It is with great pleasure that I am able to announce a number of updates to 24/7 Procyon Dedicated's client-side enhancent package, ProcyonHook. Originally released in September of 2008, ProcyonHook introduced a large number of extremely useful and innovative features to the Procyon server. Though development on ProcyonHook stalled for a length of time, it has since resumed at break-neck speeds, bringing with it a number of features that have recently been developed and released:

- In-Game Clan Management and Chat

Working in conjunction with our own heavily rewritten and reengineered version of FLHook, ProcyonHook features in-game clan management through the /clan command, and the addition of an entirely new chat channel for clan members, allowing for members of a clan to stay in private communication without the need for constant group invites, as well as through the duration of the game's random missions.

The clan system's benefits do not end with the new chat channel however - we have a number of other features currently under development, such as the ability for clan leaders to mark other clans and - eventually - individual players as being friendly or hostile in game, allowing for easy target identification in battle. The clan accounts (and their soon-to-be synchronization with our web-based Clan Database) will also enable us to offer clans specific rewards and motivations for owning and holding systems against hostile clans - something that we plan on capitalizing heavily upon for future enhancements and features.

- In-Game Alternative Start Packages

Those of us that have played Freelancer for a long time can probably agree that creating new characters with the exact same starting ship, location, reputation, and so on can get a bit monotonous - ProcyonHook gives players the opportunity to mix things up a bit by adding the ability to select from one of several starting factions when creating a new character. The current faction line-up (which each package featuring unique starting locations, ships, loadouts, reputations and such befitting the faction for which it is named), which we plan on expanding heavily upon in the future is as follows:

- Xeno
- Rogue
- Outcast
- Liberty Navy
- Liberty Police
- Bounty Hunter
- Universal Shipping

In addition to standard starting packages, we also have plans to introduce special high level starting packages, which will become available for use from time to time, featuring factions like the Blood Dragons, Gas Miners Guild, and the ever respectable ALG Waste Disposal.

- Superior Widescreen Support

There is no shortage of widescreen mods for Freelancer - unfortunately many of them are configured in such ways that the changes they make to a player's field of view are downright absurd - to the extent that many of them could, and should, be considered cheats in and of themselves. ProcyonHook addresses this by enabling all widescreen resolutions supported by a user's configuration to be selected from the in-game configuration screen, while enforcing proper settings that do away with blatant advantages in combat. Being forced to edit Perfoptions.ini by hand be damned.

- Final Word

These are the three most significant features that we've added, developed over the course of the last month... and they represent only the tip of the iceberg - our to-do list for client, server, and web-based enhancements is only nearly as long as it is mind-boggling in scope.

We invite anyone interested in the finest vanilla Freelancer gameplay possible - powered by a solid and 100% stable system in conjunction with a high-speed fiberoptic line - to download ProcyonHook and give 24/7 Procyon Dedicated a try.

Screenshots