2025.11

Librelancer 2025.11 is here, with a big set of fixes and features since 2024.06.3!

NOTE: Ubuntu builds are compiled on 24.04, distributions older than this need to compile from source.

LancerEdit

General:

• 3D viewports now take up more of the screen
• Status bar can be disabled for more screen real-estate
• VMeshData nodes can have their material names edited directly.
• LancerEdit interface rendering is optimised somewhat, improving performance on low-power platforms e.g. Pi 5
• Text rendering of the interface is improved
• LancerEdit is now aware of DPI over multiple monitors, with dynamic scaling.
• Configurable style for vertical tabs (icon+text vs icon only).

Utf Tab:

• Add functionality to sort children by name in node.

Model Viewer:

• Workaround added for MS3D exported models with 0 bounding box/radius. If your model has these issues, please export to .lgb and re-import with LancerEdit to create a fixed model.
• Depth range tuned based on model size, fixes display issues with very large models.
• Normals view no longer crashes on models with no normals.
• Basic authoring of pris/rev animations within the model viewer.

Model Import/Export:

• Blender 5.x is now supported
• .blend exports sort objects into collections, and hide them respectively (thanks @IrateRedKite)
• Animation import/export slightly more reliable. Feature is disabled by default due to poor mapping between FL, GLTF and Blender
• Vertex colours supported correctly
• Model importer is less likely to hang on invalid input or options.
• Exporting .tga textures no longer flips incorrectly
• VMeshWire input no longer snaps vertices incorrectly on very small models.
• Scale more reliably applied on import.

Textures:

• Correctly limit .tga import to MIP9 max

System Editor (beta!):

• Dropdowns with searchable contents implemented for most selections.
• Compressed thumbnail cache for archetype selection
• Basic asteroid field editing for existing fields
• Patrol path and zone creation on the 2D map (thanks @josbyte)
• Add new infocards/strings when editing object properties (thanks @josbyte)
• Convenience feature when selecting two objects to parent the child, and move it to a hardpoint on the parent.
• Many bug fixes since 2024.06

Audio Importer (new!):

• Import audio files to Freelancer-compatible .wav files with MP3 compression
• Fix existing mp3->.wav files by adding trimming info if present from the LAME encoder

Mission Script Editor (beta!):

• New node-based editor for mission .ini files (thanks @Lazrius)

Misc:

• .frc resource files can be compiled, find the compiler in the Scripts menu.
• vignetteparams.ini can be edited using an easier to read simple DSL, find the compiler in the Scripts menu.
• State Graph tab can now edit.
• Hash calculator tool added.

Game Engine

Gameplay:

• More mission conditions implemented, the game is now playable from M01A, through to M01B then the pueblo section of M02 (bugs allowing).
• Debris spawned by fuses has correct damage caps
• Basic player statistics implemented (total play time, kills, sys/base/holes visited).
• Basic undocking camera implemented
• Tractor beams implemented
• Cargo scanning implemented

Video:

• Intro Movie playback is removed, pending a better implementation.

Audio:

• Attached effects on solars play sounds (thanks @Lazrius)
• Sound engine now implements culling of sounds by distance and priority, with a new limit of up to 128 sounds playing concurrently.
• Sounds now correctly mute at max distance.

General:

• Transform3D introduced for position/rotation instead of full matrices.
• Move to SDL3 by default. SDL2 still supported on Linux as a fallback.
• Empty model nodes in .cmp no longer crash.
• Sphere constructs in .cmp fixed

Rendering:

• Move to blurgtext text rendering library on both Linux+Windows for consistency.
• Shaders are rewritten in HLSL, paving the way for a future SDL_GPU backend.
• Letterboxing in cutscenes is improved
• Fix crash on drawing sun with no spines

Multiplayer:

• Implement partial world updates, allowing more NPCs than can fit in a packet to be alive at one time.

Debug:

• Objects list debug window (thanks @mrmbernardi)

Full Changelog: hotfix-2024.06.3...2025.11

2024.06.3

This release fixes a bug in the model importer when creating VMeshWire nodes. All users of the 2024.06 stable series should upgrade.

2024.06.2-1

Small bug fix to prevent updater not working on win64.

2024.06.2

Bugfix release for the following LancerEdit issues:

• Unreliable .sur generation due to corrupt wrap hulls
• Sur files needing all transforms to be applied before importing models
• Thn decompilation broken on non-English systems
• False positives for antivirus due to the updater not containing enough metadata

Librelancer 2024.06.1 (Hotfix)

Small release to fix a locale-dependent ini parsing bug.
See 2024.06 for main changelog.

Librelancer 2024.06

Welcome to this year's edition of Librelancer, with a whole bunch of new features and accuracy fixes! Mission 1A is now completely playable in-engine.

