GUIDE [WIP] DDSopt & Texture Overhauls

[z929669]

Discussion thread:
DDSopt Guide by STEP
Wiki Link

---

 

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

[ciddative]

Thank you Kelmych, a very helpful and stimulating response, many thanks :)

[ciddative]

With my ageing system and decrepit gfx card, my current philosophy is, "keep it modest, as long as it's better than vanilla I'm happy."

 

Many thanks again :)

[Kelmych]

I moved the STEP mod texture table into the body of the DDSopt guide so it is easier to read the notes while viewing the table. I put the table and notes in a new tab. I also took some of recent messages on this thread and used them to edit the Introduction and Background section of STEP Mod Optimization.

[rootsrat]

Hi guys

 

Maybe a stupid question' date=' but I'd rather ask than screw up half a day of working on this. I went through all the process, finalised the optimisation and I have 5 archives now (2x Hi Res DLC, Vanilla textures, Dawnguard and Hearthfire). I understand that I need to install them now (I use Mod Organiser, so will do through MO). What do I do with the BSA files that I unpacked using DDSopt? Do I delete them from my game directory or do I just leave them there? The DDSopt guide does not mention what to do with them...

[/quote']

The BSAs are irrelevant' date=' but Steam will reacquire if you let it.[/quote']

 

Maybe it's worth adding this info to the guide, at the end of DDSopt Optimization section - for inexperienced DDSopt user is wasn't very clear what to do with the BSA'a after the optimization was completed.

[Kelmych]

The BSAs are irrelevant, but Steam will reacquire if you let it.

 

As far as the rest, I am not sure what you are asking. The vanilla textures fix never included the DG and HF DLCs.

I added the DG and HF bsa optimizations as options in the DLC tab; you can remove it or move it if you don't want it there.

 

The DG and HF BSA contain a mix of resource types including textures. For these I've been suggesting that the optimized resources be repacked into a BSA since the textures are only a small part of the BSA, unlike the guide recommendations for the vanilla textures BSA and the two HRDLC BSAs which have only textures.

[Kelmych]

Hi guys

 

Maybe a stupid question, but I'd rather ask than screw up half a day of working on this. I went through all the process, finalised the optimisation and I have 5 archives now (2x Hi Res DLC, Vanilla textures, Dawnguard and Hearthfire). I understand that I need to install them now (I use Mod Organiser, so will do through MO). What do I do with the BSA files that I unpacked using DDSopt? Do I delete them from my game directory or do I just leave them there? The DDSopt guide does not mention what to do with them...

 

::EDIT::

 

And just to be clear - I install "HD Texture DLC Fix v1 3b Loose Files" (prepared as per the guide) and THEN install the optimized archive on top of that, overwriting everything, yes?

When I edited the guide I forgot to add information on this. I did so today.

[PCG4m3r]

The STEP mod optimization details page is great! ( only just found it by pure chance to be honest, must have missed any mention of it in this thread).

 

Quick question on optimising the STEP mods. I'm trying to keep all my textures  <= 1024x1024, through a lower res download firstly if available, or by the constraints tab, using 1024 on both compressed and uncompressed textures.

 

For some mods that start at 2048x2048 or for which that is the only option (e.g. Book of Silence, Elven Weapons for Silence, Milky Way Galaxy), there is no note in the notes column, where for others there would be a Note 2 or 3. Does this mean resizing these mods is NOT recommended? Does resizing armor or sky textures have a much worse visual impact?

Also Is there a way to also resize irregular shaped textures (ie. resize 2048x1024 to 1024x512) in the same run? It's currently skipping these textures, and I'm not relishing going through them one by one.

I'll add appropriate Notes annotation to these three; sorry I missed them. If you need to resize them to 1kx1K go ahead, but first read the rest of this reply.

 

DDSopt isn't always able to resize some of the non-square textures. I've noticed this particularly with some of the landscape textures. When it can't it does note this in the log it creates. When this happens there is nothing you can do; it isn't a problem with how you setup the run. Across a large set of mods the total number of textures that can't be optimized is quite small, so it is probably not something to worry about.

 

The hardest question to answer is which textures to select when reducing texture sizes to improve performance. We don't have a table that describes the performance gains and graphic quality loss when reducing the size of textures. I expect that reducing the size of the textures that affect large portions of the screen, such as architecture and landscape textures, provide the most performance gain with reduced size. However, most of the architecture, landscape, dungeon, and interior textures textures in STEP that affect large portions of the screen (vs. clutter textures, for example) are typically high quality textures that have already been optimized by the mod developer. Reducing the size of these can sometimes cause noticeable graphic quality loss.

 

I'm not sure what the performance and quality effects are for reducing texture sizes on weapons, armor, clothing, and textures used for LOD, effects, sky, etc. Perhaps other such as z or Ethatron or some of the mod authors like Cabal and Vurt can comment on this.

 

We have found with recent experimentation that reducing the size of just the normal maps (files ending in *_.dds) provides significant performance improvements without a lot of graphic quality loss. I would suggest trying this first to see if you can get enough performance improvement, especially with mods that have very high quality textures like Book of Silence and Elven Weapons for Silence. Of course, as mentioned above, we don't have any quantitative data on how much performance gain results from reducing armor and weapons textures.

@Kelmych,

 

Great info with that "Mod Optimization" table. Thanks for putting that out there!

 

Regarding the comment in yellow above I believe you meant to write *_n.dds, correct? :)  Just wanted to point that out. I agree with you that probably the biggest performance gain by resizing normals is most noticeable where textures consume a large portion of the screen, especially outdoor/landscape areas. And the results seem to be acceptable (IMO) when resizing normals on anything 512x512 or higher, but below 512x512 it's probably not recommended to resize those normals, because it seems to be a more obvious degradation of quality in-game. I believe someone had suggested not resizing below 1024x1024 as well, so that may be better.

