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]

I plan on running the updated BATs to test against my manual results. Will do this coming week sometime.

[z929669]

@Kelmych

I found a problem with the HRDLC.

 

HighResTexturePack02\textures\dlc01\architecture\snowelfruins\seruinsmarble01_n.dds

 

... is DXT5, but it is lacking information that should be present (see seruinsmarble01_n.tga, which is adjacent). I have found that the only way to get a proper result is to use the source TGA to manually compress to DXT using the preview tab in DDSopt. It turns out that DDSopt will not process this texture correctly (it seems to only rename the file to use the DDS association without changing the actual format). Perhaps there is a bug with automated handling of TGA, but even with INI edits, the automation will not convert the file properly. You need to convert as a single case in the Preview tab.

 

These INI edits do not work as expected:

dlc01\architecture\snowelfruins\seruinsmarble01_n.tga=DXT

dlc01\architecture\snowelfruins\seruinsmarble01_n.dds=SKP

 

Can you confirm? Also, if there are any other TGA lurking around, we might want to check those too.

 

[Kelmych]

There is only other .tga file in the vanilla textures, in the Dawnguard folder (extracted from the BSA) textures\dlc01\architecture\snowelfruins\seruinsmarble01_n.tga

As you can see, it has the same name as tga file in HRDLC2

 

Using the compare directory function of Compressonator, I then compared the textures\dlc01\architecture\snowelfruins\ directory contents in both Dawnguard and HRDLC2. The contents are identical. I'll add the contents of that HRDLC2 directory to the HRDLC repair batch to remove those files and that directory in HRDLC2 since it is a duplicate of the equivalent directory in the Dawnguard BSA.

 

I'll add textures\dlc01\architecture\snowelfruins\seruinsmarble01_n.dds in Dawnguard to the texture preparation batch file to exclude it from being copied to the "Vanilla Normal Maps" folder.

 

I looked at some of the other directories in HRDLC2 and HRDLC3 and compared the texture entries with those in the Dawnguard and Dragonborn addon DLC BSAs. There are many additional duplicates (using Compressonator to compare). I'm adding these to the HRDLC removal batch to remove them from HRDLC2 (duplicates with Dawnguard files) and HRDLC3 (duplicates with Dragonborn files).

 

I'll add a note in the DDSopt guide about the manual processing of the one tga file in Dawnguard if you don't have a chance to do this.

 

The archive file of batch files for use with DDSopt has been updated with these changes.

[z929669]

Great, thanks for confirming. Makes sense to keep the original DLC versions.

 

EDIT: Several more TXT files:

 

textures\actors\dlc02\placeholderfile.txt

textures\dlc02\architecture\placeholderfile.txt

textures\dlc02\clutter\placeholderfile.txt

 

Also, the following directory can be deleted:

 

textures\dlc02\markers\

 

I will add these (plus all updates to date) to a current version of the wiki BAT script. This way we can see all of the changes, and you can use that as a source for the files.

 

EDIT2:

Here is a link to the maintenance pages for this work. Following is my proposed nomenclature for the files. Feel free to change them, but also do the same for the wiki page names for consistency. (I added the above updates already, but otherwise copied over your updated file contents to the wiki).

 

01_ReadMe-HRDLC_Clean.txt

02_ReadMe-Pre-Optimization.txt

03_Readme-VanillaFolderArchive.txt

1_HRDLC_Clean-START.bat

1_HRDLC_Clean.bat

2_Pre-Optimization.bat

3_Compress-7z_in_folder.bat

3_Compress-7z_in_path.bat

[Kelmych]

I've already modified the wiki pages for the two batch folders to include the additional removals form HRDLC 2&3, and the pre-optimization batch file has been edited to include the exclusion of seruinsmarble01_n.dds from the copies that the batch file makes. I'll change the names of the files I have to match yours, and I'll put a new version of the archive file in dropbox shortly. I haven't edited the guide to include the step to use the .tga file; that was going to be my next effort to add an additional step to the Final Preparation subsection for using the Preview tab to save the .tga as a .dds in the optimized folder (I used the option for DDS - Optimal DXT with alpha, 1:4 when I did this; is that the best option?)

 

If you get a chance to look at 1_HRDLC_Clean.bat, or the text version on the wiki (additions are at the bottom), you'll see I added 11 additional placeholder files for dlc02 and also a placeholder.dds, and I eliminated a number of directories from HRDLC2 and HRDLC3 including the one you mentioned.

