[0.23] Squad Texture Reduction Pack - B9 and KW Packs also

[PolecatEZ]

Some squad models uses alpha(just look at cupola). And mbm can to contain it(it was a mistake). It used if not for transparency then for specularity.

Difference can be not noticeable from first glance at VAB but in general made noticeable impact in model shading. But if no one care and all happy then whatever

I'm personally think killing specularity channel in B9 is a crime.

Its a tradeoff, without stripping alphas the size would be about 25% higher for not a whole lot of benefit in most models. There are some that will glitch (like the parachute), and these will be corrected.

I didn't touch the specularity on the B9, that was just a simple texture size reduction of existing .png's. Nothing else was altered.

"well, **** what you want, you can't stop me."

Now I know I'm being trolled.

Edited October 4, 2013 by PolecatEZ

[Commander Zoom]

I assure you, I am entirely serious. As a result of your conduct in this thread, I no longer wish to have anything to do with you or your work.

Therefore, I have uninstalled your mod. (Thank you for the instructions on how to do so.)

In closing, before you undertake any more actions "for the good of the community", I strongly urge you to reconsider how it is best served. I submit that defying the express wishes of another member and modder, asserting a right to do so under the terms of their current license, is not it.

Edited October 4, 2013 by Commander Zoom

[wasmic]

Well, PolecatEZ, doing something against the modders explicit request is, even though it is perfectly lawful according to the license, a violation of the first rule of the internet, also known as "Don't be a dick". You are currently being very rude towards Sumghai. I actually considered using this, but...

[rottielover]

Ah, welcome to the interwebs.... You know, I actually read the thread, this is known as a classic "dev fight" (see cat fight def.) . Fortunately we have licencees (eg "law") to guide us. Since neither did anything prohibited in said license, I suggest you each focus on your own mods.

I'm sure there will still be flamers, I respectfully request the Mod's of the forum delete flame posts and leave this thread open, as this mod is useful, works, and does benefit the community.

[zYnthethicz]

You're doing gods work Pole.

[amo28]

Ah, welcome to the interwebs.... You know, I actually read the thread, this is known as a classic "dev fight" (see cat fight def.) . Fortunately we have licencees (eg "law") to guide us. Since neither did anything prohibited in said license, I suggest you each focus on your own mods.

I'm sure there will still be flamers, I respectfully request the Mod's of the forum delete flame posts and leave this thread open, as this mod is useful, works, and does benefit the community.

I agree. This is spot on.

I also think that PoleCatEZ is not choosing the mods he optimizes based on how dead they are, he's doing it based on their popularity and how efficient a system needs to be in order to enjoy those mods. Fustek is a really popular mod -- plain and simple. This shouting match is irrelevant at this point. Everyone's getting what they want after the misunderstanding was cleared up. Let's move on and enjoy our 600MB of free RAM.

[EPD]

So now we have guys who thinks that licenses and law in this case are better and more important than just ask kindly dev. for permission and RESPECT his decision?

I agree to "don't be a di**" rule.

Time will bring us licenses like this:

You can use mod and change it for your own and only your own purpose.
You can't share it or release it.

[PolecatEZ]

So now we have guys who thinks that licenses and law in this case are better and more important than just ask kindly dev. for permission and RESPECT his decision?

I agree to "don't be a di**" rule.

Time will bring us licenses like this:

You can use mod and change it for your own and only your own purpose.
You can't share it or release it.

I'm still quite puzzled by this, because he made the request and I agreed both publicly and privately to abide by his request. I still maintain I will respect his request, and have not deviated from this statement.

I also statde that with certain licenses, the community (and not just myself) can clearly see what they have a right to do. If you don't like people doing things with your stuff, put on a more restrictive license. The flipside of the coin you presented above is that a game developer can do what EA did when Sims 2/3 modders were throwing lawyer letters at each other. If you want to research their new EULA wording, feel free. These licenses are useless in granting rights if these rights are unable to be exercised.

"But I have freedom of speech!" -> "Except if you want to talk."

If anyone cares to start a thread on the appropriate forum, I'll respond better there.

[forsaken1111]

Playing devil's advocate here, PolecatEZ is correct. If you release your work under a license that allows modification and redistribution then others are under no obligation to acquiesce to your requests NOT to do so. They can still agree to your request, as PolecatEZ has apparently done, but they do not have to.

[kyle.mk.howard]

Any one working on batch files for Mac, yet? :/

[amo28]

This is the latest version of the UNIX script: Debloat script. It was updated when PolecatEZ updated the debloat script for removing stock IVA textures.

It SHOULD work on Mac with the same instructions for Linux.

Instructions:

Paste the contents of the pastebin link into a file in your /Gamedata folder. Call it debloat.sh.

