f13.net

Thought I'd pass this little tidbit on...

You can improve the quality and very likely the performance at the same time.  Go to
User name of computer > AppData > Local > SWTOR > swtor > settings > client.settings.ini

Open client.settings.ini with notepad and add the following 2 lines:
AntiAliasingLevel = 4
DebugAdvEnviroLighting = true

I have my AA level set at 16 just because...why not.  Anyway, your graphics quality should radically improve and you will probably see an improvement in framerate as well, IF you have an nVidia card.  ATI cards struggle with it.

Anyone know what the TextureQuality = 0 could be tweaked to?

Turn off bloom. It's terrible on framerates.

Anything other than 0 seems to result in extremely low-res textures.

I can't get this to work.

The only ini file I have is in the swtor\retailclient directory in me EA file that's called client_default.ini.  There is no client_settings.ini file on my computer.

I don't even have a Users\Appdata... etc directory set up.

I might have to do a clean reinstall.  ugh

Users\<Your Name>\AppData is often a hidden folder.

Assuming you use Windows 7 you must have the directory. Do you have your explorer set to show hidden and system files? Appdata is a hidden folder.

Location is (should be) %systemdrive%/%username%/Appdata

Minecraft Texture/mod folder is in Appdata.

Yep, I'm an idiot.

Tried the lines above and the shadows become all boxy.  Trying just AAlevel=16 now just by itself.  That debug line seems to be crappy.  

edit:
Ok without the lighting line, my shadows are still pixaled.  All setting are on high btw.  

edit2:
Ok it looks like that happens in some of the other screenshots I see of high AAs.

Turning off bloom in a Star Wars game is not an option.

And AA not working with ATI cards is lame ...

Wait, really?  Just doesn't work?

ATI Card are very hit or miss with SWTOR yea. I know myself and lots of others can't turn on shadows or the frame-rate just craters into the floor.

The game has AA off, but for NVIDIA cards you can force it "on" via the INI, and for AMD cards during beta you could force it via the card's Video Control Panel but that has stopped working for the current version.

why?

All teh shinay pew pew.
Bloom here is not just glinty armor effects.  It changes every light source and emissive texture in the game.  And in a sci-fi game (that's already too brown), it sorta takes away from the vibe.
It's especially apparent indoors where there's lots of steel and accent lighting.

I will turn it back on if they fix it but right now it's unplayable in many hubs with it on. The Jedi temple on the starter planet is a good example of the fps dropping from 100 to 5 because of bloom and shadows

I think that 0 is the setting for 'high'.  Could be wrong though.  Have to check the next time I'm monkeying around with the settings.

What graphics card are you using? Mine isn't a high power card, but even with the changes in the OP the frame rate is ultra smooth even in the Capitol cities.

I have everything maxed and running the game at 2500x1600 res, on a nvidia 570 card. Runs great. The only thing I can do to make my FPS drop is turn V-Sync on. That just kills my FPS.

Had to turn bloom off on Nar Shaddaa, just a ball of neon death.

Nvidia GTX 285

*edited*
I am a clown that failed to read this correctly.    What driver version are you using?  I was running on  8800 GTX and not really having graphic issues. 

Quite odd indeed seeing how things run smooth for me with gts 550, and that's like, 1/3rd weaker than 285 ("smooth" meaning 40-60 fps generally)  This is with the v.285 gfx card drivers. Not overclocked or anything, nothing changed in the settings either, just set to "high" in the game preferences.

Could be a driver issue. I'll check to make sure about my updates.

I'm using the November beta drivers and they seem fine (with the exception of bloomtastic Nar Shaddaa, as mentioned).