What are good dds texture tools for Linux

[Ruedii]

I've been considering helping some of the mods switch over to DDS.

I am looking for some good DDS texture compression tools for Linux and I am having trouble finding them.

I can output to uncompressed DDS files using a wide variety of Linux tools, but I can't seem to find a good compressor program. While uncompressed textures are pretty and all, they do sort of inflate the memory footprint of a mod, and increase it's fill rate requirement. I'd much rather make them pre-compressed when the compression doesn't interfere with visuals too much.

AMD's compression tools are all for Windows only, although I'm going to see if there is a Linux version included with their big SDK.

I haven't been able to find any Open Source ones, likely because of the patented nature of the S3TC algorithm, and the fact that nobody wants one that can just use the newer compression formats that are not patented, and certainly nobody wants to use the S2TC compression algorithm version that sacrifices quality to avoid the S3TC patents.

[Ed Gauss]

I run Arch, and this is one I use: https://github.com/ducakar/img2dds/releases. Once I got it set up correctly, it pretty much just worked. Do be warned though: It will convert everything in the GameData directory (or wherever you point it), including some stuff you shouldn't convert. Just move the Squad folder out of the way, or point it just at your mod folder.

I tried using the GIMP DDS plugin, but I couldn't get any working results. I can get it to open DDS files though, so that's a plus. Your mileage may vary, of course.

There's a full list of stuff here: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/94638-Mod-Development-Links-Compilation-NOW-WITH-TABLE-OF-CONTENTS#4.4.

[Mecripp]

I use Gimp and haven't had a problem.

EDIT- you might look here http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/119873

Edited October 24, 2015 by Mecripp2

[Nils277]

I'm using the gimp dds plugin when i work on linux (Fedora 20). I got is via the terminal with: yum install gimp-dds-plugin.

When you use Ubuntu or a distribution with apt-get as packet manager you can try sudo apt-get install gimp-dds

The link Ed Gauss posted is very helpful to decide what compression to use for what purpose

--edit---

hmm ninja'd

[Ed Gauss]

I use Gimp and haven't had a problem.-Snip-

I figured it was my end, as I had no idea what settings to use. Glad to hear it works. Perhaps I'll play around with it more.