GUIDE [WIP] DDSopt & Texture Overhauls

[z929669]

Discussion thread:
DDSopt Guide by STEP
Wiki Link

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

[Dragonhearted]

Not really an issue perse but it seems odd to me in running through the Optimization of the Vanilla and DLC BSAs after unpacking didn't result in smaller overall file sizes.  I am beginning to wonder if I did something wrong?  I did set the prerequisite settings and changed the INI per the guide.  Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

[Iroha]

Not really an issue perse but it seems odd to me in running through the Optimization of the Vanilla and DLC BSAs after unpacking didn't result in smaller overall file sizes.  I am beginning to wonder if I did something wrong?  I did set the prerequisite settings and changed the INI per the guide.  Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

check ignore settings. If you checked "don't process any of known file types" - uncheck it for optimization.

[Dragonhearted]

Not really an issue perse but it seems odd to me in running through the Optimization of the Vanilla and DLC BSAs after unpacking didn't result in smaller overall file sizes.  I am beginning to wonder if I did something wrong?  I did set the prerequisite settings and changed the INI per the guide.  Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

check ignore settings. If you checked "don't process any of known file types" - uncheck it for optimization.

Bahhh I need to learn to read, thanks for the quick response, I will rerun with that unchecked and see what happens!  Thanks Again :)

[Aiyen]

It is fairly simple too "see" if you have done it correct!

If it is actually optimizing then the process will take several minutes to half an hour depending on your CPU... if you have have just asked it to move the files about it is normally done in about 1-2 mins.

Do note that this is only for very big operations like the DLC packs etc! :)

 

Alternatively there is also a log made that says what it has done.... if it says it did nothing to every texture then it is most likely not setup correctly.

[Dragonhearted]

It is fairly simple too "see" if you have done it correct!

If it is actually optimizing then the process will take several minutes to half an hour depending on your CPU... if you have have just asked it to move the files about it is normally done in about 1-2 mins.

Do note that this is only for very big operations like the DLC packs etc! :)

 

Alternatively there is also a log made that says what it has done.... if it says it did nothing to every texture then it is most likely not setup correctly.

Yes it was definitely not set correctly, I am now waiting for the Vanilla optimization and it is taking way longer than when it was effectively doing nothing to the files.  Thanks for your feedback.

[Setis]

So (I think) I've properly optimized SRO, Skyrim HD 2k, Snow and Rocks HD, AOF Detailed Mountains, Real Ice and Trees HD (basically all the stuff with "Note 6" in the STEP guide) to 2048 with 1024 normal maps.  Yet I'm still hitting the 3.1GB crash fairly regularly when outdoors.  Any recommendations for other good stuff to optimize?  I don't want to just do EVERYTHING as I'd like to maybe keep armor and weapons that are higher that way, mainly terrain stuff.

[Neovalen]

Have you optimized the Bethesda textures?

[Aiyen]

That makes no sense what so ever. Are you sure that you put in the right settings, and folder structures so DDSopt actually performed the optimization and resizes ?

 

Assuming that it is done correctly then where exactly in the game can you hit the 3.1Gb crash? I would like to get an approximate cell name so I can go test it out on my setup as well.

 

Also have you done anything to automatic variants? Depending on your setup then it will contribute to more memory use in certain areas then the other texture packs, just due to the number of different spawns.

[Setis]

I did everything according to the SR guide, and so far I haven't left the Reach area around Markarth.  All my 3.1 CTDs have been in that area.

[Neovalen]

Try using 2k vurts lod. I have heard it helps in that area.

[EssArrBee]

I've been wondering lately if anyone has used DDSopt on any other games like Oblivion or Fallout and what type results did people get from that?

 

DDSopt has native support for Skyrim and Oblivion, but does it really matter if it is used with the Fallout games too? I'm pretty sure the guide can be applied to other games with a few tweaks, so has anyone actually done it?

[Setis]

Try using 2k vurts lod. I have heard it helps in that area.

