Please could you do a b2a packaged version? Helps massively with performance and loading times, even if your change is small, imagine a lot of small mods and you'll maybe see why my request is valid. Thank you!
I'm not sure where you got the idea that a computer having to sift through a compressed archive folder, then read the data so it can process it, is faster than just reading the data outright. It actually takes longer for a system to use the BA2 files.
IIRC, it's actually true due to engine changes Bethesda implemented in FO4 and on. The B2A files are accessed and streamed in faster than regular files. That being said, I highly doubt one lone texture would make any discernible difference. If someone is using a bunch of small texture changes with loose files, they could pack them all into a custom B2A and create an esp to load it.
@Morphite88 - don't buy the hype. This is just one file, making a BA2 is silly. But there is no way it can be faster for a system to decompress and display a file, than just displaying an uncompressed one. The original reason for BSA compression was keeping the download size of the game as modest as possible and making it easier to add DLC and patches.
There was a loading-speed issue back in the day. A decade or so ago when games started going beyond the XP era of 2GB program limits, the I/O load speed of old spinner hard drives were seriously bottlenecking loading of lots of large HD textures into games. Thus loading them compressed into system memory was quicker, even if the system then had to use extra time & resources to decompress it all. However, SSDs don't suffer the I/O bottleneck of old HDDs, so it now simply becomes a matter of the speed of your system to first decompress the files vs not having to decompress at all. And a vast number of compressed files will slow your game down, a little. Sure, games can be optimised for BSA but it's about minimising that lag, not about being faster than uncompressed.
The other big reason games do all such compressions is modern games have now got so huge in size it's getting ridiculous, and if uncompressed they'd take up 2 or 3 times the drive space! So you see, they're compromising on speed and the data integrity issue of compressed files, primarily to make games smaller (or rather, not so massive).
^ To see just how wrong they are, unpack an archive with textures, or all of them, and watch the game crawl. Even with an SSD.
I also love the bit about "download" sizes. Steam compresses anyway. And so on. It all "sounds good" but turns out to be wrong.
Measure, then come up with explanations for what you measured. But don't just dream up what you think you would measure if you could be bothered to actually measure.
I have installed this mod for about a year now but I still don't even know what it does. Don't really see a difference lol. Can someone tell me what it does?
This is probably the single best mod anyone can install. It makes even vanilla eyes look alive - and is certainly all you really need for eyes. I take my hat off to you. Very endorsed.
This really fix the eye normal map on the characters. Thank you! I've been using this for days now since I just got back to FO4 again so far I didn't encountered any issues while having this mod.
I don't think you need to do this anymore. The author never bothered to update this since 2015... a lot has happened since the release of the creation kit
Does anyone know for sure if the edit is needed any more. and if so do we just add sResourceDataDirsFinal*STRINGS\, TEXTURES\ to the ini file or do we edit sResourceDataDirsFinal= to sResourceDataDirsFinal*STRINGS\, TEXTURES\ Thank you for any help
I'm really disappointed no one answered this because I'm having the same dilemma. In the comments, I see someone assumed it was the same thing and they haven't commented back since, so maybe it worked? I really have no idea. :(
You no longer need to do that. Thats how it used to be so the game would recognize the data files being added. Here is the updated Instructions copied off the Nexus Wiki.
Navigate to your Fallout 4 Folder at the following location "Documents\My Games\Fallout4"Within this folder you'll find a number of .ini files.Open (or create, if missing) Fallout4Custom.ini with your favourite text editor (we use Notepad++).Add the following lines to your Fallout4Custom.ini [Archive]bInvalidateOlderFiles=1sResourceDataDirsFinal= Save and close Fallout4Custom.iniThat's it, you're ready to get modding! :)
Give Feedback
123 comments
There was a loading-speed issue back in the day. A decade or so ago when games started going beyond the XP era of 2GB program limits, the I/O load speed of old spinner hard drives were seriously bottlenecking loading of lots of large HD textures into games. Thus loading them compressed into system memory was quicker, even if the system then had to use extra time & resources to decompress it all. However, SSDs don't suffer the I/O bottleneck of old HDDs, so it now simply becomes a matter of the speed of your system to first decompress the files vs not having to decompress at all. And a vast number of compressed files will slow your game down, a little. Sure, games can be optimised for BSA but it's about minimising that lag, not about being faster than uncompressed.
The other big reason games do all such compressions is modern games have now got so huge in size it's getting ridiculous, and if uncompressed they'd take up 2 or 3 times the drive space! So you see, they're compromising on speed and the data integrity issue of compressed files, primarily to make games smaller (or rather, not so massive).
I also love the bit about "download" sizes. Steam compresses anyway. And so on. It all "sounds good" but turns out to be wrong.
Measure, then come up with explanations for what you measured. But don't just dream up what you think you would measure if you could be bothered to actually measure.
I take my hat off to you. Very endorsed.
P.S. - used in a pic I uploaded to Nexus here.
There is a sResourceDataDirsFinal= however
The author never bothered to update this since 2015...
a lot has happened since the release of the creation kit
and if so do we just add sResourceDataDirsFinal*STRINGS\, TEXTURES\ to the ini file
or do we edit sResourceDataDirsFinal= to sResourceDataDirsFinal*STRINGS\, TEXTURES\
Thank you for any help
Navigate to your Fallout 4 Folder at the following location "Documents\My Games\Fallout4"Within this folder you'll find a number of .ini files.Open (or create, if missing) Fallout4Custom.ini with your favourite text editor (we use Notepad++).Add the following lines to your Fallout4Custom.ini
[Archive]bInvalidateOlderFiles=1sResourceDataDirsFinal=
Save and close Fallout4Custom.iniThat's it, you're ready to get modding! :)
wait what?
i think the format is off here, u forgot to endline
shouldn't it be
[Archive]
bInvalidateOlderFiles=1
sResourceDataDirsFinal=
Source: https://wiki.nexusmods.com/index.php/Fallout_4_Mod_Installation