Pausing new Storyline

Hey guys, i have a question regarding the new storyline. I have sucessfully completed the Vanilla Storyline (in regular Singleplayer, not openSP), which ends at Manhattan. Since you could not go everywhere you want, there is lots of stuff for me to do in the vanilla universe, e.g. mapping sectors, finding wrecks, making money&buying a better ship. I completed the old story with a hawk and was eager to improve my equipment. To make it simple, i wanted to do all the stuff, which you skip during the normal campaign and then, heavily beefed up, i wanted to start the new storyline.
However, it seems that the new story immediately starts and forces me to finish the quests. Instead of flying around, and since i was not able to set a manual waypoint, i had to exactly follow its guideline. So i flew to NewBerlin to meet Orillion and did all the stuff to finish Quest1 only to be transfered to a similar situation, where i had to complete Quest2. I also completed this mission and are now at the beginnig of Quest3.

So before i progress, i would like to know, if there is a possibility to temporally pause the New Storyline and do some personal stuff. Or do i have to finish all quests before i can freely go everywhere?
Thanks for advice.

So by the time i can go anywhere, the story is over? That is a little sad, i must confess.

What about openSP? The first time i installed the mod, i chose this mode and after getting around the freeport7-problem, it seemed to be the way i wanted. I was on manhattan without a mission, freely to explore and in the bar i found the notes about the first new quest. I then changed my mind, reinstalled with standardSP, because i wanted to experience the regular game with your enhancements.
So are the new quests available in OpenSP and can be started manually or are there no new missions at all and OpenSP is just for exploring everything without a story?

Ok, thanks for the information.

You know, my motivation to play freelancer after the story ends, usually dropped really fast, because there was no real sense to get all the stuff, when you never needed it.
So the only reason for trying this mod actually was to finally have such an opportunity, to hold up the motivation, to beef up "for later".
Realizing that the opposite is true, makes me laugh, what a damn pitty. Since you guys did such good work and still got bound so heavily to the game engine, i assume, there is not a single mod out there which suites my tastes?
Besides this vast disappointment, i must congratulate you to your great affords. Good work, i had a lot of fun with the new graphics and the (slightly) more difficult battles.
Maybe i try your server and check MP.

Thanks,

Dude

Thanks for the suggestion. Since i have played freelancer a lot of times over the years, of course i know about this opportunity and usually used it. Thus i often let Juni wait at California Minor for a long time and checked all other accessables systems first.
So, yes, this would be an adequate solution. HOWEVER there is one big problem and i cannot really understand, why it is like this. I cannot set a manual waypoint which makes real exploration impossible. In the vanilla storyline you can set your WPs whenever you want it, as long as you did not really start the mission. Why is it so different here and is there any chance to overcome this problem? And please dont tell me this is forced by the gameengine, that would be too sad (and how could Vanilla bypass this?)

Dude

In the Vanilla version there are 3 different states. 1)You need to gain money in order to advance to the next level and are totally free 2)You are ordered to a certain place but are still free 3) You are within the mission and your movement is predicted. So when the new story begins, it seemed to be like No.2 (go to New berlin). Realizing it was No.3,i hoped, i could somehow cheat on the game to switch to No.2.
I see, this is not possible, thanks for the information.

But before i give up and delete this mod, i have one last idea. I have never tried it, so i could be wrong again. The last time in Vanilla, you are in phase 2 is iirc when you are called back to Kyoto to rescue van Claussen. Is it possible to enter Rheinland space before activating this mission (by going through jump gate/jump hole)? Since you removed the level requirements of Ships/Equipment, i could do all stuff at that time and continue the story, when i have explored the standard universe. And if that would be possible, could i even go to the new systems before continuing? Actually, the vanilla universe was always big enough for my satisfaction, so only be able to access the old systems would be enough.
Has anyone tried this before (e.g. a dedicated SP Player like Nuc Nuc)?

Thanks,

Dude

I have tried a little and can report of promising results. Loading the last Mission save before the above mentioned quest, i started just after killing Tekagi and in front of the arch. I completed the quest, but in Kyoto,i refused to rescue van Claussen. Then i headed to Sigma13 and took the jump hole to New Berlin. So it is possible to go there, but everyone in Rheinland will be hostile. I reloaded and after trying a couple of bases, i was lucky. In Sigma 13 there is the GMG Base "Naha", where you can bribe the ALG. Doing so will boost your relations with the rheinland military to neutral and i could successfully fly around in Rheinland.
It will take some time to get enough money to bribe everyone in Sirius to neutral relationship, but it seems to work and so finally i found the motivation i was looking for, didn't i :)?!
My only concerns are about continuing the story while being best buddys of the enemy, but it is worth a try i think.

On a sidenote, i wish i was a computer expert and could try around myself. Thinking of Diablo2, its community received great results with hex editing the core files to get incredible influence over the game. Maybe freeing the player is just one offset away

Anyway, glad to find this method.

Greetings,

Dude

E: Crosspost; don't misunderstand me, i know, you did all you could and the result is great. I didnt want to blame you for this inconvenience, but try everthing to circumvent it.