my last game on the mod

Freelancer generally is limited to DirectX 8. It was written specifically for dx8 and by default only utilizes the functions of dx8.

Sounds strange considering that the FL installation comes with the optional DX 9c... but it is and remains a dx8 game.

CF comes with the option to select shaders which utilize a Dx9 environment in which the original Dx8 render pipeline can be executed. This way certain postprocessing mechanics can be used on top of dx8 render pipeline (which can not be altered)

In the latest iteration of the shader system I included a DX11 option for the modular reshade version as it promised performance and stability benefits over older Dx versions (I had serious troubles to get it to work in lower dx versions).

This however does not change the fact that FL renders everything by default within its DX8 limitations (e.g. a maximum of 8 lightsourses, no normal mapping, limited shadow rendering).