................................... Posted December 22, 2003 Share Posted December 22, 2003 After a brief discussion in the lo-res doo-dad thread, I have spent a few hours changing some of the CMAK stock terrain graphics from 24 bit to 8 bit optimised. After testing I have seen a major increase in framerate on my 800mhz PC with 32MB graphics card, and best of all there is no discernable loss of image quality . Italian maps with trees are the major winners, but all maps are faster. This first mod focuses on the things which previously had really seemed to slow things down - trees, doo-dads, smoke, dust, and shellholes. I plan on releasing a companion terrain base mod very shortly, which should boost things once again. I would very much welcome feedback on the mod, in the hope that other systems have seen such an increase as my own. It is available now at CMMODS. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexoscar Posted December 22, 2003 Share Posted December 22, 2003 Congratulations for your wonderful idea. I have just downloaded the 8bit.zip file. Thanks for spending several hours for the CM community. Now, a question. Could you explain how did you make the files conversion to 8 bits? Only with "save as" command in whatever image edition program? I ask you because I am interested in changing the bmp resolution in CMBB and CMBO too. Thanks a lot. This will be a very useful mod. Alex. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanks a Lot Posted December 22, 2003 Share Posted December 22, 2003 I believe Kwazydog has said that reducing the colors has no effect on speeding up the game because they get converted back to 16 bit anyway. Reducing the size will help. How are you measuring the framerates? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMplayer Posted December 22, 2003 Share Posted December 22, 2003 Woah.... had a bit of dyslexia there and thought your nick was [*delete*]. Maybe I need to start using reading glasses. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Herr Kruger Posted December 23, 2003 Share Posted December 23, 2003 Excellent! This is a good idea... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
................................... Posted December 23, 2003 Author Share Posted December 23, 2003 Whew, xmas preperations done, now time to sit down and fire up a CMAK QB with a wee dram to the side, what could be better :cool: Alexoscar, I use Photoimpact which I believe is very similar to Photoshop. Under the Format menu there is an option to change the data type, which I alter to 8 bit optimised. It's relatively straightforward, the time consuming part is moving the .bmp files around. The file size reduces to around one third of what it was before, which is where the big jump in performance kicks in. Tanksalot - damn you found me out Yes, I get my thrills spending hours editing and uploading files to mislead strangers - what could be more fun ?! For the framrate display hotkey, just consult a CMAK CDV insert Another idea I had was the cunning use of the MkI eyeball which, for example, shows me that I now can handle settings greater than sparse trees and rotate the map about ten times faster. I'm not sure if altering the data type is what you class as 'reducing colours', but if it is, then unfortunately either you remember incorrectly, or Mr Dog was talking through his doggy derrière The only other explanation I can think of is that all these new trees and my increased sense of speed could actually be due to the wife putting narcotic additives in the mince pies this year. On that note, Merry Christmas to all, the office party starts in under 12 hours time, and I doubt I'll be posting much for a while after that 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanks a Lot Posted December 24, 2003 Share Posted December 24, 2003 I guess that's what I get for believing one of the developers of this game, as well as the guy who created most of the graphics for it. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexoscar Posted December 25, 2003 Share Posted December 25, 2003 Ok, i have an idea about why anyone can feel faster the game changing the 24 bits colour to 8 bits colour: Everybody knows that when we change the bmp file size, the engine of the game works better in slow computers. The logical reason is that we have changed the resolution. For example, the bmp file original, had a size of 512X256 with a size of 129 kb. Resizing, we have a 384X192 bmp with a final size of 74 kb. Our computer has to load in RAM an smaller file. If you think that in whatever map with units and buildings, trees etc our computer has to work with several hundreds of bmp files,its easy to understand the benefit to reduce the size of bmp file for slow PC,s. But there is other factor to increase or reduce the resolution of a bmp file. The depth of colour. For example, if we have a bmp saved as 24 bits colour or true colour, we have a size of 384 kb. Changing the depth colour to 8 bits, we convert the size of file to 129 kb or less. The final result is the same: We can change the size of file to load in memmory (computer job) changing the size, or changing the depth of colour. Whatever method reduce the resolution, and when we reduce the resolution, we are reducing the size. Saving kb to load in Random Acces Memmory and feeling faster our computer. Thats in theory. Im not sure about how much you can increase your computer speed or if there is a benchmark to measure that increasing. Sorry about my English guys, I have a lot to learning yet. Bye and Merry Christmas!! Alex. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HolzemFrumFloppen Posted December 26, 2003 Share Posted December 26, 2003 Pheasant: Well I, for one, am very pleased with this mod. I noted an increase in camera movement right off the bat on one machine. I reviewed all the graphic replacements side by side with their originals; absolutely no difference (save in size) to the naked eye. Great stuff... and I'm looking forward to your terrain base release! Thanks again for this one. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
