Alright so I searched around the board here to try and find something about bad graphics and video settings. I don't really know if I'm just being picky, but after installing Freelancer on my new computer the graphics looks better, in a way.
Is it just me or does the background space look kinda bad? Like down the left corner. It looks like fingerpainting. Ever since the move from my old laptop to my new computer which also has a bigger widescreen I can't help but notice it all the time.
Video settings are maxed out, and I read about enabling anti-alising on my graphic card, but that effects every game right? I don't wish to sacrefice performance so I usally never enable AA in any game. I'm running an AMD 1090T with a ATI 5870, so I don't even know if I'll be sacreficing performance?
I also heard of a shif+F12 which would make lighting look better. I tried shift+F12, but it doesn't tell me I enabled anything. Can anyone give me a hand on all this?
shift+F12 disables the bloom effect, which must be activated during installation of the mod files. If you didn't choose the Bloom option then shift+F12 does nothing.
It is possible with ATi cards to create profiles to run with each game, allowing you to set custom anti-aliasing for different games. Take a search on the forums for the thread posted a while ago regarding anti-aliasing in Freelancer, I'm pretty sure Ryeguy posted a guide for how to do it.
Also remember that Freelancer is an old game, made with what resources were available at the time. It is outdated, hell it's not even DX9. Compared with todays generation of 3D technology, Freelancer will always look 'bad.'
I prefer to look at it as amazing, because of how fantastic the game is for it's time. Take a look at other games released around the same time as a comparison. You can really only appreciate the amount of detail and intricate design and thought put into Freelancer's models when you've studied them up close.
When you enable the ENBSeries Effect while activating the Mod, you can press Shift + F9 when you get in game to switch the effect to darktones (Or whatever it's called) which instead of turning systems like Tau-31 or Omega-49 into a blinding white system, it'll make them regular white systems but with metallic effect on every surface.