Transparent VC textures

[henrystreet]

This may not be the forum for this question...feel free to move it or tell me to move it...

I have the Flight Sim Developers Cessna O-2 and love it. Love the 337 to begin with and the O-2 is a very special variant. The only thing that is bothersome is the transparency of the VC textures. I fly a good bit at night and ground lighting/night textures plainly bleed thru the VC textures around the instruments.

The textures appear to all be .dds files. Is there any image manipulation that I can do with GIMP that can remove the transparency or reduce it to unnoticeable?

Thanks in advance for your advice.

Henry

[hairyspin]

Probably not... I don't know the model, but there are various possible reasons this might happen and .dds transparency isn't likely to be one. Best to take some screenshots and ask the developers if they're aware of the problem, or if it's already dealt with in a service patch?

[henrystreet]

I submitted a support ticket on the issue, with screenshot, and they indicated it was an issue associated with certain graphics card. I have an Nvidia 660. Does that sound like an issue you have seen?

[hairyspin]

I think I might enjoy a 660, but I'm still on the trusty 9800GT, so I couldn't say!

[Milton Shupe]

I submitted a support ticket on the issue, with screenshot, and they indicated it was an issue associated with certain graphics card. I have an Nvidia 660. Does that sound like an issue you have seen?

That is a question for them. Just because they have an issue with "a certain graphics card" doesn't mean its your card, or that your issue isn't their issue. Be specific with your system specs and ask if there is a problem running that product on your specs.

[pfflyers]

I'm still using FS9, so take any advise from me with a good bit of salt.

I have had a few models that had transparent night textures (the FSD 337/O-2 not being one) and I was able to "fix" most of them by converting the texture alphas to pure white. I'm going to guess that the FSX version of this model is a port-over which may be the reason why it has some anamolies (if I'm wrong about this I apologize). You could try converting the vc textures to dxt3 or 32 bit, but the problem might be the instrments themselves in which case you're on your own.

Hope you get it sorted out, I'm a fan of that model also.

[henrystreet]

I'm going to guess that the FSX version of this model is a port-over which may be the reason why it has some anamolies

Yes I believe this is the case. It appears to be just the background VC texture so very little harm (with a good backup) in trying to convert the image.

Will let you know what happens one way or the other.

[Milton Shupe]

My experience with these leaks/transparencies is usually related to pure black (0,0,0) parts or less than 7,7,7 if the texture was converted to 8-bit. VC textures and gauge bmps should avoid 0,0,0 else transparency occurs.

[pfflyers]

Just for fun I opened one of the vc textures (FSD_337D_int2_T) in Dxtbmp and saw that some of the instrument bezels have some pretty "dark" black areas around them. If those display as 0,0,0 that might be why they are transparent. If they were changed to something like 2,2,2 they'd still look black but would not be transparent.

Or, I could be talking out my @ss since graphics are something I know just enough about to be really dangerous.

edit: wow Milton beat me by a couple minutes. Great minds think alike, eh?

[henrystreet]

Thanks for this tip as well. Will check it out when home this evening.

[henrystreet]

Milton and pfflyers!

Yes, both a transparency issue and a "000000" black issue. Converting to DXT3 helped most all the textures (inside the doors, floor, etc). The panel textures still needed the "blackest black" fix. A bit of GIMP magic took care of it.

Thanks again for all your information and advice (even the parts that may not apply this question).

Henry

[Milton Shupe]

Some of these problems appear when people convert the textures, for example, converting a 24-bit that worked to an 8-bit will change <8,8,8 to 0,0,0 and then transparency.

Also, some FSX DX10 card handling does not like 8-bit so converting to 16 or 24 can fix it, if the 0,0,0 is not present.

[hairyspin]

Perhaps the developers could be told? Then a patch to let others avoid the problem might be the result...

[henrystreet]

Also, some FSX DX10 card handling does not like 8-bit so converting to 16 or 24 can fix it, if the 0,0,0 is not present.

This is pretty much what the developer told me without explaining "why".

Perhaps the developers could be told? Then a patch to let others avoid the problem might be the result...

Reckon you are right Tom, I will shoot them an email. Thanks for everyone's help.