Question for the texture guru's

[Blackbird686]

Just out of curiosity... just how hard is it to convert DDS to BMP? What utility will do the trick? I have Martin Wright's DXTbmp but not sure as to how if at all possible it is to do this?

Thanks -- BB686

[Dev One]

I've not done it that way, but I do use it to transform my plain bmp textures to extended 888.bmp as FS9 will very rarely show in the 'game' if left as raw .bmp & in FSX the model will just show black!
I click & drag the particular texture to the desktop icon of DXTbmp & then save as the required variety which is in the drop down menu. When there is an associated alpha layer I think one can separate it. However iT is likely that a .dds is for FSX & it may have other associated textures - fresnel comes to mind. Sorry not to be much help but it might start you on the correct path by experimenting....
Keith

[Blackbird686]

There aren't too many "texture sheets" in the texture folder, and they appear to be by themselves. By that I mean that there is no *.l or *.t associated with the particular sheet in question. They DO however have an alpha channel even tho they show up in DXTbmp as "DXT1 no alpha". Strange...

I do use DXTbmp for manipulating FS9 textures, including adding alpha channels, removing MIPS or converting from one format to another, (like DXT1 to DXT3... etc.).

Cheers, Keith...

BB686

[Motormouse]

Just out of curiosity... just how hard is it to convert DDS to BMP? What utility will do the trick? I have Martin Wright's DXTbmp but not sure as to how if at all possible it is to do this?

Thanks -- BB686

You're on the right lines, using dxt-bmp, but you'll need to resize image to 1024 x 1024 maximum for fs2004, and FLIP image and Alpha before saving.

Ttfn

Pete

[Blackbird686]

I converted the textures to 32bit and they do appear to be 1024. Not 2048 or 4096 so I'm pretty sure they do not need to be resized. As far as the alpha and the image, I can go back in and flip both of them for each texture and resave again. Once I had converted the textures I tried the model on FS9 and it said that the "software was incompatible with the sim and would be disabled" (In so many words). So I flew a different plane for about an hour.

I'll keep you guys posted if I get it to work.

Thanks -- BB686

[huub vink]

Hi BB686,

Although I don't consider myself a guru, here is how I do it:

• Copy the .dds format textures which need to be converted in a temporarily folder.
• Open the texture in dtxbmp and vertical flip the .dds textures including the alpha channel
• Export the alpha channel into the same folder
• save the file in 24 bits format.
• Open the alpha bmp file in an image editor (like mspaint for instance) and adjust size to maximum size of 1024x1024 if necessary
• Open 24 bits texture in an image editor and adjust size to 1024x1024.
• Open the 24-bits texture in dtxbmp
• Import the alpha channel
• Save the texture in extended bmp format (dtx3 or 32bits) and overwrite the old (24 bits) file when prompted.
• Copy/move the converted texture to the original texture folder
• (Re)move the old .dds format textures from the texture folder.

Known problems:
When you save the .bmp textures in dtx5 format the model will not load.
When you forget to reduce size from the textures into 1024x1024 the textures won't load.
MSPaint will often not save the alpha channel in pure black& white which can cause unexpected effects when you use this alpha in dtxbmp.

Although it requires quite some steps, I don't regard the whole process as "very complicated".

"Just out of curiosity....." Which model do you try to fly in FS9?

Cheers,
Huub

[Blackbird686]

Cheers Huub!

I haven't played around with the texture conversion thingy for a while and had forgotten what it was that made the last one I did work. If I can get the textures re-worked to that the model will fly in FS9, I will ask permission from the author of the model if I can upload the re-work here. I had already converted the textures to 32bit and tried the model in FS9 but it wouldn't load. So back to the drawing board. I will invert the alpha channel and flip the image for the 32bit textures I already have and if that doesn't work then I'll try the 24bit conversion you spoke of in your post. Originally the DDS textures showed up in DXTbmp as DXT1 no alpha and appeared to already be in 1024 format. But there WAS what appeared to be an alpha channel in the display window. I have never seen this before so things got somewhat complicated at that point.

BB686

[Mick]

DXT bmp can save files as bitmaps. Look under Save or Save As (the two have different options.)

Remember that FS can't see 24-bit bitmaps. It can see 256 color bitmaps but those don't usually look very sharp in the sim. 32-bit extended bitmaps look great in the sim. For years many shied away from them because they're big files, but that shouldn't be an issue with today's computers.