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2002

EZ Danger Room v2.0

The original skirmish mode add-on for Freedom Force by ABenavides


EZ Danger RoomIt's hard to believe now, but when the original Freedom Force game was released in 2002, there was no way to just have a quick skirmish among the characters. Later versions would add a "Danger Room", but the first one had nothing. You played the campaign story mode and that was it.

Realizing the need for this, I wrote my first FF add-on, the EZ Danger Room. It's a little standalone VB app that lets you select a bunch of parameters and then actually generates a Python mission script that FF uses to let you play a custom battle. It came out not too long after the game's release and was quite popular at the time. (perhaps the 1st FF "mod" of any sort)

I had to start learning Python scripting to do this (I already knew VB development), which came in handy later for modding and my personal projects.

How To Use

1. Download and run the installer. It's set to install in the FF game path. The default is the path of the original CD release: C:\Program Files (x86)\Irrational Games\Freedom Force

If you are playing with the Steam version of Freedom Force, you should change it to:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Freedom Force

If you have installed Freedom Force in some other path, use that.

2. Run the EZ Danger Room and select Options such background music, difficulty, time of day, or "watch only" from the pull-down lists.

3. Click on foes in the Foes Available list and use the Add button to put them in your danger room. Also, you can check the four Hero boxes to turn members of your squad (selected in the FF game) into foes.

4. Use the Objects Available list to add objects you can use to your danger room (powerups, tnt, etc.)

5. When you are done, Click the Save button. This creates a python script file called AFFMAP.PY in your game's Missions\Scripts folder.

6. Start or switch to Freedom Force and create a new MULTIPLAYER game. Once you have installed the EZ Danger Room Tool, you will also have 13 additional multi-player maps to use (all the Danger Room Maps begin with AFF). Select one of these AFF maps.

7. NOTE: If you try to make another danger room, you will WIPE OUT your previous one. If you wish to save it for future use, rename the file AFFMAP.PY to something else. To use it again, just rename it to AFFMAP.PY.

8. CO-OP PLAY - In order for co-operative play to work properly, each person in the game needs to use the identical Danger Room settings. EZ Danger Room modesYou can either both create them exactly on your PCs ("add two thugs and three troopers", etc.) or better yet, have one person create the settings and give them to all other players. Yes, that's unwieldy, but this is what we had to do in 2002! The settings are stored in AFFMAP.PY in your Missions\Scripts folder. NOTE: If all players except 1 get all their heroes knocked out, the level will end (the way multi-player games normally end).

9. IRRATIONAL'S DANGER ROOM - Later versions of FF (starting with v1.2) added a built-in Danger Room option. These later versions are probably what you have as modern computers only work with the later versions. However some people still preferred EZ Danger Room's more aggressive AI. To use it  in Irrational's Danger Room by clicking Danger Room on the main FF menu and choose one of these two modes:

  • DangerRoom-Alex's Freedom Fortress : foes act a bit more aggressively
  • DangerRoom-Alex's Freedom Fortress-Watch Mode: sit back to watch the carnage

Version History

v1.0 (28Apr2002)

  • Initial release

v1.1 (29Apr2002)

  • Choose from some lighting options (Time of Day)
  • Automatically figures out scripts path, so no need to keep setting it if you haven't installed FF in default path
  • A few more difficulty levels

v1.2 (1May2002)

  • Resized maps with more accurate numbers
  • Added ability to add custom heroes to your danger room (to use this, remember that FF orders your heroes alphabetically, so you should remember that as you check boxes)

v1.3 (5May2002)

  • Improved custom foes AI to have them fly
  • Adjusted map sizes again (since maps aren't all perfectly square)
  • Keep count of baddies killed and display status messages

v1.4 (17May2002)

  • Added Freedom Force heroes to list of possible enemies
  • Added Objects list to let you include powerups, gas tanks, etc.
  • New "Watch Only" mode lets you just sit back to watch the carnage unfold
  • Custom Foes will now attack cops also
  • Added a few new background music choices & fixed Defeat music to play only once
  • Renamed all Danger Room maps to start with "AFF" in multiplayer map list, making them easier to find
  • Optimizations to all code (UI & Python)-makes it all a little faster and more stable

v1.5 (18May2002)

  • Co-op play - AI now attacks every human player in a Multiplayer game
  • New Option to double your heroes' hit points (like in single player campaign)
  • Updated UI

v 2.0 (25Jan2003)

  • updated GUI
  • optimized / modularized AI code
  • Five (5) new maps: Frozen Park, Ice World, Park Panic, Shadow Lair, and Tower for use in Multi-Player, EZ Danger Room, or Irrational's Danger Room!
  • Add-ons to Irrational's Danger Room to use EZ Danger Room AI or allow Watch Mode.
* Any comics characters are TM and copyright of their respective owners.
These are FREE third-party add-ons that claim no license to any of the likenesses contained herein.
We are just lowly fans showing our love for the characters!
Irrational Games (TM) and Freedom Force (R) are trademarks of Irrational Games LLC and/or its affiliates.
Freedom Force is the copyrighted property of Irrational Games.