Texture DDS file types?

[Deleted49413338User]

When saving an edited DDS texture in gimp, what Compression option do I choose? I know DTX1 has no alpha channel but apart from that Idk anything about what is best. My main textures are for npc skins clothings and armor.

 

If I compile the textures into a BSA, will it automatically choose the correct compressions no matter what I chose in gimp when I save?

 

I generally have been saving everything as DTX5 but I could probably be using lower options if it will give better performance.

[DeathMotif]

I generally use DTX3 for everything except those requiring transparencies. I use DTX5 for those. There are some who use DTX7, but I'm not aware of how they are doing it. However, I have noted that Visual Studio is capable of opening any format and converting them to others, including DTX7. Frankly, I haven't seen a reason for DTX7, so I'm not sure why that format is being used (not to mention the general lack of support for that format at the moment).

 

Strike that. I found my notes:

 

BC3 for Transparency and Diffuse maps
BC4 for Height maps, Specular maps, and other greyscale images
BC5 for Normals

BSA and BA2 are simply archive formats. They have nothing to do with file formats themselves. So no, they do not choose DDS file compression formats. That has to be selected in GIMP. To my awareness, GIMP only supports up to DTX5, and that only if you have downloaded the right plugin..

[Deleted49413338User]

OK thanks, yes Gimp plugin only has up to DTX5. I generally only do Diffuse but have doe a few Speculars and normals too so this is handy info.

[ehtyeci]

Considering that both specular maps and normal maps in fo4 are designed to share the same two-component structure, they both should use BC5 to take advantage of a discarded blue channel.

BC3 has an explicit alpha channel, which means that the compressor will always include an alpha channel (in addition to RGB) even if it's empty. If your diffuse texture doesn't have any transparency, it should use BC1 to save memory. The color information is otherwise stored identically in both BC1 and BC3.

You can see a simplified list of what each BC subformats do from Microsoft's site here. Higher bit values means color information is stored more accurately.

As a general rule, if you want to see less complaints about users unable to load certain textures, stay away from BC7, since it's a DirectX11 exclusive format.

[JonathanOstrus]

 

As a general rule, if you want to see less complaints about users unable to load certain textures, stay away from BC7, since it's a DirectX11 exclusive format.

 

 

I can't disagree with the fact you might get complains for using BC7. But...Fallout 4 is a DX11 game. BC7 is proven superior in visual quality over BC1/BC3? Users will complain regardless. I would much prefer to give a superior quality texture and tell the complaining users to get better tools rather than provide a sub par product.

 

General users shouldn't be trying to view the textures directly. The more savvy ones should be using proper tools. Last I checked GIMP was the last (commonly used tool) hold out for BC7 support. Even Paint.NET has a plugin available for it now (I haven't tried it personally). If one really must use GIMP you can edit in a layer native format. Save to an uncompressed DDS. Then use Elric (provided with the Fallout 4 Creation Kit) to convert to a BC7 compressed form including mipmaps. So all free tools. This way your users still get the best quality possible short of an uncompressed texture.

 

This is also another nicely put together page with visual comparisons between different modes http://reedbeta.com/blog/understanding-bcn-texture-compression-formats/

[Guido500]

I generally use DTX3 for everything except those requiring transparencies. I use DTX5 for those. There are some who use DTX7, but I'm not aware of how they are doing it. However, I have noted that Visual Studio is capable of opening any format and converting them to others, including DTX7. Frankly, I haven't seen a reason for DTX7, so I'm not sure why that format is being used (not to mention the general lack of support for that format at the moment).

 

Strike that. I found my notes:

 

BC3 for Transparency and Diffuse maps

BC4 for Height maps, Specular maps, and other greyscale images

BC5 for Normals

 

BSA and BA2 are simply archive formats. They have nothing to do with file formats themselves. So no, they do not choose DDS file compression formats. That has to be selected in GIMP. To my awareness, GIMP only supports up to DTX5, and that only if you have downloaded the right plugin..

 

Man, I know this is an old post, but THANK YOU! My CK kept crashing when loading my NIFs and the past two days I've been trying to figure out why. I was pretty sure the issue was with my textures, but I just couldn't figure out what it was. Until I found your reply and tried the compression methods for DDS-files you're mentioning (exporting from Gimp)... and IT JUST WORKS. Before, I didn't use any compression at all, thinking 'compression = bad' (noob)... Seriously, I was about to throw my computer out of the window, so again, thanks!!

[South8028]

vanilla formats are ... D - dxt1, dxt3, dxt5 nvidea plugin. N and S - BS5 8bpp normal map plugin Intel. For S and G, you can also use BS1, adjusting the chrome and shine in combination with a cubmap and a gradient. But this is vanilla. For all D except for body skins, it is quite possible to use the Intel bs7 plugin, but such textures are heavy and do not give any huge quality advantages in comparison with dxt1

It's also worth knowing. The game cannot crash simply due to the wrong texture format. The game eats any format. But the game crashes inappropriately due to the wrong texture size. The texture step must be a multiple of 256, 512, 1024, 2048, 4096, and so on. If your texture is about 1025x1025, - crush is guaranteed.

Edited November 14, 2021 by South8028

[RoNin1971]

vanilla formats are ... D - dxt1, dxt3, dxt5 nvidea plugin. N and S - BS5 8bpp normal map plugin Intel. For S and G, you can also use BS1, adjusting the chrome and shine in combination with a cubmap and a gradient. But this is vanilla. For all D except for body skins, it is quite possible to use the Intel bs7 plugin, but such textures are heavy and do not give any huge quality advantages in comparison with dxt1

It's also worth knowing. The game cannot crash simply due to the wrong texture format. The game eats any format. But the game crashes inappropriately due to the wrong texture size. The texture step must be a multiple of 256, 512, 1024, 2048, 4096, and so on. If your texture is about 1025x1025, - crush is guaranteed.

It (the size) has to be dividable by 8, to be precise.

But using the mentioned sizes is recommended / good practice / fairly standard.

[niston]

Funny, I just had a CTD due to an unaligned texture today.

In CWSS Redux 4, there is one snappable full height shower wall that has a 2000x2000 texture. Works fine when you place it in workshop, but on save and reload: CTD - 2DCreateTexture failure (illegal parameter).

 

If anyone cares, the files are:

Textures/CWSS/cwss_Tiles003_d.dds
Textures/CWSS/cwss_Tiles003_n.dds

Resize them both to 2048x2048 (or even 1024x1024) and the CTD on load is gone.

[ProxyPony]

Anyone know where to find a tutorial that covers creating custom skins for character creation? I really want to make a female character that looks like singularity from A-Force of Marvel, but know little about modding.