GUIDE [WIP] DDSopt & Texture Overhauls

[z929669]

Discussion thread:
DDSopt Guide by STEP
Wiki Link

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GET DDSopt:
Github Pre-release versions
Official Nexus versions (select pre-release update 4)

[z929669]

Thanks will add

[Ethatron]

I really start to think the 1x1 [purple texture] problems are hardware-related, means it's somehow missing driver-support/compatibility. I really never ever had problems with 1x1 textures.

 

But as pointed out, still noone has figured the exact wonky blood-textures out.

[z929669]

I really start to think the 1x1 [purple texture] problems are hardware-related, means it's somehow missing driver-support/compatibility. I really never ever had problems with 1x1 textures.

 

But as pointed out, still noone has figured the exact wonky blood-textures out.

And I have yet to confirm for myself.

 

Good to see you back. I assume that you have read over the thread since you last posted? I think that there is some relevant info for you. Any idea when you are posting the stable 8.0 release to the Nexus?

[Ethatron]

It's there uploaded. I probably make it 1.0 when I take over the BSAopt-core supporting XP, XBox and Morrowind.

[z929669]

It's there uploaded. I probably make it 1.0 when I take over the BSAopt-core supporting XP' date=' XBox and Morrowind.[/quote']

Very nice. Thanks.

 

FYI

 

We plan to collect details on DDSopt results for all of the texture mods used here in STEP. This will hopefully become a reliable reference for you as you refine. This should begin in the next month or so. Data will be available on the wiki.

[haelfix]

Hi i'm having issues with the fog, certain sunray and grey sky textures from the HLDLC1-2 packs (after the DDSOP procedure listed in the Wiki and in z's posts) using RCRN 3.6.  This is a perfectly clean install, no additional mods and fresh ini/saves.  Using a Nvidia 680 4gb.

 

I have been using these optimized texture packs for the past week with no problem using any other lighting mod, but for some reason RCRN hates them.  The artifacts go away when I use the original unoptimized DLCs.

[z929669]

Hi i'm having issues with the fog, certain sunray and grey sky textures from the HLDLC1-2 packs (after the DDSOP procedure listed in the Wiki and in z's posts) using RCRN 3.6.  This is a perfectly clean install, no additional mods and fresh ini/saves.  Using a Nvidia 680 4gb.

 

I have been using these optimized texture packs for the past week with no problem using any other lighting mod, but for some reason RCRN hates them.  The artifacts go away when I use the original unoptimized DLCs.

RCRN uses its own textures, some of which may be sky(??).

 

DDSopt would not cause this if used on vanilla textures according to the Guide.

[haelfix]

That is what I thought as well, but unfortunately the artifacts disappear when I remove the HRDLC packages from the install.   So, I have no STEP install at all, just pure game with RCRN and HRDLC 1 + HRDLC2.  If I remove the latter the problem goes away.  If I include unoptimized HRDLC1+2 instead the problem doesn't reappear, so it's clearly the DDSOPT textures that are causing the problems and RCRN isn't rewriting over those particular problematic textures..

 

In fact, the artifacts look very much like some sort of standard compression artifact.

 

Now, since I have been playing with the DDSOPT textures for awhile without any problem using a different lighting mod without noticing a problem, I strikes me as some sort of incompatibility, or perhaps some sort of weird graphic card glitch.

 

Of course it is also very possible that I bungled the DDsopt install at some point

[z929669]

That is what I thought as well, but unfortunately the artifacts disappear when I remove the HRDLC packages from the install.   So, I have no STEP install at all, just pure game with RCRN and HRDLC 1 + HRDLC2.  If I remove the latter the problem goes away.  If I include unoptimized HRDLC1+2 instead the problem doesn't reappear, so it's clearly the DDSOPT textures that are causing the problems and RCRN isn't rewriting over those particular problematic textures..

 

In fact, the artifacts look very much like some sort of standard compression artifact.

 

Now, since I have been playing with the DDSOPT textures for awhile without any problem using a different lighting mod without noticing a problem, I strikes me as some sort of incompatibility, or perhaps some sort of weird graphic card glitch.

 

Of course it is also very possible that I bungled the DDsopt install at some point

Yep, very strange. I have not experienced anything like this, and I have used all the same textures in the same config, so it must be a bungle or a glitch ...

[TechAngel85]

That is what I thought as well, but unfortunately the artifacts disappear when I remove the HRDLC packages from the install.   So, I have no STEP install at all, just pure game with RCRN and HRDLC 1 + HRDLC2.  If I remove the latter the problem goes away.  If I include unoptimized HRDLC1+2 instead the problem doesn't reappear, so it's clearly the DDSOPT textures that are causing the problems and RCRN isn't rewriting over those particular problematic textures..

 

In fact, the artifacts look very much like some sort of standard compression artifact.

 

Now, since I have been playing with the DDSOPT textures for awhile without any problem using a different lighting mod without noticing a problem, I strikes me as some sort of incompatibility, or perhaps some sort of weird graphic card glitch.

