I have a loading screen of size 1024x768, which I compressed according to the sticky guide by Otixa (DXT3, no mips), but I am getting some really ugly compression artifacts. The loading screen contains a lot of different shades, so indexed color TGA as was suggested in some other thread is not an option, and regular TGA is about 4.5 times the size.
This is how the problematic area looks, compared to the TGA:
As you can see, it's really not passable quality.
Is there a better option which will avoid this issue, but allows good compression ratio and works with SC2?
May be worth noting that the image has no alpha channel, so an option with no alpha is fine.
I tried some different formats, with the following results:
DXT5 was just as bad, same artifacts.
4.4.4.4 had insufficient color depth.
5.5.5 and 5.6.5 are not supported, the texture is completely messed up.
8.8.8 provides quality equal to TGA, but the file size is 75% of TGA, which is still pretty damn large.
I'll just use 8.8.8 unless someone else has a better alternative. It's 1.61 MB when compressed inside map. I understand that more compression means lower quality, but the rest of the image looked fine in DXT3. It's just annoying that there's one spot where quality is just too damn bad to tolerate (and removing the map logo is not an option).
You could try using aorta ( http://sourceforge.net/projects/aorta/ )
but the most likely cause is not using an image which is powers of 2. Try use a 1024x1024 image and 8.8.8.8 dxt3 compression, and see if your results are better. Not sure how that'd work with making the loading screen look correct though.
I'm saving my loading screens as .dds files. It is about 4 times smaller than the TGA version of it and looks identical during loading as far as I can see.
Thanks, that Aorta program was much better than the Photoshop plugin! It still caused some issues with the outline around the logo, but I increased it in size by 1 pixel, so it's pretty much not noticable now.
Looks much better:
The size of Aorta's output file is even half the size of the plugin's!
Maybe I can even make a higher res version now, can certainly afford the space...
I made it 1600x1200, so it will look better on higher resolutions. Despite the size, it's only 684 kb (compressed), which is far less than the previous one. Worked out pretty good, I think.
I will attach a screenshot of how the loading screen looks for me in game, for anyone who is curious.
Can definitely recommend Aorta to anyone else who needs to make large textures!
Another option is to download gimp, I have had much success using 5 ... though, for the UI - everything is still tga simply because I need it pixel perfect. Loading screens, background images etc, are dds, with a tiny amount of loss of detail, but something I am willing to accept. But 600kb compressed sounds about right for a loading screen, remember its only one image ... :) Not as if you need to put 10 of them in your map, glad you sorted it out mate.
It's not if you have really high resolution or are sitting very far from screen. You might notice during actual loading, though, when the image is scaled to full screen size.
I have a loading screen of size 1024x768, which I compressed according to the sticky guide by Otixa (DXT3, no mips), but I am getting some really ugly compression artifacts. The loading screen contains a lot of different shades, so indexed color TGA as was suggested in some other thread is not an option, and regular TGA is about 4.5 times the size.
This is how the problematic area looks, compared to the TGA:
As you can see, it's really not passable quality.
Is there a better option which will avoid this issue, but allows good compression ratio and works with SC2? May be worth noting that the image has no alpha channel, so an option with no alpha is fine.
Well, a progress report...
I tried some different formats, with the following results:
I'll just use 8.8.8 unless someone else has a better alternative. It's 1.61 MB when compressed inside map. I understand that more compression means lower quality, but the rest of the image looked fine in DXT3. It's just annoying that there's one spot where quality is just too damn bad to tolerate (and removing the map logo is not an option).
You could try using aorta ( http://sourceforge.net/projects/aorta/ ) but the most likely cause is not using an image which is powers of 2. Try use a 1024x1024 image and 8.8.8.8 dxt3 compression, and see if your results are better. Not sure how that'd work with making the loading screen look correct though.
I'm saving my loading screens as .dds files. It is about 4 times smaller than the TGA version of it and looks identical during loading as far as I can see.
Thanks, that Aorta program was much better than the Photoshop plugin! It still caused some issues with the outline around the logo, but I increased it in size by 1 pixel, so it's pretty much not noticable now.
Looks much better:
The size of Aorta's output file is even half the size of the plugin's! Maybe I can even make a higher res version now, can certainly afford the space...
I made it 1600x1200, so it will look better on higher resolutions. Despite the size, it's only 684 kb (compressed), which is far less than the previous one. Worked out pretty good, I think.
I will attach a screenshot of how the loading screen looks for me in game, for anyone who is curious.
Can definitely recommend Aorta to anyone else who needs to make large textures!
Another option is to download gimp, I have had much success using 5 ... though, for the UI - everything is still tga simply because I need it pixel perfect. Loading screens, background images etc, are dds, with a tiny amount of loss of detail, but something I am willing to accept. But 600kb compressed sounds about right for a loading screen, remember its only one image ... :) Not as if you need to put 10 of them in your map, glad you sorted it out mate.
Is it strange I literally don't see a difference between the two?
It's not if you have really high resolution or are sitting very far from screen. You might notice during actual loading, though, when the image is scaled to full screen size.
at the O is a little difference, but it looks fine as long as I'm looking from my normal distance