Can't normally open .dds in Photoshop CC 2015

[SuddSumm]

Photoshop loses Blue and Alpha channels when a file is opened. Using this Intel plugin https://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/intel-texture-works-plugin

There is example

With Nvidia tools from here ( https://developer.nvidia.com/nvidia-texture-tools-adobe-photoshop ) just loses alpha channel, what is also bad

 

What i do wrong?

Edited August 21, 2018 by SuddSumm

[Ablaze666]

If you save a normal or specular map with the Intel plugin (save as normal map with BC5 compression), the blue and alpha channels won't be saved because those are not needed to render the texture map. This is intended.

Diffuse textures should look alright.

[SuddSumm]

If you save a normal or specular map with the Intel plugin (save as normal map with BC5 compression), the blue and alpha channels won't be saved because those are not needed to render the texture map. This is intended.

 

Diffuse textures should look alright.

What? Really? If they not needed, why they are here? If i open that dds with IrfanView i can see alpha and blue channels, also i can save it to png, and extract alpha channel this way.

If they not needed, why after just open and save, texture looks awful ingame?

 

[dikr]

You do need those colors if you want to make further adjustments with the normal map filter in photoshop. I made stuff based on the greenish normals and on the regular, old fashioned purple ones for FO4 and I prefer the latter because of the normal filter that happens to work in those colors.

 

Workaround I use to first open the original dds is this:

 

Use the "open as" command and pick the .dds file type. (from the Nvidea plugin, not the Intel Texture Works plugin). The result will be in the right colors but very faded. Now open 'levels" (ctr+L) and change the left box to somewhere between 120 and 128. Now you've got a fairly regular normal map. Might require a little more tweakage but its close.

 

To save them I use the BC5 Normalmap option of the Nvidea plugin.

 

After that I always keep psd files as a source for further adjustments as you can't easily go back to those settings and every time you open and save a dds, you loose quality anyway.

 

edit: I find that while saving the purple ones as BC5 you often need to bake your normals with all channels (X, Y, Z) inverted.

 

Good luck.

 

p.s. There might be better ways. I'm always open for suggestions :smile:

Edited August 21, 2018 by dikr

[SuddSumm]

You do need those colors if you want to make further adjustments with the normal map filter in photoshop. I made stuff based on the greenish normals and on the regular, old fashioned purple ones for FO4 and I prefer the latter because of the normal filter that happens to work in those colors.

 

Workaround I use to first open the original dds is this:

 

Use the "open as" command and pick the .dds file type. (from the Nvidea plugin, not the Intel Texture Works plugin). The result will be in the right colors but very faded. Now open 'levels" (ctr+L) and change the left box to somewhere between 120 and 128. Now you've got a fairly regular normal map. Might require a little more tweakage but its close.

 

To save them I use the BC5 Normalmap option of the Nvidea plugin.

 

After that I always keep psd files as a source for further adjustments as you can't easily go back to those settings and every time you open and save a dds, you loose quality anyway.

 

edit: I find that while saving the purple ones as BC5 you often need to bake your normals with all channels (X, Y, Z) inverted.

 

Good luck.

 

p.s. There might be better ways. I'm always open for suggestions :smile:

I just want to be able to open, change and save the texture, preserving the original shine, reflections,normal-maps, colors, alpha-channels and other and other. Just like I did it many times in Fallout3

Edited August 21, 2018 by SuddSumm

[dikr]

Yeah, and I just want to be able to grow a tree with apples made of solid gold but we have to work with the what we have and the tip I gave you about that workaround is the best a lot of us can do with the programs we have available. And it works fine for me. Try it. Also most normal maps don't use alpha channels. And I never had problems with channels getting deleted with the Nvidia and Intel plugins. Always gives me popups whether I want to preserve them. D and S maps work fine, N has become a bit awkward but there are ways around it.

Edited August 21, 2018 by dikr

[SuddSumm]

Yeah, and I just want to be able to grow a tree with apples made of solid gold but we have to work with the what we have and the tip I gave you about that workaround is the best a lot of us can do with the programs we have available. And it works fine for me. Try it. Also most normal maps don't use alpha channels. And I never had problems with channels getting deleted with the Nvidia and Intel plugins. Always gives me popups whether I want to preserve them. D and S maps work fine, N has become a bit awkward but there are ways around it.

I do not want anything supernatural. The situation when dds opens correctly - the most natural and correct. It's like hot fire and wet water. Why nobody can understand that?

Anyway...

What other programs exist for editing the dds? Maybe they can do their job right?

[dikr]

Because FO4 uses normal maps saved in other channels / in another format. That's why all of the old methods to open them result in different color schemes and basically our old workflow has become a bit harder and our plugins are outdated. So yeah, we need to adapt ... the workaround I mentioned is one of the best ways to do it. There are other ways too. Google for "[Tutorial] How to edit Normal & Spec maps for Fallout 4" and you will see.

Edited August 21, 2018 by dikr

[SuddSumm]

Because FO4 uses normal maps saved in other channels / in another format. That's why all of the old methods to open them result in different color schemes and basically our old workflow has become a bit harder and our plugins are outdated. So yeah, we need to adapt ... the workaround I mentioned is one of the best ways to do it. There are other ways too. Google for "[Tutorial] How to edit Normal & Spec maps for Fallout 4" and you will see.

I understand. Thanks.

[Ablaze666]

What? Really? If they not needed, why they are here?

 

They shouldn't be there. The engine don't use these 2 channels at all. If you try to pack a BA2 archive with the Creation Kit or directly with Archive.exe you'll get an error if a normal or specular map contains an alpha channel. Here's what the channels are used for:

 

Normal map

- red and green channels combined are used to build the bumps

- blue and alpha channels have no function

 

Specular map

- red channel is used to determine the metalic shininess

- green channel is used to determine overall glossiness and is used for rain reflections

- blue channel would be used for Subsurface Scattering but isn't implemeted in the engine -> no function

- alpha channel has no function

 

 

If they not needed, why after just open and save, texture looks awful ingame?

I use Photoshop with the Intel plugin and the textures doesn't mess up after saving them. Maybe IrfanView can't handle DX11 textures properly? Just a guess.