ship "upgrades" in various locations in the game resource files which show an apparent intent by the game designers to have things other than just "Thrusters" & "Shields" as ship items. Ship powerplants / engines, sensor upgrades, tractorbeam upgrades, etc.


Really if you dig deep enough, it really becomes evident that Freelancer was FAR from finished with it was released. It's present condition basically marks it as 1/4 of what Earth & Beyond's "ship system" current is. (I'm not counting character advancement and character skills from E&B, that's a pure MMORPG feature). Earth & Beyond has a far superior ship features & upgrades set.. even if you're stuck to the same ship model all the time.

E&B still has shielding upgrades, ENGINE upgrades (god I'd kill for this in Freelancer), Sensor upgrades, tractor beam upgrades, weapon upgrades, etc.

I still wonder why they haven't implemented "Ballistic Weapons" in Freelancer, that is truely beyond me (even tho I'd love to see a VAST increase in ammo stack sizes if this happened).

In my opinion, Freelancer is already overdue of a Patch. WELL overdue.

yahh... rob pointed out tons of awesome things. they have tha resources to pull this stuff off. freelancer was definatly shoved out tha door, so i'ma thinkin they should take advantage of tha patching. i jus wanna sign of HOPE that they ARE workin on somethin. ANYTHINGGG. "Yes. We will patch" woo@! that'd be so saWeeet.

i have nooo idea what they're doin. i jus wanna know if somethins goin on... so i have somethin to hope fore. righ now... i donno. my hope fo it is growin thinnnn.

but lez look at a history... of these patchin thingies.

fun-com released Anarcy-Online with TONSS of bugs in it. people complained n' a DAY or 2 lata.. fun-com comes out n' lets em know they're workin solid on it. then things turned out oky.

Battlezone was released with INSANELY easy hacking. a month n' a half later.. a patch is released n' tha community was already rally close to dead =\
i donno. is all scaryy to meee. i'ma jus keep hope aliive

Battlezone didn't have the kind of potential that this has. Also, name one "tank simulator" that was successful. I know that the "tanks" in battlezone were very futuristic and stuff... But they were still tanks. People, for some reason, don't play tank simulator games.

On the other side of the coin COMPLETELY, you have Neverwinter Nights. When it was released, the general community was upset with the apparent limitations. However, the mod community put it all to rest. These days, there are persistant world NWN servers running strong. For comparison, look at Dungeon Siege by Microsoft. Similar game, but not half as much modification ability. Thus, NWN is KILLING dungeon siege, which, IMHO has a better game interface than NWN.

With regards to Freelancer, the game LOOKS like it's meant to be much more mod community friendly... But once you start digging, you see that it is not. I don't care if DA/MS get a patch out quickly or not. I just hope that they get a patch out. I have a bunch of friends that I play games with on a regular basis... Neverwinter Nights, BattleField 1942, UT, etc. We've been waiting for a good MULTIPLAYER space combat/trading game. This looks to be it... if they can make these changes. If not, I cannot recommend this game to my friends.