I have tried to use XnResize to change my images down to 1024 x 1024, because the FPS saving is too good not to do this. At Gatwick EGKK I am going from 20-22 FPS with original FSLTL images to 27-29 FPS with optimised images. 

 

There is about  5-7 FPS if you resize the images down and SimObjects folder is down from 21GB to 2GB 

I have seen some other users have managed to do this successfully but  I am struggling as some of my aircraft now have 'black' skins - but not all.

I am resizing to 1024x1024 and replacing over the original image, with metadata + time/date attributes ticked, mode = Fit

Some aircraft look absolutely fine, but about 30% are black, as if the image file has become corrupted during the resize process. If I replace the original file back into the livery texture file and restart FSLTL injector then the correct livery returns. 

Can anyone give any guidance where I may be going wrong ? 

Hi, can anyone help with this? If we can get this issue sorted then 5-7 FPS will be the reward which is quite something...

I can't help but have you asked on their Discord channel? I've seen a few people on there talking about resizing textures recently.

Being a VR user where every single FPS matters, I'd be interested to see if it would benefit me, hoping that FBW have this as an option in future.

I have resized all texture sheets that are 2048 and 4096 and am mipmapping them now but it's laborious as there are 1100 textures to edit and I haven't (yet) figured out how to create a batch file that only adds mipmaps to files over a certain filesize in a nested folder structure. As you say, the difference is 2gb VRAM more to play with and a smoother sim, so it is worth optimising.

Edited October 3, 20223 yr by toby23

I’m at a loss how some dds files can be reduced but others just don’t seem to work, even when part of the same batch process.

 I cannot get EasyJet to work on the A319 no matter what,but other A319s work.

What are you doing regarding mipmaps as I haven’t done this but still have some working after a resize?

The savings are huge, so if your sim is on the edge with FPS then this is essential 

I add the mipmaps using a custom batch file and the app ImageMagick. The textures will display just fine without mip-maps, they will just be jagged and unclear at anything but 100%.

Edited October 3, 20223 yr by toby23

Thanks for the info. Cannot say I’ve seen jagged edges on mine so far but perhaps I need to look a bit closer. 
 

It’s a shame there are not two options for image sizes. Perhaps smaller images are old school but if they make a struggling MSFS useable then I see no issue. IMHO I should be busy in my own cockpit and only glance at other aircraft so would prefer the smaller file sizes.

18gb is quite an optimisation, especially when those savings are multiplied across the number of AI aircraft you have on display 

It's the difference between 80 AI each using a 21mb file, total 1.6gb VRAM vs 80 AI using a 1.3mb file, total 104mb VRAM... 

When you are trying to optimise the sim, it's always best to copy the developer and use the same size and format textures that they do.

Have you managed to optimise the A319 EasyJet’s? I cannot get those to work at all

So I tried an alternative file but it did not work for the FSLTL_A319_EZY, I still get a black aircraft. When I copied back the original file, all was restored.

If anyone wants to test, I loaded EGKK (Gatwick) using the flightsim.to addon plus the default EGKK as there are lots of EasyJet aircraft based there.

There seems to be no logic in terms of which resized images work or do not. It seems to affect some liveries across a number of different aircraft types, but not all - although I am at a loss now!

If anyone knows the devs, perhaps they will know the answer to this conundrum?

14 hours ago, chickster25 said:

Have you managed to optimise the A319 EasyJet’s? I cannot get those to work at all

I'm just now looking into reducing the image size to optimize, and here is what I found so far.

I was able to get the EZ A319 (one of them so far, G-EZFW) converted to 1024 just fine.  As you can see in the pics below...the quality takes a hit, close up...

but at normal taxi distance, I think it looks acceptable for the savings you get.

 

I may try 2048 maps vs 1024 and see if I can find a good balance between performance and quality.

And FYI...some of the 767 freighters were 8k...the DHL and Kalitta's specifically...those would drag your FPS down in a hurry!  I changed them to 1024....now I just have to go find them in the sim and see how they look at 1024.

I'm using Photoshop and the Nvidia plugin to manually change the textures (being a veteran painter has its benefits in this endeavor, hehe)...so manipulating textures are second nature.

Before anyone asks...I'm not taking this on as a project at the moment...there are a lot of moving parts to an effort this size, and I'm just at the curious stage right now as I explore what this new traffic app has added to the community. 

If I'm approached by the devs to assist in optimization, all the proper approvals to modify and most importantly, redistribute copyright material have to be ironed out before I can start making any of my work public to share.  Sadly from what I've read in the past about this touchy subject, we may never get approval for that, but I know there are several freeware painting apps that can handle MSFS dds files properly, so anyone here could use a combo of a batch program to convert the bulk, and then use the paint program to figure out why some planes don't work with the batch.

I think 2048 is the sweet spot these days for these textures. Could you PM me please? Thanks.

That’s interesting to know that it can be done, although fully understand you not taking this on not only for time reasons but copyright etc..

It would appear that the batch resizing is the issue.

I also agree that 2048 x 2048 might be the sweet spot as image files are reduced to around 5mb which is still a 75% reduction over the original, but would provide double resolution over 1024 x 1024

Always best to convert to PSD and then resize and convert back to DDS adding mipmaps.

Edited October 4, 20223 yr by toby23