 

In my own testing/comparisons, textures appear very slightly blurred due to the normals being smaller and more stretched across the meshes/models, while the related textures are kept at their default size, but are still optimized with DDSopt. However, this slight blurring is only obvious when comparing images with unmodified normals and those where normals have been resized. And the blurring is even more apparent when reducing both the normal and related texture size than it is when just reducing the normal only. So reducing the size of the normals seems to be a good middle-ground for quality and the performance improvement is worth it. When I'm in-game I really don't notice the blurring at all, at least for the larger textures.

 

I think it should also be mentioned that resizing *_msn.dds could be done as well, as they are just a different type of normal for bodies/faces/hands. It may help improve performance when there are a lot of NPCs on screen, but I don't have any real data to confirm that. I do know that when reducing the size of *_msn.dds (without any compression/optimization) I haven't noticed any obvious issues with character textures in-game.

 

I think it would be helpful to include some information on the DDSopt Guide about reducing normals and how exactly to setup DDSopt to do that. It's easy to do, but some may not know about this or how to set it up. It could be identified as an optional step in the optimization process for those who would like to try it, since it does help with performance. And it may allow some modders who typically choose 1024K textures to go up to 2048K in some cases (not everyone of course). Just a thought.

[z929669]

Correct (*_n.dds) ...

 

Yes, reducing normals causes slight blurring, but not really noticeable, and the color map retains all of the detail, which helps. I never go under 1024 for normal maps, no matter what the size of the model, and I never constrain texture size as a percentage. Rather, I use the 1024x1024 cap.

 

The filter on the [browse] tab should be used to selectively process textures. You can also type in custom filters (don't forget to hit [Apply] after each filter modification). Along with settings under [ignore] (main menu), you can devise efficient algorithms to get the results wanted in the destination directory.

 

@Kelmych

 

Edit the guide as you see fit. Better to have correct info out there than not.

[Kelmych]

@Kelmych,

 

Great info with that "Mod Optimization" table. Thanks for putting that out there!

 

Regarding the comment in yellow above I believe you meant to write *_n.dds, correct? :)  Just wanted to point that out. I agree with you that probably the biggest performance gain by resizing normals is most noticeable where textures consume a large portion of the screen, especially outdoor/landscape areas. And the results seem to be acceptable (IMO) when resizing normals on anything 512x512 or higher, but below 512x512 it's probably not recommended to resize those normals, because it seems to be a more obvious degradation of quality in-game. I believe someone had suggested not resizing below 1024x1024 as well, so that may be better.

 

In my own testing/comparisons, textures appear very slightly blurred due to the normals being smaller and more stretched across the meshes/models, while the related textures are kept at their default size, but are still optimized with DDSopt. However, this slight blurring is only obvious when comparing images with unmodified normals and those where normals have been resized. And the blurring is even more apparent when reducing both the normal and related texture size than it is when just reducing the normal only. So reducing the size of the normals seems to be a good middle-ground for quality and the performance improvement is worth it. When I'm in-game I really don't notice the blurring at all, at least for the larger textures.

 

I think it should also be mentioned that resizing *_msn.dds could be done as well, as they are just a different type of normal for bodies/faces/hands. It may help improve performance when there are a lot of NPCs on screen, but I don't have any real data to confirm that. I do know that when reducing the size of *_msn.dds (without any compression/optimization) I haven't noticed any obvious issues with character textures in-game.

 

I think it would be helpful to include some information on the DDSopt Guide about reducing normals and how exactly to setup DDSopt to do that. It's easy to do, but some may not know about this or how to set it up. It could be identified as an optional step in the optimization process for those who would like to try it, since it does help with performance. And it may allow some modders who typically choose 1024K textures to go up to 2048K in some cases (not everyone of course). Just a thought.

Thanks for the comments, and as you get any additional information on how well methods like reducing normal map size work we would appreciate hearing about it.

 

I fixed the typo, added some comments about model space normal maps, and did some other cleanup. Next I'll add some examples of processing just normal maps.

[Kelmych]

Since reducing the size of normal maps seems provide a good tradeoff between performance improvements and graphics quality based on the results using some of the STEP mods, I wonder whether we should include this as an option in our discussion of optimizing the vanilla BSAs in the DDSopt and Texture Overhaul guide. Many of the vanilla textures are overwritten, but there still a lot of vanilla (including HRDLC) textures that remain even after the STEP mods are added.

[PCG4m3r]

You have my vote for that Kelmych, especially for HRDLC. I'm not sure which textures don't get overwritten by other mods, but I found that even in the Vanilla textures there are some that are 2048x2048 (i.e. \textures\dungeons\caves\cavebasewall05.dds).

 

A tip in case you aren't aware, in Windows 7 if you wanted to find all textures with a dimension, say greater than 512x512, you could input the following in the Windows Explorer Search box (without quotes): "Dimensions: >512x512"

 

Before you search though, you'll want to add "Dimensions" as a new column by right-clicking the column header row and go to "More...". This way you can see the actual texture sizes. There are 732 Vanilla textures greater than 512x512, but the largest dimension for most (665 to be exact) have 1024. It looks like 60 have a 2048 dimension and even 1 with 4096x1024.

