Blocky menu icons in the inventory menu

[QuiteTheTail]

As the topic title says.

Initially I blamed bad disk sectors and/or corrupted files, but the .dds files in the Textures\Menus folder are fine when inspected with GIMP. Can't be the UI mod either, because some icons are affected and some don't. Some of them are packed in .bsa files (items belonging to MMM or Frans), some are loose files added by other mods. I can't find any plausible explanation.

[nufndash]

Probably totally unrelated, but about a week ago all my characters on the skyrim loading screen, and things like enb version numbers and such on the loading screen all had white boxes around the letters, I am not sure if that is what you mean, but I updated my video card driver and set everything to ultra and let GeForce "optimize my game".  The white blocks dissapeard and everything looks incredible.  I have no idea why this happened, and it was just luck that I found out how to fix it, but it did work.

[QuiteTheTail]

I will try updating my vidcard drivers, thanks for the info. in the meantime I will try to provide a screenshot to better explain the problem.

 

Screenshot:

 

 

 

 

 

Neo's Morrigan Outfit icons are fine, Dragon Gauntlets and Silent Jester armor have blocky icons instead.

 

I've been thinking... perhaps Darnified UI is scaling down the menu items (such as icons) and some icons are too hi-res (or low-res, who knows) to be scaled down without loss of quality. Just a thought. I am pretty sure the vanilla UI wouldn't be affected, but I won't renounce to the Darnified menus just to solve this little problem.

I could rescale the icons with a batch image (.dds) utility, but first I should know the correct resolution to apply.

[QuiteTheTail]

Resolution is the same (64x64) for both Neo's and samhain6's icons. Must be something else.

 

P.S.

I have another mod affecting the menus, is Container & Magic Menu Overhaul (without performance patch - in my case, it makes things worse and menus take ages to pop up). It might be involved as well.

[Baron Of Hell]

If your texture size isn't set to large try setting it to large. 

[AnnaFly]

I will try updating my vidcard drivers, thanks for the info. in the meantime I will try to provide a screenshot to better explain the problem.

 

Screenshot:

 

 

blocky icons.png

 

 

 

Neo's Morrigan Outfit icons are fine, Dragon Gauntlets and Silent Jester armor have blocky icons instead.

 

I've been thinking... perhaps Darnified UI is scaling down the menu items (such as icons) and some icons are too hi-res (or low-res, who knows) to be scaled down without loss of quality. Just a thought. I am pretty sure the vanilla UI wouldn't be affected, but I won't renounce to the Darnified menus just to solve this little problem.

I could rescale the icons with a batch image (.dds) utility, but first I should know the correct resolution to apply.

 

Hi there.

 

 je crois que ton problème vient simplement du fait du mauvais format de tes textures , Growlf avait le m^me soucis .... : por tes icônes le format doit être DTX1 et non DTX3 ou DTX5 et sans MipMap ! Si tu as des icônes au format DTX5 alors les paramètre de  video doivent être sur "hight" sinon tu obtiens ce que je vois sur ta capture d'écran .

 

Bises ...

 

Now a very, very short English version : for the icon 's textures , the DDS format must be DTX1 without MipMap ! If you use another DTX format ( DTX3 or DTX5 ) you must set your "video" parameters as " High" ...

 

Compris ? .... :°)

 

Cheers.

 

 

PS: if you still use XP OS ( i use it to play , but not to access the Web of course ) use DDS Converter2 ... it's the most  pratical DDS converter i know ... you can also use it with W7 but only if you are able to use the XP mode ( W7 pro or Ultiate version ) ... and don't use the one from Nexus ... take it directly from the autor site : sorry i don't have the right link on this machine , so here the Nexus version i got a long time ago ( Nexus , probably but not sure i need to check too much folder to exectly know if this the "Nexus" uploaded version or not ... and sorry i have no time to do so actually ):

 

 

DDS_Converter_2-8698.7z

[Symon]

Check for Mipmaps.

Menus Icons don't require MipMaps but people often create them anyway.

If present, try removing them.

 

(One case where the Vanilla CS is better than CSE - It warns you if MipMaps are present but un-needed).

[QuiteTheTail]

Check for Mipmaps.

Menus Icons don't require MipMaps but people often create them anyway.

If present, try removing them.

 

(One case where the Vanilla CS is better than CSE - It warns you if MipMaps are present but un-needed).

Thank you Simon, I will try removing the mipmaps if present (If I recall correctly, there is an option in GIMP to import .dds files without generating mipmaps). I could import the file that way and re-export it. Or I could use the utility provided by Annafly (I suppose it can process multiple .dds files in batch mode). I will check the compression too (DXT1 or DXT5)

We'll see.

[QuiteTheTail]

If your texture size isn't set to large try setting it to large. 

 

You mean the texture quality in Options > Video?

It's already set to High (it's a sort of fps killer, but I prefer detail over smooth play).

 

[Baron Of Hell]

 

If your texture size isn't set to large try setting it to large. 

 

You mean the texture quality in Options > Video?

It's already set to High (it's a sort of fps killer, but I prefer detail over smooth play).

 

 

 

That is where it is located. The actual wording is Large just to be clear we are talking about the same thing.  There are three options for texture size small, medium and large.   Many people only do their icons in one size which causes the icons to look bad or show a error if your settings is set to a smaller size. 

