Slipstream

Download & Install

Slipstream: The Price of Freedom (TPOF) requires Homeworld 2 Classic v2.1 or greater, included in the Homeworld Remastered Collection (also on GoG). The original retail CD release is not supported as of v4.0.

Minimum hardware: 4 GB RAM, dual-core CPU, and a modern GPU.

Install TPOF from the Steam Workshop, then:

  1. Launch Homeworld Remastered
  2. Select Mods in the launcher
  3. Select HW2 Classic
  4. Highlight Slipstream: The Price of Freedom
  5. Press Select
  6. Add your command line arguments (see below)
  7. Press Launch

Non-Steam (GoG and others)

  1. Download the .big file from ModDB or GitHub
  2. Locate your Homeworld Remastered installation directory
  3. Place the .big file in Homeworld2Classic\Data
  4. Enter the Homeworld2Classic\Bin\Release directory
  5. Create a shortcut to Homeworld2.exe named “Slipstream: The Price of Freedom”
  6. In the shortcut’s properties, append to the Target box: -mod TPOF.big (use the actual .big file name), e.g. "C:\Games\Homeworld Remastered\Homeworld2Classic\Bin\Release\Homeworld2.exe" -mod TPOF.big
  7. Add any additional command line parameters, then launch via the shortcut

Performance tuning

Homeworld 2 Classic shipped with 2003-era graphical defaults. These command line switches make it look and run dramatically better on modern machines:

Switch Effect
-fullscreen / -windowed Full screen or windowed mode
-w / -h Resolution width/height, e.g. -w 1920 -h 1080
-hardwarecursor More accurate mouse cursor
-nomovies Disables video playback
-nopbuffer Disables pixel buffer and all shadows (launcher default; omitting it is unsupported but prettier)

Tested launch configurations

  • 1080p windowed: Homeworld2.exe -windowed -mod TPOF.big -w 1920 -h 1080 -hardwarecursor -nomovies
  • 1440p fullscreen: Homeworld2.exe -fullscreen -mod TPOF.big -w 2560 -h 1440 -hardwarecursor -nomovies
  • 4K fullscreen: Homeworld2.exe -fullscreen -mod TPOF.big -w 3840 -h 2160 -hardwarecursor -nomovies

Multiplayer setup

TPOF restores the multiplayer option that Gearbox disabled in Homeworld 2 Classic, with two connection modes (Steam multiplayer is not available for HW2 Classic):

  • LAN (preferred): tested on Windows 7 and 11; also works over the internet through a VPN tunnel.
  • Direct Connection: the host must forward these UDP ports to their machine: 6073, 6500, 13139, and the range 2302–2400. Joining players enter the host’s public IP.