Custom Texture Tool PS v50.1

**Admentus** · (This post was last modified: 07-01-2019, 08:54 PM by Admentus.)

Yes! I can indeed confirm that ESGRAN is working properly once again!

Thank you for your hard work!

SFTGAN seems to be having issues? The same image while with ESGRAN only taking mere seconds is taking 03:50 minutes with SFTGAN. Is that intended?

**Bighead** · (This post was last modified: 07-01-2019, 09:06 PM by Bighead.)

That is normal, SFTGAN is far more slow/demanding than ESRGAN is. Despite their similar names they work very different. ESRGAN works with the image directly at a fixed 4x upscale, so if you feed it a 320x240 image, the output is 1280x960. SFTGAN requires the image to be upscaled before it is processed, the best result I've seen and the one I use in the script is nearest neighbor. So instead of it working with a 320x240 image like ESRGAN and upscaling it to 1280x960, it actually works with a 1280x960 image right from the start (which is 16x more pixels) and outputs the filtered image at the same resolution (1280x960).

**Admentus** · (This post was last modified: 07-01-2019, 09:16 PM by Admentus.)

Ahh, that explains the longer processing times.

Good to know!

Welp... Back on redoing those Ocarina of Time backgrounds with the power of ESGRAN. It's going to be a pain, so your tool really is insanely helpful there.

**Bighead** · (This post was last modified: 07-01-2019, 09:41 PM by Bighead.)

Yep it basically comes down to SFTGAN has to work with 16x more pixels than ESRGAN to achieve a similar result. Just a difference in design I guess. And I also wanted to add that there are limited times where SFTGAN will actually be more useful than ESRGAN. I noticed it does the best job with seamless type environment related stuff like grass, cliffs, etc. Whether or not its "better" in any case is subjective. For example, IMO the SFTGAN filter gave the best results for this cliff texture compared to several ESRGAN models.

https://imgur.com/a/QcwQZQu

Edit: The final image in that screenshot is currently impossible to do with the script. This was a combination where I upscaled with ESRGAN, then sent the upscaled texture through SFTGAN rather than use nearest neighbor on the base image. I experimented a bit, tried a few different upscaling filters before sending it through SFTGAN, and nearest neighbor always gave the best, or at least the sharpest/clearest results.

Edit2: Actually its not impossible, I'm just not thinking clearly. It could be done by upscaling with ESRGAN, then running that same image through SFTGAN at 1x. I specifically allowed 1x for this reason (derp), so people could experiment with their own upscaling filters instead of defaulting to nearest neighbor when using 4x. A long and tedious process which may or may not be worth it...

Malkierian · 07-03-2019, 04:50 PM **#745**

Yeah, those ESRGAN upscales are pretty bad, but this just reinforces my love for and use of Gigapixel. I mean, compare that SFTGAN to this:

https://imgur.com/a/KPWjLr4

Yes, the SFTGAN might seem sharper, but at the expense of a LOT of extra noise. It's great that you have those tools integrated with this thing, though, because I struggled getting them to work at all when I first started my upscale journey.

**Bighead** · 07-03-2019, 05:57 PM **#746**

Yeah those results aren't too bad. I'm not sure which I prefer to be honest. The SFTGAN result is nice and sharp, but like you said it has a lot of added noise. Additional filtering and some manual touch ups could fix that though. The Gigapixel upscale does look like a much more faithful replication, albeit with the slight blur.

I think to really get fantastic results with ESRGAN/SFTGAN you would have to train your own models. The default models like "manga" work well enough for general purpose, but I noticed people who train their own towards a specific type of texture get far better results. I would like to eventually add support for that someday/somehow as well, because the process is rather confusing and I'm interested in trying it out for myself eventually.

**Bighead** · (This post was last modified: 07-13-2019, 11:35 PM by Bighead.)

New version: http://www.mediafire.com/file/oz8lcry991zgqbu/Custom+Texture+Tool+PS+v42.0.zip

Contains the fixes for ESRGAN/SFTGAN as mentioned in previous posts. More tooltip rewrites, lots of fixes to ToCS Mode options, and a new fix for a super obscure bug with DDS textures. The bug drove me nuts for a few days, I came across a DDS texture which had mipmaps set in the header but didn't actually have mipmap pixels. It happened to be an "L8" texture, making matters worse, I initially was lead to think that L8 textures were somehow broken. TexConv nor Compressonator knew what to do with it, so it took awhile to figure out how it was broken. The script will now fix the mipmap flag automatically if this rare issue ever occurs again.

The big change this time is a much more noob-friendly install method. Most people who have used this tool over the past while may already have everything set up, especially as it has progressed over time and new features were added. A new user may be overwhelmed with all the information and required programs. I've already had questions about the latest Compressonator being broken more than once, and TexConv hasn't released a compiled "texconv.exe" in the last two releases which also caused confusion. ImageMagick version has not mattered for years, updates only have the chance to break what works (which actually happened between 7.0.3-7 and 7.0.4-6).

When configuring the Tool Paths, a master folder can be selected. If all programs are in the same install folder, it will scan the folder, find all programs, and automatically update the paths. I made a compiled pack of everything needed, and if installed to the default location: C:\CTT-PS Programs, all that is needed is to check the box and all program paths will be automatically filled in.

Spoiler: (Show Spoiler)

While this is really only useful for new users, it can also be nice to clean up the various install paths and have everything in one place.

Edit: I forgot to mention that if wanting to update the programs for whatever reason, any of the program folders that come with the "CTT-PS Programs" package can be deleted and an updated program can be installed. As long the program is installed to same folder, and the checkbox remains checked within CTT-PS, it will scan the folder on every boot for new versions and automatically update the paths within the script.

This was also added to the first post:

Full Installation Method: (Show Spoiler)

opengrip · (This post was last modified: 07-18-2019, 09:08 AM by opengrip.)

Having an issue with this on my first time use... i think i followed all the steps correctly and set all the paths. But no matter what I do texture list wont show any files. I have tried multiple folders and it doesnt seem to make a difference... any idea why this isn't working? Edit: nvm i figured it out haha thanks for the great program UI!!! OK edit number 2... while my list is now working I am attempting to get SFTGAN to work... ESRGAN is working as intended but anytime i use SFTGAN it fails. Is there a log somewhere I can send you to help trouble shoot?

**Bighead** · 07-18-2019, 11:18 AM **#749**

You can enable the powershell console and see if it gives any error messages. Open the options menu, debug tab, and the option is there. Usually when something goes wrong it can give me somewhat of an idea of what is happening. SFTGAN is pretty demanding compared to ESRGAN, are you attempting to use segmented upscales? If your PC runs out of RAM, it will fail. Segmented upscales can work around this but can take a lot longer.

opengrip · 07-18-2019, 11:40 AM **#750**

(07-18-2019, 11:18 AM)Bighead Wrote: You can enable the powershell console and see if it gives any error messages. Open the options menu, debug tab, and the option is there. Usually when something goes wrong it can give me somewhat of an idea of what is happening. SFTGAN is pretty demanding compared to ESRGAN, are you attempting to use segmented upscales? If your PC runs out of RAM, it will fail. Segmented upscales can work around this but can take a lot longer.

I did try the segmented upscales... i tried between 1-4 on larger and smaller files and they all failed similar... when it was segmented it says the segment fails but when not it says the thing just failed in gereral.. im reinstalling everything now to see if i screwed up with python or cuda etc and ill do the debug when i do if im still getting the failure