Difference in compression when game built vs run from editor

  • #1, by chrisgSunday, 12. April 2020, 23:27 4 years ago
    Hi. I've been building a game and mostly testing from the editor, "run game" option. I've been testing more with building the game, and finding a big difference in the graphics compression when building - with images very crisp in the editor run, and lots of compression artifacts in the built game.
     
    • Major compression artifacts on all screens
    • Game resolution is 1920x1080, all backgrounds created at that size
    • Most assets are saved in webp (some still in png)
    • I've only tested on the windows version so far
    • Testing game full screen or windowed, same result

    My questions:
    • Is there extra compression applied when building the game? 
    • If so, can I control / configure that?
    • If not - is there a better way to control the input? E.g. should I not compress the assets before loading them into the editor (I think most of the webp are compressed around 88%)

    Let me know if there's any extra info that would help you to advise. 

    Thanks in advance!

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  • #2, by chrisgSunday, 12. April 2020, 23:33 4 years ago
    As usual, by the time i get to the point of making a forum post i notice something straight after... 

    I saw when i export I have the option to uncheck 'convert webp' - and by unchecking this the compression artifacts are completely gone.

    I noticed elsewhere in the forum that the build process converts everything to webp for portability. 

    • If I leave this unchecked, am I likely to hit problems with having a combination of webp and png assets for portability?
    • If I have only webp assets is it safe to leave this unchecked?
    • Would it be more sensible for me  to provide lossless webp assets in the editor and leave it up to the build process to compress? 

    Thanks again

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  • #3, by afrlmeMonday, 13. April 2020, 04:27 4 years ago
    No, it should be fine. Both webp & png are supported. I would also recommend staying away from the convert to webp option in the build game section of the editor - it's not very reliable; much better to use xnconvert & manually batch convert your png files into webp lossless or lossy quality 100% youtself.

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  • #4, by MachtnixMonday, 13. April 2020, 17:35 4 years ago
    After converting to webp my png lost the transparency, so ich stay at png. May be a  mistake or somewhat. Don't know.

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  • #5, by lukasTuesday, 14. April 2020, 12:17 4 years ago
    After converting to webp my png lost the transparency, so ich stay at png. May be a  mistake or somewhat. Don't know.
    I had the same problem - it seems that under certain circumstances transparency is saved as plain white when converting pics to webp. To keep the transparency you can just load your png in Photoshop and save it again as png under the same name via "save as", then convert to webp via XnConvert. I'm not sure what exactly is changed by that, but it works.

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  • #6, by MachtnixWednesday, 15. April 2020, 15:22 4 years ago
    Thank you. Yes, I think it depends on my source program: the png was rendered from Cinema4d with alpha channel. May be the converting from this format isn't quite correct. Photoshop makes the png "clean". Because I often change the pictures I don't like webp so much: I have to switch to XnConvert every time between every step to make a new webp. My Photoshop can't work with them.

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  • #7, by chrisgFriday, 17. April 2020, 00:31 4 years ago
    Thanks for the tips! I will do my own compression and leave that option disabled at build time. I have most things saved as webp now just a few straggling pngs to convert. 

    My workflow is Procreate > Photoshop > "Save as webp" now, I haven't encountered any issues with converting or webp format and transparency.

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