Welcome to

Zodiac Review

Games - Applications - Tapwave

Important Site Information

Feburary 16th 2004

Some of my reviews are quite large. over 800k and even multiple megabytes (SCE is 4meg !) To help warn users of this I have started something new. if you see a game with an * next to it this indicates that the game or application review page have over 800k in images on it. (almost a meg or higher) if you see a * just keep in mind it may take some time to download on a modem connection etc.. Keep this in mind when you browse the reviews.

I have also made progress with with jpg compression. Snails has 49 images and I was able to compress it to 1.7meg ! not bad. I do not like the compression artifacts but its readable and not bad. not enough to keep me from using it. so just remember. the Artifacts (usually on the "border" of anything such as the snails logo on the intro screen. It might even be something you will not notice. I do a lot of image work so I pick these things out instantly and they bug me :-)

Feburary 12th 2004

It is important to keep in mind that I use GIF images for this site. I have to concern myself with how BIG this site gets in megabytes. Right now it is small relatively speaking in the number of programs I have listed but LARGE in space. currently over 15 megabytes!

I have to balance size with clarity. jpg compression artifacts ruin clarifty in images of this kind. for example you could not read any of the on screen words in games like SCE etc.. if I used jpg compression at ideal levels. the words are just too small.

So how to get smaller without losing resolution.

jpg compresses by losing detail. GIF compresses by losing COLORS. no gif is over 256 colors. many on this site are reduces much lower than that. I traded off clarity for color in order to attain acceptable image sizes (and their still bigger than I would like but I have to find a balance somewhere) some of these pages are over a meg in size for ONE game (like SCE)

What does this mean to you. because these games are usually 16bit games in other words 65 THOUSAND colors it becomes clear what I mean. Here is an example.

This is a GIF image. Notice how the colors are not as nice (see the car and the cloud sun rays in the background) oddly this one compresses either way quite nicely.

This is the jpg. notice how the colors are much nicer. but this file is also much larger. 143kb verse the gif's 80kb

With GIF I can go even further here is a 55kb file. Same clarity but the colors get grainier.

Now oddly I have made jpg's even smaller than 50kb that still have clarity. I am working on this. I think it might be the program I use. for example if I use photoshop to convert the file to a jpg I can get this.

For some reason the colors are "duller" not as vibrant (NO idea why) but I still have good enough clarity (this file is only 41kb far better than the 80kb of the gif without sacrificing color as much)

Problem is this only happens when I save them individually. when I "batch" convert the PCX files from zgrab into jpg's many of them compress enough to ruin clarity. I am not sure why this happens yet. the settings I pick are the same.

WHEN I have time I will go through and use jpg's where practical but keep this in mind I have over 300 pictures on this site and it has not been online very long. imagine once dev's start cranking out Zodiac compatible titles!. to have to do each of those INDIVIDUALLY would take a very long time. that is why I have to do them in batches. Would not be a big deal for a game or program where I have only captured a few images but for more involved graphical games like SCE etc.. it would dramatically increase the time it takes me to do this site. that would mean less screenshots since I have limited time. When I do batches I convert for example all of the SCE images from pcx to gif in about 10 seconds most of which is me going through the menu options. it would take well over 10seconds PER image to individually convert and verify to jpg. (I would have to check each one to make sure the compression was not too much) that does not including making and connecting the html files etc..

If I can figure out how to get clarity out of the jpg's I will definately go that route if I can do it in batch mode (have contacted the software vendor to see if they can assist) jpg would result in even smaller files (IF I can use normal compression levels without losing clarity) and would retain all 16bits of the color information in the game images.

What is the point of telling you all of this? well I do not want you to think the degraded quality of some of these images is WHAT IS IN THE GAME. its not. just about every game I review looks STUNNING on the screen. any color differences are in MY images NOT in the games. its important to keep this in mind when looking at my images until I can get them fixed !!

If a game has lousy graphics or colors I WILL TELL YOU. if I do not tell you then assume its my images and NOT the game.