OpenReliant

OpenReliant is a free, open-source reimplementation of StarLancer's engine. It runs StarLancer on modern Windows, macOS and Linux, using the files from your copy of the game. It also adds things the original didn't have, like any screen resolution, better lighting and shadows, and mods.

Download How to start Mods
Wireframe of the Predator light fighter, from its model

StarLancer is a space combat game from 2000, made by Warthog and Digital Anvil and published by Microsoft. You fly fighters from the carrier Reliant in a war told through briefings, radio messages and cutscenes. The game is hard to run today: its copy protection doesn't work on current Windows, and it was made for the computers of its time.

OpenReliant fixes that. It's a new engine, rebuilt piece by piece to work like the original. Give it the files from your copy of StarLancer, and it runs the game.

The war of 2160

By 2160 humanity has terraformed Mars and settled the moons of the outer planets. Most of it belongs to the Western Alliance: America, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Japan and Australia. Then a new Coalition of Eastern nations strikes during peace talks. Within two days the French and Italian fleets are wrecked in orbit over Mars, the Alliance's high command on Ganymede is overrun, and Io and Europa are lost. Behind the attack is believed to be Admiral Kulov, one of the Coalition's most senior commanders.

"A shadow has fallen across the stars."Captain Robert Foster, ANS Reliant

What is left of the Alliance falls back to Triton, Neptune's moon, at the edge of the solar system. You join the 45th Volunteers, a squadron of whoever the Navy could find with a pilot's licence, flying from the Reliant: a carrier launched in 2125 for the Lunar and Europa conflicts, taken out of service and refitted for a war nobody expected. Captain Foster commands the ship and Squadron Leader Maria Enriquez the squadron. Between missions, the ship's ITAC computer keeps files on every fighter, carrier and ace on both sides, and Heidi Moore of the Alliance Conflict News reports the war as you fight it.

StarLancer's war is also where Freelancer (2003) begins: its nations in the Sirius sector descend from five sleeper ships the Alliance sent away from the war.

Get OpenReliant

Free for Windows, macOS and Linux. You also need a copy of StarLancer.

Want a sneak peek of what's coming? Build from source.

Looking for mods? Browse the mods site.

Where it stands

OpenReliant is still in development. Right now you can play the first campaign mission from start to finish, with the menus, briefings and loadout. The rest of the campaign is next, then multiplayer. See the roadmap.

Start flying

You need your StarLancer discs or disc images.

1

Download

Download OpenReliant for your computer and unpack it.

2

Install

Run openreliant install with your first StarLancer disc in the drive, or point it at your disc images. It copies the game files to a new folder.

3

Fly

Start OpenReliant, create a pilot and start the campaign.

The installation guide has the details for each system.

What it adds

The ships, missions and rules are the same as in the original. Everything else is updated for modern computers.

Any resolution

The game runs at your screen's full resolution, including widescreen, with smooth edges and high frame rates. Direct3D 7 is gone: OpenReliant draws with Vulkan, or Metal on macOS, using modern shaders on your graphics card.

Lighting and shadows

Lighting is calculated per pixel, and ships cast real-time shadows, also into the cockpit. Mods can add surface detail with normal maps.

Better effects

Explosions, shields, engine trails and planets look more detailed. The movies are upscaled for modern screens.

3D sound

Sound comes from the direction of its source, with reverb. There's a separate mix for headphones.

Any controller

Keyboard and mouse, joysticks, HOTAS and gamepads all work, with rumble. You set them up in the game's controls screen.

Mods

Add new ships, weapons, textures, models and scripts. See below.

Mods

Put a mod in the game's mods folder and turn it on from the main menu. Mods can add high-resolution textures, new ships, guns and missiles, and 3D models made in modern tools. They can also replace sounds, music and missions, or change the game with scripts. Mods don't change the game files, so you can turn them off at any time.

Browse the mods Make a mod

The road ahead

What's coming next.

Now · 0.7

Mods

Mod support: new ships, textures, models and scripts.

Next · 1.0

The whole campaign

The full campaign, from the first mission to the last, with saved games.

Then · 1.1

Multiplayer

Multiplayer with the original game modes, and a public matchmaking server to find games. Join without port forwarding, or run your own dedicated server.

The rest of the game keeps improving too. The bars below show the progress of each part.

About the project

OpenReliant is a free, open-source fan project. It doesn't include any game files, so you need your own copy of StarLancer. You can help, report a bug, read the code on GitHub, or read the documentation.