 

 

While on this topic, I was experimenting with DDSopt Update 4 by resizing normals with the following constraint options for the same files in Vurt's Flora pack (main 1.76b):

• 50%
• 512x512
• 1024x1024

I noticed in some cases, DDSopt didn't resize and produced some errors instead: "failed to regenerate DDS" and "Couldn't downscale the DDS". Does anyone know what those mean or why they occurred? Focusing on one file in particular where this occurred, \textures\landscape\trees\treeaspenbarkcomp_N.dds , these same errors occurred regardless of which constraint settings (of the three) I chose above. In contrast, running DDSopt pre5b against the same textures and same constraint options, it did resize the normal from 512x2048 to  256x1024 using the 50% option. However, the other two constraint options gave a similar error "Couldn't downscale the DDS".

 

Here are some examples from the logs:

 

DDSopt pre Update 4 - Constraint = 50%

 

 

# treeaspenbarkcomp_N.dds #####################################################

E:\in\2\_Vurts Skyrim Flora Overhaul\Skyrim Flora Overhaul v176b_BAIN-141-1-76b\00 --SELECT ONE-- Main - Regular Version v1_76b\textures\landscape\trees\treeaspenbarkcomp_N.dds

processing:

failed to regenerate DDS

Couldn't downscale the DDS

 

# treeaspenbranchcomp_n.dds ###################################################

E:\in\2\_Vurts Skyrim Flora Overhaul\Skyrim Flora Overhaul v176b_BAIN-141-1-76b\00 --SELECT ONE-- Main - Regular Version v1_76b\textures\landscape\trees\treeaspenbranchcomp_n.dds

Format           : DXT5

Dimensions       : 1024x1024 to 512x512 - 11 to 10 levels

 

notes:

Resolution has been surpassed and a lower mip-chain selected.

delta:            1048608 bytes less

 

# treepineforestbarkcomp1_N.dds ###############################################

E:\in\2\_Vurts Skyrim Flora Overhaul\Skyrim Flora Overhaul v176b_BAIN-141-1-76b\00 --SELECT ONE-- Main - Regular Version v1_76b\textures\landscape\trees\treepineforestbarkcomp1_N.dds

Format           : DXT1

Dimensions       : 1024x4096 to 512x2048 - 11 to 12 levels

 

notes:

Resolution has been surpassed and a lower mip-chain selected.

delta:            2097136 bytes less

 

# treepineforestbarkcomp2_N.dds ###############################################

E:\in\2\_Vurts Skyrim Flora Overhaul\Skyrim Flora Overhaul v176b_BAIN-141-1-76b\00 --SELECT ONE-- Main - Regular Version v1_76b\textures\landscape\trees\treepineforestbarkcomp2_N.dds

Format           : DXT1

Dimensions       : 1024x4096 to 512x2048 - 11 to 12 levels

 

notes:

Resolution has been surpassed and a lower mip-chain selected.

delta:            2097136 bytes less

 

# treepineforestbarkcomp3_n.dds ###############################################

E:\in\2\_Vurts Skyrim Flora Overhaul\Skyrim Flora Overhaul v176b_BAIN-141-1-76b\00 --SELECT ONE-- Main - Regular Version v1_76b\textures\landscape\trees\treepineforestbarkcomp3_n.dds

Format           : DXT1

Dimensions       : 512x2048 to 256x1024 - 10 to 11 levels

 

 

 

DDSopt pre Update 4 - Constraint = 512x512

 

 

# treeaspenbarkcomp_N.dds #####################################################

E:\in\2\_Vurts Skyrim Flora Overhaul\Skyrim Flora Overhaul v176b_BAIN-141-1-76b\00 --SELECT ONE-- Main - Regular Version v1_76b\textures\landscape\trees\treeaspenbarkcomp_N.dds

processing:

failed to regenerate DDS

Couldn't downscale the DDS

 

# treeaspenbranchcomp_n.dds ###################################################

E:\in\2\_Vurts Skyrim Flora Overhaul\Skyrim Flora Overhaul v176b_BAIN-141-1-76b\00 --SELECT ONE-- Main - Regular Version v1_76b\textures\landscape\trees\treeaspenbranchcomp_n.dds

Format           : DXT5

Dimensions       : 1024x1024 to 512x512 - 11 to 10 levels

 

notes:

Resolution has been surpassed and a lower mip-chain selected.

delta:            1048608 bytes less

 

# treepineforestbarkcomp1_N.dds ###############################################

E:\in\2\_Vurts Skyrim Flora Overhaul\Skyrim Flora Overhaul v176b_BAIN-141-1-76b\00 --SELECT ONE-- Main - Regular Version v1_76b\textures\landscape\trees\treepineforestbarkcomp1_N.dds

Couldn't downscale the DDS

 

# treepineforestbarkcomp2_N.dds ###############################################

E:\in\2\_Vurts Skyrim Flora Overhaul\Skyrim Flora Overhaul v176b_BAIN-141-1-76b\00 --SELECT ONE-- Main - Regular Version v1_76b\textures\landscape\trees\treepineforestbarkcomp2_N.dds

Couldn't downscale the DDS

 

# treepineforestbarkcomp3_n.dds ###############################################

E:\in\2\_Vurts Skyrim Flora Overhaul\Skyrim Flora Overhaul v176b_BAIN-141-1-76b\00 --SELECT ONE-- Main - Regular Version v1_76b\textures\landscape\trees\treepineforestbarkcomp3_n.dds

Couldn't downscale the DDS

 

 

 

DDSopt pre Update 4 - Constraint = 1024x1024

 

 

# treeaspenbarkcomp_N.dds #####################################################

E:\in\2\_Vurts Skyrim Flora Overhaul\Skyrim Flora Overhaul v176b_BAIN-141-1-76b\00 --SELECT ONE-- Main - Regular Version v1_76b\textures\landscape\trees\treeaspenbarkcomp_N.dds

processing:

failed to regenerate DDS

Couldn't downscale the DDS

 