[QuiteTheTail]

Check for Mipmaps.

Menus Icons don't require MipMaps but people often create them anyway.

If present, try removing them.

 

(One case where the Vanilla CS is better than CSE - It warns you if MipMaps are present but un-needed).

I made a quick test importing and re-exporting with GIMP using DXT1 compression and no mipmaps and overwriting the source file, but that particular icon is still blocky as the others.

 

 

 

If your texture size isn't set to large try setting it to large. 

 

You mean the texture quality in Options > Video?

It's already set to High (it's a sort of fps killer, but I prefer detail over smooth play).

 

 

 

That is where it is located. The actual wording is Large just to be clear we are talking about the same thing.  There are three options for texture size small, medium and large.   Many people only do their icons in one size which causes the icons to look bad or show a error if your settings is set to a smaller size. 

 

I apologize, Large is certainly the correct term, the confusion originated because my menus are in a different language (localized version of the game).

 

 

PS: if you still use XP OS ( i use it to play , but not to access the Web of course ) use DDS Converter2 ... it's the most  pratical DDS converter i know ... you can also use it with W7 but only if you are able to use the XP mode ( W7 pro or Ultiate version ) ... and don't use the one from Nexus ... take it directly from the autor site : sorry i don't have the right link on this machine , so here the Nexus version i got a long time ago ( Nexus , probably but not sure i need to check too much folder to exectly know if this the "Nexus" uploaded version or not ... and sorry i have no time to do so actually ):

The attached installer doesn't work for me (I tried it even under Windows XP SP3, and unfortunately the compatibility mode has no option for XP SP2, only Win98 and 2000). I have also tried installing it with administrator privileges, same result. The program won't start. Could be that my videocard is ATI and not nVidia? Apparently the app is based on a nVidia core utility.

 

I'm looking for alternatives, there are a lot of DDS Converters out there, but it's hard to tell what's good for this particular task.

[QuiteTheTail]

Baron of Hell was right, my texture quality somehow switched to medium without me noticing... or perhaps I had it changed intentionally, but I didn't remember.

 

Once restored that setting, all the icons are finally showing properly. So, the icons that were displayed correctly were those at medium quality (such as vanilla items and those from a bunch of mods). I understand that the majority of modders designs their icons for the Large texture size. Can't blame them, though.

 

Anyway, the discussion about mipmaps was also useful and worth mentioning. Thanks everyone.

[AnnaFly]

 

Check for Mipmaps.

Menus Icons don't require MipMaps but people often create them anyway.

If present, try removing them.

 

(One case where the Vanilla CS is better than CSE - It warns you if MipMaps are present but un-needed).

I made a quick test importing and re-exporting with GIMP using DXT1 compression and no mipmaps and overwriting the source file, but that particular icon is still blocky as the others.

 

 

 

If your texture size isn't set to large try setting it to large. 

 

You mean the texture quality in Options > Video?

It's already set to High (it's a sort of fps killer, but I prefer detail over smooth play).

 

 

 

That is where it is located. The actual wording is Large just to be clear we are talking about the same thing.  There are three options for texture size small, medium and large.   Many people only do their icons in one size which causes the icons to look bad or show a error if your settings is set to a smaller size. 

 

I apologize, Large is certainly the correct term, the confusion originated because my menus are in a different language (localized version of the game).

 

 

PS: if you still use XP OS ( i use it to play , but not to access the Web of course ) use DDS Converter2 ... it's the most  pratical DDS converter i know ... you can also use it with W7 but only if you are able to use the XP mode ( W7 pro or Ultiate version ) ... and don't use the one from Nexus ... take it directly from the autor site : sorry i don't have the right link on this machine , so here the Nexus version i got a long time ago ( Nexus , probably but not sure i need to check too much folder to exectly know if this the "Nexus" uploaded version or not ... and sorry i have no time to do so actually ):

The attached installer doesn't work for me (I tried it even under Windows XP SP3, and unfortunately the compatibility mode has no option for XP SP2, only Win98 and 2000). I have also tried installing it with administrator privileges, same result. The program won't start. Could be that my videocard is ATI and not nVidia? Apparently the app is based on a nVidia core utility.

 

I'm looking for alternatives, there are a lot of DDS Converters out there, but it's hard to tell what's good for this particular task.

 

 

Hi there.

 

 Uhmmm... maybe i put an old version, not quiet sure , because the one i use is there since +7- 2007 ... on this machine !

 

I 'll check my "archive folder " first" . The One from Nexus is the version 2 but if i wrote to not use it it's because i got a "virus alert " by the past ... but it's a long time ago now, and finally, maybe it's was a false virus alert ( by Kaspersky ) .

 

Anyway, i'll check my "archives" .

 

Cheers.

 

Well i took it from the web a few minutes ago , other links seem to be not very " clean " ... but, be cerefull and and scan it first ... i did it with MSE ... nothing else, nothing wrong too ...

 

PS : you must launch the file with Administrator's right for the installation ... so it's another good reason to scan the file first. And remember this one doesn't work ( as expected  and it's a real pain ...)  with W7 .

 

dds_converter_v21.7z