#sun&moon explainer

[fireflowersims]

Sun&Moon Explainer - Optimization

So, I thought it might be fun to do some "behind the scenes" explainers about some of the stuff we do at the Sun&Moon Star Factory.

So in case anyone's curious about what an "optimization update" means, here's the details (long post):

A lot of older Sun&Moon sets use disproportionately large textures. We're talking 1024x1024 for a small wooden pole, for example. While this may (in theory) look cool and high def, it does strain the texture memory quite a bit and will absolutely increase your chances of encountering pink soup.

So what we do with optimization updates is see if we can reduce 1. The size of textures 2. The amount of textures.

Optimization updates are all about decreasing graphical strain and (hopefully) making your game run better. The fact that by doing this we could cut set size down by as much as 50% if not more sometimes is a nice bonus for people with low download speeds or full drives.

"But doesn't this make your sets "low texture quality"?"

No, it doesn't. Texture size ≠ quality. Quality means more than just raw numbers. When optimizing we check whether changing to a lower resolution looks noticeably worse or not. We don't want things to look grainy or generally unappealing. We also try to keep the size of the object vs texture in mind. A larger object can absolutely justify a larger texture, but for a small accessory you're unlikely to encounter too often, you can and should absolutely drop the resolution if possible. Sometimes we may choose to do some remapping to make a smaller texture better fit a larger object. This is a bit more time-consuming but can absolutely be worth it. The quality of a work can absolutely increase when choosing a fitting texture resolution, be it larger or smaller.

So for that wooden pole I mentioned: chances are that that thing's texture size could be dropped to as low as 256x256 with a little bit of remapping. A texture size that would fit in a 1024x1024 *checks* 16 times. 16 times smaller in size while not looking significantly different. Now imagine that being done for hundreds of textures. That's big gains and could absolutely mean the difference between smooth gameplay and pink flashing.

"But what about the amount of textures?"

We use two techniques to reduce the amount of textures: these are the "Repository" method and the "Texture Referencing" method. Both come down to object A taking its textures from object B, the difference is in which resources it happens. Both of these methods can be combined for even bigger savings.

Repository is fantastic for recolorable objects. It is why EAxis beds all share the same sheets. All bedding subsets are repositoried to one singular bed which holds the bedding textures. It involves changing the GMND, SHPE and sometimes GMDC and references the object the texture is taken from itself. This is what we do for most of our wood, for example

Texture referencing is more common in CAS content and involves editing the TXMT. It does not directly reference the object it is pulling its textures from, but rather the TXTR aka texture image itself. Texture referencing is especially useful for non-recolorable objects.

An example of how this can be combined is by looking at horses: the rideable horse is separate from the "basic" horses. The stallion and foal are repositoried to the mare, the rideable horse isn't. Because the rideable horse has identical textures, all recolors are texture referenced to their respective "mare" recolors. The packages were then merged resulting in two recolors in one package using only 1 texture. This cuts the amount of textures and files in half. If we wouldn't do any of this but make it all 100% stand-alone, we would have 4 times the files, 4 times the effort and 4 times the texture strain.

"Are there any other ways in which you can optimize?"

Yes, Barnyard Bash is a great example: the old separate livestock sets all had (identical looking) troughs. One for water, one for food. 2 troughs per animal set + their hay/water files, so 4 files for feeding and watering your livestock PER animal type. Barnyard Bash reduced the amount of objects needed by having all livestock look to the same resources (and merging the water and food trough into one general trough with two options). This freed up a lot of GUIDs (therefore also reducing the chance of encountering the object limit) and means you could have the same experience with fewer files.

Another way we try to make things more efficient is by reducing the amount of BHAV's (code). In our newest (upcoming) station we got inventory management cut down to only a couple of BHAVs that can be reused over and over again. While it may not make a huge difference in filesize, it does make things easier to read and maintain. Compare this to the older sets when every single inventory action (checking, adding and removing) had its own BHAV and it starts adding up. Part of optimization therefore, is also updating the code. You won't always notice in gameplay, but we do streamline things.

"something something so many requirements/dependencies"

We actually used to include required files in our sets but stopped doing that because of two reasons:

It makes it more difficult to keep everything up to date. People could have an older version of a file loading in, causing issues.

Duplicate files significantly increase the risk of catalog crashes.

We use the wine cask shelf for all our wood because this is the efficient thing to do. One object for most of your wood: download some recolors and apply it to tens of objects. It saves space, it saves energy. This way we can focus on creating visually appealing meshes and textures, brainstorming new set ideas and writing new code instead of having to recolor wood for the 90th time. It also has the benefit of creating a very consistent aesthetic.

So yes, sometimes a set update introduces a new requirement. This is not to frustrate users, but to better integrate or optimize sets.

"But why were the texture sizes that large to begin with?"

I didn't come in till later so a lot of this is speculation. I think that back in the day (a decade or so ago) there wasn't a widespread awareness yet that large texture sizes could contribute to pink flashing. I myself am guilty of excessively large textures in some of my solo sets and projects. Unfortunately, Sunni (rip) can't tell us anything about her thought process anymore. All that matters now is that texture optimization has become standard in our current process and that one of our goals is to get all of our sets optimized for optimal performance so they can continue to spark joy.

"So how much space does this all save?"

As it stands right now, all set optimization (both released and still wip) put together come to a whooping 600+ MB in filesize reduction as compared to their original sizes. That's more than half a GB of disk space freed up for more cc or cat pictures. Not bad, eh?

