Especially the storage tanks, like they're coated with alien slime or some sh-it They look more plastic than metal, but that's because the same levels get applied to every object I'd imagine, just like unreal engine 3 always has glossy everything.

I think it's really great that you all continue to push this game well past its limitations, you're a determined bunch and I hope the rewards are worth your efforts. I keep visiting just to see what crazy thing will be made possible next.

I think FF said a few years ago that without a complete retexture the dx9 wrapper wouldn't make much difference to vanilla, beginning to see a lot of sense in that statement now. It's the same as freespace 2 open, the models and textures are just so old and basic that normal maps don't really do them any favours.

It's hard to tell just looking at screen grabs I guess, do you think it's a real improvement when you're playing Schmack? Does your mod have plenty of custom models with better textures?

I think it looks better when you see it in movement, yes. More like a new game.

There is no material system, yet. The shader supports it, but it has the same value for every material. Also I am not sure whether I keep the current lighting model or choose a different one.

I plan to write a material editor with a preview. You will be able to set for every texture metalness, smoothness and specular intensity (that is for the currently used lighting model). So it can look like plastic, metal or in between. Also if this is not enough I can add every map you wish (specular maps etc), this is easy. But I don't want to use a model no one is able to set the parameters for, because you need to measure them or they are too many.

In case I am able to render the whole scene to a cubemap or at least the starspheres, I could use image based lighting to get good metal reflections. But for now I am not able to do that. I will get to it when the rest is working.

My hope is, that with the possibility of better models / textures people will make those. Now it does not make much sense, but with the wrapper this changes. It is more like the chicken-and-egg problem.

Thanks for the good feedback, this is really helping me a lot!

Yes. Looks like covered in oil. I dont know how it is bad ot good. Gameplay video is needed

I think that is because the reflective colour was wrongly calculated. Fixed it in the screens above. Please reevaluate. Also keep in mind that there are two light sources (one orange). Also there is a glitch at the storage tank which has to do with the tbn values stored in the model and will be fixed.

I can make another video, but for that I would use the settings you prefer. I also would like to be sure there are no errors left before I do one, since weird looking effects might be mistakes I made and did not yet find :/

Looks okay in that last video, fix those tanks and you're in better shape there I think. Does look far better in video than screenshots so well done.

It would be easier to form a proper opinion if you didn't have different coloured light sources, something that never really made any sense to me in freelancer if I'm honest, but each to their own as it's purely an artistic choice. If it were made per system, gas cloud, or purely dynamic effects like gas jets, station lights, laser beams etc I'd get it, but it doesn't work well for my eyes when adjacent surfaces of the same station are lit in sharply contrasting colours.

Can you record video with regular random mission at 1280x800 resolution?

That's made quite a nice difference, subtle but effective, well done.

Yeah, that's fixed the lighting, top job, your hard work is paying off in spades my friend!