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Switching default texture format to DDS: Difference between revisions
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Switching default texture format to DDS (view source)
Revision as of 23:28, 4 September 2014
, 4 September 2014png is also a compressed format; more copyediting
m (Johan G moved page DDS Textures in FlightGear to Switching default terrain texture format to DDS: Less ambiguous title) |
m (png is also a compressed format; more copyediting) |
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The FG development team is considering to '''switch the default format for terrain textures from png to DDS'''. This would offer a number of significant advantages: | The FG development team is considering to '''switch the default format for terrain textures from png to DDS'''. This would offer a number of significant advantages: | ||
* DDS is a | * DDS is a more compact format than png, hence the download size of the FG base package may be decreased | ||
* | * Compressed DDS can be directly used by many graphics cards, reducing also GPU memory consumption | ||
* DDS stores all texture resolution levels, | * DDS stores all texture resolution levels, in essence no lower resolution levels have to be generated when the texture is used, hence it loads much faster into memory | ||
* | * The resolution levels ('mipmaps') can be customized, allowing for some interesting effects at no performance cost | ||
Practically all commercial simulations use DDS for these reasons. | Practically all commercial simulations use DDS for these reasons. | ||
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}} | }} | ||
}} | }} | ||
== Misc == | == Misc == | ||
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The motivation behind this mentioned change is to sort out the best compromise so that the hangs hopefully disappear - which I hope to get with precomputed | The motivation behind this mentioned change is to sort out the best compromise so that the hangs hopefully disappear - which I hope to get with precomputed | ||
mipmaps - and being able to display fine with any driver/GPU. | mipmaps - and being able to display fine with any driver/GPU. | ||
=== Approaches === | === Approaches === | ||
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== Challenges == | == Challenges == | ||
{{FGCquote | {{FGCquote | ||
|"dds on an open source driver (radeon and intel) I was forced to use radeon at some time, and it was fun, the planes were pink :) once libtxc-dxtn installed, dds were loaded fine again, so it can be used on open source if you are ok to use the lib."<br/> | |"dds on an open source driver (radeon and intel) I was forced to use radeon at some time, and it was fun, the planes were pink :) once libtxc-dxtn installed, dds were loaded fine again, so it can be used on open source if you are ok to use the lib."<br/> | ||
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== Conversion == | == Conversion == | ||
{{FGCquote | {{FGCquote | ||
|Automatic conversion script is welcome indeed. Also I'm pretty sure that we have some people here ready to convert a PNG to DDS as soon as you say "Hey boys I created a new PNG file, can you convert this file for me please ?" :-) | |Automatic conversion script is welcome indeed. Also I'm pretty sure that we have some people here ready to convert a PNG to DDS as soon as you say "Hey boys I created a new PNG file, can you convert this file for me please ?" :-) | ||
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== Cons == | == Cons == | ||
{{FGCquote | {{FGCquote | ||
|FG actually runs with dds textures, it just doesn't render anything reasonable, I believe you get monochromatic colors. But I don't expect the menu to be affected, it doesn't use textures. | |FG actually runs with dds textures, it just doesn't render anything reasonable, I believe you get monochromatic colors. But I don't expect the menu to be affected, it doesn't use textures. | ||