Pixelation on textures in-game and in s4s


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ryokotedeschi
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Posts: 12

Pixelation on textures in-game and in s4s Sept 30, 2023 11:10:04 GMT -5

Quote

Post by ryokotedeschi on Sept 30, 2023 11:10:04 GMT -5

How do I fix this? I've tried a larger resolution image, tried .dds (not very familiar with the format), no change. are there specific settings or import methods i should be using? s4s shows slightly less pixelation, but it gets really bad in-game.

screenshot from CAS next to the item within blender

screenshot from within S4S

the texture itself

Last Edit: Sept 30, 2023 11:16:06 GMT -5 by ryokotedeschi

mauvemorn Global Moderator If you get no reply from me in 24 hours, please bump the thread Posts: 13,115	Pixelation on textures in-game and in s4s Sept 30, 2023 11:36:55 GMT -5 Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top Post by mauvemorn on Sept 30, 2023 11:36:55 GMT -5 Hi. Unfortunately, that just happens sometimes with darker colors. You can find things like this on maxis textures as well. I dont think theres anything that can be done about that
	PLEASE FOLLOW THE RULES OF CREATOR HELP: • describe your problem and provide a picture of it (if possible); • provide download link(s) to .package and .blend files. If you have a Gmail acc, you can host all of the above on Google Drive

ryokotedeschi
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Posts: 12

Pixelation on textures in-game and in s4s Sept 30, 2023 12:52:01 GMT -5

Quote

Post by ryokotedeschi on Sept 30, 2023 12:52:01 GMT -5

Sept 30, 2023 11:36:55 GMT -5 mauvemorn said:

Hi. Unfortunately, that just happens sometimes with darker colors. You can find things like this on maxis textures as well. I dont think theres anything that can be done about that

ah, dang. okay. i might try redoing the texture with lighter shades. thanks anyway

liijoue
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Posts: 27

Pixelation on textures in-game and in s4s Sept 30, 2023 16:19:34 GMT -5 mauvemorn and ryokotedeschi like this

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Post by liijoue on Sept 30, 2023 16:19:34 GMT -5

Mauvemorn is right that this just happens with certain colors, but I was also having really bad pixelation issues recently so I can share some tips I found.

Make sure your color management is consistent. I had really bad splotchy colors because my color profile in Photoshop didn't match my monitor and didn't match my export settings. I use SRGB but I don't know if that's the best option. Also, I've found that the compression process seems really bad at dealing with large areas of color, so it can actually be better to have a more 'noisy' texture. You'll notice EA's textures are usually pretty noisy.

bionibots
Member

Posts: 11

Pixelation on textures in-game and in s4s Oct 1, 2023 9:54:02 GMT -5

Quote

Post by bionibots on Oct 1, 2023 9:54:02 GMT -5

That depends if you edit the DDS file you will lose quality:

Now you want to know, how you should proceed. The answer is simple:

Do not edit DDS files!

PROBLEM
DDS is a lossy compressed format.

WORKING WITH DDS
As soon you use an uncompressed/losslessly compressed format (PNG/TIFF/BMP) and try to convert it to a lossy format (DDS / JPG) you will lose a bit of image quality.
If you re-open your DDS, edit it, and resave, your graphics program (GPU) is going to make a round trip and reduce quality.

WORKFLOW SOLUTION
1. Edit the original PNG or your master file in 2D Software (photoshop/gimp/affinity etc.).
2. When done, export to DDS
3. Each time you work from a lossless or uncompressed master like PNG and then export to DDS.
4. If you baked the texture in Blender? Save it as PNG or TIFF in HQ quality (to use the highest possible quality)
5. In this case, you can go for HQ resolution quality (double of the original resolution) if you want, and proceed with steps 1 to 3.

RECOLORING
If you want to recolor an existing texture?

1. Export DDS and convert it to PNG (quality loss)
Alternative: Export as PNG from S4S (less quality loss)
2. Edit PNG and export it back to DDS
3. The fact is you will experience a bigger quality loss if you don't have the original files.
4. Hence why I save them for personal use as png, recolor it and save them even as png (but I have a good graphic card)

Why is EA using DDS?
Every good Gaming company is using the DDS format.

PNG stores images in a compressed, lossless format that is optimized for storage on disk and for printing media. The pixel quality is higher and the texture looks way smoother and better. This one is good for editing and such!

DDS stores textures in formats that are native to the GPU, and hence optimized for GPU consumption. DDS compresses quality with some loss and reduces the file size.
As we know, EA does that to optimize textures for the GPU and to make sure, it runs smoothly on computers.

You may know that you can use uncompressed textures in Sims 4. For that, you need a better graphic card (GPU needs to be stronger recommend to go for 2048 TI and higher)

Check what kind of DDS format you are saving.
If you want to preserve the quality? Keep in mind this file will be bigger, you need to use the DDS Format with 8:8:8:8 equal to PNG.

HQ vs EA Quality
I highly suggest you deliver in this case an HQ and an EA-sized version for low-spec PC users. (50% less of HQ texture)

DDS Formats
DDS has many different internal formats. Only a some of them are lossy, the rest are lossless.
DXT1-DXT5 modes are compressed lossy formats (plus some less common ones like BC4U, BC4S, ATI2 and BC5S).

Compression Ratio of DDS Formats
DTX1 = 8:1
DTX3 = 4:1
DTX5 = 4:1
8:8:8: 8 = uncompressed 32-bit equal to PNG (file is larger)

Want to know about the other DDS-Formats? Here is a link, in case anyone wants to know the difference! Here you go!

DDS Types

Hope this explains the usage of DDS in Sims 4 and shows how you should proceed. Maybe this info should be added to the Tutorial how to work with DDS?

Last Edit: Oct 1, 2023 11:09:24 GMT -5 by bionibots

ryokotedeschi
Member

Posts: 12

Pixelation on textures in-game and in s4s Oct 2, 2023 13:29:12 GMT -5

Quote

Post by ryokotedeschi on Oct 2, 2023 13:29:12 GMT -5

Sept 30, 2023 16:19:34 GMT -5 liijoue said:

Mauvemorn is right that this just happens with certain colors, but I was also having really bad pixelation issues recently so I can share some tips I found.

Make sure your color management is consistent. I had really bad splotchy colors because my color profile in Photoshop didn't match my monitor and didn't match my export settings. I use SRGB but I don't know if that's the best option. Also, I've found that the compression process seems really bad at dealing with large areas of color, so it can actually be better to have a more 'noisy' texture. You'll notice EA's textures are usually pretty noisy.

oh yeah, i happened to realize that yesterday actually, i was messing with the texture again and added some 'sparkle' texture to it and the compression artifacts got less noticeable.


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Pixelation on textures in-game and in s4s

Post by ryokotedeschi on Sept 30, 2023 11:10:04 GMT -5

Post by mauvemorn on Sept 30, 2023 11:36:55 GMT -5

Post by ryokotedeschi on Sept 30, 2023 12:52:01 GMT -5

Post by liijoue on Sept 30, 2023 16:19:34 GMT -5

Post by bionibots on Oct 1, 2023 9:54:02 GMT -5

Post by ryokotedeschi on Oct 2, 2023 13:29:12 GMT -5

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