Explain it to me like I am 5 (Textures to PNG)

from Elemental Forums

I am having a hard time converting the .dds files into .png files that can be easily edited. 

 

I use photoshop CS5 and a Nvidia plugin that allows me to open and view the dds files. From there, I am not sure what to do to edit the dds or to convert it to a png where I can make changes. Either would be fine, or whichever is the best way to do it. I've successully edited a few skins that were already PNGs in the old WOM folder,  but then I tried editing eyes in the same manner and the file did not work in game.

Really, I think the main thing I am messing up here is saving the files with the proper parameters. Can someone explain to me as if I were 5 years old how to successfully make a major change to a skin or armor texture? I think from there I can figure out how to edit the other items.

11,240 views 9 replies
Reply #1 from Elemental Forums Top

I use gimp so I can't help you specifically, but what I do in gimp is open a .dds file, delete all the different layers except the one I want to use, then save only that as a new single-layer .png file (all .pngs are single-layer but you know what I mean).

When I was doing Stormworld_Rivermod I figured out a way to turn a .png into a .dds format that worked in-game and didn't take 1 mb for a 32x32 file, but I can't remember how it was done now.

Reply #2 from Elemental Forums Top

How do you decide which layer you save and use? If I remember correctly, I saw 4 layers, RGB and another layer, is there a method to deciding which one you want to edit? Yeah, I'm that dense.

 

Also, you mention changing the files back to .dds...do you have to do that or can I leave the file as a png? I am guessing if I modify one layer, it would have to be converted back aye?

Siege of Centauri
Reply #3 from Elemental Forums Top

I just use the largest layer because it's the highest resolution. There is no need to convert back to .dds, although supposedly that helps with game memory. Maybe something for the future to do.

Reply #4 from Elemental Forums Top

It's been a while since I've played around with DDS files but the concept behind them is incredibly clever and understanding what the game is doing with them helps to understand how to edit them.

Basically the distance the game camera is from your object dictates which of the individual DDS images is used. If your object is a long way away it will just use the smaller images. As the the game camera gets closer it will use larger and larger images. This process keeps down the resource usage within the game allowing the game to run much smoother.

The DDS files themselves usually consist of a collection of square images with pixel dimensions 2 to the power of x (1024, 512, 128, 64 etc).

When you edit them you should be able to discard all but the largest file (lets say this one is 512 x 512 pixels). You can then do what you want with this largest image. Then when you reconstruct the DDS file, the program should automatically resample and resize the other images for you. At that point you can retouch anything that looks a little off.

Reply #5 from Elemental Forums Top

Thanks for the information Das123...

 

Concerning the last part, do you mean that I can convert it back to a DDS in photoshop and Fallen Enchantress will automatically do the resampling and resizing for me, or is this something that photoshop should do when I convert the image?

Reply #6 from Elemental Forums Top

It's been a long time since I've played with DDS (Unreal Tournament) but from memory all you should need to do is have your large image (at the correct size) and then process it as a DDS file to automatically generate the smaller images. You shouldn't need to get in the way of that process at all.

When the DDS file is finished the game will then automatically pick the image it wants to use based on how far away from the camera it is. A way of testing this is to edit some of the smaller images different colours and see them flick over as you move closer to the model within the game.

Reply #7 from Elemental Forums Top

Awesome, I will take another stab at it this weekend, thanks again for all the information :)

Reply #8 from Elemental Forums Top

I have not had any issues just using .png files for textures. 

Reply #9 from Elemental Forums Top

Heads up, if you have a .png file and a .dds file by the same name, it picks the .dds file.

I have started converting my png into .dds. For compression I'm using BC3/DXT5, and format RGBA4 (4 channels each red blue green then 4 alpha channels). This produces a file approximately 30% less than the size of the .png, so there is some small loss of detail but not something you'd notice if you didn't do side-to-side comparison.