NOTE: Windows 7 support is dropped in this version, the minimum supported version is Windows 10

LancerEdit

General:

• Quick file browser panel implemented (View->Files)
• LancerEdit should no longer block the screensaver
• 'Check Faction Hashes' menu option added, checking the open data for any collisions for faction hashes.
• Utf nodes now can be dragged and dropped to re-order and move in/out of other nodes.
• Ctrl-C/X/V hotkeys enabled in utf editor
• More documentation for the model editing pipeline! (See Help->Topics)
• When file associations are used, files opened from explorer will be opened in an existing LancerEdit instance if needed.
• Update utility available at Help->Check for updates. For privacy reasons this only checks for updates when clicked. To disable this functionality, delete the lib/updates.ini file in the release.

Model Viewer:

• Hardpoint editor no longer generates matrices with negative determinants (compatibility with maxlancer).
• Added mouse manipulation for hardpoint editing.
• Added camera presets, allowing saving of camera settings.
• Rendered PNGs now have correct transparency for cockpits etc.
• Rendered PNGs smaller in size. For web use, it is still recommended to compress these with e.g. zopfli to get the smallest possible file size.
• Warning added when rendered model is using textures with sizes not compatible with vanilla Freelancer

Model Import/Export:

• Blender 4.x is now supported
• Export .blend files from the Model Viewer
• Experimental support for importing/exporting pris+rev animations
• Textures are exported to .glb/.blend files
• Emissive textures are now imported/exported
• Collada export is now hidden by default, and can be re-enabled in the Import/Export tab of settings.
• glTF and .blend files now have diffuse color exported in the right colorspace.

System Editor (new!, beta):

• Universe editor, allowing repositioning systems on the map, editing systems + creating new systems.
• 3D visuals for the system, zones and light sources.
• Edit properties and archetypes for system objects.
• Edit lights in real time
• Create and resize zones. Property editing here is limited.

Game Engine

Gameplay:

• Tradelane disruption implemented
• Dry fire sound when in cruise/tradelane
• Shield batteries/nanobots
• Comm heads now render when NPCs talk to you
• Target leading when firing weapons
• Fixed loading objects without a mesh (e.g. m10_navbuoy)
• Powercore usage for weapons
• Missions follow sequence (M01A goes to M01B)
• RTC/Ambient scripts from missions loaded/saved in save games. Allows loading save game after FP7 cutscene and before Donau scene

Multiplayer:

• LLServerGui app created, allowing MP servers to be launched without the command line.
• Added banning accounts
• Projectile firing is now handled server-side
• Added scheme to try and reduce amount of buffered packets with time-dilation.

Thn:

• Fixed incorrect camera transitions by finding the main monitor object
• Thorn VM can now run small amounts of code (heavily sandboxed)
• Implemented CONNECT_HARDPOINTS so characters can now pick up objects
• Fixed root motion, so characters walk along correct paths.
• Attenuation animations for sounds

Renderer:

• Now supports arbitrary D3D blendmodes, used in Alchemy
• Now supports arbitrary FVF data, fixes compatibility with many modded models
• Characters connect heads and hands to body correctly (Thanks to @mrmbernardi)
• Character models calculate accurate visibility information, fixing culling
• Increased compatibility in the TGA loader
• Alpha blend is now forced on starspheres, matching Freelancer
• More accurate planet rendering
• Interpolates object positions between fixed ticks, allowing smooth movements at high framerates

Audio:

• Trimming of sounds is now accurate to vanilla Freelancer, stops some cutting off early.
• Librelancer now moves the audio stream correctly when the default output device changes

Physics:

• Moved to BepuPhysics, a new high-performance C# physics engine.
• Many fixes to collision detection, with workarounds for some of Freelancer's more broken .surs
• Asteroid field collision is enabled server-side and client-side for players and NPCs.

Infocards:

• Fixes loading resources where the .rsrc section length is incorrect (see #106)

2023.06.1 - LancerEdit Special, Take 2

All the good bits of 2023.06, but fixes some crashes on Windows surrounding file dialogs.
See the 2023.06 changelog for all the fun stuff.

2023.06 - LancerEdit Special

This is a release introducing plenty of new LancerEdit features.

Please use 2023.06.1 on Windows, this build has a critical bug with file dialogs

Note: 32-bit windows builds are no longer provided from this release forward. If you require a 32-bit build for windows, it is still possible to compile it yourself, by passing --with-win32 as an argument for build.ps1

Release and daily builds for windows are now compiled using the mingw toolchain, so MSVC 2012 and 2015 redistributables are no longer required to run Librelancer.

