DROPPED STEP Optimized Vanilla Textures (by z929669)

[tony971]

Correct ... also, tony971's stuff has more options and likely does not use quite the same techniques for certain textures ... for example, I convert uncompressed terrain textures to 565 format, but most would convert to DXT ... not sure what exactly tony is doing, but there are many ways to skin a cat, and i have not examined his readme's or techniques to be able to say how much differs ... his files are smaller though, so that tells me that I have more files included in mine (or that he has reduced more than I have).

 

It would probably be a good idea for me to take a close look at his mod to determine the differences. I will do that one of these days unless someone beats me to it.

 

@ophansologo

I included the DDSopt log in the download, which provides all details as to the conversion of each texture provided.

Mine actually covers all of the textures that don't make the CK freak out (currently). The next version doesn't have to worry about the CK or it's weirdness. But I do trust your optimization skills over mine. My mod's claim to fame is the plugin-less installation method for NMM users. I'd gladly rebase on your recommendations.

Edited February 18, 2015 by tony971

[TechAngel85]

No worries. Ours is actually STEP specific and excludes any conflicts in a STEP install. So your version will still be needed and very helpful to anyone not using a full and complete STEP installation.

[z929669]

Mine actually covers all of the textures that don't make the CK freak out (currently). The next version doesn't have to worry about the CK or it's weirdness. But I do trust your optimization skills over mine. My mod's claim to fame is the plugin-less installation method for NMM users. I'd gladly rebase on your recommendations.

I only use a 1k upper-limit cap (Performance version only) and did not reduce anything under that ... only compression and mip-map opt. There is no major decrease in VRAM with my versions either. The Standard version actually does not reduce VRAM at all in many situations in-game. It's more about optimization for quality (mip-maps) as much as performance (resolution caps and reduced uncompressed formats [R5G6B5/A4R4G4B4] wherever possible).

[flyingspatula]

What kind of things would these remaining textures even cover? Want to grab the performance version, but don't want noticeably lower quality textures in some areas. Anyone got before/after comparison of the two options?

[TechAngel85]

These are the vanilla textures that are not covered by other mods. They have been optimized without any noticeable quality loss.

[EssArrBee]

Actually, the performance version has a 1k max resolution, where as the other version will use the resolution of the actual texture that the vanilla textures use. If you want the default resolution then don't get the performance version.

[Xaviien]

This mod is actually called STEP Vanilla Optimized Textures on Nexus and in MO, but Optimized Vanilla in the guides on the mod page and in this thread.

Very small difference, I know, but I'm sure we all know by now how picky I can be about these things

Edited February 28, 2015 by Xaviien

[TechAngel85]

This is a new addition and as far as I know isn't referenced in any guides yet.

[Xaviien]

Sorry, I meant on the mod page. I noticed it because I was looking at the 2.2.9.1 guide.

[TechAngel85]

Ah, that was Z's mistake. It should be how the mod page has it worded since "STEP Vanilla Optimized Textures" doesn't make much sense. I've corrected the Nexus page.

[ThumperZ]

In the [sTEP Optimized Vanilla Textures - Performance 1-1] the folder structure:   'textures\actors\dragonpriest'

shouldn't that be 'textures\actors\dragon priest'  ?

[x79]

What do you STEP guys think about releasing a package of patches instead of the full textures? One batch file could use BSAOpt to extract original bsas, perform necessary deletions, patch textures to their optimized versions, and repack into new bsas. All the end user would have to do is drop a fairly small folder into the skyrim folder or put the original texture bsas into a working folder and run the script.

[Kelmych]

BSAopt and DDSopt don't provide the necessary capabilities when used as command line programs in batch files. There are batch files for parts of this, but the STEP optimized textures eliminate the need to use DDSopt which can be challenging for many users.

[x79]

BSAopt and DDSopt don't provide the necessary capabilities when used as command line programs in batch files. There are batch files for parts of this, but the STEP optimized textures eliminate the need to use DDSopt which can be challenging for many users.

AFAIK, the only limitation for BSAOpt cli is lack of multi-threading which would mean slower compression. Using patches eliminates the need for DDSOpt, makes the download smaller, and should be a faster process than having DDSOpt analyze the textures.

 

OTOH, it's possible to write an Autohotkey script to automate the GUI process though it is a little less reliable. If I can get BSAOpt/DDSOpt to compile, I could probably add support for new command line options.

[Vulgar1]

Just to get this right..

With the STEP Vanilla Optimized Textures the STD, DH, DG, DB, and Hi-Res DLC I manually optimized when following past versions of STEP are no longer necessary and may be removed from my mods list?

Edited May 1, 2015 by Vulgar1