[RO]Map optimization.

How can i optimize map, for now my map is 113 mb. Maby the problem in static mesh high count or in a big terrain?
Any suggestions?

Welcome at liandri, 2k!
Go through your textures in your myLevel package and make sure you compressed them one way or antoher. RGBA8 textures are full size. Rightclick them and chose to compress them to DXT3, as it is a good trade-off between size and quality.
This should bring the size down somewhat.

Before you rebuild the map the next time go to the rebuilding options and chose to render the lightmaps as RGBA8 textures instead of the compressed DXT format. TheAbyss found out that this makes the map actually smaller rather than bigger and you should do it anyway, because it looks a lot better! You can turn dithering off then, because dithering only seems to make up for the compression artifacts you won't get in RGBA8 mode.

Lightmap resolutions may also blow up your map size a little. Make sure to set surfaces that are never seen in-game to unlit so no lightmap is calculated for them. Surfaces that don't need precise lighting can have their light-map resolution decreased to save even more space.

If you need a more detailed description of the steps above, please post again. You can also upload your map so I can take a look and see what can be done to make it smaller. In fact, this might be the most efficient step because I wouldn't have to take stabs in the dark that way. If you don't want the map to get out before its release you can put it in an archive with a password and send me a private message with the password.

Thx for the reply murphy. I try you advices, but It would be very nice if you can look on map. Check pm for link. The main problem also is that the map not playable with that size... Important note: I use a lot of CC static meshes on this map, so if you hav'nt CC you can't see it in original view... And one more quastion about it, is there a way to automaticaly select meshes from one package, or just repack all meshes using in map in one new package?

It'll take a while to download RO and CC again, but I got your map already and you can expect an answer before tomorrow evening (unless steam takes longer than expected...).

About the meshes: Do you want to pack all the StaticMeshes that are in use in your level into one package? If yes - why? They are already in packages or else you couldn't have used them. Are you worried you dug around in too many custom packages others might not have and you don't know what other players who only have the latest version of RO and CC need to even play the map?
We'll see about that tomorrow when my RO and CC are done downloading. I will have a perfectly clean install of them and when I will open your map in UnrealEd there will be a message with all the missing packages in it. I'll give you this message and you will know which StaticMeshes you need to include in your level somehow.

You can just "convert" them "to" StaticMesh then, as you would a brush, because by doing that you can save them into another package: Your package. Afterwards you just delete all the instances of that StaticMesh from your level and replace it with its copy from your package. Depending on how many you used how often this can be quite a bit of work but at least it's simple.

If you have performance problems in your map and you say you have a big terrain then I guess that's the issue. The terrain, that is, not the size of the map-file. I'll be able to tell you more when I will have taken a look at the map.

EDIT: Found the first fundamental mistake. It has nothing to do with your problem but it can easily lead to crashes: myLevel is not a real package! You don't have to save it. In fact, you must not save it. It is automatically saved with the map. More on that here:
myLevel
CC is downloading really slow atm, but RO and the SDK is already installed. I'll give your map a shot tomorrow morning.

EDIT2: I can't open your map! I get two weird UnrealEd error messages in a row (has never happened to me before), followed by a windows-like error message. It could have somethign to do with the saved myLevel packages. Can you sort this out and then send me the updated map?

Murphy wrote:

... I can't open your map! I get two weird UnrealEd error messages in a row (has never happened to me before), followed by a windows-like error message. It could have somethign to do with the saved myLevel packages. Can you sort this out and then send me the updated map?

I don't really know how to sort it, cos when i open it, everything ok. I resave just the map, hope it's helps. Also with myLevel is always happen strange thing, when i dont save the myLevel texture package manually, the changes in terrain are not saved too.

Read the myLevel tutorial I linked to above. The myLevel package is meant to be a package inside our map-file. If you save it to be a real, seperate package, it causes trouble. It is saved automatically as soon as you save your map.
If your terran changes aren't saved then I can only guess that you started saving your myLevel package before this problem occured and it is the cause, not the fix.
Just believe me. Treat the myLevel package as it's supposed to be treated. If you want to make external packages (your choice. Read the tutorial for pros and cons): Give them unique names!
For example, there cannot be a myLevel.usx package and a myLevel.utx package, because the engine doesn't care for the file extension. It'll only "see" two packages called myLevel. To make matters worse, myLevel is also the name of the internal package.

