DDSOpt & Mod Organizer

[MadWizard25]

Due to the way MO works with its virtual folders, what is the easiest/ correct way to DDSOpt all the STEP textures?

 

I used to use WB, where it was dead simple to install all mods, extract and optimize all the .dds files in Skyrim's Data directory, archive the result, and add that archive to WB, dead last in the package list for overwriting. 

 

I would think you could install all the textures mods in MO, then extract all .dds files (while keeping the MO files structure) then DDSOpt this, then paste the resulting optimized mod folder over the original?

 

Creating an archive of these optimized textures to install last in MO wouldnt work I would assume?

 

Would like to be clear since its a hideous amount of GBs to optimize to 1024x1024, and normals to 512x.

[Aiyen]

First off NEVER optimize the entire mods folder! It is not worth the time it takes, and most likely some textures will get messed up, and in general it is just not required!

Only do optimization on a single mod at a time until you have a stable game memory wise. (You only really need to do it on mods that deal with exteriors since this is the most memory intensive part of the game. Interiors almost never get remotely close to the memory limit of the game.)

 

Let us take an example.

 

Mod A has some textures you want to optimize.

The folder structure of Mod A is something like

Mod A/textures/.../texture.dds

 

If you make a new folder Mod A optimized. And run ddsopt with that folder as output then when it is done you will have a structure that looks like this.

Mod A Optimized/textures/.../texture.dds

 

If you make an archive and install it in MO then as long as it is last it will have the exact same path as the original texture mod, and hence overwrite it because it is lower in the mod order.

The only reason you do this is to test the new textures... since some textures do suffer from compression artifacts, or just start to look funny/wrong.

If everything looks nice you just take the

Mod A optimized/textures/.../texture.dds and replace the original Mod A/texture/.../texture.dds file since it is no longer required.

 

As Teletoko says it is not strictly required to make an archive... but no point in not doing it.

Mods get updated.. and if a mod gets updated, then all the textures will be overwritten and you have to do the process over again... if you already have an archive with the optimized textures in it then it is a simple matter of just replacing them again.

[Aiyen]

Create new folders for each mod you want to optimize/alter.

 

let DDSopt perform its stuff with the respective mods folder from MO as input, and your newly made folder as output.

 

Add the new folder to a new rar archive. Load it into MO as a new mod and test out the new textures. (Folder structure should be maintained.)

If everything looks okay, just replace the old ones.

 

At least that is the way I do it.

[TeleToko]

Create new folders for each mod you want to optimize/alter.

 

let DDSopt perform its stuff with the respective mods folder from MO as input, and your newly made folder as output.

 

Add the new folder to a new rar archive. Load it into MO as a new mod and test out the new textures. (Folder structure should be maintained.)

If everything looks okay, just replace the old ones.

 

At least that is the way I do it.

There is no need to create a new archive and install in MO, you can simply create a new folder in Mod Organizer/mods and use that as folder for your optimized output.

 

For me one of the best features of Mod Organizer is the fact you can pretty much do your complete install through Windows Explorer. Simple drag and drop whereas in the past when I used Wrye Bash I had to stare at zip and unzip progress bars all the time when seting up files or changing install orders.

[MadWizard25]

Thanks for the help :)

 

Im still a little unsure if it really works this way though. If you optimize the mod folder, and create a new folder for the optimized textures, and install that last, there will be over-writing issues I suspect.

 

Optimizing the mod folder means you optimize all textures from all mods. The mod folder does not include over-writing information regarding textures. So if you add the entire optimized mod folder last, it breaks all the over-write settings from STEP which is done by the order of mod packages installed. You would get multiple versions of the same texture in the optimized folder.

 

I think the mod folder contains each complete mod, in an alphabetical folder order, so multiple versions of the same texture would exist. The mod overwriting is done on skyrim load i think. MO is not like WB where installing a mod would overwrite textures in the data directory of skyrim.

 

Im not sure if im being entirely clear, but I think there would be issues just dropping the optimized textures last due to the way MOs virtual folders and overwriting system works.

[MadWizard25]

Thanks very much Aiyen, that makes perfect sense. Ill just optimize the large exterior texture packs then, and install as you have mentioned.

 

Ty again :)