Freelancer High Resolution Hack

by Craig Mayhew on Sep.07, 2008, under Guides/Fixes

To get freelancer working in widescreen in this case 1920×1080 do the following. If you want this to work with a different wide screen resolution then simply substitute 1920×1080 for whatever you want.

1) Go to My Documents\My Games\Freelancer and open prefoptions in notepad. At the bottom it will say [Display] and underneath size= change it to 1920, 1080. Note the space in between the 1920, 1080. Now save and exit.

2) Now go to C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Freelancer\DATA . Once there open cameras in notepad

Delete whats there and paste the following.

[WinCamera]
fovx = 63.504809977813375

[CockpitCamera]
fovx = 90
znear = 2.000000

[ChaseCamera]
fovx = 90

[DeathCamera]
fovx = 90

Now save and exit.

3) Now go to C:\program files\microsoft games\freelancer\EXE . Once there open freelancer in notepad.

At about the 9th line down it says size change it to size = 1920,1080 ,or what ever resolution you are using.
Now save and exit.

4) Now go C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Freelancer\DATA\FONTS .Once there open fonts in to notepad. Now delete all whats there and paste the following.

[trueType]
nickname = ButtonText
font = Agency FB
fixed_height = 0.038500

[trueType]
nickname = PageHeader
font = Agency FB
fixed_height = 0.041000

[trueType]
nickname = SubHeader
font = Agency FB
fixed_height = 0.034500

[trueType]
nickname = ItemName
font = Agency FB
fixed_height = 0.021000

[trueType]
nickname = ListText
font = Arial Unicode MS
fixed_height = 0.026000

[trueType]
nickname = ToolTip
font = Arial Unicode MS
fixed_height = 0.026000

[trueType]
nickname = Rollover
font = Arial Unicode MS
fixed_height = 0.022000

[trueType]
nickname = HudSmall
font = Agency FB
fixed_height = 0.026000

[trueType]
nickname = MissionObjective
font = Agency FB
fixed_height = 0.056000

[trueType]
nickname = Normal
font = Agency FB
fixed_height = 0.031000

[trueType]
nickname = NewsMission
font = Agency FB
fixed_height = 0.026000

[trueType]
nickname = NewsTicker
font = Agency FB
fixed_height = 0.041000

[trueType]
nickname = PlayerName
font = Arial Unicode MS
fixed_height = 0.021000

[trueType]
nickname = TradePlayerName
font = Arial Unicode MS
fixed_height = 0.021000

[trueType]
nickname = DebugText
font = FixedSys
fixed_height = 0.026000

[trueType]
nickname = ConfirmPlayerText
font = Arial Unicode MS
fixed_height = 0.036000

[trueType]
nickname = ConfirmText
font = Agency FB
fixed_height = 0.036000

[trueType]
nickname = NavMap1600
font = Agency FB
fixed_height = 0.015000

[trueType]
nickname = NavMap1024
font = Agency FB
fixed_height = 0.020000

[trueType]
nickname = NavMap1280
font = Agency FB
fixed_height = 0.01900

[trueType]
nickname = NavMap800
font = Agency FB
fixed_height = 0.02300

Now save and exit.

Now in the same folder open rich_fonts in to notepad and delete and paste the following.

[trueType]
font = 0, Arial Unicode MS, 18
font = 1, Agency FB, 26
font = 2, Arial Unicode MS, 22
font = 3, Agency FB, 24
font = 4, Agency FB, 96
font = 5, Agency FB, 20
font = 6, Agency FB, 30
font = 7, Agency FB, 18

[Style]
name = STYLE_CONSOLE
font = 0
bold = false
italic = false
underline = false
color = 255, 255, 255

[Style]
name = STYLE_DIALOG
font = 1
bold = false
italic = false
underline = false
color = 135, 195, 224

[Style]
name = STYLE_DIALOG_SMALL
font = 5
bold = false
italic = false
underline = false
color = 135, 195, 224

[Style]
name = STYLE_BUTTON
font = 6
bold = false
italic = false
underline = false
color = 135, 195, 224