In a terminal, cd into the /Gamedata folder, and run: chmod 700 [file]

Now execute the file with: sudo [filename]

Now follow the rest of PolecatEZ's directions.

I'm sure there are other ways of doing this, but I don't use a Mac so I'm giving the most straightforward directions to running a script on both Mac & Linux.

[TaranisElsu]

So what are the guidelines for mod makers? So far my mods have been small because they are mostly plugin code, but my Life Support mod does have a large number of (currently ugly) parts. What size should I make my textures? For small, medium, and large parts? What type of texture should I make? I know not to use png anymore, but which is best?

[p1t1o]

Can we calm down about FusTek? Clearly there has been some frick-up in communication but as PoleCatEZ has yet to release a FusTek pack, I suggest everyone cut him some slack.

I know we all want to be seen to be standing up for modders rights or freedom of whatever or the "lawz of teh NternitZ" but there is actually no issue here. Until someone releases some code all we've got is...well I don't know what you'd call it but its pretty unpleasant.

But thats just me, sitting here squeezing more mods into GameData.

[wasmic]

Alright, I misunderstood what had happened.

Here comes a very rare thing; an apology on the internet.

I, wasmic, OPENLY APOLOGIZE, ON THE INTERNET FOR ALL TO SEE, FOR INDIRECTLY CALLING PolecatEZ A DICK. I AM SORRY AND WILL TRY TO RESEARCH BETTER BEFFORE CALLING PEOPLE DICKS NEXT TIME.

EDIT: Oh, and I have a question. Is it possible to get a version that doesn't downsize the IVA's? I'd like to reduce the part textures, but I'd also like to keep the IVA's as they are.

Edited October 4, 2013 by wasmic

[Captain_Party]

How can I do it on the Mac?

[PolecatEZ]

This is the latest version of the UNIX script: Debloat script. It was updated when PolecatEZ updated the debloat script for removing stock IVA textures.

It SHOULD work on Mac with the same instructions for Linux.

Instructions:

Paste the contents of the pastebin link into a file in your /Gamedata folder. Call it debloat.sh.

In a terminal, cd into the /Gamedata folder, and run: chmod 700 [file]

Now execute the file with: sudo [filename]

Now follow the rest of PolecatEZ's directions.

I'm sure there are other ways of doing this, but I don't use a Mac so I'm giving the most straightforward directions to running a script on both Mac & Linux.

I reposted this to page 1, hopefully this helps a few peoples.

So what are the guidelines for mod makers? So far my mods have been small because they are mostly plugin code, but my Life Support mod does have a large number of (currently ugly) parts. What size should I make my textures? For small, medium, and large parts? What type of texture should I make? I know not to use png anymore, but which is best?

You'll ask a lot of modders and get a lot of different opinions. For my 2 cents, norma/shadow maps shouldn't need to be very large, maybe 512 max. All else should be relative to the actual size of the object in game or the level of fine detail you want to preserve. Until Squad makes some kind of dynamic texture quality loading, I would also suggest you release a hi-rez and low-rez pack for your users.

.png's are actually fine, but you need to remember that the file size for .png is does not reflect properly what the RAM usage will be. The size on your hard drive is just an illusion. The game bases things on pixel dimensions when it re-constitutes the graphics files, so 512x512 is about 750k-1mb regardless of the .png file size, for example. In my next update, I'll try running things through the .png converter before I shrink them to see if I get better results.

Another note is consolidation of textures using the MODEL command. This is helpful, but not as much as you want to believe. It does cut down on initial load times and a little on your RAM footprint (and HD space)...until you make a space ship with 20 - 30 copies of the same part. Then, that lower texture size starts to look real nice, as the next lower size knocks off 75% off the total load for that craft. This is the reason why B9 still ran like a pig on some systems even though the creator did a very good job on using MODEL for consolidation.

EDIT: Oh, and I have a question. Is it possible to get a version that doesn't downsize the IVA's? I'd like to reduce the part textures, but I'd also like to keep the IVA's as they are.

I can't think of where I did reduce the texture detail of the main "inner" piece for the cockpits, all the detail should still be there. I did reduce some shadow maps, and ripped out an alpha channel, but LOD should still be very much intact. Not all cockpits have a "main piece" though, and are very much just a collection of little bits. You can still see your Kerbal family photos and read the sticky notes just fine.

Edited October 4, 2013 by PolecatEZ

[kyle.mk.howard]

This is the latest version of the UNIX script: Debloat script. It was updated when PolecatEZ updated the debloat script for removing stock IVA textures.

It SHOULD work on Mac with the same instructions for Linux.

Instructions:

Paste the contents of the pastebin link into a file in your /Gamedata folder. Call it debloat.sh.

