Anyone else have slow downs and poor fps? It happens in every level, and I've nearly set all visual settings to their lowest to little effect. I have a good machine (high end back in 2006) so that's not the problem. All drivers are up to date also. I'm just wondering if there's some trick I'm missing out on. The slow down makes the game near unplayable at times.

Have you considered installing the freespace 2 open mod?
[url=]http://www.gog.com/en/forum/Freespace_Series/new_freespace_3_6_10_free_amp_quot_upgrade_amp_quot_now_available[/url]
You can run the game with the original graphics with it or upgrade them to be more modern.

I would highly double recommend this. FS open makes the game run way better and look better, plus lets you install player made campaigns (some that are really good)

http://www.hard-light.net/wiki/index.php/Getting_started#Installing_FreeSpace_Open
Pick your poison. There are several ways to install FSO. Personally I'd recommend manual installation (because I wrote the instructions).
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>_>

I'd also highly recommend Freespace Open. I had framerate issues myself with FS2, eventually resulting in the game completely freezing up once I got to the nebula missions. FSO completely solved these issues, in addition to making the game much, much prettier.