Hey, I just had the same problem. I was playing fine, then one day the game would just not launch. It would play the movies, then put up the freelancer splash screen then desktop. I tried uninstalling, reinstalling, even seaching through the regeistry for freelancer and deleting key and values for it. I even tried an update of my video driver, which was really a shot in the dark because I hadn't changed anything and it was working just one day before. Finally I did a system restore (XP) and went back 4 days and it worked. OK, I was messing around with mods, but you would think an uninstall and deleting all the files in the freelancer directory would fix it...not. System files are involved somewhere that weren't reset with the uninstall. Possibly some kind of MicroSloth anit-piracy thing. Yes, I'm using legit XP home addition and legit Freelancer! I'm playing again with the XWing this time, and no mod manager. Good luck, may the force be with you.

ok yeah so im running W2k...is there a system backup restore on that? i would hate to have to wipe my drive and reinstall just so i can play freelancer...

When life gives you lemons, throw them at someone...

If you have norton cleansweep, you can monitor the install and see exactly which files it puts in then use cleansweep to remove ALL the files the installer put in. If you dont, you may need to format. I'm not sure there is a restore feature in 2k.