[z929669]

I've already modified the wiki pages for the two batch folders to include the additional removals form HRDLC 2&3' date=' and the pre-optimization batch file has been edited to include the exclusion of seruinsmarble01_n.dds from the copies that the batch file makes. I'll change the names of the files I have to match yours, and I'll put a new version of the archive file in dropbox shortly. I haven't edited the guide to include the step to use the .tga file; that was going to be my next effort to add an additional step to the Final Preparation subsection for using the Preview tab to save the .tga as a .dds in the optimized folder (I used the option for DDS - Optimal DXT with alpha, 1:4 when I did this; is that the best option?)

 

If you get a chance to look at 1_HRDLC_Clean.bat, or the text version on the wiki (additions are at the bottom), you'll see I added 11 additional placeholder files for dlc02 and also a placeholder.dds, and I eliminated a number of directories from HRDLC2 and HRDLC3 including the one you mentioned.

 

Yes, that is the best option, since it fits with all of the other TSN in the game (DXT5 since there is an alpha). We could go 8888, but that would be disproportionate. I am not clear as to why there is no A5R5G6B5 option, but I assume that there is a logical reason (but that would still be unique to this one texture among all TSN in the game).

 

Hmmm, I am not seeing that. Did you edit this page? (I added the three missing placeholder.txt lines and sorted them alphabetically)

[Kelmych]

When I look at that page I see all the additions I made. I put the changes I made all the after the placeholder additions you made for dlc01. The placeholder text removal section, however, is now quite far from the bottom since I added so many new file and directory removal lines below it.

 

 

I edited the guide for the .tga file; see how it seems to you.

[z929669]

When I look at that page I see all the additions I made. I put the changes I made all the after the placeholder additions you made for dlc01. The placeholder text removal section, however, is now quite far from the bottom since I added so many new file and directory removal lines below it.

 

 

I edited the guide for the .tga file; see how it seems to you.

I see it now. The new instructions also look good. Thanks!

[Luisangre]

I'm sure the answer to this question is easy but I just want to verify.

When we extract and optimize all dds files from the vanilla textures, dawnguard, dragonborn bsa etc; what do we do about the other files like music and meshes?

I was under the impression that we could completely remove the bsa file after extracting and optimizing the textures but we would miss out on all the music, meshes and other files.

Do we just leave the bsa alone and let the optimized textures folder overwrite the bsa textures while the game still load these meshe/ music files from the bsa?

Thanks in advance.

[Kelmych]

For the addon DLC I just leave the BSAs alone and extract/optimize the textures; the optimized ones overwrite the textures in the BSA. Skyrim-textures and the HRDLC are just textures so it isn't necessary to leave those BSAs.

[Luisangre]

Would you recommend removing those bsas since they are pure textures and not needed anymore because overwritten by optimized?

Would it decrease load time if I was to delete it or move it to another folder? (out of Skyrim)

 

Also, is there any reason why we switch the constraints on DDSopt back to 8092x8092?

Is it just so we don't get confused when processing the next batch of textures or am I missing something?

After processing both textures and normals, do the following:

 

Select "8092x8092" in the available drop downs for "Resolution Limit".

Close DDSOpt.

Right-click the Mod Organizer mod list and select "Refresh".

Drag the newly created mod Optimized directly below the original mod and activate it.

[cybexgames]

Hi,

 

In Step 5 of the Final Preparation of the Textures for Optimization section, it states the following:

 

In the lower window Browse to the "Dawnguard" folder in "Vanilla Optimized" then click [use Folder]

 

This folder does not exist, should this folder (and all sub-folders) be created for Step 6 or should the file be saved elsewhere?

 

PS: The 1_HRDLC_Clean-START.bat, still references the HRDLC_Removal_Fix.bat, not the new 1_HRDLC_Clean.bat.

 

[EDIT]

Just re-extracted the Dawnguard.bsa, and found that the file, seruinsmarble01_n.dds, already exists as well as the .tga version.

So, it is looking like that the step to save the .tga file may not be need.

 

Or am I missing something REALLY obvious.......

[statmonster]

The reason to switch back is to make sure it is ready for the next time you use it - returning it to the default state. Often 8092 Optimizations are run just to change uncompressed files to compressed.

[Neovalen]

Or to fix MIP maps and/or alphas.

[Luisangre]

Thanks guys.