Don't do this! I know this isn't what you want to hear, because you want to continue using your system as it seems to work for you, but trust me on this! Give your external packages truly unique names or use the myLevel package as it's intended to be used.

Once you sorted this out I'm sure I will be able to open the map fine and then we can go after any other problem in there.

Murphy wrote:

Read the myLevel tutorial I linked to above. The myLevel package is meant to be a package inside our map-file. If you save it to be a real, seperate package, it causes trouble. It is saved automatically as soon as you save your map.
If your terran changes aren't saved then I can only guess that you started saving your myLevel package before this problem occured and it is the cause, not the fix.
Just believe me. Treat the myLevel package as it's supposed to be treated. If you want to make external packages (your choice. Read the tutorial for pros and cons): Give them unique names!
For example, there cannot be a myLevel.usx package and a myLevel.utx package, because the engine doesn't care for the file extension. It'll only "see" two packages called myLevel. To make matters worse, myLevel is also the name of the internal package.

Don't do this! I know this isn't what you want to hear, because you want to continue using your system as it seems to work for you, but trust me on this! Give your external packages truly unique names or use the myLevel package as it's intended to be used.

Once you sorted this out I'm sure I will be able to open the map fine and then we can go after any other problem in there.

So i delete all mylevel packages which i manually saved. Than i reopen map and make some changes, after that save only map, and for now Is everithing ok, like you said the mylevel saved automaticaly. Is that the way of sort that error? I hope i right understood you, cos my english is not very good.

That should do it. If you don't experience any problems it's ok.
Unfortunately I can't open the map. Maybe it's a problem with my ROEd. Just go through the suggestions I posted first, regarding optimization. I'm sorry I can't take a look at the map directly, but we can still do the best we can this way.

Murphy wrote:

That should do it. If you don't experience any problems it's ok.
Unfortunately I can't open the map. Maybe it's a problem with my ROEd. Just go through the suggestions I posted first, regarding optimization. I'm sorry I can't take a look at the map directly, but we can still do the best we can this way.

Ok, i pm you the link on the last map file which im talking about, so if you want, you can try once more to open it. Also i think the error may be cos im using AHZ Vehicles (forget about it).. Can you post error code if its steel here?

Ok, sorry it took so long.

I downloaded the AHZ vehicle pack 2 and their custom mission pack. Now I get a different message, but I still cannot open the map. Here is the message:

Code:

Build RedOrchestra_Build_[2005-11-27_10.48]

OS: Windows XP 5.1 (Build: 2600)
CPU: AuthenticAMD Unknown processor @ 1811 MHz with 1023MB RAM
Video: NVIDIA GeForce 6600 GT (8120)

Bad export index 73088823/12327

History: IndexToObject <- ULinkerLoad<<UObject <- (LinkerLoad Package.LinkerLoad121 132669957)) <- SerializeExpr <- (01) <- SerializeExpr <- (09) <- UStruct::Serialize <- (Class myLevel.CO_ISU152Factory_Berlin0) <- UState::Serialize <- UClass::Serialize <- (Class myLevel.CO_ISU152Factory_Berlin0) <- LoadObject <- (Class myLevel.CO_ISU152Factory_Berlin0 132669957==132669957/133026283 132669906 75) <- ULinkerLoad::Preload <- PreLoadObjects <- UObject::EndLoad <- UObject::LoadPackage <- UEditorEngine::Exec_Map <- UEditorEngine::Exec <- (MAP LOAD FILE="E:\Spiele\Steam\steamapps\common\red orchestra\Maps\ro-razvetye).. <- UUnrealEdEngine::Exec <- FileOpen <- WEditorFrame::OnCommand <- WWindow::WndProc <- WWindow::StaticProc <- MessagePump <- MainLoop

Do you have any other mods installed and can you give me links to them?

