Very odd DDS file behavior...

[PRB]

Here's a strange one:

If I modify a dds texture file, FSX will not display it again. Just show up black. For example:

1. Save dds to bitmap.
2. Open bitmap in Photoshop (or PSP, doesn't matter)
3. Modify bmp
4. Save bmp back to dds DXT5 (using DXTBmp or ImageTool, doesn't matter)
5. Replace dds file in texture folder.

FSX will not show the new texture. It comes up all black in FSX. But it gets better. If I load the model in ModelConverterX, the new texture does show up just fine.

This does not happen when modifying bmp files, as in FS9 or ported over FS9 planes in FSX. Just dds files.

I have a pristine, virgin installation of FSX on a different computer, so I tried modifying a dds on that computer to see what would happen. If I go through the five steps above on the virgin installation, I have no problems. The new texture shows up fine in FS. However, if I copy the texture file I modified on the other computer, to the computer with the pristine installation, it shows up black in the virgin FSX! Something is “happening” to dds files on that computer.

One other thing. I fired up FSX and selected a plane with a paint that I made months ago, with dds files. It loads up and displays the dds files ok. So whatever is happening to dds files has not affected files made previously.

Very strange. Anyone ever see such a thing?

- Paul

P.S. If I modify the dds file on the "pristine" computer, then copy it to the "broke" computer, it displays ok! Not sure what to make of that.

[jeansy]

is the .bmp still in the same texture folder as the .dds?

[tommieboy]

Here's a strange one......

This might be an apples to orange comparison, but you might find something helpful in the following......


1. Save dds to bitmap. (I open dds, invert image and alpha channel, and save to tga)
2. Open bitmap in Photoshop (or PSP, doesn't matter) (I open the tga in photoshop and save it as a layered PSD file)
3. Modify bmp (I modify the layered PSD)
4. Save bmp back to dds DXT5 (I save the layered PSD back to a tga file)
4a. I open the tga, invert the image and alpha channel, and save to DDS.
5. Replace dds file in texture folder.

Tommy

[PRB]

is the .bmp still in the same texture folder as the .dds?

No. I have a "work" folder into which all the psd and bmps live. So only the dds files, thumbnail image, and texture.cfg file are in the texture folder.

- Paul

[PRB]

This might be an apples to orange comparison, but you might find something helpful in the following......


1. Save dds to bitmap. (I open dds, invert image and alpha channel, and save to tga)
2. Open bitmap in Photoshop (or PSP, doesn't matter) (I open the tga in photoshop and save it as a layered PSD file)
3. Modify bmp (I modify the layered PSD)
4. Save bmp back to dds DXT5 (I save the layered PSD back to a tga file)
4a. I open the tga, invert the image and alpha channel, and save to DDS.
5. Replace dds file in texture folder.

Tommy



Rgr that. I'm doing basically the same, more or less. My "step 3" actually consists of saving the bmp that came out of DXTBmp as a PSD, flipping it, etc., then saving it back as a bmp.

- Paul

[jeansy]

No. I have a "work" folder into which all the psd and bmps live. So only the dds files, thumbnail image, and texture.cfg file are in the texture folder.

- Paul

ok, that happens to me when the 2 formats are in the same folder, hmmmm well if if the palne is coming up black, its loading the folder ok, not the textures

ok heres something that may sound odd, but have you got save mip maps ticked

[PRB]

ok, that happens to me when the 2 formats are in the same folder, hmmmm well if if the palne is coming up black, its loading the folder ok, not the textures

ok heres something that may sound odd, but have you got save mip maps ticked

Well, this is interesting. I hadn't been saving them with the "use mips" checkbox checked, because I don't like the effect. But, I just tried saving the file with mips selected, and that texture shows in FSX! Now why would that be the case? I never use mips, and all the other paints I made work fine without mips. Until today anyway!

- Paul

[jeansy]

Well, this is interesting. I hadn't been saving them with the "use mips" checkbox checked, because I don't like the effect. But, I just tried saving the file with mips selected, and that texture shows in FSX! Now why would that be the case? I never use mips, and all the other paints I made work fine without mips. Until today anyway!

- Paul

to be honest it just happened out of the blue for me as well, i never used it and one day they went black, took me hours swearing at the screen to work that out, i have no idea why but it worked, ive always been against using mip maps in fsx for paints but less than 12mths ago i had to tick the box,

I use photoshop now to convert my files to dds, i dont have tick yes to mip maps thank god

[PRB]

to be honest it just happened out of the blue for me as well, i never used it and one day they went black, took me hours swearing at the screen to work that out, i have no idea why but it worked, ive always been against using mip maps in fsx for paints but less than 12mths ago i had to tick the box,

I use photoshop now to convert my files to dds, i dont have tick yes to mip maps thank god

Most interesting. Thanks jeansy! I'll get that dds plugin for Photoshop then.

