More DDSopt recommendations to come?

[rhodsey]

Hi there

 

General question for anyone who might know the answer I've done a search on DDSOpt on this forum but couldn't find anything definitive other than it appears some suggestions from earlier in the year have been removed.

 

At the moment SRLE only includes prompts to DDSopt the bethesda textures and also the Falkskaar and the other "expansion" mod whose name escapes me.  Is there going to be more suggestions on Mods that need DDSopt ran at a later date once the guide is close to completion or is it a case that most other mods have already been optimised by the mod makers now so no longer necessary (I know Cabals mods are already optimised and the suggested download of SRO also comes pre optimised).

 

At the moment I'm not wanting to go too far into the guide as I want to wait for Neovalen to finish but I've completed upto optimising the Vanilla textures then stopped before configuring the ENB on the theory that this part is stable and unlikely to change but if there are any other mods that need Optimising I might do them in advance to save time later since it can take so long (and also for practice as its not something I've done much!)

[Kelmych]

This section of the DDSopt guide has a table with recommendations for determining which mods in the STEP guide list are improved through DDSopt processing. Many of the SR:LE mods are also in the STEP guide. The additional mods from STEP packs including SR:LE will be added when it it seems fairly certain that the mod will be in a pack. The recommendations are typically based on properties of a mod, such as the information in the DDSopt log when optimizing the mod, as well as user community experience with the unoptimized and optimized versions of a mod.

[rhodsey]

Thanks for responding.  i've seen that table before though and find it a little confusing to understand in places.  For example Consistent older people is on there and has a "no" in every column but then has a recommended resolution?  Does that mean that you shouldn't Optimise it because it won't make a difference or that you SHOULD optimise it with these resolutions?  Personal opinion but if a mod is not improved (or not been found to improve by the STEP team) would it be best to remove mods from the list that don't need to be Optimised (either because no benefit or it breaks the textures) then state at the top that if it's not on the list you do not need to?

[Kelmych]

The STEP is always evolving, so removing a mod from the list could be confusing. The maximum resolution column is the highest resolution of the textures present in the mod, not the recommended resolution of the post-optimized mod. It needs to be explained better in the guide.

 

Consistent Older People has 256x256 uncompressed textures. Many users when optimizing use the default DDSopt constraints tab parameters, or expect that these parameters won't cause any problems. The default parameters will change the textures from the uncompressed ones provided by the mod to a compressed format, potentially causing a loss in quality and no noticeable performance improvement.

[rhodsey]

The STEP is always evolving, so removing a mod from the list could be confusing. The maximum resolution column is the highest resolution of the textures present in the mod, not the recommended resolution of the post-optimized mod. It needs to be explained better in the guide.

 

Consistent Older People has 256x256 uncompressed textures. Many users when optimizing use the default DDSopt constraints tab parameters, or expect that these parameters won't cause any problems. The default parameters will change the textures from the uncompressed ones provided by the mod to a compressed format, potentially causing a loss in quality and no noticeable performance improvement.

Thanks for explaining so I'm guessing best way to look at it is that unless there is a "yes" in one of the first two columns then its not worth optimising or is that too simple?

 

Also just a suggestion.  Since most people will most likely do a CTRL-F to search for a mod on the page maybe putting the "no optimisation needed" mods in a separately labelled table to make it clear which ones should and shouldn't be optimised.

 

That way it would be easier for people to tell what to do and not while also keeping the mod listed on the page so you aren't constantly bombarded with "but what about this mod?" questions.  Instead they can see that you know about it, have checked it and just found its not worth doing.

[Kelmych]

The current order of mods in the table is the same as the order in STEP guide, so when a user is following the STEP guide it makes it easier for them. Several users requested this.

 

A little while ago I requested that as the site evolves the material in the columns be added to the data stored on the wiki page for each mod. When this happens it will allow seeing the information on the individual mod pages, and even more important it will allow creating lists of mods using Semantic Mediawiki search requests. What you ask would then be easy to create dynamically. It would also make it easier to keep the list up to date.

[z929669]

This should be in the DDSopt forum ...

[rhodsey]

This should be in the DDSopt forum ...

the original request was about additional DDSOPT suggestions being added by Neovalen to SRLE hence why posted here.  It's since evolved into a discussion about the main STEP page.

[Kelmych]

For optimizing mods in SR:LE that are also in the STEP guide there will generally be a lot more discussion and recommendations in the individual mod threads in the Mods forum and the DDSopt threads vs. SR threads. The recommendations in the current SR:LE guide involve using DDSopt with a high max resolution limit; this uses DDSopt to replace the mipmaps in the textures in a mod with improved versions. SR:LE recommendations may change, of course, as the SR:LE guide evolves. The DDSopt guide provides more detailed recommendations for some mods aimed at improving game performance while preserving graphic quality.

[oqhansoloqo]

Hello Kelmych,

 

I've DDSopted every recommended STEP mod in that DDSopt list we are referring to (IOW - I DDSopted all with "Yes" in column 1 or 2). One thing that I am confused about is not the mods that are in the list that are not recommended for DDS Optimization, but rather the ones that are in STEP that are not in the DDSopt list. I know many STEP mods do not even contain texture files, so those aren't even worth mentioning in the list and I get that... but, there are some that do have texture files that are not in the list. Here is one example: Ultimate HD Fire Effects. I believe there was/were more, and I will post them here if I run into them again. Is there a reason some of those mods aren't in the list? And does it make sense to try to optimize that mod (for example)?

 

Also, are there any general guidelines for DDSOpting mods that aren't in STEP?

 

Appreciate you guidance.

[phazer11]

Well some mods such as those with water, blood, facetint and if I remember correctly fire textures and effects do not usually optimize well at all and almost always either make the texture look weird or produces a corrupt (purple) texture in game. However, there are exceptions such as the method by which Neovalen says to set DDSOpt to work with Realistic Water Textures Two but they are few and far between. Most of the mods in the guide's table are the mods that benefit the most from optimization as they relate to performance, distance viewing and VRAM consumption.

 

As for guidelines just read the guide and get comfortable with it and return to it for some of the better settings, try out the high quality "presets" shown in the guide (adjusting output resolution on a mod per mod basis, either keeping the same size or decreasing it; the % tools are especially helpful I've gotten to where I'll just set either 100% or 50% for the output resolution)

[Kelmych]

The DDSopt guide STEP mod list is updated periodically; there were some changes in the STEP guide since the DDSopt guide table had been updated. Currently it should be up to date with the STEP 2.2.8 guide.

Entries in the STEP mod table are based on reviewing the logs created by DDSopt when optimizing a mod, information about optimization done for other mods by the same author, and comments on the STEP forums about the textures in a mod. If you are trying to decide whether a mod need to be optimized these are likely the same inputs that would be used.

With mods that are not primarily new or replacement textures (e.g., quest, city, location, and companion mods) I typically expect that texture optimization will be useful.