High-Resolution Frontier First Encounters

Two new versions of FFE are available, both of which offer considerably improved graphics and gameplay over the original game

FFE D3D

A Russian-based re-working of FFE with great graphics

glFFE

Well established and bug-free program

FFE D3D

FFE D3D is an exciting new project by DreamZzz in Russia. As the screenshot below shows, the FFE engine has been completely overhauled and is producing some stunning graphics; the planets and sky/space are hugely improved and a number of the ships have been updated, including the ships shown here

Various people have supplied updates of the classic ships as well as the buildings and spaceports which feature in the game. These are easily downloaded and incorporated into the game to replace the older, less detailed versions

• Download the game from Space Sim Central
This site also contains downloads of the upgraded ships and buildings which can be added to the Models folder in your FFED3D install

• The developers can be contacted at the English section of the Elite Russia forum here

• A modified version of the FFED3D file is also available from Space Sim Central which includes new fonts, corrected special characters in place and people names and other subtle changes. It is listed as ffed3d_update_v1.1.zip and includes a read_me file

This is a short video of Frontier First Encounters D3D. It shows an Imperial Trader launching from Nakasone in the Edphize system and docking at an orbital city in the same system.

Tips

• If the icons on the control panel disappear, set the full-screen resolution in the ffewin.cfg file to 1280x1024
• If you're using Windows Vista and you find you need to click just below each icon to activate it, refer to this Frontier Forums post

glFFE

glFFE has been programmed from the JJFFE code by kolijoco and makes use of the OpenGL graphics system to offer increased resolution. Instead of the original 320x200 screen, resolutions of 1024x768 and beyond are easily within the user's reach! In addition, the old low-res cockpit has been replaced with a cool new high-res one, making the game look even better

The basic gameplay remains the same but, as you can see from these screenshots, the game looks a lot nicer due to the increased resolution. Little details like the flashing signs on the Frontier planets and the small spinning radar dishes on some of the ships are much improved and in some cases are properly visible for the first time. Generally the ships show a huge improvement, many small markings becoming apparent

A further development of the game known as Nic's Mod is a very useful and well thought-out version of glFFE. Among the improvements...

• Easy switching between full-screen and windowed mode
• Optional doubling of planet detail
• Use of jpg & png graphics, rather than bulky bmp
• Beta Lyrae crash fixed
• Improved compatibility with older graphics cards

It is highly recommended that Nic's Mod is used to run glFFE, as described next

Playing glFFE on your PC

To play this version of FFE, you need to be running Windows and you must already have the shareware version of FFE installed, otherwise the music, sound effects and newspapers will not be available.

1. Download shareware FFE and extract the files to a folder of your choice eg. C:\FFE
2. Download glFFE and extract the files into the same folder as above - if asked to overwite select Yes
3. Run the game by double-clicking on the Firstenc batch file
4. Various hints & tips are contained within read_me files in the folder

Replacing missing icons on the glFFE control panel

Desipte Kolijoko's best efforts, some icons are missing from the control panel and default to the original, ugly, low-res ones. After a bit of tinkering, and trial and error, I've managed to fix the issues with the camera and MB4 mining machine icons.

1. Backup your game\glffe.cfg file to somewhere safe
2. Download two new files from from FrontierAstro
3. Extract the two new files from the zip into your game\ directory

The next time you run glFFE, the camera and MB4 should show proper hi-res icons.

Click here to download an alternative console graphic, courtesy of Richard Valongo