Project talk:Data Dictionary/Archive 2

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Mods - Description

Proposed adding Short Mod Description (1 sentence, possibly from the Nexus API); currently this isn't in either the mod page or the STEP guide. It would be hard to include this in a STEP guide (core or pack) since it doesn't fit well in a multi-column format like those used in the guide.

Agreed, at the very least it'll help fill out the mod pages. ~FarloTalk 18:20, July 16, 2013 (MDT)

Mods - Category

Proposed change to broad categorization of the mod (NOT the STEP section, similar idea to the Nexus categories but hopefully with categories more relevant to STEP) ~FarloTalk 18:20, July 16, 2013 (MDT)

Mods - IsOptimized

The flag is somewhat problematic since it applies only to textures and can be hard to verify especially for non-core mods. Moreover, we may still want to separately optimize/reoptimize the normal maps even if the color map textures are adequately optimized. ~Kelmych Talk 12:26, July 16, 2013

I think that this is a good flag for things that really should not be run through DDSopt for whatever reason. We can change the property and tag names easily enough if necessary. ~z929669 Talk 15:21, July 16, 2013 (MDT)

What should we do if the color map textures are optimized but the normal maps are too large. Should there be tgwo flags, or just ignore the normal map issues? Kelmych (talk) 21:11, July 16, 2013 (MDT)

I'd say keep only one flag. Textures that are already optimized won't be affected anyway. We can add exceptions to the INI where there are specific use cases that might get borked. ~z929669 Talk 00:50, July 18, 2013 (MDT)

IMO we should just track the file's optimization, they can be whatever resolution the author wants, unless I'm missing something about them being "too large" (is that a thing?). Unless everything is optimized it shouldn't be tagged as such. ~FarloTalk 23:44, July 16, 2013 (MDT)

Kelmych (talk) 17:12, November 16, 2013 (EST) Based on comments about the STEP Mod Texture table and experience using this table in developing and testing a batch file for bulk optimization, I feel that the interpretation of the flag that Z recommends is the correct one; it should be one flag that means it should not be run through DDSopt without a very good reason. The revised STEP Mod Texture table in the DDSopt guide has this flag (column 2). So far the mods I've evaluated and that have this flag as Yes don't need normal map resolution changes.

Mods - Optimization-related Data

Kelmych (talk) 17:39, November 16, 2013 (EST) A few months ago I changed the information included in the STEP Mod Texture table in the DDSopt guide based on comments from some users who said it the entries needed to be easier to interpret while making decisions about optimization parameters and choices. I feel that the fields for mod-specific data about optimization should actually be in the Mod Data Dictionary and the data itself entered in a set of parameters on a Mod page, perhaps in an Optimization tab. There would also need be a new template so the data could be assembled to create a new version of the STEP Mod Texture table in the DDSopt guide. The new flags and data element I suggest are shown below. The values for these are independent of the pack or packs that include the mod. The equivalent of the IsOptimized flag is already in the STEP Mod Texture table so it is not included below. Note that values for all these parameters are available for the STEP mods in the STEP Mod Texture table in the DDSopt guide.

Kelmych (talk) 20:20, November 17, 2013 (EST) We don't test individual mods and decide whether optimization helped. There isn't enough of a change from optimizing a single mod to get useful indications on how to optimize. Recommendations on optimization are based on testing with many mods optimized simultaneously and extracting results based on different optimization choices for classes of textures used. I created the flag recommendations based on the texture classes that we've found through testing are important in determining how to optimize a mod. Results of testing have affected the choice of properties, but not the value (e.g., True or False) for these properties. The property values are characteristics of the mod itself.

Kelmych (talk) 20:20, November 17, 2013 (EST) The flags and texture resolution string help a user determine how to optimize a mod (settings, filters,...), and to understand how much effort and time it will take to optimize the mod. This information is not typically available in the Nexus mod description and some isn't even available when looking at the Windows explorer window for individual textures. Much of the information I use to determine the flag values for an individual mod is taken from logs created by DDSopt. Flag value differences between different versions of a mod versions or with mod updates are rare.

Kelmych (talk) 17:57, November 16, 2013 (EST) recommended mod optimization-related parameter additions (flags might use shorter names)

The following are binary flags

HasTextures

Kelmych (talk) 20:20, November 17, 2013 (EST) This is just an indicator flag; if it is not true for a mod then the other properties are not relevant

HasExteriorTextures

Kelmych (talk) 20:20, November 17, 2013 (EST) Exterior textures are important since they seem to be a primary cause of high VRAM use. When optimizing textures most users are now reducing the resolution of exterior textures to half the resolution of the other textures. In my system, as an example, I got a roughly 15% decrease in VRAM use by doing this. This flag is present so a user knows that when optimizing this mod an extra step is needed with different optimization parameters for the exterior textures.

