I have read a lot on this topic the last couple of days. I have UT and I am considering converting the planes to DXT3s.My question is, if I copy all of the plane folders to a working folder and run the ImageTool batch command on that working folder, will it do a recursive conversion of each of the plane folders or do all of the textures have to be in the folder I run the batch command from. If all of the textures have to be in the same folder, I don't see an easy way to keep them all sorted out to put them back in the plane folders. Any help?Dennis

I didn't know there was a batch command for imagetool, but if you download "ifdg_a319-111_fft_939-942.zip" (iFDG Frontier A319-111 Pack 8) from the library you'll find a small utility included called "A32X Texture Converter.exe" that will do the batch conversion for you.Not sure, but I think it has to be in the texture folder to work, so what you'd probably have to do is copy it to one texture folder, do the conversion, then move it to the next texture folder, etc.I think it does do some kind of a batch conversion using imagetool, because I've noticed when I've run it, it extracts a copy of imagetool to the texture folder and deletes it again when it's finished.If you zipdive some of Ben Jones's later uploads you may find the converter in a smaller download, "ifdg_a319-111_fft_939-942.zip" is about 25 megs I think and contains 4 complete liveries (but well worth it just for the airplanes :) ).Jim

Save you having to download an aircraft to get it... http://www.bjones4.dsl.pipex.com/A32XTextureConverter.exe Best way to do what your wanting is, move all your AI Traffic to a separate folder and place this in there, run it and select your appropriate option and it will do everything it finds in the subfolders.

Wow, good tweak idea. Thanks for passing it along. Definately worth trying out. At busy airports the UT 32-bit textured AI planes can create quite a texture load, especially when the AI aircraft sitting at the airport are first loaded (the dangerous texture loading "spike" period that can cause CTDs).

If you don't need reflections, try DXT1. They are half the size of DXT3 and I don't see any difference in quality on my rig (ATI card).Todd

I have never seen this topic before so I'm not sure what it's about, but i assume there is a way of increasing framerates by converting ai textures to DXT3 format?Where do I get imagetool from? I don't use any of ifdg's products, do I need that before I can get imagetool?ThanksGary

Image Tool works in two modes - as a command line utility and as a graphical interface utility. The command line utility will batch convert all textures in sub-folder with the right command line switches.ImageTool is part of the MSFS 2004 Terrain SDKhttp://www.microsoft.com/games/flightsimul...sdk.asp#terrainThe graphical interface ImageTool.exe looks and works a lot like DXTBmpThe command line interface will display a complete list of switches and capabilities by typing imagetool -? at the command prompt from that folder holding the tool. I would highly recommend moving the program file to your working folder.If you don't fly iFDG aircraft - you can still use the tool included in the file indicated above. If you are on dial-up - perhaps you do not want to pull down that large a package. If on broadband - should not be a problem.The best conversion is to move the _t textures to DXT1 format - about 1/2 the size of DXT3 - but with some slight loss of detail.However, you must not convert light maps to DXT1 formatI most highly recommend that you read these two threads on the PAI Forums before attempting any of these conversions: FAILURE TO READ AND UNDERSTAND WHAT THE TOOLS AND PROCESS CHANGES COULD RESULT AN EXTREMELY NEGATIVE IMPACT ON YOUR FS SETUP - YOU MUST MAKE BACKUPS BEFORE ATTEMPTING ANY CONVERSIONConversons to DXT1http://www.flightsimmer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=30225Conversions to DXT3http://www.flightsimmer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=15676

Thanks mate - I will read it first!

