Help with DDS editing in Photoshop

[dboi88]

Hi Guys,

I've been getting into modding recently, i've re-purposed some models, edited .cfg files and done some re-texturing using photoshop and had great success with tga files but i just can't get a DDS file to work.

I've got the Nvidia dds plug in installed and so can open and save dds files but any file i do save doesn't then work.

My work flow is as follows;
Load dds file
edit it with multiple layers
flatten the image
save as a dds file and chose the option for saving using the existing map.

But this always results in the texture not loading and my parts just being white.

Does anyone know where I am going wrong? I could upload the model, original and edited texture later if this will help anyone spot the problem.

Cheers

[NecroBones]

Strange.

I've only used the plugin to import DDS files into Photoshop, and not the other way around. What I do (and always seems to work fine) is to save the textures as PNGs, to import into Unity or use directly-- to then convert to DDS via a program called DDS4KSP. I'll usually test my part's appearance several times before converting, saving that step for last.

[dboi88]

I saved as a png in photoshop and the texture now loads but the location is all wrong, see below. The image when loaded into photoshop is also different to any tga files i've edited before, there are multiple copies of the texture with a full size on the left and the other copies on the right at a 50% reduction each time until i count about 7 copies before it's only a pixel wide. I've no idea what i'm doing at this point. If anyone could point me back in the right direction i'd appreciate it.
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/Ch7U8yl.jpg[/IMG]

[NecroBones]

Yeah, when I've imported DDS files into photoshop to look at them, I saw the same thing. I'm not sure if that's how they're actually stored, but those multiple scaled copies are the "mipmap" versions that are reduced in resolution for display at various distances, etc.

The misalignment is partially explainable in that DDS images are inverted vertically, as compared to PNG, and I don't think the Photoshop plugin handles that for you.

[landeTLS]

Actually i discovered by accident that ms visual studio(c# ide) strangely enough both opens and exports dds files quite well. Not sure how it plays as a go between for png/tgas from ps tho but interesting nonetheless:P

[Porkjet]

The Nvidia PS plugin can automatically flip the texture for you on import and export.

For import settings:
- Load using Default Sizes
- DONT load mipmaps! Unless for some reason you wanna manually edit them but usually you dont
- Load Flipped Vertically

Export Settings:
- Generate Mipmaps
- Save Flipped Vertically
- DXT1 for RGB maps, DXT5 for RGB + Alpha, DXT5nm for normal maps

[dboi88]

[quote name='Porkjet']The Nvidia PS plugin can automatically flip the texture for you on import and export.

For import settings:
- Load using Default Sizes
- DONT load mipmaps! Unless for some reason you wanna manually edit them but usually you dont
- Load Flipped Vertically

Export Settings:
- Generate Mipmaps
- Save Flipped Vertically
- DXT1 for RGB maps, DXT5 for RGB + Alpha, DXT5nm for normal maps[/QUOTE]

Cheers, i'd managed to get the texture loaded without mipmaps and flipped then saved as png which got the positions correct but still didn't know how to get it back to dds. I was trying [COLOR=#333333]DDS4KSP but i didn't know what to do with it.

What is the difference between these? [/COLOR]DXT1 for RGB maps, DXT5 for RGB + Alpha, DXT5nm for normal maps?

[COLOR="silver"][SIZE=1]- - - Updated - - -[/SIZE][/COLOR]

[quote name='NecroBones']Yeah, when I've imported DDS files into photoshop to look at them, I saw the same thing. I'm not sure if that's how they're actually stored, but those multiple scaled copies are the "mipmap" versions that are reduced in resolution for display at various distances, etc.

The misalignment is partially explainable in that DDS images are inverted vertically, as compared to PNG, and I don't think the Photoshop plugin handles that for you.[/QUOTE]

I didn't know what a mipmap was and your explanation made me realise i wanted to remove that when saving as a PNG. I previously assumed a mipmap was some sort of map as to where the sections of the texture applied to the model that you wouldn't actually see when loaded.