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)

[Luisangre]

Some feedback on 2k textures and 1k normals.

Phenomenal.

[cybexgames]

I just check DDSopt (update 4), the default resolution limit is "8192x8192", so where did "8092x8092" come from?

 

[EDIT]

Does anyone know what Constraints, Neo is going to use for optimizing the textures, will they be the DDSopt defaults, or the STEP recommedations? 

[Kelmych]

The DDSopt parameters in the STEP guide are likely better; there are only a few differences and some testing was done before they were changed.

[Kalenden]

Hi,

I'm currently working on DDSopting my Skyrim files post STEP install but working through Mod Organizer causes some confusion so I have a couple of questions.

 

 

First question:

I followed the DDSopt until completion of the Optimization section. This resulted in 4 Archives (I didn't touch the DLC ones).

Of these archives, the last one, the STD, is empty. Don't know why. I'm unsure what to do with the other 3 archives. At the moment I've added them as mods and giving them the highest priority through Mod Organizer, it is done like in the included screenshot: 

 

 

Second question:

I've got a HD 6970M with 2GB VRAM with an i7-2630QM (up to 2.8 Ghz). I've done a mostly baseline STEP install with a couple of high quality options for rare textures (like maps). This together with Phinix ENB and CoT caused me to exceed my VRAM limit and have bad performance. Should the DDSopt of the HD DLC give me enough leeway to stay under my 2GB VRAM, is it worth it to keep doing DDSopt? Would that keep improving my performance?

 

Third question:

If so, what would be the recommended procedure for regular STEP mods? Copy it to the in folder, ddsopt into the out folder and copy/paste the contents of the out folder over the original folder in the Mod Organizer file structure?

 

 

I'd appreciate any and all help you guys could give me. STEP so far has been a wonderful experience, but modding remains somewhat confusing.

[Kelmych]

Hi,

I'm currently working on DDSopting my Skyrim files post STEP install but working through Mod Organizer causes some confusion so I have a couple of questions.

 

 

First question:

I followed the DDSopt until completion of the Optimization section. This resulted in 4 Archives (I didn't touch the DLC ones).

Of these archives, the last one, the STD, is empty. Don't know why.

In the working directory used for the optimization is there a non-empty STD folder in "Vanilla Extracted" that you created in this process? If so there should also be a non-empty STD folder in the 3 temporary directories ("Vanilla Textures", "Vanilla Normal Maps" and "Vanilla Uncompressed Normal Maps").

 

I'm unsure what to do with the other 3 archives. At the moment I've added them as mods and giving them the highest priority through Mod Organizer, it is done like in the included screenshot: 

Yes, the 3 optimized HRDLC archives should be loaded early in the installation.

 

Second question:

I've got a HD 6970M with 2GB VRAM with an i7-2630QM (up to 2.8 Ghz). I've done a mostly baseline STEP install with a couple of high quality options for rare textures (like maps). This together with Phinix ENB and CoT caused me to exceed my VRAM limit and have bad performance. Should the DDSopt of the HD DLC give me enough leeway to stay under my 2GB VRAM, is it worth it to keep doing DDSopt? Would that keep improving my performance?

 

Optimization of the HRDLC (and STD) will provide some reduction in VRAM use, probably not enough to cure this. I'm assuming you are using 2Kx2K  textures for many of the STEP mods. The next step, as described in the DDSopt guide in several places, is to create reduced size normal maps for at least the mods that include the most of the textures affecting the display. The mods in section F and some of those in section G of the STEP are typically the ones for which reducing normal map size is most useful. You might also consider using 1Kx1K textures for some of the STEP mods, depending on how much VRAM usage ENB is adding based on your ENB configuration. With my 7850 I need to use normal map size reduction so I don't exceed the 2 Gb VRAM limit. If I use an ENB I need to do further steps to reduce VRAM use.

 

Third question:

If so, what would be the recommended procedure for regular STEP mods? Copy it to the in folder, ddsopt into the out folder and copy/paste the contents of the out folder over the original folder in the Mod Organizer file structure?

I don't use MO myself; the Skyrim Revisited threads have some discussion of using DDSopt with MO.

 

I'd appreciate any and all help you guys could give me. STEP so far has been a wonderful experience, but modding remains somewhat confusing.

[Kalenden]

Thanks for the reply!

 

For the first point: The STD folder in "Vanilla Extracted" is empty. I probably made a mistake while extracting that, because all the other folders do contain files (and took quite long to process although the third HRDLC3 not so long). I'll redo that step then.

