LE Questions re: Skyrim Texture formats

[eronel55]

ok, I feel really embarassed posting this but - i am having so many issues and not finding any answers and it is obvious that most are not having trouble so --- here goes.

 

When i installed the game back on 11.11.11 one of the very first things i did was to extract all of the textures and meshes from the master bsa files. from what i have been able to gather, it appears that the textures are saved in one of at least 3 formats - DXT1, DXT3 and DXT5. The textures in the characters\female\folder show that all 3 of those formats are used- it seems to depend on several factors -- whether or not the texture has an alpha channel, and 'maybe' the image size --- i stress maybe -- i am guessing. So, one of the first things i wanted to do was to change the eyes. Some of the eyes are in DXT1 format -- those that have no alpha channel. Some are in dxt3 - for instance the human eyes that require an alpha channel for the lashes. and some such as the high elf are in DXT5. ( Fyi the method by which i am detecting the format is hovering the mouse over the dds file in an open window. The Sage Thumbs plugin is responsible for the detective work. I am assuming that it is reading the file header. I don't know how else it would be able to display the info. Also im on Windows 7 professional using Photoshop cs2 and the nvidia dds plugin to create dds files))

 

I went about working using the textures i had used in fallout 3 and NV that i had become fond of. after i finished pasting the iris into the vanilla texture (128X128 -- i was quite shocked!) i saved the eye text as a dxt3 and it worked. I was not crazy about the texture size tho and so began work converting to a higher size 512X512. I did the same thing - pasted in the iris -- this time using an updated background texture given to me by a fellow modder. The alpha channel was intact. I saved it as a dxt3 again. This time the eye is completely black in game! I attempted saving as a DXT5 and an 8.8.8.8 unsigned - to no avail - the texture does not show i8n game -- the eyes are a solid black orb. I used a texture from my friend - same background , same alpha channel, and his worked --- although it does vary in brightness depending on the camera position. if you simply pan around the character , there is a spot at about 1 or 2 oclock (noon being straight on the characters face) where the eye texture suddenly appears about 50 times brighter! move the camera back a tad and it jumps back to the normal appearance. Very strange.

 

What i cannot determine (due to my limited knowledge of texture formats and THIS game's method of display - idiosyncracies) is if there is a problem with the format i am saving as (perhaps ther is an issue with either the mip mapping or possibly the alpha channel? guessing here) or of this is some sort of 'glitch'. i assume operator error is the cause since i have been unable to find other reports of this phenomena. I MUST be saving the file incorrectly, yes?

 

And today, i discovered an issue while i was attempting to make a new hair texture for use with the default female hair meshes. I was attempting - what i thought would be very simple -- like the eyes - to do a similar thing -- take the default hairlong.dds file and paste a new hair texture into the rgb channel - leaving the alpha untouched. I completed the texture - saved as a dxt3 and then attempted to view it on the mesh in nifskope (the latest version 'rc4'). For this it appears there is an issue with the alpha interpolation. The game hairs are composed of 2 meshes 1) a scalp mesh -- that conforms the the scalp - an underlying hair texture to keep the bald skin from showing through the transparent parts of the 2) main hair mesh lying on the outside of the 'scapl' piece. the 'main' mesh was transparent but the 'scalp piece showed underneath. as i zoomed in on the mesh, the closer i got the more the main mesh texture began to appear - as if materializing. I noticed this same phenomena when i opened the uv editor in nifskope - the texture was 'invisible' until i zoomed in -- and the closer i got the more of the texture i could see.

 

Thoughts?

 

Obvously nifskope is still in a testing phase - sort of. i think they have sorted most of the data but not all of it. But i dont hink it is the issue -- for the hair example - reloading the vanilla texture or the cool hair retext that is up on the nexus results in a normal looking mesh. Obviously I am the problem. Can anyone giv me clear info on the texture formats or advise me of your process so that i may trouble shoot my faulty set up? This is most frustrating - saving out the textures should be a very simple task - it is not an issue i have ever had before with fallout or NV.

 

-eronel55

[RGMage2]

I am no expert on any of this, I can just tell you the little bit that I know.

 

No alpha channel = save as DXT1 no alpha

Alpha channel 100% black and or 100% white = save as DXT3 explicit alpha

Alpha channel is shades of grey = save as DXT5 interpolated alpha

 

When I have any doubts about the alpha on a existing texture I open it in AMDs Compressionator and view the properties.

 

I have retextured eyes and hair in skyrim and not had the issues you are having and my methods are much the same as yours. The only thing I can add here is that sometimes my photoshop glitches and saves files incorrectly. Usually it is just adding an alpha when I have no alpha and am trying to save as DXT1, but sometimes it totally botches the save and the texture wont appear in game. When ever I have a problem saving a dds in photoshop, I save it as a bmp and open the bmp in Compressionator and use Compressionator to save as a dds, Has not failed me yet.

[mgbeach]

I'm pretty new to modding myself but I think you are having a problem with your MIP Maps. The dds files include multiple levels of detail for each map, to ease processor load when viewing many things at a distance for example.

 

When you open a dds file, don't open the MIP Maps:

 

http://i.imgur.com/qzcYV.jpg

 

But when you save your new dds make sure you tell Photoshop to generate them:

 

http://i.imgur.com/BekIX.jpg

 

Hopefully that helps in some small way. Let me know if not and I'll do what I can to help figure it out.

 

Happy New Year!

[JDGameArt]

Kind of going off what others have stated hopefully this can help.

 

If this fails, try a reinstall of the Nvidia plugin.

 

http://static.skyrimnexus.com/imageshare/images/1566738-1325464114.jpg

[FavoredSoul]

This is actually a duplicate thread. OP already resolved.

 

Duplicate