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For the Dutch

Awfully slow loader. I have a feeling the bitmaps would benefit from DXT conversion. Shall give it a go ...;)
 
Awfully slow loader. I have a feeling the bitmaps would benefit from DXT conversion. Shall give it a go ...;)


Same here, loads very slow. The pilot in the VC is redundant, I would have left it out. Slows the proces down. But overall not a bad addon, rather nice really.

Cees
 
Same here, loads very slow. The pilot in the VC is redundant, I would have left it out. Slows the proces down. But overall not a bad addon, rather nice really.

Cees
Yes, still messing with the format [of the graphics]. I think some of the 'bits' could benefit from lower res [and load time]. 49 graphics is quite a few....and the pilot is one of the bigger ones..;)
 
I converted all to DXT5 ...and shrank all the common files to max 1024 [from 2048] so the total graphic load is substantially smaller...but there's not a heck of a lot of difference to the load time.
Now the only 2048s are the exteriors - so the detailed texts remain...;)

Not sure if a conversion to non-alpha images might improve things. It'd halve the size but maybe still not the load time..;)
 
The 'texture' folder that's for common images has gone from 241 meg down to 17 ...and yet is still slow to load.
There's more to this than meets the eye...;)
 
Hi all:

first of all i would like to thank you for downloading our project it is appreciated.

I did not do the upload of the S-14 so I have no explanation for it being slow to load. but in checking the file sizes of the FSX version compared to the FS9 version it is about 2X as big and i don't have any idea why.

I will contact Emile as he uploaded the S-14 and see if he has any idea why the difference.

thank you again

David Wooster
this4david2@gmail.com
 
OK, folks.....I think I've found the 'problem'.

After all that laborious image resizing and converting to DXT1 [no alpha]....meaning images went from 2048 triple 8 bitmaps of about 16 meg each down to 1024 at 500k....there was almost no difference in the really slow load times...

...so clearly it wasn't actually the image sizes at all.

So I looked at the only other thing that can take time to load.....the cab file for the gauges.

I extracted them to their named folder ....so they were no longer 'archived' in a cab....so it's simply panel.std NLR / S-14 Gauges /
.... and it loaded correctly as you would expect.

Now I'll revert all the graphics to their 'generous' sizes and I bet it will all still be fine...;)

There's clearly an issue with the cab-creation program used.
 
Update....
Yes, I was right. The original graphics are a teensy weensy bit slower....maybe one second over my shrunken ones.
So it's definitely all about the cab file...;)
 
Thanks Jafo! While flying it I got the message that my "computer ran out of memory" and now that seems over.

hertzie
 
No, unfortunately it isn't over :-(. Did all I could with my virtual memory and with my settings, but still some 30 seconds after takeoff FSX gives the error message of running out of VM and closes.

Suggestions welcome!

hertzie.
 
No, unfortunately it isn't over :-(. Did all I could with my virtual memory and with my settings, but still some 30 seconds after takeoff FSX gives the error message of running out of VM and closes.

Suggestions welcome!

hertzie.
Hertzie.... the issue I was describing isn't an out of memory one...it's an un-notified error in loading one...caused by something within the aircraft addon refusing to load or being extremely slow to load. In this case that is the cab file... likely the format used to save it.

Out Of Memory issues are typically due to a model's graphics load....and in this case there are quite a few images of relatively large proportions [2048x2048].....about 18 of them.
The solution there is to shrink most of these images which could be argued to be overly generous...ie. a seatbelt image doesn't need 2048 resolution..... and/or change format to a compression type eg. DXT1 [no alpha] in which case the aircraft won't overtax your system load.

I could seek consent to upload my reduced size files [they weren't mine to start with] and you could pop them in instead. It's really only the common 'texture' file ones that need to be smaller...the specific AC files can stay big for text details etc...;)
 
Re mention of 'seat belts'....just as an example....they are a quite relatively simplistic image...called 'seat belts.bmp' a 16,385kb 2048 32bit 'triple 8' [extended bitmap] in the AC release. By the time I'd finished with it...it was a 513kb 1024 DTX1 [no alpha] compressed image which is only 3% of the size...;)

There's absolutely no need for a seatbelt image to be so big you can almost count the webbing thread density...;)
 
I would welcome a removal of the pilots in the VC. It's just a strange collection of loose limbs, depending on the viewpoint. :dizzy: Apart from that and the loading time it's a great addon.

:applause:

Cees
 

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  • strange limbs .jpg
    strange limbs .jpg
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Hi Cees, hi Jafo, seems I'm a way ahead in texturing ;-) ;-). Cees, is it asked too much to send me the "shrunken files" ?? You must have my email adress I think, if not, I'll send you a PM.

Cheers, Erik (hertzie).
 
Well, I don't have the shrunken files! Jafo has them.

Cees

I altered the files for my own personal use...in an attempt to get to the bottom of the slow loading.
They were not the cause....the 'bad' cabinet file was/is.
If you have a slow loading just extract all the gauges in that cab to their respective folder and the load time will be normal.

Out Of Memory errors isn't something I have seen with FSX for some time, but if you get them with this aircraft it will be the imag sizes in particular.
The solution to that is to reduce their sizes...;)
 
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