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)

[Kelmych]

Yes, it was wrong in the batch files. You can download the new version ( I checked and it is available). Since a lot of the details aren't relevant to many of the forum participants I'll send you a PM.

[z929669]

It could be that he needs to explicitly run "robocopy" before every command. Perhaps it is not in his Path?

 

Check if robocopy.exe is in C:\Windows\System32\ and that this is in the PATH (type #env:path in a Windows Powershell (or echo %path% in cmd))

[hellanios]

It could be that he needs to explicitly run "robocopy" before every command. Perhaps it is not in his Path?

 

Check if robocopy.exe is in C:\Windows\System32\ and that this is in the PATH (type #env:path in a Windows Powershell (or echo %path% in cmd))

Robocopy is in System32. About the path, should I just type ''echo %path%'' in cmd(as administrator?) or something else, too. What should I do check when I run the command?

[bitdman]

It could be that he needs to explicitly run "robocopy" before every command. Perhaps it is not in his Path?

 

Check if robocopy.exe is in C:\Windows\System32\ and that this is in the PATH (type #env:path in a Windows Powershell (or echo %path% in cmd))

Robocopy is in System32. About the path, should I just type ''echo %path%'' in cmd(as administrator?) or something else, too. What should I do check when I run the command?

Should Robocopy.exe be in SysWOW for 64 bit? Pardon me If this is a stupid question. There's much I don't understand.

[z929669]

 

It could be that he needs to explicitly run "robocopy" before every command. Perhaps it is not in his Path?

 

Check if robocopy.exe is in C:\Windows\System32\ and that this is in the PATH (type #env:path in a Windows Powershell (or echo %path% in cmd))

Robocopy is in System32. About the path, should I just type ''echo %path%'' in cmd(as administrator?) or something else, too. What should I do check when I run the command?

Should Robocopy.exe be in SysWOW for 64 bit? Pardon me If this is a stupid question. There's much I don't understand.

Yes, it should be in both System32 and SysWOW

[hellanios]

 

 

It could be that he needs to explicitly run "robocopy" before every command. Perhaps it is not in his Path?

 

Check if robocopy.exe is in C:\Windows\System32\ and that this is in the PATH (type #env:path in a Windows Powershell (or echo %path% in cmd))

Robocopy is in System32. About the path, should I just type ''echo %path%'' in cmd(as administrator?) or something else, too. What should I do check when I run the command?

Should Robocopy.exe be in SysWOW for 64 bit? Pardon me If this is a stupid question. There's much I don't understand.

Yes, it should be in both System32 and SysWOW

Hey Z, can you answer my previous question? Also, when do you think that the guide will stop being a WIP?

[Kelmych]

hellanios, try downloading the latest version of the batch files. I added some lines that fixed a strange problem another user had. It is quite possible that it might also fix the problem you have in running the batch files. To see if it fixes your problem run the batch file the way you would have originally done.

[Kelmych]

I added a new batch file for use with the DDSopt guide that automates the task of archiving the various folders of optimized textures created in the optimization process. It creates all the archive files in a single process. It doesn't seem to be quite as fast as using the GUI version of 7zip, but there is no user intervention needed. It creates non-solid 7zip archives using LZMA2 compression, for those interested in the details. Using the GUI, by the way, can easily take over an hour on my system if textures from all vanilla BSAs are optimized.

 

There are two versions of the batch file, one for use if the 7-zip directory is in the Path environmental variable and the other (which requires copying 7z.exe to the working directory) if it isn't.

[hellanios]

hellanios' date=' try downloading the latest version of the batch files. I added some lines that fixed a strange problem another user had. It is quite possible that it might also fix the problem you have in running the batch files. To see if it fixes your problem run the batch file the way you would have originally done.

Bro, we have a success the new ''prepare textures for optimization'' now runs as it should....or I think it does. A note : I double click the ''hrdlc removal fix start'' batch file to get them working(you recommend ''run as administrator''). for the prepare textures for optimization'' file i click run as administrator to get it working(you recommend to simply run it). anyway, that's somewhat weird. I haven't touched the new vanilla folder archive batch files yet.