Murphy wrote:

Code:

Build RedOrchestra_Build_[2005-11-27_10.48]

OS: Windows XP 5.1 (Build: 2600)
CPU: AuthenticAMD Unknown processor @ 1811 MHz with 1023MB RAM
Video: NVIDIA GeForce 6600 GT (8120)

Bad export index 73088823/12327

History: IndexToObject <- ULinkerLoad<<UObject <- (LinkerLoad Package.LinkerLoad121 132669957)) <- SerializeExpr <- (01) <- SerializeExpr <- (09) <- UStruct::Serialize <- (Class myLevel.CO_ISU152Factory_Berlin0) <- UState::Serialize <- UClass::Serialize <- (Class myLevel.CO_ISU152Factory_Berlin0) <- LoadObject <- (Class myLevel.CO_ISU152Factory_Berlin0 132669957==132669957/133026283 132669906 75) <- ULinkerLoad::Preload <- PreLoadObjects <- UObject::EndLoad <- UObject::LoadPackage <- UEditorEngine::Exec_Map <- UEditorEngine::Exec <- (MAP LOAD FILE="E:\Spiele\Steam\steamapps\common\red orchestra\Maps\ro-razvetye).. <- UUnrealEdEngine::Exec <- FileOpen <- WEditorFrame::OnCommand <- WWindow::WndProc <- WWindow::StaticProc <- MessagePump <- MainLoop

Do you have any other mods installed and can you give me links to them?

No, just ahz and cc, so like i see in error code something about isu152(ahz), so i delete all ahz features from map. Also i found very similar error on ro forums:
http://www.redorchestragame.com/forum/showthread.php?t=27570&highlight=export+index

Hmm. I don't have anything in my cache since I never played the game online since I reinstalled it (I only reinstalled it to test your map) and I just validated the integrity of my files through steam twice now, but nothing came up.
Send me a copy of your map without any vehicles and the like. It doesn't matter since I won't be playing it. I only need to be able to open in in UnrealEd and maybe you can keep a playerstart or two in there so I can play-test it from the editor.

Ok, this version worked!
There was still an error-message when I opened it in the editor but it loaded.
Here is the message:

By xMurphyx

First of all: I don't know how it's going to play later one when it's finished, but this is one nice looking map already!
Based on you not knowing how to use the myLevel package I expected something that looked much more like a newbie's work, but this looks really good!

Now on to optimization. Some of these tips won't help reducing the size of your map (e.g. the substitutions for some textures which are in retail-packages won't help reducing the size of your map-file as they are stored in packages everyone has already, but the substitutions will help to reduce the strain on people's graphicscards as they will use less memory). Ok, here we go:

You have some textures in your myLevel package which are abnormally large!
There is a 4096*4096 (!) bunker texture. That's pretty much insane. The engine can handle it, and most graphics cards can handle it too, but do they have to? You can export the texture and scale it down to 1024*1024 and it won't look noticably worse in-game but it'll only be a 16th of the size of the 4096² monster! Maybe it won't "fit" the StaticMesh when you try to apply it to it. If this is the case create a texture scaler (in the texture browser File -> New), use the newly imported bunker texture as its material and scale it. Use the texture scaler as the StaticMesh's skin then.
A Fritz skin is in there which is 2048*2048. I don't know how large the regular RO skins are but either way, that's too large. Again, 1024*1024 will look just as good. No one will be able to see a difference but the texture's size will be quartered!
Basically, try and keep your textures to 1024*1024 or below.

Almost all your lightmap resolution seem to be set to default (32). You can reduce that on many surfaces. Here is an example:

By xMurphyx

The surface is in the shadow of the building and unless you put more lights there (maybe from a lamp or something) the whole surface can basically be lit the same! There would technically be no need for a lightmap bigger than 1*1 on that surface! On surfaces like this you can drastically reduce th lightmap-resolution. Set it to 256 in this example and go through your map searching for more of these cases.

