texture resolution enlightment

[Peg o my heart]

Hello

Im not into repainting and have little knowlegde about the area.

I am not so sure if I understand about texture resolution. So, if a repaint has 2048x2048 resolutiom, it wont take effect until I set the above value in fsx.cfg texture load. When i do so, will it automatically make all the textures in fsx world become 2048? And if the texture has 4096, is using 2048 texture.load not going to make any changes to the 4096 texture? And how bad is the fps hit?

Also, I would like to know whether T-28 Ants Airplane utilizies higher texture res than 1024. Im planning to get the D version apart from freeware A variant I have been using..and happy with ith

Pls educate me. Thanks in advance.

 

[falcon409]

Hello,
I'm not into repainting and have little knowledge about the area.

I am not so sure if I understand about texture resolution. So, if a repaint has 2048x2048 resolution, it wont take effect until I set the above value in fsx.cfg texture load. When i do so, will it automatically make all the textures in fsx world become 2048? And if the texture has 4096, is using 2048 texture.load not going to make any changes to the 4096 texture? And how bad is the fps hit?

My knowledge is also limited, however. . .if you set the fsx.cfg to display 2048 or 4096 Max texture load, then any texture of that resolution in the sim will display at the proper resolution. It won't take a 1024 texture and display at 2048 or 4096. Also, it's my understanding that if you make a change to the resolution in the fsx.cfg file, it will only remain that resolution until you shut the sim down, at which time it will reset to default which is 1024. There is a utility "Texture Max Load Editor" which will allow you to set a specific texture resolution and hold that setting from session to session without having to continually go back and edit the cfg file. As for fps hits. . .I've utilized 4096x4096 textures in every repaint I've done for FSX and I've never seen any fps hit at all.

 

[Dimus]

Just a slight correction Ed. The resolution setting in fsx.cfg will hold until you make any change in your graphics settings from within FSX. It will then default back to 1024 as FSX will amend the fsx.cfg. If you keep your settings constant the resolution setting will stick. The FPS hit will depend on your system. In my 8 year old one I prefer to keep the default 1024 and I also opt for low res options in repaints when available, like in some of the Milviz models.

 

[falcon409]

Just a slight correction Ed. The resolution setting in fsx.cfg will hold until you make any change in your graphics settings from within FSX. It will then default back to 1024 as FSX will amend the fsx.cfg. If you keep your settings constant the resolution setting will stick. . . . . .

Thanks Dimus!

 

[Dino Cattaneo]

What Dimus says is correct - resolution will hold unless any other graphic setting parameter is changed.

One additional note is that, in many new video cards/drivers (at least Nvidia) the texture resolution setting does not seem to matter - textures are displayed correctly in any case (that is the case of my 660 at least).

 

[Peg o my heart]

if you set the fsx.cfg to display 2048 or 4096 Max texture load, then any texture of that resolution in the sim will display at the proper resolution. It won't take a 1024 texture and display at 2048 or 4096. . .I've utilized 4096x4096 textures in every repaint I've done for FSX and I've never seen any fps hit at all.

Thanks for the answer. I was wondering this too. I wonder using higher res will change my already set 1024 REX texture. So it wont

The FPS hit will depend on your system. In my 8 year old one I prefer to keep the default 1024 and I also opt for low res options in repaints when available, like in some of the Milviz models.

Mine isn't high end either, I am running i5-2500 but my GPU is definitely old (GT9800GT)

What Dimus says is correct - resolution will hold unless any other graphic setting parameter is changed.

One additional note is that, in many new video cards/drivers (at least Nvidia) the texture resolution setting does not seem to matter - textures are displayed correctly in any case (that is the case of my 660 at least).

Yes, correct, I stay out the graphic sliders during the experiment. I am wondering too if your T-45C is using 2048 res? I just made a slight experiment with 2048 and the Goshawk was definitely looking better

 

[Jafo]

Dino's T45 main graphics are 16meg dds which would make them 4096 res ....

 

[Peg o my heart]

Dino's T45 main graphics are 16meg dds which would make them 4096 res ....

OK Thank you. And is there any apparent clue to tell what resolution a texture has?

 

[Jafo]

Often in the maker's description...but since image formats such as dds are 'compressed' [and with an alpha channel] you can't just go by meg size.

If it's a 16meg dds it's 4096....which makes half res [2048] approx a quarter the meg...ie 4meg.

Image formats for aircraft skins can be several other image types....the next most [or more] prominent is extended bitmap [also has an alpha]....also often called 8,8,8 [the suffix is 'bmp']. They're considerably larger at the same res.... a 4096x4096 triple 8 would be about 65 meg.....hence the use of compression formats [dds] to keep the graphic load 'hit' down...

Some models really 'need' large res images because they're cramming a lot of the model painting into just a few images. Others rely on more individual/separate images of smaller size to create the 'whole'....

 

[Lane Street]

Dino's T45 main graphics are 16meg dds which would make them 4096 res ....

Not necessarily.

An uncompressed (32bit) 2048X2048 texture would also be 16 MB in size.

With very few exceptions the only way to know what size a texture is, is to open it with an image editing program that will tell you the size.

Also, the TEXTURE_MAX_LOAD= setting in the FSX.cfg file only applies to textures with mipmaps.

If you are flying a plane that has 2048 or 4096 textures, without mipmaps, those textures will be displayed regardless of the TEXTURE_MAX_LOAD= setting.

If those textures are mipmapped and you have TEXTURE_MAX_LOAD=1024, then you will never see anything higher than the 1024 mip.

Most painters do not mip textures for user aircraft so the TEXTURE_MAX_LOAD= is irrelevant.

cheers,
Lane

 

[Peg o my heart]

Often in the maker's description...but since image formats such as dds are 'compressed' [and with an alpha channel] you can't just go by meg size.

If it's a 16meg dds it's 4096....which makes half res [2048] approx a quarter the meg...ie 4meg.

Image formats for aircraft skins can be several other image types....the next most [or more] prominent is extended bitmap [also has an alpha]....also often called 8,8,8 [the suffix is 'bmp']. They're considerably larger at the same res.... a 4096x4096 triple 8 would be about 65 meg.....hence the use of compression formats [dds] to keep the graphic load 'hit' down...

Some models really 'need' large res images because they're cramming a lot of the model painting into just a few images. Others rely on more individual/separate images of smaller size to create the 'whole'....

Not necessarily.

An uncompressed (32bit) 2048X2048 texture would also be 16 MB in size.

With very few exceptions the only way to know what size a texture is, is to open it with an image editing program that will tell you the size.

Also, the TEXTURE_MAX_LOAD= setting in the FSX.cfg file only applies to textures with mipmaps.

If you are flying a plane that has 2048 or 4096 textures, without mipmaps, those textures will be displayed regardless of the TEXTURE_MAX_LOAD= setting.

If those textures are mipmapped and you have TEXTURE_MAX_LOAD=1024, then you will never see anything higher than the 1024 mip.

Most painters do not mip textures for user aircraft so the TEXTURE_MAX_LOAD= is irrelevant.

cheers,
Lane

Affirm. Thanks for explaining. This gives me sheds of ideas

 

[Dino Cattaneo]

....anyway, the main textures of the T-45 are indeed 4096x4096.