# treeaspenbranchcomp_n.dds ###################################################

E:\in\2\_Vurts Skyrim Flora Overhaul\Skyrim Flora Overhaul v176b_BAIN-141-1-76b\00 --SELECT ONE-- Main - Regular Version v1_76b\textures\landscape\trees\treeaspenbranchcomp_n.dds

 

# treepineforestbarkcomp1_N.dds ###############################################

E:\in\2\_Vurts Skyrim Flora Overhaul\Skyrim Flora Overhaul v176b_BAIN-141-1-76b\00 --SELECT ONE-- Main - Regular Version v1_76b\textures\landscape\trees\treepineforestbarkcomp1_N.dds

Couldn't downscale the DDS

 

# treepineforestbarkcomp2_N.dds ###############################################

E:\in\2\_Vurts Skyrim Flora Overhaul\Skyrim Flora Overhaul v176b_BAIN-141-1-76b\00 --SELECT ONE-- Main - Regular Version v1_76b\textures\landscape\trees\treepineforestbarkcomp2_N.dds

Couldn't downscale the DDS

 

# treepineforestbarkcomp3_n.dds ###############################################

E:\in\2\_Vurts Skyrim Flora Overhaul\Skyrim Flora Overhaul v176b_BAIN-141-1-76b\00 --SELECT ONE-- Main - Regular Version v1_76b\textures\landscape\trees\treepineforestbarkcomp3_n.dds

Couldn't downscale the DDS

 

 

 

DDSopt pre5b-SSE3 - Constraint = 50%

 

 

# treeaspenbarkcomp_N.dds #####################################################

E:\in\2\_Vurts Skyrim Flora Overhaul\Skyrim Flora Overhaul v176b_BAIN-141-1-76b\00 --SELECT ONE-- Main - Regular Version v1_76b\textures\landscape\trees\treeaspenbarkcomp_N.dds

processing:

Format           : DXT5

Dimensions       : 512x2048 to 256x1024 - 7 to 11 levels

 

notes:

Resolution has been surpassed and a lower mip-chain selected.

delta:            1048432 bytes less

 

# treeaspenbranchcomp_n.dds ###################################################

E:\in\2\_Vurts Skyrim Flora Overhaul\Skyrim Flora Overhaul v176b_BAIN-141-1-76b\00 --SELECT ONE-- Main - Regular Version v1_76b\textures\landscape\trees\treeaspenbranchcomp_n.dds

Format           : DXT5

Dimensions       : 1024x1024 to 512x512 - 11 to 10 levels

 

notes:

Resolution has been surpassed and a lower mip-chain selected.

delta:            1048608 bytes less

 

# treepineforestbarkcomp1_N.dds ###############################################

E:\in\2\_Vurts Skyrim Flora Overhaul\Skyrim Flora Overhaul v176b_BAIN-141-1-76b\00 --SELECT ONE-- Main - Regular Version v1_76b\textures\landscape\trees\treepineforestbarkcomp1_N.dds

Format           : DXT1

Dimensions       : 1024x4096 to 512x2048 - 11 to 12 levels

 

notes:

Resolution has been surpassed and a lower mip-chain selected.

delta:            2097136 bytes less

 

# treepineforestbarkcomp2_N.dds ###############################################

E:\in\2\_Vurts Skyrim Flora Overhaul\Skyrim Flora Overhaul v176b_BAIN-141-1-76b\00 --SELECT ONE-- Main - Regular Version v1_76b\textures\landscape\trees\treepineforestbarkcomp2_N.dds

Format           : DXT1

Dimensions       : 1024x4096 to 512x2048 - 11 to 12 levels

 

notes:

Resolution has been surpassed and a lower mip-chain selected.

delta:            2097136 bytes less

 

# treepineforestbarkcomp3_n.dds ###############################################

E:\in\2\_Vurts Skyrim Flora Overhaul\Skyrim Flora Overhaul v176b_BAIN-141-1-76b\00 --SELECT ONE-- Main - Regular Version v1_76b\textures\landscape\trees\treepineforestbarkcomp3_n.dds

Format           : DXT1

Dimensions       : 512x2048 to 256x1024 - 10 to 11 levels

 

 

 

DDSopt pre5b-SSE3 - Constraint = 512x512

 

 

# treeaspenbarkcomp_N.dds #####################################################

E:\in\2\_Vurts Skyrim Flora Overhaul\Skyrim Flora Overhaul v176b_BAIN-141-1-76b\00 --SELECT ONE-- Main - Regular Version v1_76b\textures\landscape\trees\treeaspenbarkcomp_N.dds

processing:

Couldn't downscale the DDS

Format           : DXT5

Dimensions       : 512x2048 - 7 to 10 levels

 

notes:

Missing 3 mip-level(s) complemented.

delta:            112 bytes more

 

# treeaspenbranchcomp_n.dds ###################################################

E:\in\2\_Vurts Skyrim Flora Overhaul\Skyrim Flora Overhaul v176b_BAIN-141-1-76b\00 --SELECT ONE-- Main - Regular Version v1_76b\textures\landscape\trees\treeaspenbranchcomp_n.dds

Format           : DXT5

Dimensions       : 1024x1024 to 512x512 - 11 to 10 levels

 

notes:

Resolution has been surpassed and a lower mip-chain selected.

delta:            1048608 bytes less

 

# treepineforestbarkcomp1_N.dds ###############################################

E:\in\2\_Vurts Skyrim Flora Overhaul\Skyrim Flora Overhaul v176b_BAIN-141-1-76b\00 --SELECT ONE-- Main - Regular Version v1_76b\textures\landscape\trees\treepineforestbarkcomp1_N.dds

