Ok, so here is how to make Chris's excellent textures lighter as to stop the "stuttering" some people are encountering.I cannot guarentee that the quality will be identical, but I think you would be hard pushed to notice any difference, read through the steps first and make sure you are comfortable with them before trying it out yourself.You need a painting program, I use PSP, but you can use any other that has the required "sharpen" filter, you also need DXTBMP, I find this better than imagetool as the DXT conversion shows minimal corruption.1) Download and unzip AEU7.zip from AVSIM2) Find all the textures that are larger than 22kb, should be 25 files in all, using DXTBMP open each of these 25 files and save them as a 24-bit image, make sure that you save any alpha channel, you can check this by noticing the alpha channel window to the right of the main texture window in DXTBMP, if this window is all white then you have no alpha channel and need not do anything, if there is anything other than white then you need to save this alpha channel with a file name that relates to its associated texture file.3) Once you have changed the 25 files from DXT3 to 24-bit image, open each file in turn and then add 1 sharpen filter, then reduce the file 50% in size, then add another sharpen filter, what this is doing is keeping the texture crisp whilst reducing its file size.4) Once the above step is complete you need to open each file up in DXTBMP, in DXTBMP you need to remember to add back in any associated alpha channel which you saved in step 2, you now have a choice, you can either save the shrink file to DXT3 or DXT1 , in doing experiments there is not a lot to choose between them, but DXT1 does seem to run better, and I use this, but the downside of this is that some people report some loss of alpha and shimmering with DXT1 depending on video card and drivers.Atfer doing these steps you will be left with files that not only have the quality Chris intended, but are also stutter free.Dan.

I used a copy of Dan's files and the stutters were reduced. Still there, but less. I have an old Nvidia G400mx 64mb card so that is probably the limiting factor as it attempts to get the textures into its slow memory. AMD 2600+ 525mbDick Boley @KLBE

Thank you Dan and thanks to Chris for "blessing" this project. I'll give this a try later today. (I have stutters too.) R-

I don't have any paint programs, other than the standard MSFS paint, are there plans to post reduced textures to the web?

Not unless Chris gives the OK.Dan.

If Chris has given it it's blessing, how about just u/l them for all to share rather than each of us trying to convert them? Again... with Chris's A-OK. ;)

Of course, I would do, but untill Chris says its OK to then I won't, I don't want to incur the wrath of the forumites ;)Dan.

Has someone emailed him? I would really like to have the smaller footprint files.Thanks!Barry

His words were that no package that wasnt up to Chris's standards, i.e. lower texture size, was to be uploaded.The instructions are pretty easy to follow though, shouldnt take more than 30mins or so.Dan.

Well I think a quality developer like Chris would actually create the same smaller footprint series if the general populous endorsed the idea.Barry

Folks,I love that each of you enjoys AEU. I also very much appreciate that anyone would go through so much trouble to make these improvements. Please feel free to follow Dan's recommendations, as closely as you can, to make your own private copy of AEU everything that you wish it would be.Some of you may not understand this, and that is okay...I have already changed AEU as much as I am willing to allow in the interest of limiting performance related issues. Beyond this limit, the product becomes visually sub-standard (even if by a very small degree) to what I have intended it to be.There will be no authorization to release any portion of the AEU title outside of the original archive. I have made this decision long ago and it is final. Please respect my wishes concerning this.You may change your own copy of AEU to your heart's content, but there will be no public modifications to the freeware license.Though you may not think so, I really do appreciate you all. I am very sorry for any inconvenience this may cause you.Warmest regards to all,

Not a graphics guy, but wouldn't you have to squeeze the alpha data the same as the main image?scott s..

Similar detail question for Dan - when you say reduce file 50% in size, do you mean reduce "dimension size" 50% (256x256 -> 128x128), or "storage size" (dimensions would be 70% of original)? tx -- db

The alpha channel needs no extra work, DXTBMP will change the pixel size to suit, and its an 8-bit grayscale image anyway, so in reality is extremely small.Yeah, I mean reduce the dimension size.Chris, I admire your standpoint on this, it would be all to easy to "buckle to the pressure", but you have made a decision, and you are sticking by it, and being a "texture guy" myself, I totally understand where you are coming from.It is very simple for users to lighten their textures, and maybe by doing this people can learn something in the process, as this procedure can be applied to any texture, in fact I recently greatly improved my sim performance at UK2000 EGLL by at least 50% by follow the above procedure.I personally can live with a slight image reduction in any addon, as for me smoothness and high framerates are No1 in my sim world.Dan.

Hi Danowat,I'm closely watching the discussion about the AEU7 since yesterday and I totally agree with you and I understand Chris' statement as well.Well, unfortunately his statement means for a lot of people including me that they just install AEU7 and look how beautiful the airports are now but when they go for the action, they find it is practically unusable because of that %@&*%$ stuttering. And if they're lazy or scared of graphical programs (that's my case), they just drop a tear and get back to the default textures. I read the procedure and I just give up - I have no program you mentioned and it would take hours of getting them, following the procedure and then testing if I've made everything correct. I also understand you cannot send your modification to everyone via e-mail :(I mostly fly heavies and I like to watch my aircraft from the spot view during climbs, descents etc. and I rotate the camera around it. With AEU7 it is a pain because of every airport in the vicinity has to be loaded in the texture memory of my graphics card which sometimes may take 5 or more seconds and during that time the flight sim just freezes and it totally destroys my feeling of "being there".Well, I still hope you will somehow manage to upload the modification with Chris' agreement but I am sceptical after I saw his clear and intransigent statement today :-hang