The terrain resolution is WAY too high! 256*256 would work just as well! I know it's a huge terrain, but if you look at the individual sectors you will see the resolution is too high. Just as a rule-of-thumb: A sector of the terrain should be at least as big as a tank! If the terrain is mostly flat it can be even bigger without it looking much worse! A reduction to 256*256 from 1024*1024 means the reduction of the size to a 16th! This applies for the deco-layers as well!
Export your heightmap and use photoshop or something similar to reduce the size to 256*256 and then import it again (with a different name, for now). You will have to do the same with different formats for the deco-layers or you can delete them and make them again by hand. Delete the texture and deco layers from your terrain (they have to have the same size as the heightmap and that's going to change now). Open the TerrainInfo Properties and use the newly imported heightmap as its Terrainmap. Use the TerrainScale below to adjust the scaling so the new Terrain has the same size as the old one. If you only changed the size of the heightmap to a quarter of a side's length (1024 -> 256) then you should be able to make it fit by scaling it with the factor *4 on both the x and the y axis.
You will need this program. Use the documentation of that site to find out what it does and why.
You can use another terrain for detail work like your trenches or you can make these differently. E.g. with StaticMeshes or with BSP. There are examples of all of these methods in RO maps.

ColorModifiers instead of different textures!
These two textures wheat_big_yellow and wheat_big_yellow_light are identical except one is brighter than the other! You can easily get rid of one of them and use a colormodifier instead. Create a colormodifier (texture browser -> File -> New) and use one of them as its material and adjust its color. Use the colormodifier instead of the other texture then. You also have loads of different wooden plank textures which are more or less the same except for their color! You can use one of them (preferably one with a more neutral, greyish color) and create some color-modifiers and use those instead of the many other wooden plank textures. The same is true for your different sand-bag textures, your concrete and plaster textures, some of your dirt textures and maybe more.
You can also color the projected craters that way and make them look a bit different depending on where they hit. E.g. darker where they hit mud and lighter where they hit sand. Or you can color some of your leaves (either to replace others that are similar except for the color or) to create even more variation. E.g. some that are already a little brown, some that are still greener, etc.
Don't overdo it (e.g. you can keep a concrete wall plus a damaged concrete wall. Stuff that really does look different on a structural level) but you can seriously cut down on the memory waste by using colormodifiers instead.

On a similar note: re-use more of the debris / litter! You have different debris at every corner. Some of it is only used once. If you would reuse more of it instead of using new stuff everywhere this would help as well. Again, don't overdo it. Diversity is nice. But keep it in mind.

Use Culldistances for small deco stuff!

By xMurphyx

This thing here doesn't have to be seen too far. The culldistance value means it can only be seen if the player is as close or closer to it than the specified value in unreal units. Many of the smaller debris pieces that can't be used for cover anyway can have a relatively low culldistance. Some other examples where this can be handy are window frames or the two dead Russians near the broken truck.

One last thing for now: Zone off your houses where applicable. With many windows and doors I suspect it won't help a whole lot but it's worth a try for some.

The changes with the terrain are the messiest and the most work but they will help the most, both in regards to map-size and performance.

Good luck!

Once more, thx for the great help Murphy!
And now about terrain.

Murphy wrote:

...
Export your heightmap and use photoshop or something similar to reduce the size to 256*256 and then import it again (with a different name, for now). You will have to do the same with different formats for the deco-layers or you can delete them and make them again by hand. Delete the texture and deco layers from your terrain (they have to have the same size as the heightmap and that's going to change now). Open the TerrainInfo Properties and use the newly imported heightmap as its Terrainmap. Use the TerrainScale below to adjust the scaling so the new Terrain has the same size as the old one. If you only changed the size of the heightmap to a quarter of a side's length (1024 -> 256) then you should be able to make it fit by scaling it with the factor *4 on both the x and the y axis.
...

I've got strange problem with terrain map. When i rescale it, and re import it to ed, some places of terrain map became allmost black...What the problem can be

Did you use the UedTexKit?

Murphy wrote:

Did you use the UedTexKit?

Sry for late answer, yeah now everything is ok, i missed it up firstly.

Hi 2k,
good to hear from you again. I'm glad it worked.