anarchicrazor Posted November 10, 2008 Share Posted November 10, 2008 Hi, I've been checking out some of the mods but the mods that have the .dds files aren't working for me. I followed what the readme said for one about the archivevalidation thing and I ended up messing up my game and had to reinstall. :blink: If this has been posted before, I apologize. All I'm looking for is a somewhat detailed explanation of how to use the .dds mods. Is there a converter anywhere that changes the .dds files to the .esp files? I only have two mods so far in my game; they are both .esp and work. Any help is greatly appreciated! :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GosuX Posted November 13, 2008 Share Posted November 13, 2008 dds is a DirectX Texture format it has nothing to do with modding fallout3 apart from the textures them selfs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 15, 2008 Share Posted November 15, 2008 Hi all. I'm new to this modding thing and would like to try it out, especially the texture modding. I think this is right thread for this, didn't want to create a new one. I'm somewhat familiar with the basics. Right now I'm so far: I have the DDS file I'd like to modify; I can open it in Photoshop (using Invidia's plugin). What I'd like someone to help me with, are the settings, i.e. do I load the MIP maps when I open the DDS file? Or not? If I load the MIP maps, there are multiple sets of textures opened (duplicates getting smaller and smaller), do I have to modify them all? Or it's not necessary? What kind of settings do I have to apply when I save the modified DDS file? So far I have totally messed up one texture, and another time I got somewhere, but when I zoomed away from the character, the modifications began to fade ... So, If anyone could explain this in more detail, i would really much appreciate it. Or maybe point me towards some good tutorial or something, I couldn't find any myself. Thanks in advance! anarchicrazor, for the dds files to work (if you've placed them to correct folders in the Data folder and added the file paths to the ArchiveInvalidation.txt) you have to modify the FALLOUT.INI that can be found at My Documents\My Games\Fallout3. You have to open the FALLOUT.INI with Notepad or other text editor and locate the following line: bInvalidateOlderFiles=0 and set it to 1. I don't think that adding dds files to the Data folder can mess up your game, though. Maybe if you placed the dds files into wrong folders in the Data folder and the game couldn't with them from the paths you specified in the ArchiveInvalidation.txt file. But that would cause you to reinstall the game, placing the dds files to correct folders, or removing the ArchiveInvalidation.txt would do the trick. Hope this helps. Oh and you can't convert the dds files to esp files, these are totally different things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zumbs Posted November 16, 2008 Share Posted November 16, 2008 Hi all. I'm new to this modding thing and would like to try it out, especially the texture modding.Welcome! What I'd like someone to help me with, are the settings, i.e. do I load the MIP maps when I open the DDS file? Or not?You should open the MIP maps ... at least if you want your new textures to work for people who use smaller texture sizes. If I load the MIP maps, there are multiple sets of textures opened (duplicates getting smaller and smaller), do I have to modify them all? Or it's not necessary?In GIMP, I think they are generated automaticly. What kind of settings do I have to apply when I save the modified DDS file? So far I have totally messed up one texture, and another time I got somewhere, but when I zoomed away from the character, the modifications began to fade ... So, If anyone could explain this in more detail, i would really much appreciate it. Or maybe point me towards some good tutorial or something, I couldn't find any myself. Thanks in advance!I would try to look at the CS Wiki. There are some pretty good tutorals for retextureing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 17, 2008 Share Posted November 17, 2008 Thanks! I'll check the CS Wiki. Edit: problems solved, thanks again, Zumbs! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaysus Posted November 17, 2008 Share Posted November 17, 2008 do not load the mipmaps!!! but checkmark the option to create them upon save... you need mipmaps to show the weapon not only in low resolution but also in the distance, etc... (icons and hud stuff must not have mipmaps tho) export settings:(dxt 5 is supposed to be better tho) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 17, 2008 Share Posted November 17, 2008 I tried installing http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=142 the one where every BoS is wearing T51-b. I followed the readme to the letter and because this is my only texture mod I just copied the ArchivInvalidation file they gave me into my fallout3 directory... it doesn't work. Help would be appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zumbs Posted November 18, 2008 Share Posted November 18, 2008 do not load the mipmaps!!! but checkmark the option to create them upon save... you need mipmaps to show the weapon not only in low resolution but also in the distance, etc...Does it work like that in GIMP? I tried installing http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=142 the one where every BoS is wearing T51-b. I followed the readme to the letter and because this is my only texture mod I just copied the ArchivInvalidation file they gave me into my fallout3 directory... it doesn't work. Help would be appreciated.First, try to browse to your Fallout 3/Data directory. Then look for textures/armor/t-51bpowerarmor/t-51b powerarmor.dds. If this file does not exist, you have extracted the archive to the wrong location. Most likely the extracted archive is in your Fallout 3/Data and called "Data". If so, copy-paste the contents into your Fallout 3/Data directory. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaysus Posted November 18, 2008 Share Posted November 18, 2008 Does it work like that in GIMP?cant say for sure but the options are probably the same if not the whole dialogue...thus it should work in most graphical progs that support dds... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 18, 2008 Share Posted November 18, 2008 I found an alternative to using the Nvidia's plugins, from the CS wiki. I'm not sure if the end result is the best it can be, but after doing some quick checkes yesterday everything seemed fine. I downloaded the DDS Converter 2.1 (http://eliteforce2.filefront.com/file/DDS_Converter;29412). Now I just convert dds files to psd, modify them in Photoshop, and convert them back to dds. That's it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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