 

Second: Thank you, that is exactly what I needed to know.

 

Third: I actually mostly used the 1Kx1K textures, except for textures which are rare and infrequent, hoping to leave enough space for ENB in advance. Regardless, I'll test if I've got enough VRAM now.

Are there benefits to keep reducing VRAM usage however? Or is the performance difference between a usage of 1.5GB VRAM and 1.75GB VRAM not really worth the effort of combing through all the mods?

 

Fourth: Thank you for the suggestion, I'll look into that!

[Kelmych]

Third: I actually mostly used the 1Kx1K textures, except for textures which are rare and infrequent, hoping to leave enough space for ENB in advance. Regardless, I'll test if I've got enough VRAM now.

Are there benefits to keep reducing VRAM usage however? Or is the performance difference between a usage of 1.5GB VRAM and 1.75GB VRAM not really worth the effort of combing through all the mods?

 

 

Considering only VRAM, as long as you don't exceed 2Gb it doesn't matter. Of course, this limit includes transient situations like spell effects and other short effects so it's good to have some VRAM available for these short term VRAM needs. Some places in Skyrim use a lot of VRAM, so you want to make sure that you don't exceed the VRAM limit in places like Windhelm and near Dragonsreach.

 

In addition, a portion of the VRAM storage is mirrored in RAM so you also need to be careful to not exceed the RAM limits of Skyrim; less VRAM use also means less mirrored RAM use . You will see a lot of threads in these forums discussing the "3.1 Gb RAM limit" that cover this.

[Kalenden]

Okay, once again, thanks. You've answered all my DDSopt and VRAM questions and everything is clear now.

[whocares7]

Hi,

 

Does it have any recommendations about Constraints settings when ddsopting TPC ?

 

I tried today to use the guide settings, dividing the process to three parts :

- firstly, ddsopted the *.dds files,after that repeat the process with normal map textures/*msn & *n.dds/.

 

After the optimization, I'm experienced some texture corruption with SMIM textures/3D Rings, some table and chair textures became purple-colored/.

 

I'm using the latest build of ddsopt from nexus and updated ini file from the guide.

[phazer11]

TPC (Texture Pack Combiner) is not easy to provide help on. For any textures used in exteriors. Logs, trees, grass etc use 1k texture sizes. For interiors say caves and buildings you should be ok with 2k texture sizes.

 

I would highly recommend NOT DDSOpting the whole folder.

[whocares7]

TPC (Texture Pack Combiner) is not easy to provide help on. For any textures used in exteriors. Logs, trees, grass etc use 1k texture sizes. For interiors say caves and buildings you should be ok with 2k texture sizes.

 

I would highly recommend NOT DDSOpting the whole folder.

For dds files I used 2k sizes, for normal maps 1k. Strangely before two weeks ddsopted the whole folder of Texture Pack Combiner v1.94b, using 2k for ordinary textures and 1k for normal maps/uncompressed normals settings only/ and everything looks ok.

[z929669]

TPC (Texture Pack Combiner) is not easy to provide help on. For any textures used in exteriors. Logs, trees, grass etc use 1k texture sizes. For interiors say caves and buildings you should be ok with 2k texture sizes.

 

I would highly recommend NOT DDSOpting the whole folder.

For dds files I used 2k sizes, for normal maps 1k. Strangely before two weeks ddsopted the whole folder of Texture Pack Combiner v1.94b, using 2k for ordinary textures and 1k for normal maps/uncompressed normals settings only/ and everything looks ok.

 

As long as you use the INI on the wiki, it should work pretty well. Let us know if you find any anomalies.

[whocares7]

Now it's working ok, no more purple textures after quick looking in Whiterun and places around, flora looks ok, not pixelized or noisy.

 

After the ddsopting procedure i saved around 3 gigs of space and freezing is gone.

 

These settings were used for *.dds and normal maps respectively:

 

 

I will continue with further checking to make sure that everything looks normal.

 

Thanks for your advices.

[z929669]

Now it's working ok, no more purple textures after quick looking in Whiterun and places around, flora looks ok, not pixelized or noisy.

 

After the ddsopting procedure i saved around 3 gigs of space and freezing is gone.

 

These settings were used for *.dds and normal maps respectively:

 

 

I will continue with further checking to make sure that everything looks normal.

 

Thanks for your advices.

I am curious to know what the results were. Could you post your logs?

 

TIA

[whocares7]

I am curious to know what the results were. Could you post your logs?

 

TIA

Yep:thumbsup:

 

https://codetidy.com/6429/