- Paul

[jeansy]

Most interesting. Thanks jeansy! I'll get that dds plugin for Photoshop then.

- Paul

It has more benifits using photoshop, i found that large pixels ie (4096x) and even some very fine detailed 2048x files got down scaled and txt and fine detail became blurry in the dds, with photoshop they come out crystal clear

after a while trust me, you will look back and say why didnt i do this sooner

[tommieboy]

Where can we get this DDS Photoshop plug-in?

Tommy

[PRB]

Just installed the DDS NVIDIA plugin for PH. Works beautifully. Why haven't I done this before? :icon_lol: Thanks jeansy! :salute: :guinness:

- Paul

[PRB]

Where can we get this DDS Photoshop plug-in?

Tommy

I got mine here:

https://developer.nvidia.com/nvidia-texture-tools-adobe-photoshop

But it's the NVIDIA site. My video card is NVIDIA, so you might have to Google for your card. Not sure, as I'm new to this too.

- Paul

[jeansy]

Where can we get this DDS Photoshop plug-in?

Tommy

https://developer.nvidia.com/nvidia-texture-tools-adobe-photoshop

for paintshop users sorry im yet to find something similar, i wish i could as i prefer paintshop

[tommieboy]

OK....I got that one......

At what point do you flip (invert) the image / alpha channel when you bring the DDS into Photoshop to read upright? Like wise, how do you invert the image / alpha channel back when saving back to DDS via the Photoshop Plug-in? I'm using Photoshop CS4.

Tommy

[PRB]

When you select "save as...", and select "DDS", you get a dialog with many options, among them is a check box labeled "Save Flipped Vertically". If you check that, it will automatically flip it. I haven't tried opening a dds file directly, since up to now I've been working with a paint kit, which starts out as a Photoshop file. I'm guessing if you openeda dds directly, you'd flip it manually, save it to PSD, modify it, then save it as above.

- Paul

[fleurdelys]

to be honest it just happened out of the blue for me as well, i never used it and one day they went black, took me hours swearing at the screen to work that out, i have no idea why but it worked, ive always been against using mip maps in fsx for paints but less than 12mths ago i had to tick the box,

I use photoshop now to convert my files to dds, i dont have tick yes to mip maps thank god

Bonjour Paul,

Sorry to barge in on your exchange but the above happened to me a few days ago...

I had been using DXTBMP with the "save mipmaps ticked" (DXT5) and had to live with some blurries on certain angles. I decided to untick the save mipmaps and all my textures then started to appear black !

I finally solved my problem by downloading the latest version of DXTBMP with the necessary dll and bingo ! No more blurries and no more black skins...
I'm wondering if the original DXTBMP had gone bad after my reinstall of all my programs to a new pc (Windows 7 at 64 bits) this Summer...

You might want to try that route, just in case...

Good luck,

Fleurdelys

[PRB]

Bonjour Paul,

Sorry to barge in on your exchange but the above happened to me a few days ago...

I had been using DXTBMP with the "save mipmaps ticked" (DXT5) and had to live with some blurries on certain angles. I decided to untick the save mipmaps and all my textures then started to appear black !

I finally solved my problem by downloading the latest version of DXTBMP with the necessary dll and bingo ! No more blurries and no more black skins...
I'm wondering if the original DXTBMP had gone bad after my reinstall of all my programs to a new pc (Windows 7 at 64 bits) this Summer...

You might want to try that route, just in case...

Good luck,

Fleurdelys

Ahh, thanks Fleurdelys, good info. I hadn't even considred downloading the lastest version of DXTBmp. I did try re-installing it, but I installed the same version. I will go find the new one. Interesting that seems to happening to several of us all of a sudden. I wonder if a recent Windows update might have done this?

- Paul

[mjahn]

I wonder if a recent Windows update might have done this?


Actually that is a very good conjecture. There have been reports that the Win update dated 12/12 did all sorts of things to fonts and graphics. This has been rectified since (I think - because some of my fonts went missing and now are back). So might be an interesting experiment to see if the original fault persists.

[Rich]

I have been trying to get Martin Wright's site for the last 3 days with no luck, has he moved somewhere ??

Rich

[Roger]

Just tried it and it just says "This page is no longer available". I hope Martin does open a new website as some of his tools are invaluable:engel016:

[mjahn]

No problem here at this point in time w/ all links active:

http://www.mwgfx.co.uk/

[fleurdelys]

Just tried it and it just says "This page is no longer available". I hope Martin does open a new website as some of his tools are invaluable:engel016:


Bonjour Paul,

Just went there and it is open...

Try this address : http://www.mwgfx.co.uk/

I would't be at all surprised about a Microsoft update going bad on some of our dll's...

Don't forget to also download the latest DLL so that DXTBMP will work correctly.

