:: Starting the Game

Double click FP.exe to start the game. You may want to run Settings.exe first to customize the controls or set up your game pad.

If the game screen flickers or doesn't display properly, try double clicking FP_noDX.bat to run the game without hardware acceleration. If you receive an error message that says "Cannot load joystick2.mfx", move xinput1_3.dll into your system directory (which is usually located in C:\Windows\system32). Scroll down to the FAQ section for more information on startup issues.


:: Controls

The default controls are as follows:

Z		Button A (jumping)
X		Button B (attacking)
C		Button C (special attack)
Left arrow	Move left
Right arrow	Move right
Up arrow	Look up/climb ladder
Down arrow	Crouch/climb ladder

Most of these controls can be customized by launching Settings.exe before starting the game. Also, you can swap the order of the A, B and C buttons during the game by going to OPTIONS on the main screen.


:: Directional Button

   - Hold down LEFT or RIGHT to move your character in a certain direction.
   - While standing still, hold UP for a few seconds to pan the screen upwards. Hold DOWN and your character will crouch down.
   - While your character is running, press DOWN and they will curl into a ball. As a ball, you can smash through rock piles and fragile walls. Sometimes, the environment will force you into a ball automatically.
   - As LILAC, hold UP while underwater to swim.


:: Button A

   - Press A while on the ground to jump. The longer you hold the button down, the higher your character will jump.
   - As CAROL, hold DOWN to crouch and press A to pounce. This does not damage enemies, but it helps you pick up speed quickly after standing still.


:: Button B

   - As LILAC, press B to perform a Hair Whip. You can use this move to attack enemies.
   - As LILAC, hold UP while pressing B to perform a Rising Slash. This move causes more damage to enemies than the Hair Whip.
   - As LILAC, up DOWN while pressing B to do a low kick.
   - As CAROL, press B to punch. Carol will punch faster when attacking enemies.


:: Button C

   - If you are playing as LILAC and have a full Energy meter, press C to perform a Comet Boost. While the boost is charging, hold UP or DOWN to perform a diagonal Boost. Lilac can smash through rock piles and fragile walls while boosting.
   - If you are playing as CAROL, press and hold C to perform a Wild Kick. Carol will attack enemies with a flurry of rapid-fire kicks. As long as the button is held down, her energy will be depleted, and she stops kicking when it is empty.


:: Lilac

   Lilac is the main heroine in Freedom Planet. She is very fast and agile, and her attacks are strong. However, she must travel through some of the most challenging obstacles in the game.

   Lilac has an Energy meter, which is displayed underneath the timer. She can charge this meter by running at high speeds. The faster she travels, the quicker she gains Energy. When Lilac's Energy meter is full and starts to blink white, press A while in the air to boost forward at high speed. While Lilac is charging the boost, you can hold UP or DOWN to change which direction she'll boost in.

   A good way to charge energy is to run down a steep hill or find a horizontal spring to knock yourself away at high speed. Keep in mind that your energy will charge more slowly when jumping or curling into a ball.


:: Carol

   Carol is Lilac's best friend. She can scale walls and attack very quickly, but her attacks are weak and it takes her a while to reach full speed.

   Carol can scale walls by repeatedly jumping off of them. To do this, hold A and LEFT, or A and RIGHT, to jump towards a wall. Keep holding the directional button and Carol will attach herself to the wall. Press and hold A to jump off of the wall.

   Carol can also use JUMP PADS. These special floor pieces are marked with blinking red lights. To use a JUMP PAD, stand on top of it and press A. Carol will immediately jump to the next JUMP PAD. Keep pressing A and she will jump through all of the JUMP PADS in sequence. Press A as soon as you land on a JUMP PAD or else you'll fall!


:: FAQ

Q: Will Freedom Planet run on Mac or Linux?
A: Unfortunately, Windows is the only platform that's 100% supported. You can attempt to run the game on a Mac using a Windows emulator, but expect performance to be far slower than usual.

Q: When I try to run the game, I get the following message: "Cannot load joystick2.mfx. This object might need an external program or library not yet installed."
A: Make sure that xinput1_3.dll in your system directory (which is usually located in C:\Windows\system32). The file should be included with Freedom Planet, but if not, you should be able to download it on the Internet. If the message remains, try disabling your firewall. If that doesn't work, update your system to the latest version of DirectX.

Q: The screen flickers a lot while playing, or I can hear sound effects but the screen is completely blank.
A: You can try running the game in different display modes to see if it solves the problem. To do this in Windows, create a shortcut, then right-click on it and select Properties. In the Target field, after the file path, enter one of the following commands:
/DIB => forces standard graphic mode 
/DIB3 => forces standard graphic mode, 256 colors 
/DIB4 => forces standard graphic mode, 16 millions of colors, 24 bits 
/DIB6 => forces standard graphic mode, 32768 colors 
/DIB7 => forces standard graphic mode, 65536 colors 
/DIB8 => forces standard graphic mode, 16 millions of colors, 32 bits 
/DDRAW => forces DirectDraw + VRAM mode 
/NOVR => no VRAM in DirectDraw mode
If none of these work, your video card drivers may not be compatible with Freedom Planet. Modern Nvidia drivers are known to cause this problem. If you're using the latest version of your drivers, try downgrading them to see if there is any difference.