Just an update to all who read this thread and wondered.This is long, but if you are interested in compressing the size of your traffic, but not sure, give this a read. This is documentation of what I did, what I got for results and how I tested it.I used the imgagetool to run the batch process to convert textures to DXT3. 5MB textures were reduced to 678kb. I tried to further compress to DXT1 from the originals to 565 format and then DXT1. I did not like the planes without reflections, and I got no increase in performance over the DXT3. (some machines might) Although detailed instructions are listed in the provided links, here is a summary of what I did.Before you do this, read the WHAT TO EXPECT and BEFORE YOU START Sections below.1. Moved my AI traffic only to working directory. I copied all of the folders from my FS2004 directory that started with F1UT (Flight1 Ultimate Traffic) I had a few PAI as well and copied them.2. Got the imagetool.exe binary that comes with MSFS SDKs (I got it from the GMAX one but it is in the scenery one as well.)3. Copied the imagetool.exe into the the working directory that has all of the AI plane folders. Again do not copy you flyables into this directory because the recursive batch command will convert all textures including you panels, and some will be trashed.4. Open a command shell (window) and ran this command: imagetool.exe -r -batch -DXT3 -e bmp "f:working*.bmp" The -e bmp writes the output as a bmp file so you do not have to copy every .mip file over to a .bmp file (would take forever)The default is with mipmaps. Adding the argument '-nomip' will create bmps without mipmaps, and will look very sharp and crisp, as they kill your frame rates. (There are long threads on how to remove the mipmaps to make the traffic look sharper, and then you see the same names in other threads trying to increase frame rates by adding mipmaps to traffic. Simply dizzying.) I kept the mips.This converted all of my traffic in about 4 minutes. I would not attempt it by hand.5. Made a backup copy of all the original traffic plane folders from FS2004/aircraft. Probably should have done this first to be safer.6. Copied all of the aircraft folders from the working directory into the fs2004aircraft directory and clicked "Yes to all" for the overwrite prompt. Start FS2004 and try it out.WHAT TO EXPECT:You are not going to go from 14fps at KLAX to 36fps. The CPU is still a bottle neck on traffic, not just hte textures and video card stuff. You will get a slight increase in frame rates. You will get a great boost in the texture load times when traffic comes into view, or changes mip maps. Sometimes when the traffic texture is loaded, there is a slight (but noticeable) pause, like a stutter. This compression seems to have solved this texture loading spike. I have a high end machine (AMD64, 2 gigs of OCZ Enhanced Latency DDR 400 RAM, nvidia 6800 with 256 megs, Segate SATA Barracudas on a Promise RAID controller striped for 0 for flight sim and a seperate Barracuda drive for WindowsXP). I saw a slight increase in performance, but mainly with loading times. I speculate that on a mid-range machine, you would see some performance increase due to the textures using less memory, not because of the amount of physical memory used (unless you have a small RAM), but because you have to move those 5MB tectures through the mother board bus (bandwidth is limited by bus clock and width) I further speculate (this is dangerous) that you would see some improvement on a lower end machine, however, the CPU limits vs the load of traffic may exceed the benefits of a reduction in texture size. If low end machines keep the traffic percentage down, and with compressed textures, they should see some fair performance.BEFORE YOU START:To determine if you get an increase, you need a repeatable process. A flight with the same location,, time of day, date, weather...Load flight sim and go to an airport with traffic. I do not recommend KLAX, KORD, or KJFK as these just have so much traffic. Go to a resonable one like KSEA. Let the default weather load and set the time of day by hand (say 5:00PM PST). Use the default Cessna. Look at your frame rates setting still on the active RW. Pan in the VC, and Spot View. Get a feel for the average and where the traffic load hotspots are. (looking at the terminal). Take off and try all views on the roll, climb out and then circle the airport and again, all views. Once oyu have a feel for the fps average, based on where you are looking, compress your traffic and then repeat this flight. Looking around is the key to getting the average performance. Some people have take screen shots of taking off with 100% traffic and 40fps... (looking out the windhield into blue sky. Be fair to yourself and pan around. The terminal will be a hot spot. Setting on the active looking at the terminal is a good test. One last tip for traffic load on framerates. If you want to see a better angle (increased angle ) over the panel in te Virtual Cockpit, for better perspective, do not use the zoom in and out keys. When you slide the seat up in your car, you do not zoom in the world. Some people have complained that when they zoom out in th cockpit frame rates drop. Don't. Use the seat (or virtual positioning) in the cockpit. I think it is Shift+Enter and Shift+Backspace for up and down and Control+Enter and Control+Backspace for slide up and back. (I may have those backwards and I don't have flight sim loaded. Control+Shift+Enter and Control+Shift+Backspace slides you side to side. Slide over in the right seat and fly in the virtual cockpit of the Flight1 Cessna or the Flight1 727, or the PMDG planes. Very nice.I know this information has been provided elsewhere by experts. I just wanted summarize what I did and the results, for the rest of us.Dennis Mitchell

Thanks for your reply - I've done this and it really does make a difference to framerates!thanks!

Something else I noticed is that DXT1 textures with mip maps don't look blurry like DXT3 textures with mip maps. Maybe video card can process mips better or something...who knows. And of course like always, your mileage may vary :)Also, a good way to test performance of different textures types is to go to spot view and rotate the view 360 degrees very quickly at a busy airport. On my machine at least, there are slight pauses as groups of AI aircraft come into and out of view with DXT3. Doesn't happen with DXT1.Matt

Ummmmm http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v615/DarrenA300/unsure.gifLook at my attached pic ......http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/124664.jpgFalse +ve?

My Avast did not find anything.Hope this helps,JimActiveSky Sales and Supporthttp://www.hifisim.com/images/asv_dev_team.jpg http://www.hifisim.com/images/asv_proud_supporter.jpg

Trend Micro (housecall) didn't see it as infected either.Jim

No virus false here, either. BUT, I went in and looked at about a dozen of my UT aircraft, and every one I saw is already DTX3, just many are mipped. I'm running a A64 3500+ with SLI'd 6600GT's, so I guess I can pull the mips to make them look clearer (still looking, haven't found a single 32-bit UT plane yet...)Scott