Optimize the size

Why size matters

Every player who sees the ped downloads its files from the server, so a large ped takes longer to show up. And if your server has a limit on how large a ped may be, it has to fit within it.

Measure the ped

1. 01

   Press Optimize in the top bar. The panel takes the inspector’s place and measures the ped.

2. 02

   Type your server’s limit in Size limit (MB), or leave the field empty if there is none. The limit is kept in the browser and applies to all your projects.

3. 03

   The bar shows how much each garment takes, and a line marks the limit. Under Largest parts are the largest parts. The panel measures again after every edit.

Make the ped smaller

• Very large textures: textures larger than 2048 pixels are halved down to 1024.

• Textures to halve: shown only when the ped is over the limit. A garment’s textures are halved, and PedForge ticks the ones that save the most until the ped fits.

• Textures that need no transparency: textures in DXT5 that have nothing showing through are written in DXT1 instead, at half the size.

• Identical variants: variants that are exactly the same as another variant are removed.

• Textures no garment uses: textures in the files that no garment uses are removed.

• Large models, Many variants and Files over 16 MB are for your information only. They have no box to tick; what to do about them is up to you.

1. 01

   The suggestions are boxes to tick, grouped as above. The line under the bar shows how large the ped will be with what is ticked, and whether it then fits: Fits the limit or Still over the limit. Click a garment’s name to select that garment.

2. 02

   Press Apply. Every ticked change is made as one step in the history, so Undo takes them all back. Optimizing costs no credits.

Make one texture smaller

You can also make a texture smaller in the inspector. Select a variant, choose a size in Resize to and whether it is for This texture or All textures in the garment, and press Resize. A texture that is not already compressed as DXT is compressed again, and the picture may lose a little detail.

Change format and mip levels

In the inspector, under the size, is Pixel format. DXT1 is the smallest but has no transparency, DXT5 has it and is twice the size, and uncompressed loses no quality but takes about eight times as much as DXT1. The choice is for Change this texture or Change every texture in the garment, the line under it shows the size before and after, and Change format rewrites the textures as one step in the history. It costs no credits.

Mip levels are the smaller copies of the texture the game shows at a distance. Dropping levels makes the file smaller and works for every format, because the levels are only cut away. Adding levels means writing the texture again, so it is only possible in the three formats above. The smallest level is 4 × 4, so the list ends at the count the texture’s size allows.