Freelancer Cheats and Mods

Freelancer Single Player (SP) Cheats and Mods

Most mods for Freelancer are big overhauls that extensively change the game and generally make the Single Player campaign unplayable. We have some simple cheat mods that keep the basics of Freelancer, but release some of the restrictions on the game to change your experience of the Single Player Campaign. Depending on what you like, you can make it easier, harder, or just different.

The mods are basically edits of the INI files in the ..\Freelancer\DATA directory or subdirectories. Simply find the same file, make a copy of it as a backup, and overwrite it with our edited version.

Mods: (GQ Freelancer Mods Download Link)
File: ..\Freelancer\DATA\EQUIPMENT\market_misc.ini
What the mod does:

• Removes the level requirement on all ship equipment (guns, shields, thrusters).

What this means:

• Not a lot unless you pair it with another mod below. For example, even though you can buy a Class 6 gun, unless your ship can mount it, the game won't let you buy it anyway.
• It does mean that if you come across a good Thruster, you can pick it up right away if you have enough credits.

File: ..\Freelancer\DATA\EQUIPMENT\market_ships.ini
What the mod does:

• Removes the level requirement on ships you can buy.

What this means:

• You still need the cash to buy the ship, but theoretically it means you can fly any ship at any level.
• The Single Player campaign is tightly level-limited -- you can have any amount of cash, but your level is dependent on your progress in the campaign. The challenges in the game are therefore relative to the ships you can reasonably expect to be flying. If you can get a better ship (or at least one that can take more punishment), you can have a slightly easier time in the campaign.
• Pair it up with the modded market_misc.ini file above to release restrictions on gear you can have.
• For plot reasons, various jump gates and jump holes in the Single Player campaign are locked until you reach certain campaign stages. You are therefore still limited in the types of ship you can fly in the Single Player campaign simply because you can't get to the appropriate ports to buy certain ships. More ships will still be available overall, however.

File: ..\Freelancer\DATA\EQUIPMENT\st_equip.ini
What the mod does:

• Sets all shields to class 1. You can therefore mount any class shield on any type of ship, although Light Fighter, Heavy Fighter, and Freighter distinctions still hold.

What this means:

• If you need a lot of help in the campaign, you can mount a significantly better shield, if you can find one and can afford it.
• If you want to fly a weaker ship, you can, and still have reasonable survivability, by having a superior shield.

File: ..\Freelancer\DATA\EQUIPMENT\weapon_equip.ini
What the mod does:

• Sets all guns and missiles to class 1. You can therefore mount any gun or missile on any ship, providing you have the appropriate type of hardpoint (i.e., gun/missile or turret).

What this means:

• If you can buy it, you can use it. However, each ship has its own power output and power capacity. Lower-level level ships have a lot less power, so you will need to be more accurate with your shots if you mount a powerful gun since higher-class guns draw more power per shot and you can quickly run out of power unless you can get your hands on a Nomad weapon.

File: ..\Freelancer\DATA\MISSIONS\empathy.ini
What the mod does:

• Removes negative empathy consequences for object destruction.

What this means:

• When you destroy ships of a faction...
• You rapidly reduce hostility against you instead of increasing it. Instead of liking you more, you can imagine that they are basically more afraid of engaging you and are more likely to leave you alone.
• Factions allied with them receive no change, so they do not hate you more, but neither do they like you more.
• In gameplay, it means that you can get hostile factions to be neutral or even friendly to you, and can pacify all factions in this way without negatively impacting any other faction. You can go to their bases and even take missions for them. So, in the Single Player campaign, you could potentially go to a Liberty Rogue or Xeno base and buy their ships and weapons without having to pay for a reputation change or get law enforcement factions mad at you..
• Known Issue: Sometimes when you are on a mission which requires destroying multiple ships, some of the ships you need to destroy may turn neutral and just linger in the area but not attack. You will still need to attack and destroy them to complete your mission. This side effect appears to be harmless.

File: ..\Freelancer\DATA\SHIPS\shiparch.ini

What the mod does:

• Cargo Space x100, Shield Batteries and Nanobots x10.

What this means:

• Any ship can haul a heck of a lot of cargo. You can therefore reliably pick up all the loot (including shield batteries and nanobots) you get in battle, and quickly amass cash with trade.
• If you need more help in combat, you can now stock up on much more healing potions (i.e., shield batteries and nanobots) you help you get through tough missions.

Cheats:

• To skip the intro movies when you start the game, edit  ..\Freelancer\EXE\freelancer.ini and change these lines by inserting a semi-colon as shown. Anything after a semi-colon is a comment and ignored by the game when it reads the data from the file.

   [Startup]
   movie_file = ;movies\MGS_Logo_Final.wmv
   movie_file = ;movies\DA_Logo_Final.wmv
   movie_file = ;movies\FL_Intro.wmv

• To make the game harder, simply forgo any shield batteries or nanobots, and fly a weaker ship.
• To survive radiation zones, mines, and volatile gasses so you can get at some wrecks, or make the game easier overall, edit \My Documents\My Games\Freelancer\PerfOptions.ini and change the DIFFICULTY_SCALE value from 1.00 to a smaller number. At 0.00, you take no damage from anything.