Runtime error during mod installation - FLHDE/freelancer-hd-edition GitHub Wiki
There are multiple possible reasons why a runtime installation may occur while installing Freelancer: HD Edition. This wiki page will mention all the known ones.
Permission issues
Some users have reported runtime errors when installing Freelancer: HD Edition right after installing a fresh copy of Freelancer. Freelancer's original files may still somehow be locked, which prevents the HDE installer from being able to modify them. In the event that this occurs, try restarting your PC and after that install Freelancer: HD Edition again. If restarting doesn't help, try the other solutions mentioned below.
Antivirus issues
Both Freelancer: HD Edition and the accompanied installer don't contain any viruses. Unfortunately some players reported having antivirus issues when installing Freelancer: HD Edition, where one or multiple harmless files are classified as viruses. In some cases, the antivirus software may even prevent the HDE installer from applying some of the options correctly, which will result in a broken install. The antivirus program that seems to pick up most on the installer and the mod is Bitdefender. Most of the time it believes the file MultiIntro.dll is a virus. In this case you might want to add an exclusion for Freelancer: HD Edition, or turn the antivirus software off while installing the mod. If you are using a different antivirus program and notice a runtime error occurring during the installation, or see that some features are missing when playing the mod, it may also be because of the antivirus and you should consider turning it off before reinstalling the mod.
If you feel skeptical or apprehensive about turning your antivirus off while installing the mod, remember that Freelancer: HD Edition contains no harmful files and that the installer's source code is public, so you can verify that there's no viruses and that the installer does no harm to your computer.
Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable dependency
Some features from the mod installer require you to have the Microsoft Visual C++ x86 Redistributable for Visual Studio 2015 package installed. Otherwise some issues may occur during the installation. Download it here: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/cpp/windows/latest-supported-vc-redist. NOTE: Download the latest version for the X86 architecture!
Having modified/read-only Freelancer files
Runtime errors can also occur when either the mod is installed on top of a dirty (modified) Freelancer installation, or when some Freelancer files are marked as "Read-only". You can confirm that by going into your vanilla Freelancer directory and finding the file that's mentioned in the error message. Make sure this file is not set to Read-only.
Please, make sure your Freelancer installation is fresh and completely unmodified. This can't be stressed enough! Even if you had a small mod installed in the past with Freelancer Mod Manager, it's possible the installation can't succeed because of it.
Simply do a complete reinstall of Freelancer (make sure the original Freelancer directory is fully deleted when uninstalling and after that install again). Next, restart your PC and try installing HD Edition again after that. Also please make sure that the Freelancer directory doesn't contain any running programs.
Other
If the issue still persists after applying all the above solutions, please contact us on our Discord server and we'll help you out.
