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shieldsy (52 posts)
Feb-07-02, 08:27 PM (EST) "Updated file compression" The A unit is the original ACE at 1,029kb. The B unit, basically a clone, is compressed using the updated compresser. 144kb!
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Subject Author Message Date ID RE: Updated file compression FozzyBear Feb-08-02 1 RE: Updated file compression MartinW Feb-08-02 2 RE: Updated file compression shieldsy Feb-08-02 3 RE: Updated file compression sniper297 Feb-08-02 4 RE: Updated file compression gmorales Feb-08-02 5 RE: Updated file compression stationmaster Feb-08-02 6 RE: Updated file compression sniper297 Feb-09-02 7

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FozzyBear (485 posts)
Feb-08-02, 06:23 AM (EST) 1. "RE: Updated file compression" >The A unit is the original
>ACE at 1,029kb. The B
>unit, basically a clone, is
>compressed using the updated compresser.
>144kb! Yeah! and???? What's the point you're making???Compresion works??
They look the same??
What??I've been using compressed ACE files for a long time before they released this patch. No advantage gained from the patch at all, I don't quite see what it is you're getting at here.Best Regards,
Julian (Fozzy The Bear)
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MartinW (64 posts)
Feb-08-02, 06:53 AM (EST) 2. "RE: Updated file compression" The only "new" feature of the new MakeAce (apart from the Windows version) is the addition of DXT compression.
This does degrade the image slightly so is really only for TerrTex textures.The zlib compression included in the new version is the same compression that is used by AceComp and TgaTool2 so you shouldn`t get any increased compression using it. Compression will vary depending on the image data. Simple images compress well, highly detailed images compress much less wellThe Windows Interface version does at least provide a simple way to convert without having to mess with dos... Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top
shieldsy (52 posts)
Feb-08-02, 08:39 AM (EST) 3. "RE: Updated file compression" Thanks for setting me straight, Martin.
And thanks for all your contributions to the sim world.
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sniper297 (1535 posts)
Feb-08-02, 10:30 AM (EST) 4. "RE: Updated file compression" Martin, I think there's a little more to it. Johnf was talking about the new winace too, and I decided to give it a shot. I downloaded your newest TGAtool2, made a new folder with the newest TGAtool2 and the patch1 makeace in it. Then I used the new TGAtool the "normal" way, load the ace, send to editor (PSP7), reload after edit, export ace no alpha using compression. (I didn't reduce the color depth for any of these tests since I didn't want to add variables that might affect the results, so everything was left at default.) One went from 1029k (early custom texture) to 755k, the other (edited KUJU US2farmland1.ace) from 171k to 443k. Next, I converted the same ace files I started with to bitmaps, 769k each. (Load ace, send to editor, save as bitmap.) Taking the 769k bitmaps, I ran MakeACEWin.exe on them, 171k each.This appears to be the tool they should have given us in the first place, the one that KUJU actually used for the originals, since it's the first time I've seen anything that takes their original 171k ace file and converst it back to the same size. There's obviously something different between the new version of makeace.exe (or possibly the way TGAtool uses it, I haven't tried running it in the run box yet) and the MakeACEWin.exe. So for now, the solution is to use TGAtool2 to convert an ace to a bitmap (and no, I haven't tried targas or anything with an alpha channel yet either, just terrain textures so far), or send main image to editor and save that as a bitmap, and use MakeACEWin.exe to convert back to an ace file.
Anybody else reading this bear in mind this isn't thoroughly tested yet, I have no idea how framerates are affected, and altho I don't see any loss of quality in the terrtex files and haven't had the game crash when driving over these textures, this is still an unproven idea. Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top
gmorales (33 posts)
Feb-08-02, 10:38 AM (EST) 5. "RE: Updated file compression" Sorry, but How you compress the *.ace files?I did not know that it was possible to be done. Germán Morales Loyola
Ingeniero de Estudios
Ferrocarril de Antofagasta a Bolivia (FCAB)
Antofagasta - Chile
Fono: (+56) 55 - 206565
e-Mail: gmorales@fcab.cl
Web: http://www.fcab.cl
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stationmaster (338 posts)
Feb-08-02, 09:18 PM (EST) 6. "RE: Updated file compression" I started to look at some of my textures to see if DXT would be a better choice. So far, Ive noticed very little difference in image quality, but a huge reduction in size. For example, my new billboards went from ~200k to 43k per texture (256x256 pixels). When you add in night and snow textures, the space savings is huge.If I understand correctly, DXT is 16 rather than 24-bit color. I expect that most of my hand-painted textures would look fine with DXT, but photographic textures would lose realism.Ron Paludan
Railway Station Procutions, LLC
http://www.railwaystation.com
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sniper297 (1535 posts)
Feb-09-02, 08:44 AM (EST) 7. "RE: Updated file compression" Oops. Sorry, Martin, I spaced out into idiot mode, forgot to specify patch version of makeace for the compression.
Done this way, the newest version of Martin's TGAtool does compress the ace file exactly the same as windows does. A 512x512 targa using the patch #1 makace and compression is 700k, 512x512 opaque is 171kb. 256 pixel bitmaps are even smaller, my 256x256 custom terrain textures for PO&N5 shrunk from 140kb to 43k, and the 128x128 textures from 66k to 11 kb.
Now if I could only find a document maker that would do that, I insert a picture from a 40k jpeg into a wordpad RTF document, it saves out to 7 megabytes! And don't get me started on Adobe fatware either. An HTML seems to be the only way to make a small readme with pictures in it, if only I could figure out how to make one I could do a lot less typing when I'm writing docs for the route. Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

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