JohnPhoenix: I'm using the SCP version of Freespace 2 on top of GOG's version. I'm trying to play the freespace 1 port campaign but the engine flames/plasma wake/thrust whatever, is way too bright. This is almost blinding where i cannot see anything of the ship, even if it's turning from me.. the ship textures are too dark, not lit up like the original games and the engine wash overpowers it easily.
Half the game is spent with ships flying away from you. It makes it very hard looking at the over bright engine wash to target the ships hull when you cannot see it as you cannot point at the engine, you must lead in the dogfight.
Anyone know a way to turn this engine brightness down?
I've not had this problem myself so I'm not sure if these will do it but there are a bunch of parameters for FSO in the FSO launch config.
http://www.hard-light.net/wiki/index.php/Getting_started#Post-installation_instructions And the full list of all possible options:
http://www.hard-light.net/wiki/index.php/Command-Line_Reference From the latter link:
Lighting
These factors can dramatically alter the atmosphere of the game.
This page has some sample lighting settings with screenshots.
-ambient_factor
This must be entered into the "Custom flags" field. This is a multiplier applied to the intensity of ambient lighting. Ambient light is lighting applied to all parts of a ship. FS2's standard value is 120. Try 75 for a good and realistic looking value. However, that is relative.
-no_emissive_light
By default, all ships in FS2 have a light generated on their own, it is more or less similar to a minimal amount of -ambient_factor. This feature was implemented to help the player seeing the ships over a black background. This flag disables this feature. Use it with a low -ambient_factor value to obtain an ultra-realistic dark looking.
-spec_exp
This must be used with the -spec command line parameter and must be entered into the "Custom flags" field. Adjusts the size of the shiny spot on ships. Higher number mean smaller spots. Default is 16. However, 11 is recommended. This is a relative value.
-spec_point
This must be used with the -spec command line parameter and must be entered into the "Custom flags" field. Adjusts how much laser weapons contribute to specular highlights. Higher number mean greater contributions. Default is 1.0. However, 0.6 is recommended. This is a relative value.
-spec_static
This must be used with the -spec command line parameter and must be entered into the "Custom flags" field. Adjusts how much suns contribute to specular highlights. Higher numbers mean a greater contribution. Default is 1.0. However, is 0.8 recommended. This is a relative value.
-spec_tube
This must be used with the -spec command line parameter and must be entered into the "Custom flags" field. Adjusts how much Beam Weapons contribute to specular highlights. Higher numbers mean a greater contribution. Default is 1.0. However, 0.4 is recommended. This is a relative value.
-ogl_spec
Takes a numerical argument. This value changes the basic shininess of the specular light in OpenGL. A lower value reduces the overall intensity of the light making it broader and less powerful. A higher value makes it more focused and brighter. The default value is 80, and the usable range is 0 to 128 (clamped). The original default value was 60, but it was raised to behave more D3D like.
Graphics
-bloom_intensity
Requires -post_processing ("Enable Post Processing") command. Default value is 75. Range is 0-200.
There are a lot of graphics and lighting options there and I'm not sure which will help you for your particular trouble. In the options menu in FS2 I think there are some basic gamma controls as well.
Did you ever manage to get onto the Hard Light forums?
