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General Questions
What is Freedom Force?
What platforms is Freedom Force 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?
Who is the publisher for the game?
Gameplay Questions
Can I create my own hero?
What kind of missions will feature in the game?
How many different characters are there?
How many heroes do I control at a time?
Can I build a team of villains?
Do characters think for themselves?
How does the skill system work in Freedom Force?
To what extent can I develop my character through the course of the game?
What kinds of attributes and powers can my team learn?
How interactive is the environment?
Are there civilians wandering about the streets?
How many single player missions are there?
Is the game real-time or turn-based?
Multiplayer Questions
How does 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 to 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 more info 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?
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What is Freedom Force?
Freedom Force is the first game that recreates the experience of controlling a team of heroes 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 villains in a dynamic interactive environment - everything is destructible!
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What platforms is Freedom Force available on?
Currently, Freedom Force is available on the PC / Windows and Macintosh platforms.
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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
The game should run smoothly on this system at lowest settings, but the more powerful your system, the more bells and whistles you can leave running and the nicer Freedom Force will look. The recommended specs for best game performance are:
- 600 MHz or faster Intel Pentium III or AMD Athlon processor
- 128 MB or more RAM
- 16x or faster CD-ROM/DVD-ROM drive
- 570 MB or more free hard disk space plus space for saved games
- 32 MB or greater supported Direct3D capable video card with DirectX 8.1 compatible driver
- Environmental Audio capable sound card
Required for Multiplayer:
1 disc/player per computer
Internet (2-4 players): 56 Kbps or faster connection via Internet
Network (2-4 players): TCP/IP compliant network
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What is the story to Freedom Force?
That would be telling :-) Suffice to say it’s got everything a good comic story should have – alien invaders, evil communists and insane villains intent on world domination! Freedom Force features a rich storyline in the tradition of the great Silver Age of comic books.
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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 heroes as they do battle against evil. The game features both an intense 3D tactical battle engine and a rich RPG system.
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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.
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What is the atmosphere of Freedom Force?
Freedom Force strives to re-create the classic feel of 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.
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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…
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Who is the publisher for the game?
Freedom Force is published by Electronic Arts.
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Can I create my own hero?
Yes, yes, yes. We provide a powerful RPG system which allows 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.
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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.
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How many different characters are there?
The player has 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.
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How many heroes do I control at a time?
Your team will consist of up to 4 heroes, but your total stable of superheroes can be much much larger.
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Can I build a team of villains?
You can build a team of villains in multiplayer (or, if you like, a mixed team of heroes and villains!).
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Do 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.
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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.
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To what extent can I develope my 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!
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What kinds of attributes and powers can my team 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.
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How interactive is the environment
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.
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Are there civilians wandering about the street?
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.
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How many single player missions are there?
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.
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Is the game real-time or turn-base?
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.
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How does 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.
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How many players are supported in multiplayer?
Multiplayer supports up to four players, each commanding a squad of up to four heroes.
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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.
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What engine does Freedom Force use?
Freedom Force uses the NetImmerse engine from NDL.
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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.
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What kind of polygon counts to 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.
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How customizable are the characters from within the game interface, and will you be supporting “skins” from the mod community?
Irrational 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 have also released 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. Visit the Modforce part of this site for more info.
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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.
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Where can I find out more about Irrational Games?
More detailed information about Irrational Games can be found on our web site at http://www.irrationalgames.com.
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