LancerEdit

• Brand new model importer with support for .gltf and .blend files (with blender installed). Includes .sur generation based on maxlancer code, and vmeshwire generation.
• New 'Data' menu, allowing you to view various parts of a Freelancer install/mod when loaded.
• System Viewer and Thn Player moved to tabs in LancerEdit, opened from the data menu.
• Infocard Browser moved to data menu, and now allows you to edit and create new infocards.
• Thn files can be opened from the File->Open menu (set filter to Thorn files) to open with a text editor. If game data is loaded it will have a preview on the left-hand side. (Thanks to @mcgoober)
• Fixed crash on minimize with MSAA enabled
• Fixed distortions in model viewer when Render tab is open
• Fix some edge cases with matrix/euler conversions, hardpoint editing is more reliable.
• Removed an accidental Thread.Sleep in the DDS creation code, should be a lot quicker now.

lleditscript

lleditscript may now be passed the -m flag to load any script within the lib/editorscripts folder. This now comes with 3 built in scripts.

• importmodel (call with lleditscript -m importmodel). Create .3db or .cmp files from .gtlf/.blend models on the command line.
• img2icon (call with lleditscript -m img2icon). Used for generating .3db icon files from image files on the command line.
• thorn2lua (call with lleditscript -m thorn2lua). Used for decompiling .thn files, this replaces the thorn2lua executable.

ThnPlayer

This application has been removed, and the functionality merged into LancerEdit.

SystemViewer

This application has been removed, and the functionality merged into LancerEdit.

thorn2lua

This application has been removed, and the functionality merged into lleditscript

Engine

• Added delta compression to netcode
• Refactored parts of the renderer for simplicity and maintainability, particularly in setting camera state (fixes distortion in LancerEdit).
• Shader variants are generated offline in the shader tool, instead of with #defines at runtime.

2023.02 - Anniversary Edition

This is a special release for the 20th Anniversary of Freelancer! There have been big steps taken in gameplay, and M01A may now be played up until you get to Fort Bush with USV Brandt.

Gameplay

• Ships may now be destroyed
• Reverse thrust
• Basic shields implementation
• Turret View
• Contact List
• Reputation list
• Revamped New Character Dialog for MP
• Commodity purchasing limited to cargo space

NPCs

• NPCs will attempt to attack hostile targets
• NPCs will follow when commanded to join a formation (mostly from mission scripts)
• NPCs in formation will enter a tradelane with you together.

Engine

• Input mapping implemented, accessible from main menu
• Implemented server-authorative movement, the server now simulates physics to generate the correct state
• Doppler factor set correctly for sounds, should be less likely to generate noise
• Cull more objects, improve FPS (particularly on Raspberry Pi)
• Fixed disappearing UI text on windows
• Ctrl+V in UI entries
• mpv video playback backend removed on linux, was non-functional
• Network packet sizes reduced
• Thn correctly uses the equipped engine of the player ship
• Attempt to preload equipment sounds to reduce stuttering
• Fixed minimising with MSAA causing a crash on windows
• Fullscreen toggle (Alt+Enter)

LancerEdit

• UTF string data is always null terminated, fixes some Freelancer compatibility issues
• 3db icons now generate consistently with the Generate Icon tool
• Added option to visualize model normals
• Action button has been turned into action bar at the bottom of the UTF tab
• State_graph.db table viewer

2022.02

The release in which we implement some gameplay! LancerEdit etc. are only included in SDK builds.

Platform

• Upgraded to .NET 6
• ARM builds are supported on both armhf and aarch64 platforms, requires a GLES 3 capable GPU
• Build runner updated to be faster, automatically pull submodules

Engine

• Ini: Fixed culture-sensitivity bug in float parsing
• Text Renderer optimised
• Projectile renderer improvements
• Particle Engine optimisations
• Direct IP multiplayer connections
• GL spew more verbose, include KHR_debug output
• Decoded sound effects use correct trim points for MP3 in RIFF containers
• Vorbis decode fixed
• Optional opus decode when libopus is present
• LiteNetLib update, drastically reduces CPU usage for background threads
• .3db and .vms skips unrecognised data for compatibility
• Overdraw reduced for low end GPUs (e.g. VC6 in Pi 4)
• Startup time optimisations
• Config files moved to .ini format

Gameplay

• Load and Save single player games
• News Articles displayed on base
• Basic Equipment, Ship and Commodity trading
• Options menu, MSAA and Anisotropic Filtering exposed
• Cruise Engines Charge
• Players and NPCs can be fired at
• Projectile hit effects
• More mission scripting implemented. Vanilla now requires nostory .fl for regular play, which can be acquired from adoxa.
• Fuses spawn particle effects on the client

LancerEdit

• Basic support for importing glTF 2.0 (.glb) and .obj models
• Support for running scripts from the UI. See editor help for more information
• VMeshWire display colours based on .cmp part
• High dpi support enabled for all editor programs. Use SDL_VIDEODRIVER=wayland on linux to enable scaling (no fractional scaling).

SystemViewer

• Add controls for managing movement speed