[Style]
name = STYLE_LOCTABLE
font = 0
bold = false
italic = false
underline = false
color = 135, 195, 224

[Style]
name = STYLE_LOCTABLE_SELECT
font = 0
bold = false
italic = false
underline = false
color = 245, 234, 82

[Style]
name = STYLE_LOCTABLE_INACTIVE
font = 0
bold = false
italic = false
underline = false
color = 182, 182, 182

[Style]
name = STYLE_SMALL_HEADER
font = 5
bold = false
italic = false
underline = false
color = 135, 195, 224

[Style]
name = STYLE_SMALL_HEADER_ACTIVE
font = 5
bold = false
italic = false
underline = false
color = 245, 234, 82

[Style]
name = STYLE_SUBSUBTITLE
font = 1
bold = false
italic = false
underline = false
color = 135, 195, 224

[Style]
name = STYLE_TITLE
font = 3
bold = false
italic = false
underline = false
color = 135, 195, 224
justify = center

[Style]
name = STYLE_ERROR
font = 0
bold = false
italic = false
underline = false
color = 191, 29, 29

[Style]
name = STYLE_NN_AGENCY
font = 5
bold = false
italic = false
underline = false
color = 135, 195, 224

[Style]
name = STYLE_PRIVATE
font = 0
bold = false
italic = false
underline = false
color = 59, 191, 29

[Style]
name = STYLE_CONSOLE_SENDER
font = 2
bold = false
italic = false
underline = false
color = 0, 255, 0

Now save and exit.

Now you are all done any ready to play in 1920×1080. Note the in game options will state the wrong resolution but it will be in 1920×1080. Also, for this to work you must enter in to space (lift off) once for the new resolution to take effect.

:, ,

31 Comments for this entry

  • Lt.Stockson
    January 20th, 2009 on 8:40 pm

    Man I followed every step (you forgot that the freelancer text file has to be changed from read only to open). It’s really great now, i mean, the game, but the in-game windows that you have in the 4 corners of the screen have now gone to the center, thats quite annoying. Any ideas?

  • Craig Mayhew
    January 20th, 2009 on 9:39 pm

    I haven’t yet found a fix for getting the HUD to be positioned correctly at higher resolutions. As soon as I figure out a fix for this I’ll post it.

  • Lt. Tuvok
    April 7th, 2009 on 10:36 pm

    Hey, did you find a way to move the HUD into the corners right now? I also have this Problem and don’t know how to solve it. If the HUD would be in the corners this would be unbelievable cool!

  • Craig Mayhew
    April 8th, 2009 on 5:49 pm

    To get the HUD correctly positioned (at least vertically anyway) you need to change the [WinCamera] FOVX value in “C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Freelancer\DATA\camera.ini”. The value is based on your screens aspect ratio.

    I recommend 63.36 for 16:10 resolutions and 68.88 for 16:9 resolutions. 1920×1080 is 16:9 and on my screen 68.88 works brilliantly.

  • Craig Mayhew
    April 8th, 2009 on 5:49 pm

    If your unable to find the “My Documents\My Games\Freelancer” folder it’s probably because it’s a fresh install of freelancer and you have not yet played it! The folder was only created once I had played and saved a game.

  • blitz
    April 8th, 2009 on 9:34 pm

    can someone help me find a good HUD rez for a 1280×800 resolutions? cant seem to get it right ><

  • Craig Mayhew
    April 10th, 2009 on 2:14 pm

    Changing the [WinCamera] FOVX value in “C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Freelancer\DATA\camera.ini” to 63.36 should do the trick as 1280×800 is a 16:10 ratio.

  • Moon
    May 22nd, 2009 on 8:56 pm

    I have been using the widescreen mod for a while now, but on my 1680×1050 screen I cannot see the Launch Button to take off. Has anyone found a way to map a keystroke for Launching the Ship?

  • Andy
    July 20th, 2009 on 12:32 pm

    How are those fovx values actually calculated? What’s the math?

