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)

[EssArrBee]

If I get the Lookup Failed! in the Skill Trees and the weird IMG! box in the books what files did I process incorrectly? Thought I following everything to the letter this time around, but I guess I still missed something small and just can't figure out what.

[torminater]

If I get the Lookup Failed! in the Skill Trees and the weird IMG! box in the books what files did I process incorrectly? Thought I following everything to the letter this time around' date=' but I guess I still missed something small and just can't figure out what.[/quote']

Probably Skill Interface Retex and you might've processed the .png files instead of skipping them - or you've forgotten to reimplement them after optimizing the other textures!

[z929669]

If I get the Lookup Failed! in the Skill Trees and the weird IMG! box in the books what files did I process incorrectly? Thought I following everything to the letter this time around' date=' but I guess I still missed something small and just can't figure out what.[/quote']

Probably Skill Interface Retex and you might've processed the .png files instead of skipping them - or you've forgotten to reimplement them after optimizing the other textures!

torminater seems right. You want to filter out source image files like BMP, PNG, etc and then filter the inverse as a simple file move ("Ignore > Don't process any of the known file types"). There are lots of ways to get the result you want in several passes by ignoring certain files, selecting certain folders or enabling skipping of certain files (under Settings).

[musicdemon]

I did some pretty exhaustive testing according to the recommendations in the STEP guide, and am pretty happy with my final setup. Here's the link to my excel spreadsheet on the wiki, with all raw data from every benchmarking run. There's a "Summary" worksheet that compares the results.

 

I did 5 benchmarking runs for step 2.M, testing out different AA settings. I also did separate runs isolating textures in this fashion:

 

1) Baseline STEP

2) Optimized Textures (according to this guide)

2) Opt Textures + Reduced Normals

 

My mod list is exactly the same as STEP 2.2.2. No more, no less.

 

 

The bottom line is that I saved an average of 100MB of VRAM after reducing the textures with DDSopt, and an additional 30MB of VRAM by reducing the normals of 10 packages. These packages were the ones marked as "Note 6" on the Mod Texture Properties page of the guide. I used the default DDSopt settings recommended.

 

These screenshots were taken with no anti-aliasing or SSAO enabled, with all other Nvidia Inspector settings set to the Baseline values at the start of the guide:

 

 

STEP baseline -->  Optimized Textures --> Opt. Textures + Reduced Normals

 

   

 

Perhaps these screenshots would go nicely in the Appendix? That was pretty much the only thing missing in the whole guide, so I'm happy to fill the void :)

 

EDIT: My system specs say I'm using a HDD, but I'm actually using a 1TB HDD accelerated by a 60GB SSD with Smart Response Technology.

[Kelmych]

Putting the screenshots into the guide would be great; we indeed need to add more of them to show the effect on graphics quality. They could be put, along with a a few comments on the benchmark results on VRAM use, in the Appendix or perhaps even better in the "Normal Maps and VRAM usage" section to show the effect of both "standard" DDSopt optimization and additional gains resulting from reduced size normal maps.

 

I have made reduced size normal maps for some other textures in my game, but I haven't seen much VRAM use improvement beyond what I saw with reduced size normal maps on the large texture mods. In my game the places that most need VRAM reduction are the main areas in Windhelm (highest VRAM use for me), the road from the brewery into Whiterun (next highest) and on the steps in Dragonsreach (3rd highest). My VRAM use is also affected by the weather and spell effects/dragon breath, and some margin is needed to accommodate these.

 

If you find other mods where using these smaller normal maps helps please let us know so we can note this in the mod table.

 

In case anyone wonders about it, I didn't include Skyrim Flora Overhaul as one of the recommended STEP mods for reduced size normal maps since Vurt was already doing some of this in the base mod.

[z929669]

Thanks for the contribution musicdemon. We need more people posting benchmark specs for pure STEP installs. I'll check them out, and we'll begin incorporating some of the performance data into the guide.