Best of luck !

Fleurdelys

[hairyspin]

https://developer.nvidia.com/nvidia-texture-tools-adobe-photoshop

for paintshop users sorry im yet to find something similar, i wish i could as i prefer paintshop

The photoshop plugin works with Paintshop Pro too. I've used it with v8.1 and PSP X.

[stovall]

Paul, I wish I could replicate your problem but as of yet have not been successful. The latest version of DXTBMP appears to be 4.096. As Fleurdelys mentions, be sure to get the latest dll's. I just reinstalled all the current files and dll's to see if I could create your same situation but so far no luck.

I have Windows 7 64bit. Wonder if it could be a graphics card setting?

[PRB]

Thanks Tom. I'm running Win7 64bit as well. What's strange about this is that it didn't always do this. I've made FSX dds repaints before and this didn't happen. No idea what I did, but I find it interesting that Fleurdelys and jeansy both have experienced the same thing, where one day, all of a sudden, black dds files. I haven't yet downloaded the newest version of DXTBmp, mostly because I've managed to get around the problem by installing the DDS plugin for Photoshop.

- Paul

[Rich]

Many thanks, http://www.mwgfx.co.uk/ works for me odd thing is I had that before not sure where flyto came in.

Rich

[jeansy]

The photoshop plugin works with Paintshop Pro too. I've used it with v8.1 and PSP X.

does it really! wow

to be honest i never tried i always thought it was for photoshop

there you we're all leaning new things

thats why I love this place

[DaveQ]

OK....I got that one......

At what point do you flip (invert) the image / alpha channel when you bring the DDS into Photoshop to read upright? Like wise, how do you invert the image / alpha channel back when saving back to DDS via the Photoshop Plug-in? I'm using Photoshop CS4.

Tommy

Hi Tommy

If you get the latest Photoshop plug-in from Nvidia you can select it to invert the image when opening and save as inverted. That way you don't ever have to bother about inversion.

Happy Christmas All

DaveQ

[tommieboy]

Hi Tommy

If you get the latest Photoshop plug-in from Nvidia you can select it to invert the image when opening and save as inverted. That way you don't ever have to bother about inversion.

Happy Christmas All

DaveQ

Hi Dave,

I have the plug-in and as a test, I opened a few DDS files directly via Photoshop. It opens the files, but the files are still inverted; the only box that pops up is the NVIDIA DDS Read Properties. Saving the file works OK, as I do get the dialog box with all the options.

Tommy

[n4gix]

It has more benifits using photoshop, i found that large pixels ie (4096x) and even some very fine detailed 2048x files got down scaled and txt and fine detail became blurry in the dds, with photoshop they come out crystal clear

after a while trust me, you will look back and say why didnt i do this sooner
The latest version of the plugin also has the option to "autoflip" the texture when loading a .dds file, or when saving to .dds format!

You do have to select the "flip" option from the dialog before loading the .dds file though. From then on, it will remember your preference.

Also, nVidia wrote the plugin tool, but it isn't restricted to any video card manufacturer. It works equally well with every card I've owned.

[jeansy]

The latest version of the plugin also has the option to "autoflip" the texture when loading a .dds file, or when saving to .dds format!

You do have to select the "flip" option from the dialog before loading the .dds file though. From then on, it will remember your preference.

Also, nVidia wrote the plugin tool, but it isn't restricted to any video card manufacturer. It works equally well with every card I've owned.

Bill was that directed at me?

Ive cut away it and now just use CS5, its quicker and does the same job, I can see the point of using one program to save it to one format, then open another to save it to another, its double handling

where cs5 i can do both and and sit back and enjoy my coffee

[tommieboy]

The latest version of the plugin also has the option to "autoflip" the texture when loading a .dds file, or when saving to .dds format!

You do have to select the "flip" option from the dialog before loading the .dds file though. From then on, it will remember your preference.

Also, nVidia wrote the plugin tool, but it isn't restricted to any video card manufacturer. It works equally well with every card I've owned.


OK....I didn't have the latest version; now I can flip the DDS image when I load it into Photoshop CS4.....

Thanks,

Tommy

[n4gix]

OK....I didn't have the latest version; now I can flip the DDS image when I load it into Photoshop CS4.....

My only problem is remembering that the plugin does it all automatically now. I had gotten used to doing the vertical flip manually! :mix-smi:

[n4gix]

Bill was that directed at me?

Ive cut away it and now just use CS5, its quicker and does the same job, I can see the point of using one program to save it to one format, then open another to save it to another, its double handling

where cs5 i can do both and and sit back and enjoy my coffee

Okay, that was just confusing... :isadizzy:


The whole point of using the nVidia plugin is to allow Photoshop to handle the entire job from load to save without requiring any further steps...

...it simply adds one more Save As option in the menu.