Sizes of files

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Phantom909:

To all Route & Train developers:

I`m getting concerned with the size of the files that are appearing. I decided to check my BVE Object Folder and was astounded to see that just the main Object folder was 3.75GB. Now I have a lot of routes, and a lot of other things that are Works In Progress. So I want to propose a few thoughts.

I understand that we like the way the routes are looking with the photorealistic walls. But the size of the bmp`s are getting out of hand, which slows the loading of the routes and the fps rate. For example, The Roosevelt Ave wall`s bmp in the folder that Kevin is using to build the R is 768x768 pixels and is 1.68MB. I`m using that for the V also, I took it upon myself in the V Line folder to condense it to see if the quality of the bmp diminished. I condensed it down to 256x256 pixels, and the bmp is now 192KB. I put both routes up in Track Viewer, and there is NO difference in the rendering of them. So I continued with all the bmp`s in the V Line folder, lowering the sizes of the bmp`s. The V Line folder before I did this was 17MB, it is now 15MB. That`s roughly a 12% saving in loading and rendering time. This is a start to helping routes load faster and run better.

I`m also proposing that objects that are used in every route be placed into one folder that every route will eventually use it, instead of having the same 30 miles sign in 15 different folders, we have it in just one. This could be done with rail objects, tunnel objects, Subway car objects, and signs, and possibly some more. This cannot be done all at once, so what we`ll do is this, continue building your routes as you have been doing, when it is finished I`ll move the objects out of your folder that is used in different lines, and change the directory for the object in the Route File. This should help in downloading too, and space on people`s hard drives.


Now for train developers, I`ve never gotten into the train building end of BVE, so I`ll ask a question instead of making a directive. I can`t understand how some trainset files are 1-2MB and some are 20. I noticed some wav files are that large, there is a way of using Audio editors to lower the size of the sound files, without hurting the performance. I have done that with announcement files. So look into ways that we can all help with what I consider this to be an important issue.

That is all for now.

Joe

error46146:

All my textures on the E are 256x256 (except for the ones by BStyles for some reason when I resize them they come out funny) so im good lol

For the trains: The 1-2 MB ones you are talking about are the generic ones aren't they?
They use old, highly compressed low quality sounds which is why they are so small.
The newer trainsets use high quality recordings that have a very high bitrate and are very crisp and clear and thats why they are so big. Ive noticed they vary from 705 to 1411 and even over 2000 kbps I think that honestly is unnecessary if you cut it to 128kbps or even 96 it will be pretty good. Most MP3 music files are 128 or 256 kbps and that is pretty clear.
Also WAVE is known to be a big format so that's another issue as well.

rayv145:

for trains it is a bit different. When using an audio converter on something like an announcement, the bit rate can be lowered down as much as to 32 kbps, which is in reality radio quality. Run and motor sounds however, require a higher bit rate because of their complexity. When speeding up the sound files for use in BVE, a lot of the quality is lost in the process, so for compensation the bit rate is raised. 192 kbps is perfect for run and motor sounds.

I also agree in thinking we should consolidate all of our objects. We could re-use the NYCT folder like the 2,E,L and G did and just add in subfolders for different lines

ipaclansite:

I usually lower them after everything is done, to allow room for a "High Quality" version, and a "Low Quality" version.  As a standard after the G, I've made all texture sizes at most at 512x512, and they all clock in at 768kb disregarding the quality of the images :P  Some are 768x768 like Roosevelt, I dont think there really was a reason for that, other than to make those screenshots for promotional purposes.

I would prefer to lower things after everything is done, since thats what most software developers do, they make their stuff look really good, then dumb it down when it goes to the average consumer, lol.  As hardware advances though, a higher resolution image is easily accessible, so its good for a "future" holding.  I would definitely agree though, that we have to lower the sizes once to gets to the average BVE player.

As for folders, we definitely need to be more organized and perhaps setup some type of standard in organizing the files, similar to what I did with the G giving each station its own folder, I'm still doing that in the R, although not exactly the same way as the G, but close enough.

There are other options, but I cannot suggest them, due to controversy.

BStyles:

Quote from: error46146 on October 23, 2009, 07:45:28 PM
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All my textures on the E are 256x256 (except for the ones by BStyles for some reason when I resize them they come out funny) so im good lol
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Yeah, I don't take large pictures, so the quality is affected in a way. I'll see if I can use a few more pixels though, that should help.

It is a tedious task, but reducing the size of the BMP seems to be a good idea. Joe, you've made a very good point regarding the loading time of the routes. For example. Two years ago, I was able to run most up-to-date lines, like the A, very efficiently. Now with higher quality routes, the higher the quality, the longer the load. Photorealism isn't new to me, since all of my projects today consist of it, but when taking pictures, I only use one megapixel, the smallest out of 10.2, which takes a picture at around 1024x768. It's easier to reduce that way.

There's also another thing to note. When making textures that repeat constantly, like a photorealistic tiled wall, or windscreens, for example, it's easier to use a small fragment of a BMP, and then repeat it. I haven't gotten the chance to reach this matter, but i'll use AVS Audio Editor, and GIMP, to succesfully shrink BMP files, especially on my works-in-progress.

BStyles

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