Couldn't downscale the DDS

 

# treepineforestbarkcomp2_N.dds ###############################################

E:\in\2\_Vurts Skyrim Flora Overhaul\Skyrim Flora Overhaul v176b_BAIN-141-1-76b\00 --SELECT ONE-- Main - Regular Version v1_76b\textures\landscape\trees\treepineforestbarkcomp2_N.dds

Couldn't downscale the DDS

 

# treepineforestbarkcomp3_n.dds ###############################################

E:\in\2\_Vurts Skyrim Flora Overhaul\Skyrim Flora Overhaul v176b_BAIN-141-1-76b\00 --SELECT ONE-- Main - Regular Version v1_76b\textures\landscape\trees\treepineforestbarkcomp3_n.dds

Couldn't downscale the DDS

 

 

 

DDSopt pre5b-SSE3 - Constraint = 1024x1024

 

 

# treeaspenbarkcomp_N.dds #####################################################

E:\in\2\_Vurts Skyrim Flora Overhaul\Skyrim Flora Overhaul v176b_BAIN-141-1-76b\00 --SELECT ONE-- Main - Regular Version v1_76b\textures\landscape\trees\treeaspenbarkcomp_N.dds

processing:

Couldn't downscale the DDS

Format           : DXT5

Dimensions       : 512x2048 - 7 to 10 levels

 

notes:

Missing 3 mip-level(s) complemented.

delta:            112 bytes more

 

# treeaspenbranchcomp_n.dds ###################################################

E:\in\2\_Vurts Skyrim Flora Overhaul\Skyrim Flora Overhaul v176b_BAIN-141-1-76b\00 --SELECT ONE-- Main - Regular Version v1_76b\textures\landscape\trees\treeaspenbranchcomp_n.dds

 

# treepineforestbarkcomp1_N.dds ###############################################

E:\in\2\_Vurts Skyrim Flora Overhaul\Skyrim Flora Overhaul v176b_BAIN-141-1-76b\00 --SELECT ONE-- Main - Regular Version v1_76b\textures\landscape\trees\treepineforestbarkcomp1_N.dds

Couldn't downscale the DDS

 

# treepineforestbarkcomp2_N.dds ###############################################

E:\in\2\_Vurts Skyrim Flora Overhaul\Skyrim Flora Overhaul v176b_BAIN-141-1-76b\00 --SELECT ONE-- Main - Regular Version v1_76b\textures\landscape\trees\treepineforestbarkcomp2_N.dds

Couldn't downscale the DDS

 

# treepineforestbarkcomp3_n.dds ###############################################

E:\in\2\_Vurts Skyrim Flora Overhaul\Skyrim Flora Overhaul v176b_BAIN-141-1-76b\00 --SELECT ONE-- Main - Regular Version v1_76b\textures\landscape\trees\treepineforestbarkcomp3_n.dds

Couldn't downscale the DDS

 

 

[PCG4m3r]

You have my vote for that Kelmych, especially for HRDLC. I'm not sure which textures don't get overwritten by other mods, but I found that even in the Vanilla textures there are some that are 2048x2048 (i.e. \textures\dungeons\caves\cavebasewall05.dds).

 

A tip in case you aren't aware, in Windows 7 if you wanted to find all textures with a dimension, say greater than 512x512, you could input the following in the Windows Explorer Search box (without quotes): "Dimensions: >512x512"

 

Before you search though, you'll want to add "Dimensions" as a new column by right-clicking the column header row and go to "More...". This way you can see the actual texture sizes. There are 732 Vanilla textures greater than 512x512, but the largest dimension for most (665 to be exact) have 1024 on at least one side. It looks like 60 total have a 2048 dimension and even 1 with 4096x1024.

 

 

While on this topic, I was experimenting with DDSopt Update 4 by resizing normals with the following constraint options for the same files in Vurt's Flora pack (main 1.76b):

 

NOTE: With all three constraint choices, I had both options under the "Apply" menu deselected (not checked).

• 50%
• 512x512
• 1024x1024

I noticed in some cases, DDSopt didn't resize and produced some errors instead: "failed to regenerate DDS" and "Couldn't downscale the DDS". Does anyone know what those mean or why they occurred?

 

Focusing on one file in particular where this occurred, \textures\landscape\trees\treeaspenbarkcomp_N.dds, these same errors occurred regardless of which constraint settings (of the three) I chose above. In contrast, I also ran DDSopt pre5b against the same textures and same constraint options, but it did resize the normal from 512x2048 to  256x1024 using the 50% option. However, the other two constraint options gave a similar error "Couldn't downscale the DDS", but at the same time showed a little more info than update 4.

 

Here are some examples from the logs (with some color to make it easier to see differences):

 

DDSopt pre Update 4 - Constraint = 50%

 

 

# treeaspenbarkcomp_N.dds #####################################################

E:\in\2\_Vurts Skyrim Flora Overhaul\Skyrim Flora Overhaul v176b_BAIN-141-1-76b\00 --SELECT ONE-- Main - Regular Version v1_76b\textures\landscape\trees\treeaspenbarkcomp_N.dds

processing:

failed to regenerate DDS

Couldn't downscale the DDS

 

# treeaspenbranchcomp_n.dds ###################################################

E:\in\2\_Vurts Skyrim Flora Overhaul\Skyrim Flora Overhaul v176b_BAIN-141-1-76b\00 --SELECT ONE-- Main - Regular Version v1_76b\textures\landscape\trees\treeaspenbranchcomp_n.dds