In a terminal, cd into the /Gamedata folder, and run: chmod 700 [file]

Now execute the file with: sudo [filename]

Now follow the rest of PolecatEZ's directions.

I'm sure there are other ways of doing this, but I don't use a Mac so I'm giving the most straightforward directions to running a script on both Mac & Linux.

Should I be just downloading the file? When I save it, it saves as a txt and I have to change the name of it in finder. I am only getting one file..

Anyways, I run terminal and I get to sudo debloat.sh and terminal says command not found.

Help?

[kyle.mk.howard]

I got the script to run, but the commands in the script are coming up not found. :/

edit: found the issue, changing the command in my script to see if this works..

edit 2: and the script still doesn't work. Now I need help.

Edited October 4, 2013 by kyle.mk.howard
failure report

[p1t1o]

So...I know what a normal map is but what's an alpha channel? While I'm at it, whats an "emmisive" and a "specular"? Sorry if its a bit of a n0o0o0oob question.

[Sapphire]

So...I know what a normal map is but what's an alpha channel? While I'm at it, whats an "emmisive" and a "specular"? Sorry if its a bit of a n0o0o0oob question.

From my little experience using GIMP, an alpha channel is a transparency layer. Like how .jpgs all have white backgrounds, but .pngs can have transparent backgrounds.

[protools]

Yes any way to get this to work on my commie - hipster potato?

Any word on an update for us "Commie-Hipster box" users? I could really use the free RAM.

[amo28]

I got the script to run, but the commands in the script are coming up not found. :/

edit: found the issue, changing the command in my script to see if this works..

edit 2: and the script still doesn't work. Now I need help.

Sorry Kyle. Not too sure about Macs, but let's make sure you're not having a permissions problem. In terminal, can you run one of the commands in the script manually? cd into the /Gamedata folder and run rm -f Squad/Parts/Aero/advancedCanard/model000.* . If that tells you command not found, then I have no idea. I was under the understanding that rm works the same in UNIX that it does in Linux. Maybe your user doesn't have the permission to run it and you need to run every command in the script as sudo instead?

If it does work, check to see that there aren't spaces before the command in the script. I know pastebin is a little wonky of a source, but I didn't want to get into the business of sharing files.

If you still can't get it to work, just save yourself the headache and manually remove the files. Even though it looks like a lot in the script, it won't take that long in Finder.

[Trann]

I'd be happy to assist with unixy/osx scripts but I'd need to know more to get it right.

Is there a set of filenames that should always be removed? Is there a directory that should always be emptied? Or have these particular files been found through trial-and-error? I see a pattern to many but there are exceptions.

Rather than explicitly naming each file to remove, it might be easier to do this with a 'find' statement if there's a reasonable pattern to things.

And, because I'm paranoid, I'm tempted to move them to an archived location rather than delete, detect if already run, and detect those archives...

% Debloat.sh

Already debloated.

Restore archived files from $date? (y/[n])

[p1t1o]

From my little experience using GIMP, an alpha channel is a transparency layer. Like how .jpgs all have white backgrounds, but .pngs can have transparent backgrounds.

I love how the verb to remove something like that is to "rip out", like tearing the giblets out of a dead rabbit.

Does every pixel need to be told what is under it? Sorry if this is OT, I can migrate to a more appropriate thread if necessary...

[PolecatEZ]

I'd be happy to assist with unixy/osx scripts but I'd need to know more to get it right.

Is there a set of filenames that should always be removed? Is there a directory that should always be emptied? Or have these particular files been found through trial-and-error? I see a pattern to many but there are exceptions.

Rather than explicitly naming each file to remove, it might be easier to do this with a 'find' statement if there's a reasonable pattern to things.

And, because I'm paranoid, I'm tempted to move them to an archived location rather than delete, detect if already run, and detect those archives...

% Debloat.sh

Already debloated.

Restore archived files from $date? (y/[n])

For the "Spaces" folder, every texture was removed, so I have the blanket "del /s" command for those folders with each file type. If I make it more general than that, dos will make the user confirm for every folder, which would be annoying. There's ways to turn off the confirmation, but it can scare malware checkers. In the parts folder, not every texture file was altered, so I made a seek-and-destroy hit list for just those that I altered.

There was a guy that dumped on my Spaceport thread about his magical mbm2png coverter. I was going to try to use it to convert the remaining "parts" stuff (and make installing easier), but it turns out that was just L&P. Maybe he'll update it to work with .20+.

The nuclear option would be just to zip up the altered Parts folder, with unaltered Squad stuff included. Then tell users to delete or move their original GamePlay/Parts before installing. Its a messy option in its own way.

Edited October 4, 2013 by PolecatEZ