[Kelmych]

There is a problem with some Windows installations where the %cd% command returns the wrong value. One user suggested it had to do with Windows UAC configuration. Once I found a web page that said this could happen, I was able to find a web posting that said how to get around the problem.

 

I'll change the note about "run as administrator" to "you must have administrator privilege to run this".

[z929669]

@Kelmych

 

A wee or two ago, I had updated the BAT script on the wiki to account for a few placeholder.txt files that I found in dlc01 and dlc02 directories. D1d you get those into your new BATs?

 

Also, I have not confirmed my treatments of the HRDLC terrain normals yet ... have you used that treatment and tested yet?

 

ALso want to deal with the rest of the DLC standard-res textures ... assuming the same treatment as Skyrim - Textures will be suitable.

[Kelmych]

@Kelmych

 

A week or two ago, I had updated the BAT script on the wiki to account for a few placeholder.txt files that I found in dlc01 and dlc02 directories. D1d you get those into your new BATs?

No, but the version I uploaded today includes those changes. The text version in the guide didn't have the changes I added recently at the beginning of the file, so I added those back. This change is needed on some systems to get the system to report the correct current directory.

 

By the way, if the batch file for the next subsection is used to prepare the textures it doesn't actually matter whether the .txt or .lnk files were removed since they aren't copied to the temporary directories. However, I didn't assume this is always true.

 

Also, I have not confirmed my treatments of the HRDLC terrain normals yet ... have you used that treatment and tested yet?

I used the same treatment as you are using for the HRDLC. I've done limited testing and haven't seen any problems.

 

ALso want to deal with the rest of the DLC standard-res textures ... assuming the same treatment as Skyrim - Textures will be suitable.

I treated the DLC and STD the same way since they seem quite similar when I looked at file sizes in the texture subdirectories (terrain, ...) . I did take the large (2Kx2K) tangent space normal maps from the STD and DLC and reduced their resolution; they weren't very many but there were some of these.

[hellanios]

Hey guys I want to start a new game but I won't until the guide is in a very stable version which won't get updated very often. 

Considering that the batch files are almost updated every day, how long will it take to reach the stable stage?

[Kelmych]

They have been changing a lot since we wanted to add some automation for archiving the vanilla textures prior to STEP 2.3 and, because of increased interest in texture optimization as more users hit the "3.1Gb wall", there has been increasing interest in a video to show how to optimize the vanilla textures.

 

At this point there isn't any more useful automation we can add for vanilla texture optimization. There is no command line BSA unpacking tool for Skyrim BSAs, and command line version of DDSopt doesn't support all the options used in the GUI. Moreover, since the DDSopt optimization process when started with the GUI still takes a long time adding automation that might save one minute or so doesn't seem that useful.

 

At this point we are just waiting to see if there are problems and making changes only if there are problems. Most of the recent changes have been in the readme documentation to try to make the steps and the prerequisites clearer.

[phazer11]

They have been changing a lot since we wanted to add some automation for archiving the vanilla textures prior to STEP 2.3 and, because of increased interest in texture optimization as more users hit the "3.1Gb wall", there has been increasing interest in a video to show how to optimize the vanilla textures.

 

At this point there isn't any more useful automation we can add for vanilla texture optimization. There is no command line BSA unpacking tool for Skyrim BSAs, and command line version of DDSopt doesn't support all the options used in the GUI. Moreover, since the DDSopt optimization process when started with the GUI still takes a long time adding automation that might save one minute or so doesn't seem that useful.

 

At this point we are just waiting to see if there are problems and making changes only if there are problems. Most of the recent changes have been in the readme documentation to try to make the steps and the prerequisites clearer.

Message me when you're ready I should have a bit of time soon (within a week or so) I've been meaning to do it for ages. I'm currently scouting locations for Langley's testing and will do this video before I start doing comparisons for those.