Format           : DXT5

Dimensions       : 1024x1024 to 512x512 - 11 to 10 levels

 

notes:

Resolution has been surpassed and a lower mip-chain selected.

delta:            1048608 bytes less

 

# treepineforestbarkcomp1_N.dds ###############################################

E:\in\2\_Vurts Skyrim Flora Overhaul\Skyrim Flora Overhaul v176b_BAIN-141-1-76b\00 --SELECT ONE-- Main - Regular Version v1_76b\textures\landscape\trees\treepineforestbarkcomp1_N.dds

Format           : DXT1

Dimensions       : 1024x4096 to 512x2048 - 11 to 12 levels

 

notes:

Resolution has been surpassed and a lower mip-chain selected.

delta:            2097136 bytes less

 

# treepineforestbarkcomp2_N.dds ###############################################

E:\in\2\_Vurts Skyrim Flora Overhaul\Skyrim Flora Overhaul v176b_BAIN-141-1-76b\00 --SELECT ONE-- Main - Regular Version v1_76b\textures\landscape\trees\treepineforestbarkcomp2_N.dds

Format           : DXT1

Dimensions       : 1024x4096 to 512x2048 - 11 to 12 levels

 

notes:

Resolution has been surpassed and a lower mip-chain selected.

delta:            2097136 bytes less

 

# treepineforestbarkcomp3_n.dds ###############################################

E:\in\2\_Vurts Skyrim Flora Overhaul\Skyrim Flora Overhaul v176b_BAIN-141-1-76b\00 --SELECT ONE-- Main - Regular Version v1_76b\textures\landscape\trees\treepineforestbarkcomp3_n.dds

Format           : DXT1

Dimensions       : 512x2048 to 256x1024 - 10 to 11 levels

 

 

 

DDSopt pre Update 4 - Constraint = 512x512

 

 

# treeaspenbarkcomp_N.dds #####################################################

E:\in\2\_Vurts Skyrim Flora Overhaul\Skyrim Flora Overhaul v176b_BAIN-141-1-76b\00 --SELECT ONE-- Main - Regular Version v1_76b\textures\landscape\trees\treeaspenbarkcomp_N.dds

processing:

failed to regenerate DDS

Couldn't downscale the DDS

 

# treeaspenbranchcomp_n.dds ###################################################

E:\in\2\_Vurts Skyrim Flora Overhaul\Skyrim Flora Overhaul v176b_BAIN-141-1-76b\00 --SELECT ONE-- Main - Regular Version v1_76b\textures\landscape\trees\treeaspenbranchcomp_n.dds

Format           : DXT5

Dimensions       : 1024x1024 to 512x512 - 11 to 10 levels

 

notes:

Resolution has been surpassed and a lower mip-chain selected.

delta:            1048608 bytes less

 

# treepineforestbarkcomp1_N.dds ###############################################

E:\in\2\_Vurts Skyrim Flora Overhaul\Skyrim Flora Overhaul v176b_BAIN-141-1-76b\00 --SELECT ONE-- Main - Regular Version v1_76b\textures\landscape\trees\treepineforestbarkcomp1_N.dds

Couldn't downscale the DDS

 

# treepineforestbarkcomp2_N.dds ###############################################

E:\in\2\_Vurts Skyrim Flora Overhaul\Skyrim Flora Overhaul v176b_BAIN-141-1-76b\00 --SELECT ONE-- Main - Regular Version v1_76b\textures\landscape\trees\treepineforestbarkcomp2_N.dds

Couldn't downscale the DDS

 

# treepineforestbarkcomp3_n.dds ###############################################

E:\in\2\_Vurts Skyrim Flora Overhaul\Skyrim Flora Overhaul v176b_BAIN-141-1-76b\00 --SELECT ONE-- Main - Regular Version v1_76b\textures\landscape\trees\treepineforestbarkcomp3_n.dds

Couldn't downscale the DDS

 

 

 

DDSopt pre Update 4 - Constraint = 1024x1024

 

 

# treeaspenbarkcomp_N.dds #####################################################

E:\in\2\_Vurts Skyrim Flora Overhaul\Skyrim Flora Overhaul v176b_BAIN-141-1-76b\00 --SELECT ONE-- Main - Regular Version v1_76b\textures\landscape\trees\treeaspenbarkcomp_N.dds

processing:

failed to regenerate DDS

Couldn't downscale the DDS

 

# treeaspenbranchcomp_n.dds ###################################################

E:\in\2\_Vurts Skyrim Flora Overhaul\Skyrim Flora Overhaul v176b_BAIN-141-1-76b\00 --SELECT ONE-- Main - Regular Version v1_76b\textures\landscape\trees\treeaspenbranchcomp_n.dds

 

# treepineforestbarkcomp1_N.dds ###############################################

E:\in\2\_Vurts Skyrim Flora Overhaul\Skyrim Flora Overhaul v176b_BAIN-141-1-76b\00 --SELECT ONE-- Main - Regular Version v1_76b\textures\landscape\trees\treepineforestbarkcomp1_N.dds

Couldn't downscale the DDS

 

# treepineforestbarkcomp2_N.dds ###############################################

E:\in\2\_Vurts Skyrim Flora Overhaul\Skyrim Flora Overhaul v176b_BAIN-141-1-76b\00 --SELECT ONE-- Main - Regular Version v1_76b\textures\landscape\trees\treepineforestbarkcomp2_N.dds

Couldn't downscale the DDS

 

# treepineforestbarkcomp3_n.dds ###############################################

E:\in\2\_Vurts Skyrim Flora Overhaul\Skyrim Flora Overhaul v176b_BAIN-141-1-76b\00 --SELECT ONE-- Main - Regular Version v1_76b\textures\landscape\trees\treepineforestbarkcomp3_n.dds