 

I also have not seem much gain to optimizing Vurt's textures, except when reducing the normal maps. This is worth it perhaps (but I have yet to really look at SRO Basic).

[eriahers]

Firstly, thank you so much for the in-depth guides to some of the more complicated aspects of the S.T.E.P.  I'm not very tech-savvy and I've been stumbling along rather well thanks to them.

 

I did have one request with regard to the Table on the simplified DDSopt guide:  I noticed that the mod entries aren't alphabetical and assumed they were in order based on the S.T.E.P. installation guide.  However, several mods with textures are not in that order.  I assumed they simply didn't need to be optimized and continued along, only to find them further down (sometimes after I'd already installed a chunk of mods for testing).  This made it frustrating to have to uninstall, unpack, optimized, repack, re-install, and then test.  I'll be honest; I skipped all of them after trying to go through the aforementioned process.

 

I don't know if install orders changed after the table was created, but if an updated table wouldn't be too much trouble, it'd be nice to have.

[Kelmych]

Firstly, thank you so much for the in-depth guides to some of the more complicated aspects of the S.T.E.P.  I'm not very tech-savvy and I've been stumbling along rather well thanks to them.

 

I did have one request with regard to the Table on the simplified DDSopt guide:  I noticed that the mod entries aren't alphabetical and assumed they were in order based on the S.T.E.P. installation guide.  However, several mods with textures are not in that order.  I assumed they simply didn't need to be optimized and continued along, only to find them further down (sometimes after I'd already installed a chunk of mods for testing).  This made it frustrating to have to uninstall, unpack, optimized, repack, re-install, and then test.  I'll be honest; I skipped all of them after trying to go through the aforementioned process.

 

I don't know if install orders changed after the table was created, but if an updated table wouldn't be too much trouble, it'd be nice to have.

The order was changed recently when some additional mods were added. I edited the table to add the most recent additions (STEP 2.2.2) and to redo the order.

[eriahers]

The order was changed recently when some additional mods were added. I'll edit the table soon to add the most recent additions and to redo the order.

Much appreciated.

[Kelmych]

Thanks for the contribution musicdemon. We need more people posting benchmark specs for pure STEP installs. I'll check them out, and we'll begin incorporating some of the performance data into the guide.

 

I also have not seem much gain to optimizing Vurt's textures, except when reducing the normal maps. This is worth it perhaps (but I have yet to really look at SRO Basic).

Some of Vurt's tangent space normal maps in Skyrim Flora Overhaul are already half the size of the corresponding standard color map, by the way.

[z929669]

Thanks for the contribution musicdemon. We need more people posting benchmark specs for pure STEP installs. I'll check them out, and we'll begin incorporating some of the performance data into the guide.

 

I also have not seem much gain to optimizing Vurt's textures, except when reducing the normal maps. This is worth it perhaps (but I have yet to really look at SRO Basic).

Some of Vurt's tangent space normal maps in Skyrim Flora Overhaul are already half the size of the corresponding standard color map, by the way.

Yeah. He has already been considerate enough to optimize his material and provide those options.

[gwoody79]

Is there a way to save the settings? Using the recommended setting from 1st post here, and having to reset them each time the program is closed & reopened is a minor inconvenience.

[z929669]

Is there a way to save the settings? Using the recommended setting from 1st post here' date=' and having to reset them each time the program is closed & reopened is a minor inconvenience.[/quote']

Turn off UAC or run DDSopt as an administrator to save settings to the registry.

[Cy4n1d3]

UAC didn't do the trick for me, but running DDSopt as admin does :)

[bitdman]

UAC didn't do the trick for me' date=' but running DDSopt as admin does :)[/quote']

 

This may be a little off topic, but, I don't think turning off UAC works right. People are better off running everything as admin. by right clicking the exe. I have UAC turned off in the control panel and still have gotten the re-run as admin. warning thing

 

Just my$.02