HasUncompressedTextures

Kelmych (talk) 20:20, November 17, 2013 (EST) Mods with uncompressed textures need an extra processing step during optimization with different processing parameters to properly optimize the uncompressed textures. Often it isn't apparent that a mod has some uncompressed textures, and this flag would let users know that they need to identify the uncompressed textures and optimize them with different optimization parameters.

HasAllUncompressedTextures

Kelmych (talk) 20:20, November 17, 2013 (EST) For mods whose textures are all uncompressed, the optimization processing parameters are different than the usual parameters used to optimize a mod. If all the textures are uncompressed, then the optimization can be done in a single step. This flag might not be needed since a mod with the HasCompressedTextures as True and MultiStepOptimizationRecommended as False is probably equivalent to this flag.

HasCollapsableTextures

Kelmych (talk) 20:20, November 17, 2013 (EST) Collapsable textures are nxn color maps with the same color in every cell. DDSopt will collapse these into a single cell with the same color. Most graphics cards handle these properly but a few don't. When users have texture problems one of the first causes they suspect is that DDSopt collapsed some of the textures. This usually does not prove to be the actual problem, but this flag lets users know which mods actually have such textures so they can more efficiently determine the cause of texture problems.

MultiStepOptimizationRecommended

Kelmych (talk) 20:20, November 17, 2013 (EST) This flag indicates whether a mod has any exterior textures, uncompressed textures, or normal maps that should be reduced in resolution. If any of these conditions exist then optimization of a mod's textures should be done in multiple steps each with a different subset of the textures and different optimization parameters. If the flag is false the user knows that ordinary optimization will be fine with this mod and no special processing is needed.

The following are strings

MaxTextureResolutionByModVersion

Kelmych (talk) 20:20, November 17, 2013 (EST) This string will contain the max texture resolution for each version of the mod that contains textures with different resolutions. This is particularly useful in setting an appropriate value for the Resolution Limit parameter in DDSopt optimization, and for users to determine which mods need to have textures reduced in size during optimization.

Mods - LoreFriendly

Proposed removal: not a whole lot of meaning for most mods and isn't well defined. Also mostly useless for our purposes. ~FarloTalk 18:20, July 16, 2013 (MDT)

it is often difficult to assign/verify this flag ~Kelmych Talk 12:26, July 16, 2013

Mods - IsClean/HasPlugin

Proposed: Fully specify if mod has plugins and that they are clean. Also, disambiguate clean plugins from clean uninstall (or eliminate clean uninstall altogether)

Mods - IsCore

Proposed: Remove, core mods -- will be in STEP:Core, this attribute isn't tied to the mod itself.

Agreed ~FarloTalk 18:20, July 16, 2013 (MDT)

Mods - FPS and VRAM

Proposed: should have way to indicate whether effect is positive or negative ~Kelmych Talk 12:26, July 16, 2013

Only Vano89's mod positively impacts performance, so this really denotes a negative impact. ~z929669 Talk 15:25, July 16, 2013 (MDT)

But that might not be true for much longer, what if someone made a "craptastic computer pack", it might be nice to know that a mod has a positive effect. I think a choice of positive/none/negative would be well suited. ~FarloTalk 18:20, July 16, 2013 (MDT)

I was thinking about relative improvements compared to some STEP baseline, in which case a mod that reduces quality a small amount but improves FPS a lot might get a positive check here. Skyrim Performance Plus would certainly get a plus here also. Kelmych (talk) 21:11, July 16, 2013 (MDT)

When Z, Stopping, and I were talking we kind of came to the conclusion that baseline wouldn't be a universal aspect since packs can target differing computer ranges. The AffectsFPS and AffectsVRAM tags would then be compared to Vanilla; for example an HD mod would obviously negatively impact FPS and VRAM whereas some gameplay mod wouldn't affect either. ~FarloTalk 23:44, July 16, 2013 (MDT)

Mods - Recommendations/Notes

Proposed: Attach mod-specific notes to mod pages. Packs will also need recommendations relating to specific mods. Template:Recommendations could be used at the Pack level as it currently stands.

Proposed: s4n suggested adding capability to set flags (plus mod IDs) to note conflicts.

Mods - Conflicts

how about a list of important conflicts using the STEP mod index in the list Kelmych (talk) 21:11, July 16, 2013 (MDT)

We thought about this, but it'd be a huge pain in the ass to keep every mod updated with the mods it conflicts with. Not really sure how to go about this one. ~FarloTalk 23:44, July 16, 2013 (MDT)