I am no programmer so forgive me if I don't really know what I am talking about in my explanation:
1. It seems that the problem is textures that are similar in some way are dumped with the same CRC. (?)
2. Slowdown occurs only when they are up-sized and two or more of these textures are on screen at the same time.
3. They are always _ciByRGBA.png type (ci_by_png) textures.
4. _ci.bmp (ci_png) doesn't dump all textures/any of the CRC dupes (because the CRC is the whole name right?)
5. They are not redundant dupes. They are different and necessary textures that happen to have the same CRC portion of their name.
Maybe the plugin is thinking it's looking for/processing them as "_rgb" and "_a" files because those have the same CRC? ie...it's looking for textures that are more than 1 file with the same CRC?
Background:
A couple of days ago I was working on the LAST boss I have to retexture in LOD...the spider queen boss...when for the first time...a boss itself contained what I call "Trouble Textures"! Causing severe slowdown. From 60 fps down to ~10 fps! Needless to say I was...insert profanity...
This made me stop and look more closely at these "trouble textures" that were slowing down this scene.
The textures slowing it down are:
1. The "spider legs" texture used for her "hair" (CASTLEVANIA2#58E2333F#2#0#DFB4484F_ciByRGBA.png)
2. The "spider legs" texture used for her "legs" (CASTLEVANIA2#58E2333F#2#0#D7A5C6D9_ciByRGBA.png)
First I noticed was it was 2 textures.
These two textures were the same size. (original dump size)
These two textures were the same "design", only with different color.
Then I noticed they had the same file name...almost.
So I went over to another "trouble texture" folder to see if the same similarities applied to other trouble textures I had found before. They did. Ah-ha!
So I spent hours looking for other textures that have the same first part of their file name. I think it's called the "CRC" portion of the file name.
I found a ton! All of them were the same size as their dupe(s), but not all of these textures I found create slowdown during the game.
What I realized was it's only textures that happen to be on screen at the same time as their "CRC dupes" that cause slowdown during play.
This is why when there are say 2 different color Armor Knights or 2 different color Skeletons on screen, slowdown occurs. The same applies to backgrounds too such as the carpets, walls, doors, door handles, chairs and paintings in the Villa. I found over 100 of them in the Villa! But, again it's only when 2 or more of them have to be drawn at the same time that it slows down. As soon as you enter the Villa mansion (the foyer with the stair case) is a great example. Their are a lot of trouble textures in there.
Here are the two textures with the same CRC for the spider queen and a save state right before the fight begins for your convenience during testing:
1. To experience slowdown, just make one or both of these textures larger.
2. To crash the emulator, go back to the game without re-loading textures.
3. To see the object disappear, return it to it's original size and return to the game without re-loading textures.
Anyone else ever experience any of this before? I've typed all this up because I know Mudlord is very busy right now and maybe we can "think tank" this over to save him valuable time.
Textures and save state download: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=AC5YRQXT
Edit: You'll need to choose save state 4 in PJ64 for the above download.
1. It seems that the problem is textures that are similar in some way are dumped with the same CRC. (?)
2. Slowdown occurs only when they are up-sized and two or more of these textures are on screen at the same time.
3. They are always _ciByRGBA.png type (ci_by_png) textures.
4. _ci.bmp (ci_png) doesn't dump all textures/any of the CRC dupes (because the CRC is the whole name right?)
5. They are not redundant dupes. They are different and necessary textures that happen to have the same CRC portion of their name.
Maybe the plugin is thinking it's looking for/processing them as "_rgb" and "_a" files because those have the same CRC? ie...it's looking for textures that are more than 1 file with the same CRC?
Background:
A couple of days ago I was working on the LAST boss I have to retexture in LOD...the spider queen boss...when for the first time...a boss itself contained what I call "Trouble Textures"! Causing severe slowdown. From 60 fps down to ~10 fps! Needless to say I was...insert profanity...
This made me stop and look more closely at these "trouble textures" that were slowing down this scene.
The textures slowing it down are:
1. The "spider legs" texture used for her "hair" (CASTLEVANIA2#58E2333F#2#0#DFB4484F_ciByRGBA.png)
2. The "spider legs" texture used for her "legs" (CASTLEVANIA2#58E2333F#2#0#D7A5C6D9_ciByRGBA.png)
First I noticed was it was 2 textures.
These two textures were the same size. (original dump size)
These two textures were the same "design", only with different color.
Then I noticed they had the same file name...almost.
So I went over to another "trouble texture" folder to see if the same similarities applied to other trouble textures I had found before. They did. Ah-ha!
So I spent hours looking for other textures that have the same first part of their file name. I think it's called the "CRC" portion of the file name.
I found a ton! All of them were the same size as their dupe(s), but not all of these textures I found create slowdown during the game.
What I realized was it's only textures that happen to be on screen at the same time as their "CRC dupes" that cause slowdown during play.
This is why when there are say 2 different color Armor Knights or 2 different color Skeletons on screen, slowdown occurs. The same applies to backgrounds too such as the carpets, walls, doors, door handles, chairs and paintings in the Villa. I found over 100 of them in the Villa! But, again it's only when 2 or more of them have to be drawn at the same time that it slows down. As soon as you enter the Villa mansion (the foyer with the stair case) is a great example. Their are a lot of trouble textures in there.
Here are the two textures with the same CRC for the spider queen and a save state right before the fight begins for your convenience during testing:
1. To experience slowdown, just make one or both of these textures larger.
2. To crash the emulator, go back to the game without re-loading textures.
3. To see the object disappear, return it to it's original size and return to the game without re-loading textures.
Anyone else ever experience any of this before? I've typed all this up because I know Mudlord is very busy right now and maybe we can "think tank" this over to save him valuable time.
Textures and save state download: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=AC5YRQXT
Edit: You'll need to choose save state 4 in PJ64 for the above download.
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