Editing .dds textures

[caradas1030]

Can someone enlighten me to the process of editing dds textures using GIMP? Specifically, saving them. I've try searching a few times and have read things about the size being important, but I still don't understand how it works.

[GrimReaper]

Just hit the "save as" button?

[caradas1030]

...I seems that the combination of GIMPS volume warning message and it's god-forsaken UI I missed the prompt to continue the saving process. I apologize for the thread.

[GrimReaper]

...I seems that the combination of GIMPS volume warning message and it's god-forsaken UI I missed the prompt to continue the saving process. I apologize for the thread.

If you go to "save as" you can chose a compression method btw. There you can reduce the size of your textures. Just sayin'.

[Siouliusn]

THose two links (and thos referenced in it) might be handy :
/>http://cs.elderscrolls.com/index.php/Creating_detailed_Normal_Maps
/>http://cs.elderscrolls.com/index.php/GIMP:_Quality_Normal_Maps

[EvenstarGW]

By default, Gimp doesn't come with a dds plugin, so you'll have to get one. The second link Siouliusn posted has a link to it, plus one for a normalmap plugin, useful for making normalmaps with your texture. Reading the article itself can't hurt either, though.

One thing I noticed is that the Gimp plugin is a bit more prone to creating compression artifacts than the Nvidia plugin I use for Paint shop. So it's a good idea to keep an uncompressed version of the texture, or the gimp layer file, in case it comes out poorly. Then you can always try some tricks to reduce the artifacts.

[Mavado]

Don't bother with the DDS plugin, I use a program called DXTBmp to convert images to and from .DDS and edit them in GIMP. Make sure when saving in GIMP, to save them as .PNG files or the alpha map gets all scrambled, than use DXTBmp to convert the .PNG to .DDS I believe the setting is DXT5.

[labrat]

I use paint.net myself for most things as it is also a free download, has built in support for the .dds format and is a damn sight easier to use than GIMP (for me). However, my texture edits are really simple level.

Is there a good reason to use GIMP?

[FastestDogInTheDistrict]

The GIMP .dds plugin is downloadable here - http://code.google.com/p/gimp-dds/

Note that it is not self-executing. You will need to manually extract it and place it in your GIMP plugins folder, usually found at this or similar pathway -

C:\Program Files\GIMP-2.0\lib\gimp\2.0\plug-ins

After that you should be able to monkey around with Skyrim's .dds texture files. Enjoy!

EDIT: Oh wait - looks like this may already have been solved.

[EvenstarGW]

I use paint.net myself for most things as it is also a free download' date=' has built in support for the .dds format and is a damn sight easier to use than GIMP (for me). However, my texture edits are really simple level.

Is there a good reason to use GIMP?

[/quote']

I've never used Paint.net, so I don't know what features it has. Gimp is tricky to get used to, because the controls are different from most other programs I used. But it has a good amount of built-in filters and features that allow for a lot of power to edit photos/screenshots or textures. Once you get the hang of how layers and alpha's are handled, it becomes easier. Having a normalmap plugin also helps in some cases. I still find the user interface a bit of a pain in the backside though.