Hello everyone. If you want to make SpaceEngine look better for free, then you can follow this simple guide. I hope you find this helpful. This is a simple way of making the program more visually pleasing to look at.

PLEASE NOTE: This is not intended to make SpaceEngine look more realistic, only more cinematic, or what many people consider to be ''better looking.'' The program's default visuals are already realistic. However, if you do not like the base look of the program, you can follow this guide instead.

Also, all steps in this guide are purely optional. They are my recommendation. You can change any of the values/options in the in-game settings to your liking.

• 1. Go to the settings tab (or click on the gear icon on the left panel).
  
  
• 2. Go to the "Visual Style" tab.
  
  
• 3. Find the ''Saturation'' setting. Set the value to 2 (the maximum value).
  
  
• 4. Find the "Tone mapping" setting. Select "AGX Punchy" as the tone mapping option. This is very pleasing to look at.
  
  
• 5. Find the "Scale" setting. Set the value to 0.5.
  
  
• 6. Find the ''Overbright'' setting. Set the value to 3.
  
  
• 7. Find the ''Planet points style'' setting, and set it to ''Motion blur.''
  
  
• 8. Switch to the ''Camera'' tab.
  
  
• 9. Find the ''Deep-sky objects'' setting. Set the value to ''7m20.''
  
  
• 10. Find the ''Self emission'' setting. Set the value to 1.585.

1. Subscribe to The Milky Way Overhaul and The Andromeda Overhaul addons by author WildSirius on the SpaceEngine workshop. These addons replace the default textures of the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies with more visually pleasing versions.
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2634871133 https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2797483985
2. Install Rodrigo's Mod Redistributed. It is an unofficial version of a mod called Rodrigo's Mod, which significantly improves the appearance of terrain and clouds on planets and gas giants. It aims to make planets look more realistic. The official version was removed some time ago.
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3267339304&searchtext=rodrigo
After you install the mod, you will need to delete the "cache" folder in your SpaceEngine directory in order for the mod to work the next time you boot the program. The folder is located at C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\SpaceEngine.

3. Download all of SpaceEngine's HD planet texture DLC. This is not required, but if you want to improve the appearance of the Solar System's textures, then you should download them. You should already have some, if not all of these textures already installed.

I hope this guide was useful for you. You are encouraged to provide feedback regarding the contents of this guide, whether I should be aware of anything, if you think the changes to the visual appearance of SpaceEngine could be improved further, or anything else. Thanks!