Couldn't downscale the DDS

 

 

 

DDSopt pre5b-SSE3 - Constraint = 50%

 

 

# treeaspenbarkcomp_N.dds #####################################################

E:\in\2\_Vurts Skyrim Flora Overhaul\Skyrim Flora Overhaul v176b_BAIN-141-1-76b\00 --SELECT ONE-- Main - Regular Version v1_76b\textures\landscape\trees\treeaspenbarkcomp_N.dds

processing:

Format           : DXT5

Dimensions       : 512x2048 to 256x1024 - 7 to 11 levels

 

notes:

Resolution has been surpassed and a lower mip-chain selected.

delta:            1048432 bytes less

 

# treeaspenbranchcomp_n.dds ###################################################

E:\in\2\_Vurts Skyrim Flora Overhaul\Skyrim Flora Overhaul v176b_BAIN-141-1-76b\00 --SELECT ONE-- Main - Regular Version v1_76b\textures\landscape\trees\treeaspenbranchcomp_n.dds

Format           : DXT5

Dimensions       : 1024x1024 to 512x512 - 11 to 10 levels

 

notes:

Resolution has been surpassed and a lower mip-chain selected.

delta:            1048608 bytes less

 

# treepineforestbarkcomp1_N.dds ###############################################

E:\in\2\_Vurts Skyrim Flora Overhaul\Skyrim Flora Overhaul v176b_BAIN-141-1-76b\00 --SELECT ONE-- Main - Regular Version v1_76b\textures\landscape\trees\treepineforestbarkcomp1_N.dds

Format           : DXT1

Dimensions       : 1024x4096 to 512x2048 - 11 to 12 levels

 

notes:

Resolution has been surpassed and a lower mip-chain selected.

delta:            2097136 bytes less

 

# treepineforestbarkcomp2_N.dds ###############################################

E:\in\2\_Vurts Skyrim Flora Overhaul\Skyrim Flora Overhaul v176b_BAIN-141-1-76b\00 --SELECT ONE-- Main - Regular Version v1_76b\textures\landscape\trees\treepineforestbarkcomp2_N.dds

Format           : DXT1

Dimensions       : 1024x4096 to 512x2048 - 11 to 12 levels

 

notes:

Resolution has been surpassed and a lower mip-chain selected.

delta:            2097136 bytes less

 

# treepineforestbarkcomp3_n.dds ###############################################

E:\in\2\_Vurts Skyrim Flora Overhaul\Skyrim Flora Overhaul v176b_BAIN-141-1-76b\00 --SELECT ONE-- Main - Regular Version v1_76b\textures\landscape\trees\treepineforestbarkcomp3_n.dds

Format           : DXT1

Dimensions       : 512x2048 to 256x1024 - 10 to 11 levels

 

 

 

DDSopt pre5b-SSE3 - Constraint = 512x512

 

 

# treeaspenbarkcomp_N.dds #####################################################

E:\in\2\_Vurts Skyrim Flora Overhaul\Skyrim Flora Overhaul v176b_BAIN-141-1-76b\00 --SELECT ONE-- Main - Regular Version v1_76b\textures\landscape\trees\treeaspenbarkcomp_N.dds

processing:

Couldn't downscale the DDS

Format           : DXT5

Dimensions       : 512x2048 - 7 to 10 levels

 

notes:

Missing 3 mip-level(s) complemented.

delta:            112 bytes more

 

# treeaspenbranchcomp_n.dds ###################################################

E:\in\2\_Vurts Skyrim Flora Overhaul\Skyrim Flora Overhaul v176b_BAIN-141-1-76b\00 --SELECT ONE-- Main - Regular Version v1_76b\textures\landscape\trees\treeaspenbranchcomp_n.dds

Format           : DXT5

Dimensions       : 1024x1024 to 512x512 - 11 to 10 levels

 

notes:

Resolution has been surpassed and a lower mip-chain selected.

delta:            1048608 bytes less

 

# treepineforestbarkcomp1_N.dds ###############################################

E:\in\2\_Vurts Skyrim Flora Overhaul\Skyrim Flora Overhaul v176b_BAIN-141-1-76b\00 --SELECT ONE-- Main - Regular Version v1_76b\textures\landscape\trees\treepineforestbarkcomp1_N.dds

Couldn't downscale the DDS

 

# treepineforestbarkcomp2_N.dds ###############################################

E:\in\2\_Vurts Skyrim Flora Overhaul\Skyrim Flora Overhaul v176b_BAIN-141-1-76b\00 --SELECT ONE-- Main - Regular Version v1_76b\textures\landscape\trees\treepineforestbarkcomp2_N.dds

Couldn't downscale the DDS

 

# treepineforestbarkcomp3_n.dds ###############################################

E:\in\2\_Vurts Skyrim Flora Overhaul\Skyrim Flora Overhaul v176b_BAIN-141-1-76b\00 --SELECT ONE-- Main - Regular Version v1_76b\textures\landscape\trees\treepineforestbarkcomp3_n.dds

Couldn't downscale the DDS

 

 

 

DDSopt pre5b-SSE3 - Constraint = 1024x1024

 

 

# treeaspenbarkcomp_N.dds #####################################################

E:\in\2\_Vurts Skyrim Flora Overhaul\Skyrim Flora Overhaul v176b_BAIN-141-1-76b\00 --SELECT ONE-- Main - Regular Version v1_76b\textures\landscape\trees\treeaspenbarkcomp_N.dds

processing:

