Oolite Bulletins

is there a recommended maximum size for planet/moon texture.png files

512 x 512

Well thats the max texture size my non-shader system can handle!

I thought Oolite auto scaled textures based on reported figures from the gfx card on start up? (OK, that's what's supposed to happen...)

DaddyHoggy wrote:

I thought Oolite auto scaled textures based on reported figures from the gfx card on start up? (OK, that's what's supposed to happen...)

Yeah, its supposed to happen. In reality it doesn't all the time. I think thats what causes the problems I get with mixed up textures.

JazHaz wrote:

DaddyHoggy wrote:

I thought Oolite auto scaled textures based on reported figures from the gfx card on start up? (OK, that's what's supposed to happen...)

Yeah, its supposed to happen.

I’ve added logging for texture rescaling in r3191, enabled by setting texture.load.rescale = yes in logcontrol.plist. Reports of any oddities there would be helpful.

I notice that in system redux the texture files range between:

home_planet12.png...1.3 MB
moon1.png................140 KB

In Assassins the planet/moon PNG files range between 4 - 68 KB

I have created a large number of PNG texture files which range between 24 - 500 KB

Wouldn't a 1.3 MB PNG file be more than 512x512 using 24bitRGB?
And so, apart from total oxp file length considerations, if I limit planet/moon type textures to 750 KB (and prefer the smaller sizes whenever possible) things or to be OK; or should I reduce file sizes to smaller?
(I am placing objects at 32 strategic locations in each galaxy, with 2 or more objects per location in galaxy 4 to accommodate nova events, so 8 x 32 = 256 + 32 = 288 objects altogether) Hmmm..

Zbond-Zbond wrote:

Wouldn't a 1.3 MB PNG file be more than 512x512 using 24bitRGB?

One would hope so, given that the uncompressed size is 1 MiB.

Fundamentally, file sizes do not matter (except to the extent that they make OXPs big, obviously). You can make a texture small on disk by filling it with a solid colour, but that won’t affect the memory and video memory it uses; that’s determined solely by the number of pixels times the number of channels.

512 × 512 is not an official recommendation. For planets, it’s rather small (and besides, lat/long planet textures should be twice as wide as they are high to get a reasonably even texel distribution). The tradeoff between quality and performance is up to the OXPer.

JazHaz wrote:

512 x 512

Well thats the max texture size my non-shader system can handle!

What happens if you run SystemRedux?

Zbond-Zbond wrote:

JazHaz wrote:

512 x 512

Well thats the max texture size my non-shader system can handle!

What happens if you run SystemRedux?

Actually I do already.

It works mostly. Sometimes I get weird mixed up planet textures, but I suspect that is the same problem as I get weird mixed up ship textures too.

One thing I've always had with or without System Redux, which I now suspect is related to max texture size, is the way the planet texture suddenly disappears during flight towards the planet. From the witchpoint to about four-fifths of the way towards the planet, all looks fine, then suddenly it disappears, only to partially reappear slowly at the average altitude that stations inhabit.

EDIT: Do suns have a texture? I ask because on the odd occasion I go to the sun to skim for fuel, the sun also disappears in the same way. However unlike the planet, it completely disappears (can't even see where it is).

In the wrong thread Zbond-Zbond replied to the above message:

Zbond-Zbond wrote:

Thanks for reply. I expect that when needing to upsize planet on screen as you approach it qoes off momentarily then reappears (slow). My planets do that but are only absent for a few milliseconds e.q. 90.
Then immediately reappear (I wouldn't notice, but sometimes the planet is eclipsing the sun & there's a subliminal glimpse of the latter).

I'll keep PNG's under 500KB then, much less where possible. Cheers.

Mine disappear for a lot longer, tens of seconds probably depending on whether I'm jumping or flying normally....

JazHaz wrote:

One thing I've always had with or without System Redux, which I now suspect is related to max texture size, is the way the planet texture suddenly disappears during flight towards the planet. From the witchpoint to about four-fifths of the way towards the planet, all looks fine, then suddenly it disappears, only to partially reappear slowly at the average altitude that stations inhabit.

This is pretty much the area where (without shaders, detailed planets=on) I occasionally have the station disappear, if it is between me and the planet.
It usually reappears at Aegis distance (roughly)

Without advanced scanner (shot to pieces) that can get difficult.

snork wrote:

JazHaz wrote:

One thing I've always had with or without System Redux, which I now suspect is related to max texture size, is the way the planet texture suddenly disappears during flight towards the planet. From the witchpoint to about four-fifths of the way towards the planet, all looks fine, then suddenly it disappears, only to partially reappear slowly at the average altitude that stations inhabit.

This is pretty much the area where (without shaders, detailed planets=on) I occasionally have the station disappear, if it is between me and the planet.
It usually reappears at Aegis distance (roughly)

Without advanced scanner (shot to pieces) that can get difficult.

With my system, I don't get to see the station at all until I'm very near the aegis. I never see it as a point in the distance, it always suddenly appears when its about a centimetre across on the screen.

If your advanced compass gets shot up, you should still get the square target on your compass when you are near the planet to indicate the way to the station.

I just noticed I started this thread - so thank you for all the info
I have trouble with trolls around here occasionally who genetically engineer novel hybrid viruses under bridges and sneak in the house at night to do a test release; last week it was "new variant N1H2 snake & pelican" and apart from feeling like you've been poisoned & spun like a top, it seems to take a week to recover - and ya can't see straight, either .. although that might've been the rusted up pressure can marked TOXIC I had to drill open DO NOT DRILL OPEN it said, but it was too late

anyway, info all helpful - cheers!

Zbond-Zbond wrote:

... I have trouble with trolls around here occasionally who genetically engineer novel hybrid viruses under bridges and sneak in the house at night to do a test release; last week it was "new variant N1H2 snake & pelican" and apart from feeling like you've been poisoned & spun like a top, it seems to take a week to recover - and ya can't see straight, either .. although that might've been the rusted up pressure can marked TOXIC I had to drill open DO NOT DRILL OPEN it said, but it was too late ...

°leans in to Lestradae and whispers°
"I think what Zbond-Zbond means, there was some leftovers from
Thanksgiving '49 that were canned and Zbond-Zbond tried
to make the textures look better without using bigger ones,
nor scaling them up, especially the pelican-harvest of 1946 til 1950
caused high amounts of the "whooa-funny-colors-syndrom"