  • chris
    July 28th, 2009 on 7:15 am

    I own the 7″ Asus-EEE PC and used other forums to find out about custom resolution & the camera.ini file.
    The default resolution for the EEE is 800*480
    the settings for camera.ini were as follows:
    [WinCamera]
    fovx = 65.504809977813375
    [CockpitCamera]
    fovx = 70
    znear = 2.000000
    [ChaseCamera]
    fovx = 70
    [DeathCamera]
    fovx = 70

    This trick worked almost perfectly, with 1 exception.
    Like the user Moon, when docked within a station, the nav bar at the top has been cropped off & only the launch button is visible.

    Which fovx camera am i supposed to be messing with here to get it positioned correctly? also the last forum i read stated i would need to start a new sp game for the settings to apply, would this also be true in a multi player environment??

    on a side note, those who own or thinking of owning an EEE-PC for old school gaming, i can tell you that my EEE701(early model) plays freelancer, Q3, Half-life, Dues Ex and many more perfectly!

  • HR
    August 13th, 2009 on 12:14 pm

    The solution for the “missing launch button” is to load a save-game in which you are in space (i use one of the mission-savegames when you have to dock on the Osiris – using the auto-save after a jump-hole-jump ist also possible).
    Then leave this save-game and start the right one – and all should be ok.

    Yours, Hans.

  • Moon
    August 18th, 2009 on 12:08 pm

    Thanks for the good idea Hans, but this won’t work in my case. I am playing on a Multiplayer Server that has the single player buttons disabled. Therefore I cannot load or save games.

    My workaround has been to make sure I have one character in space (not docked) when I exit the game. I can then start with that character. But if I forget I have to change the resolution back to default and fix the widescreen mod files again.

    Does anyone else have any ideas on how to start the “missing launch button”?

  • Ryan
    August 21st, 2009 on 9:35 pm

    I have used this to try and run in 1680×1050 and it works well but how to you fix the hud so it is the correct width?

  • NiGh7
    May 1st, 2010 on 12:29 pm

    Hey Guys if you still see that forum please tell how to fix the HUD at 1280×1024 because that ‘63.36″ doesn’t work for me :X

  • vladek
    June 4th, 2010 on 10:00 pm

    i did it once, it worked, but i lost my HUD, so i tried once again, now when im chaning resolutions, it always goes 800×600 …

  • Mitur Binesderti
    July 1st, 2010 on 3:49 pm

    I’m not sure if you guys are calling “HuD” what I would call the navigation bar but I’m having problems with the bar that you click on for Equipment, Hanger, Etc. It’s what you use to navigate around in town; it disappears when you load a saved game. You can see it when you first start a game but the second you load a saved game it’s gone. You can see the very bottom of it but that’s it and of course you can’t click on it.

  • Mitur Binesderti
    July 3rd, 2010 on 1:25 pm

    My previous post was erased so I’m not going to post my solution to the title bar disappearing. I now have a fix for it that works perfectly but since the author of this blog erased my previous post I’m not going to share it here. Screw you jerk.

  • Craig Mayhew
    July 4th, 2010 on 5:07 am

    Hi Mitur,
    Each comment has to be approved to prevent the high levels of spam attempts this blog recieves.

    Whenever I find the time I login and approve pending comments. As you can see, I have now approved both of yours. It’s a shame you used a fake name and email address as I now have no way of letting you know your comments are safe.

    Craig

  • Michael
    July 5th, 2010 on 5:46 am

    Mitur Binesderti is a joke name.. “My Turban Is Dirty” get it? Anyway, does anyone have solution for the top nav bar disappearing on 1080p resolution? thanks

  • adam
    August 30th, 2010 on 5:28 am

    I was having the same hud issue after following all the mentioned steps exactly, it was still out of site at the top. I was getting annoyed until i stumbled on someone mentioning to make sure you REVERT THE “cameras.ini” FILE BACK INTO READ ONLY after you edit it. Doing this will solve the issue, provided you followed all of Mr. Mayhew’s directions :)

  • Qwerty
    September 24th, 2010 on 10:26 pm

    Hi Craig, your solution is 100% working.. if you have v1.00. When you install Discovery Mod (v4.85) and you done everything here, the HUD will Not be positioned right.

    any ideas?
    I also found out that if you have in freelancer.ini default value (1024,768), game will be as set in PerfOptions.ini (1920×1080 in my case). So it looks like without effect.