 

Of course it is also very possible that I bungled the DDsopt install at some point

Yep, very strange. I have not experienced anything like this, and I have used all the same textures in the same config, so it must be a bungle or a glitch ...

It's erasing my text....

[TechAngel85]

I just posted this over in a troubleshooting thread:

 

I haven't even used DDSopt yet. The Guide, IMO, isn't detailed enough and needs to be expanded. I get confused just reading it and since I've heard it's easy to screw up textures with it, I've just stayed clear of it until the Guide is better written.

 

@Farlo

I think revising the DDSopt guide should be a priority #2 for the next release. Though optional at this point, everyone boasts using it here on the forums and how great of a performance boost you can get. I think it's even more important for those who are just running the Baseline install to use it as they're the ones (like you and i) that are running most likely only 1GB of VRAM. In it's current form I don't find it that user friendly.

[z929669]

I just posted this over in a troubleshooting thread:

 

I haven't even used DDSopt yet. The Guide, IMO, isn't detailed enough and needs to be expanded. I get confused just reading it and since I've heard it's easy to screw up textures with it, I've just stayed clear of it until the Guide is better written.

 

@Farlo

I think revising the DDSopt guide should be a priority #2 for the next release. Though optional at this point, everyone boasts using it here on the forums and how great of a performance boost you can get. I think it's even more important for those who are just running the Baseline install to use it as they're the ones (like you and i) that are running most likely only 1GB of VRAM. In it's current form I don't find it that user friendly.

Yep, the guide needs an update to match the latest release now that it is (finally!) on the Nexus. I will tackle that when the time comes, but too much happening with the #1 priority (STEP).

[Prophes0r]

I pre-ordered Skyrim and i decided I was at a time in my life that I could finally enjoy TES games. So I promptly uninstalled and worked my way through Morrowind and Oblivion for the first time successfully. So it's been a little over a year, and on Monday the 24th of Dec I reinstalled Skyrim and started to build my "perfect" game. Morrowind and Oblivion have completed installer that make overhauling the games easy, but for Skyrim I have to work for my fun (which I'm totally OK with). This is when I stumbled on STEP.

 

So, I'm at the point now where I have decided on everything I want installed, and I'm working on optimizing the textures. DDSopt took a little while to get used to, but once I did I ripped everything out of Vanilla + DLCs + CTP and optimized it. Then I went back while I had the extracted files and made a second set of reduced normals. Both methods were done using the 2 presets in this topic. But there must be something wrong. Tests were done with Nothing but SKSE, MO, DLC, USKP and CTP.

 

System Info.

i5-3570K @ 3.4 (OC @ 3.8)

32gb Ram (If I had enough Ram I'd actualy try running the game entirely from a Ram drive)

2 Gen4 SSDs in RAID-0

GTX 670 2Gb @ GPU 1006 / VRam 1552 (OC @ 1173/1832)

 

Those OC values are the ones that have survived a 24 hour loop of simultaneous Floating point & Unigine Heaven Benchmarks with no logged errors. But just to be absolutely sure, When I had problems with this I stock clocked and tried again.

 

Test: New game, ride the cart into Helgen

1920x1200 - 2xMSAA + 2xSGSSAA + 16xAF(Nvidia) + Performance SSAO

UGRIDS=7

uExterior Cell Buffer=64

Shadows are manually tweaked between medium and low settings since they look so bad anyway.

 

Beth BSA + CTP:

54-60 FPS - Vram 1.8Gb - Vswap 200Mb - Mem 1.4Gb - GPU 95-99% - CPU 55-65%

Only drops to 54 just after the first turn, then climbs back to ~58. 60FPS by the second left turn, stays there till character creation.

 

Vanilla/Dawn/Hearth OPT + CTP OPT:

42-54FPS - Vram 1.2Gb - Vswap 500Mb - Mem 1.2Gb - GPU 60-80% - CPU 50-65%

Hovers around 48FPS, drops horribly on that first left turn. finishes pretty stable at 52FPS

 

Vanilla/Dawn/Hearth OPT + 521 Resized Normals(no actors) + CTP OPT + 521 Resized Normals:

29-48 FPS - Vram 1.4Gb - Vswap 700Mb - Mem 1.3Gb - GPU 55-75% - CPU 55-65%

By far the worst.

 

I'm going to attempt to repackage these as a BSA to see if this fixes the problem any, this does not make sense.

[z929669]

Could you define "CPT" and "OPT" ... not sure what you are referring to here.

 

Also, the ride into Helgen may not be the best benchmark for textures. I am not sure how much of this uses the actual in-game textures (??).

 

Better to wait until you clear the first dungeon and benchmark the run to (and through the other side of) Riverwood.

 

DDSopt will not necessarily get you more FPS, but it will significantly reduce your VRAM consumption. What are you using to measure FPS/VRAM? What do your DDSopt logs tell you?

[Besidilo]

Texture Pack Combiner and DDSopt optimised textures, at a guess.