Freelancer

Overview
Freelancer (2003) is disc/ISO only — no legal digital storefront exists
(not on Steam, GOG, or any other platform). Supply your own copy
(original retail disc or personal disc image).

SafeDisc DRM — read this first
The retail disc uses SafeDisc v1 copy protection. SafeDisc no longer
functions on Windows 10/11 and does NOT work under Proton/Wine either,
so a stock retail Freelancer.exe will refuse to launch. You MUST apply a
community executable that removes the disc check. The simplest path is the
free Freelancer HD Edition (it bundles a disc-check-free executable plus
HD textures, widescreen and numerous bug fixes); the standalone Jason's
Freelancer Patch / Unofficial Patch 1.4 does the same. This is the normal,
expected way the community runs the game today — without it, it will not
start under Proton.

Installation
1. Install Freelancer from disc/ISO to a non-system folder on your Deck
(e.g. ~/Games/Freelancer/).
2. Apply Freelancer HD Edition (or Jason's Freelancer Patch) on top of that
base install — this is what supplies the disc-check-free executable and
widescreen support. Follow the HD Edition wiki for the patch procedure;
its installer patches your existing Freelancer folder in place.
3. In Steam, add the main EXE as a Non-Steam Game:
EXE/Freelancer.exe (HD Edition keeps the exe in the same EXE folder).
4. In the game's Properties → Compatibility, force GE-Proton (latest stable).

Graphics / Wine / Font Rendering
Freelancer is a Direct3D 8 title; DXVK (bundled with GE-Proton) handles the
D3D8/D3D9 path well. A recent Wine-Staging build also gives clean menu font
rendering — GE-Proton bundles one and works well out of the box. If using
Bottles or Heroic instead of Steam's Proton layer, pick a recent
Wine-Staging runner. If menu fonts look wrong, copy the game's Arial fonts
from the ISO into the prefix's Windows/Fonts folder.

DirectPlay (Multiplayer)
DirectPlay is required for online multiplayer.
winetricks directplay installs the necessary component.
Run once via the Proton prefix console or add it to winetricks above.
Active private server communities: Crossfire, Discovery.
Connect via the in-game server browser once DirectPlay is installed.

Controller / Input
Freelancer was designed for mouse + keyboard.
In Desktop Mode, configure a Steam Input layout with:
- Right stick → mouse look
- Left stick → strafe/throttle
- Triggers → primary/secondary fire
Several community layouts exist in the Steam Input browser — search
"Freelancer" after adding as Non-Steam.

Performance
Runs comfortably at 45–60 fps on Deck at 720p.
TDP limit: ~8W recommended. Battery: ~5h on OLED.
HD Edition may add a small GPU overhead for higher-res textures; 720p still
runs well at medium-high settings.

Widescreen
HD Edition includes native 16:10 widescreen support for the Deck's display.
For vanilla install, edit Freelancer.ini and add:
[Display]
screen_width=1280
screen_height=800