Looking for an in-depth education on the practice of placing common AI Aircraft textures in the FS2004 Main Texture directory.
I notice that a number of MAIW packages utilize this practice (i.e., NBAI weapons, reflective canopy, *_L).
This seems like a good practice and would save considerable disk space if all entries for a given aircraft utilize a common texture...i.e., *_L.bmp. Especially given that I have several thousands of individual AI aircraft.
At least on the military side of AI aircraft. I do have a number of civilian AI aircraft that the *_L.bmp is composed of several variations, so I know this would not work for those.
Thus, what are the pros and cons of this practice? Does this practice impact performance one way or the other?
Any and all replies would be greatly appreciated given that I am in the middle of a complete overhaul and reinstall of my FS2004 setup.
Thanks!
Mat
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Main Texture Directory Usage
Re: Main Texture Directory Usage
If we take an example, an F-15 wing of 3x Sqns then you will have probably in the region of 72x lightmap textures and possibly 72x weapon load textures.
So in simplistic terms replacing all 144x textures with just 2, one of each, into the main texture folder makes an awful lot of sense. This is because the two textures get loaded and used multiple times as opposed to 144 textures loaded and used once each.
What are the pitfalls? Simply put none. HOWEVER, you must make sure that all examples of the one type are exactly the same if not then you will not get the variety that the painter(s) intended. This is normally the case with weapons sheets. Quite often they will have different colours for different nationalities. Also some do sheets for live and inert sheets.
So to maximise the variety you need to see which is the most common version in play. Copy that to textures folder and remove it from all of the individual folders using that one. You will still get benefits just not as much as if every thing was uniform.
Another common example is prop textures. If you take the C-130 as an example there are many different colours for the props. Realistically you have very little choice but to leave the individual schemes in the original folders.
Hope this helps.
So in simplistic terms replacing all 144x textures with just 2, one of each, into the main texture folder makes an awful lot of sense. This is because the two textures get loaded and used multiple times as opposed to 144 textures loaded and used once each.
What are the pitfalls? Simply put none. HOWEVER, you must make sure that all examples of the one type are exactly the same if not then you will not get the variety that the painter(s) intended. This is normally the case with weapons sheets. Quite often they will have different colours for different nationalities. Also some do sheets for live and inert sheets.
So to maximise the variety you need to see which is the most common version in play. Copy that to textures folder and remove it from all of the individual folders using that one. You will still get benefits just not as much as if every thing was uniform.
Another common example is prop textures. If you take the C-130 as an example there are many different colours for the props. Realistically you have very little choice but to leave the individual schemes in the original folders.
Hope this helps.
Steve
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Quid Si Coelum Ruat
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Quid Si Coelum Ruat
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Re: Main Texture Directory Usage
Thanks Steve!
Pretty much what I thought the practice was in all ways that you stated. The lightmaps for AI aircraft (*_L) make the most sense and sounds like the way to go and weapons, etc.. for at least US aircraft (which dominate my setup).
I will play with this some by viewing some of the textures and seeing which would qualify for doing it this way. DXT2BMP is pretty handy for quick looks at textures...
I have already done similar actions with airport sceneries, for instance all of the Blueprint Simulations airports that I have, by moving all of the common textures to the main texture directory to cut down on HDD footprint...
Pretty much what I thought the practice was in all ways that you stated. The lightmaps for AI aircraft (*_L) make the most sense and sounds like the way to go and weapons, etc.. for at least US aircraft (which dominate my setup).
I will play with this some by viewing some of the textures and seeing which would qualify for doing it this way. DXT2BMP is pretty handy for quick looks at textures...
I have already done similar actions with airport sceneries, for instance all of the Blueprint Simulations airports that I have, by moving all of the common textures to the main texture directory to cut down on HDD footprint...
Re: Main Texture Directory Usage
The only thing that I would be careful about with scenery files being moved is that quite often you can get a lot in there, I am thinking about things like the UK2000 series here.
Whilst moving them would make the best use of space at the time, if you start removing sceneries because you are replacing them then you could easily get into the situation where those files will get left there and therefore clutter up your texture folders over time.
I am not saying that you shouldn't do it, just that you have to think about the uninstall process to keep your system at optimal.
Whilst moving them would make the best use of space at the time, if you start removing sceneries because you are replacing them then you could easily get into the situation where those files will get left there and therefore clutter up your texture folders over time.
I am not saying that you shouldn't do it, just that you have to think about the uninstall process to keep your system at optimal.
Steve
_______________________________________________________
Quid Si Coelum Ruat
_______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________
Quid Si Coelum Ruat
_______________________________________________________
Re: Main Texture Directory Usage
Thumbs Up on that Steve...
All I did, for instance, where I have multiple sceneries by a single author (John Stinstrom, Blueprint Simulations, etc.) is identify the common textures utilized in each scenery and then moved a single copy to the main texture directory. It has served me well so far and I keep a spreadsheet to track those kinds of changes I make.
I did not realize that the main texture directory also cross-referenced the aircraft directory as well until this rebuild and looking at some of the MAIW packages, which this go around I am installing to a desktop temp folder first, then migrating to the sim.
For years I have had a backup SSD with all my add-ons archived in a ready to install sequence. With this rebuild I am incorporating the MAIW collection into my archive, while refining it at the same time. In short, streamlining the entire process in preparation for a new system build. With my final retirement (hopefully lol), my wife allowed me to build my dream system and will be moving everything from a laptop to the new system later this summer.
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On a side note, I dealt with issues for years on both laptop and desktops with FPS running smooth at 50-60 FPS and then suddenly dropping to 3-8FPS for a few seconds. Recently, after a ton of research into the subject I pulled the back off my laptop and placed it directly on a 5 fan cool pad and have not had a single drop since no matter how heavy the graphics or traffic settings...just never had the time to really drill into the issue...so for me at least...overheating of the CPU/GPU plays a huge role in FPS with FS2004. I ran temp programs and was surprised at the fluctuations the sim caused based on different graphic settings.
All I did, for instance, where I have multiple sceneries by a single author (John Stinstrom, Blueprint Simulations, etc.) is identify the common textures utilized in each scenery and then moved a single copy to the main texture directory. It has served me well so far and I keep a spreadsheet to track those kinds of changes I make.
I did not realize that the main texture directory also cross-referenced the aircraft directory as well until this rebuild and looking at some of the MAIW packages, which this go around I am installing to a desktop temp folder first, then migrating to the sim.
For years I have had a backup SSD with all my add-ons archived in a ready to install sequence. With this rebuild I am incorporating the MAIW collection into my archive, while refining it at the same time. In short, streamlining the entire process in preparation for a new system build. With my final retirement (hopefully lol), my wife allowed me to build my dream system and will be moving everything from a laptop to the new system later this summer.
___
On a side note, I dealt with issues for years on both laptop and desktops with FPS running smooth at 50-60 FPS and then suddenly dropping to 3-8FPS for a few seconds. Recently, after a ton of research into the subject I pulled the back off my laptop and placed it directly on a 5 fan cool pad and have not had a single drop since no matter how heavy the graphics or traffic settings...just never had the time to really drill into the issue...so for me at least...overheating of the CPU/GPU plays a huge role in FPS with FS2004. I ran temp programs and was surprised at the fluctuations the sim caused based on different graphic settings.