................................... Posted December 26, 2003 Author Share Posted December 26, 2003 I had planned to have my first TCP game this afternoon with a mate but have run into the CDV TCP bug which stopped us stone cold However it game me chance to finish this 8 bit mod, and I have now uploaded the bases and the open ground textures. The open ground mod is quite large but it can't be helped. My own system and a friends system are seeing massive increases in performance with all three mods running, and many thanks to HolzemFrumFloppen for reporting back as well I haven't touched the buildings yet as I was pretty bored by the time I had done this lot, so if a lot of buildings are around you may still get a lot of lag. I hope that other low/medium system users are getting results from this mod, meanwhile...back to turn 5 of my fallschirmjagers game, defending their Large map with Heavy trees and no Lag :cool: [Edit] Ooops, I don't think I clarified it, but the modified .bmp files are exactly the same size in pixels as the originals, so you won't be fighting inside the bonsai forests of Sicily. The file size is cut down by 2/3rds, but the image size (and seemingly the graphics quality) remains the same in game. [ December 26, 2003, 04:45 PM: Message edited by: Pheasant Plucker ] 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexoscar Posted December 27, 2003 Share Posted December 27, 2003 Sorry guys but i have to say that according to a lot of tests and benchmarks, modifying the depth of colour from 24 bits to 8, we are not going to increase our framerate or computer speed. I have used the same big map with heavy trees. Firstly with 24 bits or true colour. Later with the 8 bits bmp files. The result is the same. Camera needs the same time to travel 360 degrees. I have made several tests more as for example, travel along the map from a side to the other, aproximately 1200 m. The result is similar in both bmp resolution. The only explanation I find is that the program, converts all bmp files to same standard depth of colour when you load the map to play (16 bits). Thats logical because the *.exe needs to show all bmp together and is possible is necessary the same depth colour to work with all bitmaps in game together. What a pity. It was a great idea!! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HolzemFrumFloppen Posted December 27, 2003 Share Posted December 27, 2003 Originally posted by alexoscar: Sorry guys but i have to say that according to a lot of tests and benchmarks, modifying the depth of colour from 24 bits to 8, we are not going to increase our framerate or computer speed.Man, I must be falling prey to the placebo effect, then. One thing, however: what speed of system did you try it on? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexoscar Posted December 27, 2003 Share Posted December 27, 2003 You can test it too. Make a copy of your bmp folder. Later, d/l the 8 bits zip files and paste them in the original bmp folder. Edit a big map with medium or heavy trees and move yourself along the map. Test different camera positions and elevations. Change the quantity of trees: none, sparse, moderate, full and extreme. Do the same with brushes etc (Ctrl+N). Later, restore the original bmp folder with 24 bits files and edit the same map doing the same tests. You wont be able to find any difference. When you install CMAK the first time, program asks you about the Video mode you want: 1024x768 and 16 bits, 800x600 and 16 bits or 640x480 and 16 bits. Thats the question. CMAK only works with graphics in 16 bits mode. Its the same if you have your files saved as 24 or 8 bits, because when game starts, all bmp files are in 16 bits (at least, is the only explanation I have been able to find). Test machine: P3, 1 GHz, 320 Mb RAM and 64 Mb Video (SIS 630/730). My computer is slow when I play big maps or maps with a lot of trees etc. Sorry guys but I was the second in believing in this method to save memmory and increase my PC speed. I said before: What a pity 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Herr Kruger Posted December 30, 2003 Share Posted December 30, 2003 Hey, I meant to post earlier, but have been busy. What about all those mods in the past that are lo_res or is this a different issue? I mean, back when I had CMBO modded to the extreme using lo_res grass *seemed* to make a huge difference... J Kruger 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanks a Lot Posted December 30, 2003 Share Posted December 30, 2003 Originally posted by Herr Kruger: Hey, I meant to post earlier, but have been busy. What about all those mods in the past that are lo_res or is this a different issue? I mean, back when I had CMBO modded to the extreme using lo_res grass *seemed* to make a huge difference... J Kruger Lo-res (reducing the physical dimensions of the BMPs) is a different issue, and it does make a difference. Using lo-res grass was always a good way to speed things up, and it usually didn't look much different than hi-res grass. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexoscar Posted December 30, 2003 Share Posted December 30, 2003 Exact. Its different to change the bmp resolution changing the size that changing the depth of colour. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Herr Kruger Posted December 30, 2003 Share Posted December 30, 2003 Originally posted by Tanks a Lot: </font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Herr Kruger: Hey, I meant to post earlier, but have been busy. What about all those mods in the past that are lo_res or is this a different issue? I mean, back when I had CMBO modded to the extreme using lo_res grass *seemed* to make a huge difference... J Kruger Lo-res (reducing the physical dimensions of the BMPs) is a different issue, and it does make a difference. Using lo-res grass was always a good way to speed things up, and it usually didn't look much different than hi-res grass. </font> 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blazing 88's Posted December 30, 2003 Share Posted December 30, 2003 Peasant_Plucker: Can you please make a gridded version. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanks a Lot Posted December 30, 2003 Share Posted December 30, 2003 Originally posted by Herr Kruger: </font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Tanks a Lot: </font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Herr Kruger: Hey, I meant to post earlier, but have been busy. What about all those mods in the past that are lo_res or is this a different issue? I mean, back when I had CMBO modded to the extreme using lo_res grass *seemed* to make a huge difference... J Kruger Lo-res (reducing the physical dimensions of the BMPs) is a different issue, and it does make a difference. Using lo-res grass was always a good way to speed things up, and it usually didn't look much different than hi-res grass. </font> 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexoscar Posted December 30, 2003 Share Posted December 30, 2003 I have all ground bmp for cmbo, cmbb and cmak in medium/low resolution. They are a 75% reduced respect the high resolution original. The final result is a half size file more or less. (From 512x512 and 768 kb to 384x384 and 432 kb). Of course i feel the difference between them in game. The smaller size has less resolution too. But you will increase your speed and framerate. If anyone is interested in it, I would be able to post the files in cmmods.com with a picture to show the difference. Alex. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blazing 88's Posted December 31, 2003 Share Posted December 31, 2003 What name will it be under at CM Mods? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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