Converting to Jpeg Format for Skins

[+Dave 2,318]

Has anyone gone through and did this? I am using xnview based on a suggestion by eburger and I have been converting hundreds of them in about 45 mins so far. The sim runs so much smoother too. Ant's 2048x2048 or 4096x4096, run like a champ. Got rid of a ton of my studders too. I highly recommend this. The results are wonderful.

[+daddyairplanes 8,637]

as said by many a soldier..... demonstrator post!

or show the way master (if it tweeks yer ego and teaches us...)

[Spinners 15,966]

Don't forget that the 'patch' must remain a bitmap.

[+Soulfreak 6,351]

doing it since the game features jpg format.

Saves much space and the performance is still great....

[Spinners 15,966]

I can understand the space saving but does it aid performance? How does that work?

[Wrench 9,426]

i haven't done if for all planes, but it works MUCH better (and I dislike dds formats -even though we're working a lot of aircraft for KAW in dds)

 

I think it may simply have to do with the sheer size of bmp vs jpg (texture memory? -not exactly sure how that works). I haven't noticed ANY reduction of 'eye candy' on several new ones I've been fiddling with.

 

I don't know the mechanics, but it's much better, expecialy when you have a 24meg skin that now become 3megs...and everyone always has limited HD space

 

Dave, like DA said ... how does it work? Since all skins are folderized speratly ... it can take hours to convert

[+Soulfreak 6,351]

I can understand the space saving but does it aid performance? How does that work?

 

if the game has got jpg textures, sure the performance of the game is better zhen if it uses bitmaps....

[+GrinchWSLG 24]

I can understand the space saving but does it aid performance? How does that work?

 

Not really sure either. The game should be taking the JPEG's and decompressing them into BMP's on the fly. You'd think that would take up more time then just reading the BMP from the HDD. Maybe these huge BMP's we've been using are outweighing the advantages via HDD read/write times. IE: The game can decompress a JPEG faster than the HDD can read a BMP.

 

I've read that JPEG's look okay till you start really getting into what you can do with textures. Things like mip maps, bilinear interpolation, and advanced lighting are some examples where the data lost in the compression/decompression starts to show. I don't really think the SF engine is up to snuff on most of these features anyway though. There's also the problem with the lack of an Alpha Channel, which means no transparency.

 

DDS files are better I think because they can hold much more information. They can be a pain to work with though.

[+Stary 2,426]

BMPs don't have alpha either, so it's not an issue

[Wrench 9,426]

They can be a pain to work with though.

 

amen, brother!

 

although the new F-80 dds skin is just over 2 megs (2048x), the template is 4096x and weighs in at 356 megs!!! Almost totally chokes PS7; brings it to a screaming halt when opening, saving and closing

Edited July 7, 2012 by Wrench

[+Brain32 265]

amen, brother!

 

although the new F-80 dds skin is just over 2 megs (2048x), the template is 4096x and weighs in at 356 megs!!! Almost totally chokes PS7; brings it to a screaming halt when opening, saving and closing

 

You can assign more memory to the PS to handle such things better, if you pass the limit PS will load it into swap file which is on your HDD making is snail "fast"...

[+Dave 2,318]

Xnview let's you convert files to jpeg in batches. You select all the bmps in a folder, tell it to convert and replace in the folder you are in and that's it. It does the work in seconds. You can convert a ton of files in minutes. It toolk me an hour and 15 mins to do my mod folder. The advantage is that the sim doesn't have to use so much horse power load a bmp than a jpeg. I haven't lost any quality of the skins either.

[+PureBlue 71]

Check also faststone image viewer. you can also do batch sizing etc. to your files

[+Stary 2,426]

Irfan view is my fav for batch works

[+JonathanRL 973]

I am very much interested to do this for TSF - saving space and increasing preformance is good s**t. Can somebody post a "how to?"

[xrearl 27]

from techguy.org

 

 

very basic...bmp is an uncompressed image format and jpg is a compressed format...

 

bmp as well as other uncompressed formats are best to use when editing as they don't lose digital info as they are altered and saved...jpg are better for web posting as they are a much smaller file because they have been compressed...

 

You need to look at the file type of each image that you send to Imageshack hosting...

 

Have you change/edited some before you upload to Imageshack...?

 

buck

[+FLOGGER23 2,793]

Xnview let's you convert files to jpeg in batches. You select all the bmps in a folder, tell it to convert and replace in the folder you are in and that's it. It does the work in seconds. You can convert a ton of files in minutes. It toolk me an hour and 15 mins to do my mod folder. The advantage is that the sim doesn't have to use so much horse power load a bmp than a jpeg. I haven't lost any quality of the skins either.

 

 

And that applies to game propietary aircraft or any mod can use them?

[+hgbn 91]

Only for LOD's not using dds format.

[+gerwin 449]

from techguy.org

very basic...bmp is an uncompressed image format and jpg is a compressed format...

Then jpeg is the type of compression that is lossy.

Whereas png and also zip/rar/7z are lossless, but generally compress less.

For fun just try to compress an image with maximum jpeg compression to see the nature of the compression.

You will start seeing squares with gradients, which is wat a jpeg consists of.

More subtle jpeg settings look fine though, for big images.

The 1024x1024 skins have a good margin in that regard. Images that are already small as they are, are better left as bmp.

Edited July 7, 2012 by gerwin

[Wrench 9,426]

irfan? shoot, i've had/been using that for years! totally forgot that it converts!

 

interestering to note, if one extracts various and sundry skin maps for their cat; many stock are still bmp, and just as many are jpg (the new tomcats, ferinstance!)

[AgapheM 4]

I am using Format Factory. So far i've only found out that game startup and loading time a bit shorter. For dds skins, i am using "notepad edit" method (if possible).

[+JonathanRL 973]

Right. Using this program now. Its easy to maintain as a Gripen.

 

Going to convert all TSF files, then check size and preformance.

[+russouk2004 6,951]

I use paintshop pro,as it lets you convert to a high standard jpeg,

my hawk T2 skin in bmp is 4096x4096 and bmp was 48 fekkin mb...hi res jpg its 2.92mb(and 2.92 mb is uncompressed btw)

speaks for itself eh..and as far as i can see the jpg is just as detailed,if not more.

Edited July 15, 2012 by russouk2004

[Spinners 15,966]

I am using xnview based on a suggestion by eburger ...

 

 

Nice little program. I've been delving into the SF1 archives recently and everything skin bitmap I bring into my install is now JPEG.

[DaniloE31 279]

I use paintshop pro,as it lets you convert to a high standard jpeg,

my hawk T2 skin in bmp is 4096x4096 and bmp was 48 fekkin mb...hi res jpg its 2.92mb(and 2.92 mb is uncompressed btw)

speaks for itself eh..and as far as i can see the jpg is just as detailed,if not more.

Do I understand you right, you use a 4096x4096 monster texture for the love of details, to just compress it afterward by a maximal factor of 99??

Well... I call it inefficient, but that's maybe just me...