You mean the 2k LODs for Skyrim Flora Overhaul?  Yeah I already did that.  I HAD to do that in order to be able to leave Markarth at all once I was inside (without it, it was infiinite loading screen every single time).  Luckily I found this thread showing that I wasn't the only one.  You might want to add a note about that in your guide.

 

As far as settings and folder structures, I went by the DDSOpt guide on this site, did everything in a working folder and then moved the textures back with the exception of the 1k normals for SRO and Skyrim HD, which I added as separate "mods" right underneath their originals so they would overwrite in MO as suggested.

 

I installed and configured Automatic Variants as described in the guide.  I *am* using the additional information in Iroha's post about using SkyRe and ASIS (not all of it though) with increased spawns checked.

[Vond]

I've been wondering lately if anyone has used DDSopt on any other games like Oblivion or Fallout and what type results did people get from that?

 

DDSopt has native support for Skyrim and Oblivion, but does it really matter if it is used with the Fallout games too? I'm pretty sure the guide can be applied to other games with a few tweaks, so has anyone actually done it?

 

Oblivion has more options for optimizing than skyrim does really, as theres also pyffi to optimize meshes. Takes ages but is pretty much a must to do both that and ddsopt to play modded

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2

[dstansberry]

I've used DDSopt to optimize textures, and while it normally works perfectly fine, I have noticed a couple of odd occurrences. Perhaps these are normal, or perhaps I'm doing something wrong - either way, I thought I'd mention them here and see if anyone else has noticed anything similar.

1) Occasionally, when I optimize the textures within a particular mod, I notice that the overall size of the texture folder actually increases after processing. Am I correct in assuming that the textures in the particular mod I'm dealing with are already optimized beyond what DDSopt (or my settings within DDSopt) can improve?

 

2) When I began to notice that the folder size on a few particular mods were either not changing or actually increasing in size, I began to start looking at the log it creates after processing. When I did so, I noticed the "delta" number at the end of the log. Naturally, I assumed that "delta" represented the change in file size. As a general rule, this appeared to be true. When I compared the size of the "In" folder to that of the "Out" folder, a high negative delta number was generally consistent with a significant decrease in the overall size of the folder. A delta number of "0" was consistent with a folders that showed no change at all.

 

However, in some cases, the delta was a positive number, which I took to mean that the folder size should have increased. But occasionally, I noted that, even if the delta was a positive number, the folder size had gotten smaller.

 

So... what gives? While I'm sure the process is working (many mods DO show a significant decrease in the overall size of the texture folder), I'm obviously not understanding something about HOW it works.

 

(Oh and a couple of notes if they're helpful: I optimize each mod's texture folder separately, following the same instructions as I used for the Bethesda textures (except that the files are already extracted, so I'm not optimizing BSA archives). And I'm not actually using DDSopt to limit the resolution of the textures (I left it at 8192x8192)

[FCqt]

In my setup, I was unable to use SRO with 2k and 1k normal maps.

I had to switch to full 1k SRO otherwise I would always hit the 3gb limit in my test run.

 

My recommendation would be to go for:

• Full 1k SRO.
• 2k + 1k normal for Skyrim HD and Serious HD.
• Use max res for any other mod aslong as its not higher then 2k.
• Use DDSopt to optimize everything with Note 1 in this guide.
• If it's not enough, use DDSopt to reduce normal maps by half of everything with Note 6 in this guide.

In my setup, I never went past 2.7gb of ram and most of the time im at 2.2gb and that's without the last step.

 

My test run consist of fast traveling to windhelm from anywhere in skyrim then loop the following:

• Entering the candleearth hall inn, leaving.
• Going to the apothicary in market area of windhelm, leaving.
• Going to the castle of windhelm and entering the infantry barrack, leaving.

Repeat a couple time and you will quickly know if your setup is well under the 3GB limit.

 

If you want to test out infinite loading issue you can also add this in between loop:

• Fast travel to markath or other citie and enter/leave one or multiple cell in the city.
• Fast travel to exterior cell and enter/leave them. (I use Eldeream Sanctuary)
• Fast travel back to windhelm.

My setup seem stable atm but i'm still having the unevitable? infinite loading screen after a while of doing my "infinite loading loop test"