Couldn't downscale the DDS

Format           : DXT5

Dimensions       : 512x2048 - 7 to 10 levels

 

notes:

Missing 3 mip-level(s) complemented.

delta:            112 bytes more

 

# treeaspenbranchcomp_n.dds ###################################################

E:\in\2\_Vurts Skyrim Flora Overhaul\Skyrim Flora Overhaul v176b_BAIN-141-1-76b\00 --SELECT ONE-- Main - Regular Version v1_76b\textures\landscape\trees\treeaspenbranchcomp_n.dds

 

# treepineforestbarkcomp1_N.dds ###############################################

E:\in\2\_Vurts Skyrim Flora Overhaul\Skyrim Flora Overhaul v176b_BAIN-141-1-76b\00 --SELECT ONE-- Main - Regular Version v1_76b\textures\landscape\trees\treepineforestbarkcomp1_N.dds

Couldn't downscale the DDS

 

# treepineforestbarkcomp2_N.dds ###############################################

E:\in\2\_Vurts Skyrim Flora Overhaul\Skyrim Flora Overhaul v176b_BAIN-141-1-76b\00 --SELECT ONE-- Main - Regular Version v1_76b\textures\landscape\trees\treepineforestbarkcomp2_N.dds

Couldn't downscale the DDS

 

# treepineforestbarkcomp3_n.dds ###############################################

E:\in\2\_Vurts Skyrim Flora Overhaul\Skyrim Flora Overhaul v176b_BAIN-141-1-76b\00 --SELECT ONE-- Main - Regular Version v1_76b\textures\landscape\trees\treepineforestbarkcomp3_n.dds

Couldn't downscale the DDS

 

 

[PCG4m3r]

Hey z,

 

I just noticed in the DDSopt Guide that you added screenshots for the Behave menu settings.

 

For this particular image (Foliage-map opacity), the value is set to 2.0x.

https://wiki.step-project.com/images/5/59/DDSopt_Fig2b.jpg

 

In your old post #430, the value was set to 4.0x.

https://forum.step-project.com/showthread.php?tid=228&pid=15687#pid15687

 

I was wondering if 2.0x is definitely the new value we should be using? I have been using 4.0x all along, so was just curious what the change in value will do to the foliage...make it better, worse, slight difference?

 

 

Also for @Ethatron, as I was looking at that title I noticed the word foilage was misspelled in DDSopt in a couple places; the I and L are transposed. See here for reference:

https://dictionary.reference.com/browse/foliage?s=t

[rootsrat]

Hello. I need some guidance again please, regarding the last (new) point to action in the guide on DDSopt Optimization:

 

If you did not include any of the mixed-resource BSAs from DLCs you can ignore this final step. Package the rest of the directories, if any, containing optimized versions of any of the mixed-resource DLC BSAs you included. Unlike the directions for the optimized versions of the STD and two HRDLC BSAs, we suggest that these be repackaged into BSAs since they contain a wide variety of resource types, not just textures. The notice above tells how to do this. Put these in the Data directory, where the original BSAs that you moved in the previous step were originally located, as the output path. Use the name of the original BSA as the file name. The optimized BSAs will then replace the original ones. For example, the file name for the optimized Dawnguard.bsa would be "Dawnguard.bsa".

What are the mixed-resource BSAs from DLCs ? I have done everything, as per the instructions. Extracted all the BSAs into Extracted folders, then processed them (Optimized) into Optimized folders, did not tick the PNG files, repacked everything into (separate of course) 7z's and installed as they were mods. Then removed the original BSAs (as per new point 8 of the guide). Do I need to do anything else?

 

Thanks

 

::EDIT::

 

I also optimized the new HRDLC in the same way (did not extracted TXT files and also searched if there were any PNG files).

 

::EDIT2::

 

Please ignore this question, I just got it... Too tired after work I think :) Guess I have some repacking to do, as I packed all the mixed resources from DG and HF into 7z's rather than textures only...

[Kelmych]

Hello. I need some guidance again please, regarding the last (new) point to action in the guide on DDSopt Optimization:

 

If you did not include any of the mixed-resource BSAs from DLCs you can ignore this final step. Package the rest of the directories, if any, containing optimized versions of any of the mixed-resource DLC BSAs you included. Unlike the directions for the optimized versions of the STD and two HRDLC BSAs, we suggest that these be repackaged into BSAs since they contain a wide variety of resource types, not just textures. The notice above tells how to do this. Put these in the Data directory, where the original BSAs that you moved in the previous step were originally located, as the output path. Use the name of the original BSA as the file name. The optimized BSAs will then replace the original ones. For example, the file name for the optimized Dawnguard.bsa would be "Dawnguard.bsa".

What are the mixed-resource BSAs from DLCs ? I have done everything, as per the instructions. Extracted all the BSAs into Extracted folders, then processed them (Optimized) into Optimized folders, did not tick the PNG files, repacked everything into (separate of course) 7z's and installed as they were mods. Then removed the original BSAs (as per new point 8 of the guide). Do I need to do anything else?

 

Thanks

 

::EDIT::

 

I also optimized the new HRDLC in the same way (did not extracted TXT files and also searched if there were any PNG files).

 

::EDIT2::

 

Please ignore this question, I just got it... Too tired after work I think :) Guess I have some repacking to do, as I packed all the mixed resources from DG and HF into 7z's rather than textures only...

I'll expand this is the guide. The DLC BSAs have textures, meshes, etc. I call them mixed-resource. What you want to do with the PNG files is to not process them when you are optimizing, but when done you follow z's steps to add them back in. I don't think there are any in the HRDLC but there are certainly some in Skyrim - textures and the 3 DLC bsa files.