DXTFixerX and Stutters

[ematheson 19]

I've been using DXTFixerX since it was first released. I've nuked every single folder in my sim install. And I still got stutters.

I wondered if it was a placebo effect, but I still kept using it, figuring even a small effect was better than nothing.

 

In the last couple of weeks, I've been exchanging email with a few members here, discussing conversion of FSX scenery to FS9. In the course of that discussion, it was noted by someone to whom I'd sent a converted FSX freeware airport file to test that the scenery I'd sent caused severe stutters on his system. After some investigation, he concluded that the DXT3 files were an alpha-channel entirely and were the source of the problem. I dismissed that suggestion as clearly silly, but when he suggested I try conversion of the files using ConvimX to see if that helped, I did. It did work - very very well, in fact.

 

One curious fact on the conversion was that the files created by ConvimX were slightly larger than those created using Imagetool and DXTFixerX. On an individual basis, the difference was very small - but over the course of a folder containing several thousand bitmaps, the difference was more than a couple of megabytes! It almost seems like data missing in DXTFixerX files was being reinserted... matching what had been suggested by the friend, who stated that the alpha-channels in the file were simply not present.

 

I have since reconverted all of my scenery libraries and the specific files that were called out again using ConvimX and have seen a complete cessation of stuttering, even over some complex FSX sceneries that caused terrible problems previously. Clearly, ConvimX worked. DXTFixerX did not.

 

I post this now with two questions:

First: Does DXTFixerX not work in its current form? Does the program need to be patched or repaired so that it actually does fix alpha-channel problems in DXT3 textures to prevent low FPS and stuttering?

 

Second: Does anyone know of a way to use ConvimX to convert entire directories? I've got several thousand AI aircraft ferreted away in a backup folder right now while I work on a long-term project of mine. In the past, though, when I've used AI, it has caused horrid stuttering during initial load - and again if I pan back to look at it even when the textures are already loaded. All of these planes and liveries have been treated with DXTFixerX - and I'd like to reconvert them with ConvimX. Several thousand liveries converted a folder at a time with ConvimX is horridly impractical...

 

Now, I don't want to jump the gun too far. My friend ALSO mentioned that DXT1 textures ALSO cause stuttering on his machine. It's possible the difference in file-size I mentioned above could be due to some DXT1 textures in the folder that I had failed to convert to DXT3.

If that is so, does anyone know a way to scan a directory and return a list of DXT1 textures so that I could make darn sure they're converted?

 

TL;DR: Is DXTFixerX broken? Can ConvimX be used in commandline to convert entire directories and their subdirectories? Can I scan for DXT1 files and convert only those?

[Appliance 51]

G'day.

 

Are you using dxtfixerx_v2.1?

[ematheson 19]

G'day.

 

Are you using dxtfixerx_v2.1?

 

I am.

[kikas 0]

Perhaps try to disable your antivirus and then scan? I had problems with dxtfixerx and avast in the past

[gwillmot 31]

Perhaps try to disable your antivirus and then scan? I had problems with dxtfixerx and avast in the past

 

Antivirus d-d-d-d-didn't affect m-m-m-m-my s-s-s-stutters with d-d-d-dxtfixerx.

[ematheson 19]

No - I did not disable AV. However, I'm not using an active AV - it's a passive internet monitor. Not one of those clunky programs that seems to think that if any program accesses the drive, it has to go through it.