    Qwerty

  • Alba
    April 25th, 2011 on 10:35 am

    hey man can you help me with the freelancer game i did everything you typed at your homepage to change screen resolution but i can only see the launch to space button hud nothing more tryed to lanuch as you wrote then dock nothing changes with hud:(( plz help if you can anyway

  • Craig Mayhew
    April 25th, 2011 on 11:05 am

    Alba, what is your screena resolution? Have you checked the resolution you are trying to get is the correct aspect ratio?

  • Mirko
    May 3rd, 2011 on 2:52 pm

    Found this blog today and tried to change the resolution for my fresh installed Freelancer to 1920×1080.

    But my camera.ini file is a binary and not a text file, so i have not really clue how and what to change.

    The words WinCamer fovx, CockpitCamera znear, ChaseCamera, Deathcamera are inside, but seperated by a hex 0.

    What is puzzling me is that it’s a fresh install, followed by FL TNG 2.67. I looked on my Freelancer CD, maybe the TNG mod replaced the file. But on my FL CD the camera.ini is the same.

    Any ideas? ;P

  • Vas
    June 20th, 2011 on 1:11 pm

    Hey, I did your idea with a 1440×900 screen res. My menus are pushed in on them selves and pushed off the screen’s top and bottom. I dunno how to fix it, I tried changing the camara.ini file several times but nothing’s moving any hud at all. I undocked and turned around to dock again and still didn’t change it. Would there be a way to make a mod to add new resolutions to the options menu?

  • Zetren
    June 24th, 2011 on 10:28 pm

    I’m getting a similer problem as Mirko above me, all .ini files in the freelancer folder
    (not the .ini’s in my doc’s) are complete gibberish. I heard this is a problem with Windows 7 only, I looked on the web but I’ve yet to find an answer.

    Here is a file:
    BINI D 
    ^ºYB 
    F   @# 
    F / 
    F WinCamera fovx CockpitCamera znear ChaseCamera DeathCamera

    This is the cameras.ini folder.

    I hope there is an answer out there and that I didn’t give my email address away for nothing, (I miss the days of the free and open internet)

  • Rhaps
    July 11th, 2011 on 7:50 pm

    Hey Mirko, had the same problem. Did some googling and actually found a bunch of little converters a guy specifically wrote for Freelancer. http://adoxa.110mb.com/freelancer/tools.html The TINI tool is the one you want. Just drag the config files onto it and it will make a text version of it for you. Just be sure to change the extension back to .ini before you run the game of it will crash.

  • Cu
    July 19th, 2011 on 11:32 am

    Love the idea of this, and a good friend of mine got it working perfectly.

    I followed your steps precisely and yet my game crashes on start-up.

    Any ideas?

  • Ian
    September 22nd, 2011 on 10:27 pm

    After an upgrade to Win 7 and a 1080p TFT I found these instructions to sort out my fresh install of Freelancer, but I couldn’t get it to work. Had many of the problems that other have experienced, so after a lot of searching I ended up downloading a complete upgrade with extra story line. In 1080p things are where they should be, all be it with slightly larger text than I would like; I’ll have a look at the fonts tomorrow when I can be bothered.
    As everyone seems to think that the positioning of menus is to do with the Cameras.ini settings I thought that I would post what they have to see if this solves peoples problems:

    [WinCamera]
    fovx = 54.431999

    [CockpitCamera]
    fovx = 70
    znear = 2.000000

    [ThirdPersonCamera]
    fovx = 70

    [DeathCamera]
    fovx = 70

  • Boomer
    January 20th, 2012 on 4:11 pm

    I’m havind problems with the positioning of the menu’s. I’m running Windows 7, so i have to use https://github.com/skeeto/binitools/downloads
    for un-BINI-in’ the camera.ini file etc. everytime (The TINI tool from Adoxa as mentioned above is offline with me)
    So which values do you need if you have 1366×768?

    All help is appreciated.

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