[ohno-the-sun]

Listen man listen this au is bouncing in my brain

To make a long story simple think of this as the dca meets phantom of the opera meets murderous play

The sun here has stolen moon’s part, moon is supposed to be the phantom not him

He’s doing it cause he wants the main character (playing Christine) dead

Au by @lunesprite (I apologize I will be posting a lot for this)

[bluuscreen]

god of the wind / god of the stars

[socksandbuttons]

Writes a whole thing to bring Daydream back and now he's chillin' with Nexus because I say so. Me and Thorn are very normal about this.

[puppetmaster13u]

Prompt 245

Now Danny would openly admit, if only to himself, that he had a type when it came to relationships. If they were strong, if they were a threat to him, then chances were he would develop some sort of crush. It was how he had dated Sam and Valerie (And Johnny & Kitty) when he was a bit younger, and hell, Sam had technically succeeded in killing him, even if partly. 

Attraction towards smart people who could kill him was honestly par for the course for a Fenton or Nightingale anyway. 

And he’d also admit he enjoyed a bit of time travel, learning about times and culture long before his time, to the point that he could blend in in ancient times just as easily as the time he had been born in. That it was natural to mutter in a language lost to time. 

So color him surprise when another man perks up in the bar he had paused to get a drink in, vibrant green eyes gleaming in interest and responds in turn. And not just in the language, but able to keep up when he talks about things that once existed but haven’t been rediscovered yet. 

And one thing led to the other, and there might have been some assassins and some shenanigans that end with them both laughing together in an inn and then more and- Okay he has a type alright, and he’s ticking each box! How is that fair? 

[sulfadimethoxine]

Mooontercycle

After the crash sun tried hitchhiking

[imclou]

My problem is that i have to work but they're the only thing i can think about

[crees-a]

I'm so excited right now

FANART FOR YOU @theinfamousdoctorf!!! AS I PROMISED >:DD

I had lots of ideas what scene to draw but I think this is just my favorite

[bones-of-a-rabbit]

Abandonment Issues, Prologue (part 1)

Abandonment Issues comic, prologue: pages 1-5

I was going to finish th prologue and then post it all at once but it’s taking way longer than expected so uh. Shrug

(part 2: here!)

[yourstrulynobody]

Family bonding :D

(Max= human SAMS Moondrop // Elias= human SAMS Eclipse)

You thought this was gonna be a happy post, didnt you.

[idlingmoons]

this damn banana's causing my mouth to sting

so many wips and ocs!! i have finished up apricot's design, and i will be posting her some time. sungrass wip because i can. i love these guys i cannot explain my love for oc making and surprise worldbuilding

[m-for-now]

As someone who is genderfae (microlabel under genderfluid), I have a lot of different experiences with gender.

I just wish someone told me sooner that it won't go like "today I'm a girl" "today I'm an enby" but more like ,,, "today I am a swamp witch" "today I am a feminine victorian vampire boy" "today I am a forest goblin collecting people's stares about my gender expression like shiny rocks on the ground" "today I'm an androgynous pirate lady"

Like,,, sure, are those real genders? I don't fucking now. If a cisgender person asked me what I identify as that day, would I answer like that? No, definitely not.

But to my genderqueer, trans and genderfluid friends; do you get me? I can't be alone with this, right?

[coern-art-very-cool-and-nice]

ash and lillie

transparent + unshaded below cut

[betweenblackberrybranches]

Enjoy the Guys™️

Left to right Callisto, Achilles and Altair, my three dca OCs who are all big of heart but dumb of ass😔 good luck y/n

And here another version without the foreground shading and frame

[wrathevil]

five head in the last frame

[wyervan]

So sorry if this is too... suggestive, for ur blog/au in general, buuuut I cant help myself sorry lol feel free not to answer

How bold would ur two slashers be when it comes to flirting and, well, other stuff? Would they ever make the first move? Say smth a little daring just to have a reaction? Love ur au!

I would not consider talk of flirting alone or other stuff, at least in the vaguest sense, too suggestive for my blog🖤 hee hee. I tag posts with "suggestive content" and use "read-more" cuts if I feel like things are getting remotely spicy for people who want to avoid such material.

(In these sort of asks, I do always have the caveat that IT DEPENDS ON THE OTHER CHARACTER AND THE SITUATION but I did my best to answer generally... but uhhhh exclusions may apply lolol)

Sun’s not exactly great at disguising when he likes someone, but he's unlikely to make the first move, ESPECIALLY not in a case where the object of his affections is an employee. The slashing side gig is one ethical quandary but flirting with the underlings? Gosh darn it! Now that’s where he draws the moral line 😤! In most cases, anybody that's interested in getting to know him a little better is gonna have to grab him by the tie and make their desires known loud and clear for anything to progress 😝.

Moon's definitely bolder, not in the habit of dancing around what he wants like Sun is lol. Though he's less sure what to do with feelings outside of... physical attraction, if that makes any sense. For a non-employee, he usually has no issue making his interest known by voicing it in his usual blunt way or showing it physically.

Though he really only acts like a manager when it's convenient for him, for an employee y/n, Moon does have a vague sense that he probably shouldn't pursue any sort of intimate relationship. Mostly it's Sun's voice in his head that's telling him that, which Moon listens to... on occasion. He knows he can be single-minded when he wants something, but he's not keen on making staff uncomfortable or feel pressured.

So! He'd be a little more careful with an employee about how he goes about testing the waters. Being a bit daring with some of his jokes or comments (like you mentioned, anon dearest :3), watching their reactions. Looking to see if they shut down, outright express discomfort, or "rise to his challenge" so to speak. With Moonie things are always a bit of a game 😏 and he's looking for someone to play with.