glFFE

by kolijoco


About glFFE

glFFE is the "next generation" FFE replacement executable.

Frontier: First Encounters - is David Braben and Frontier Development's last Elite game published back when dos and mcga ruled the desktops. The original game does not run on modern operating systems. glFFE is based on John Jordan's JJFFE recompilation and is optionally supplemented with Anisotropic's gameplay balance mod. This replacment executable uses opengl for rasterizing. It should scale nicely to any OpenGL resolution (windowed or fullscreen). It supports music (custom ogg and mp3 as well as original the midis), and features an engine to customize the cockpit console.


News

Thanks to alioth.net for taking us aboard!
I'll post some screenshots and maybe enhance my minimalist web site design a little, when i have time :-)

I've added the last set of replacement icons (comms panel) to the bmps.zip file, and also upped the version number in the splash screen (nothing else changed in the v1.0 source or binaries, so if you don't care, don't bother to redownlaod).

All cockpit replacement art is John Bluestone's work, I just stretched, shaded, hammered it to fit. If you don't like it, make your own!

I guess this it it! I'm signing off for a while. Post on alt.fan.elite if you have questions about the source code. Please don't send bug reports, I really won't have time address them in the near future. Also, please give me some credit if you release updates, improvements.

Happy trading / pirating / bounty hunting to all!


System Requirements and Installation Instructions

glFFE uses opengl glsl, it thus requires opengl 2.0 support (directx 9 hardware with current drivers should be fine). It also requires SDL, SD_mixer, and glew to run, the dll-s are included in the archive. To install copy the contents of the zip(s) to the game directory. Edit glffe.cfg to suit your needs. The comments in the source code are all I managed for developer docs. I know its not much, but it should get you started. I'ts probably a good idea to get hold of the "original" jjFFE source code as well, especially if you want to build for other platforms.


Downloads

Hard-core (non-aniso) executable:
glffe100.zip

Executable with Aniso's mods:
glffea100.zip

Sample cfg file(v0.98):
cfg.zip

SDL(1.2.10), SDL_mixer(1.2.7 methinks) and GLew(1.3.4) dll-s:
libs.zip

Replacement bitmaps(v1.01), optional, but highly recommended (to be copied to the game directory):
bmps.zip

Source code with VC6 workspace.
glffe-source.zip

version history and known bugs/issues


Feedback

If you would like to comment on the project or have questions about the source, post in the alt.fan.elite newsgroup.


Important Note

All is provided as is, no guaranties, nothing! Use at your own risk! Read and understand the disclaimer displayed in the spash!

Go to JJFFE Central for all thing JJFFE and related links.