A .bmp ---> .dds Conversion Question for FSX

[b3burner]

I'm still getting my feet wet with FSX, and have a question as I slowly merge my new knowledge of FSX with the 5 yrs I've put into FS9.

 

I noticed a plane with .bmp 32-bit textures was running frame rates a tad "doggier" than I'd like, so I had the idea of using DXT.bmp to convert them to .dds DXT5; to see if they'd run any better.

 

Well the answer is no. Other than having to vertically flip them after changing them to .dds's, they were virtually the same.

 

But then it dawned on me that that was originally an FS9 airplane with native .bmp texture files. The .mdl file also listed the names of the texture it calls for as ending in .bmp. I had learned that the name of all files in texture folder must always match the cooresponding names from which they were assigned in the .mdl file. Yet the plane with the converted textures and the new .dds file extension name still appeared correctly when I called it up on the sim. I even did a double check of the MDL file, and no where is there lettering in the code for DDS. So it makes no sense that the simulator would work with that texture after I change the file names.

 

Most people ask why something doesn't appear when they think it should. In this case I'm asking the opposite: Why is it still appearing when by all accounts of what I've been told in the past, it shouldn't?

 

Thank you,

 

-- John

[PAULCRAIG]

The file extension (bmp or dds) used for the textures makes no difference whether the textures show up or not, it's the actual texture file name that's important, it's what the model is calling for.

[StringBean]

Be careful with having both .bmp and .DDS textures in the same folder, with the same name, the sim will use the .bmp textures.

 

At least it did for me with an FS9 model I was using in FSX and converted the textures for.

 

peace,

the Bean

[pandersonpc]

I have read that there are 2 passes made when loading aircraft textures, first pass looks for exact filename.extention named in model, second looks for filename and other recognized graphics extention for files not found in first pass. That would explain Stringbean's observation.

[b3burner]

The file extension (bmp or dds) used for the textures makes no difference whether the textures show up or not, it's the actual texture file name that's important, it's what the model is calling for.

Hmm! I did not know that! That is good to learn because I always thought it was the whole thing that had to be the same. Just the stuff to the left of the period. Ok, I'll make a note of that.

 

Be careful with having both .bmp and .DDS textures in the same folder, with the same name, the sim will use the .bmp textures.

At least it did for me with an FS9 model I was using in FSX and converted the textures for.

Interesting. So are you advising no mix-n-match of of bmp's & dds's within a single texture folder? Or no mix-n-match EVEN amongst multiple folders within the same local aircraft folder?

 

In other words, I have multiple sets of the same textures where I tested different file types of the same texture files, but I have them each in their own folders, labeled as separate [fltsim.xx] entries in the aircraft.cfg folder. I figured so long as they are separated, then I should be able to test each one separately without risk of interference from the others. Am I correct?

 

I have read that there are 2 passes made when loading aircraft textures, first pass looks for exact file-name.extension named in model, second looks for file name and other recognized graphics extension for files not found in first pass. That would explain Stringbean's observation.

This is very interesting... something I was not aware of until now. So first pass makes sense.

2nd pass would explain why it didn't reject my .dds suffixes (file extension abbreviations), even though the model file called for .bmp's.

When you say "other recognized graphics extension", you mean the letters .dds in lieu of .bmp... correct?

 

So I'm still curious if I want to test if it's taking the .dds's without risking that it's really taking the .bmps, do I need to play it safe, and temporarily hide all the texture folders that contain the .bmps and move them out of the entire folder for that airplane? Or as I said in my reply to stringbean above, simply having already given the .dds files their own entry line in the aircraft.cfg and directing them to their own unique texture folder should suffice.

 

Thank you again everyone who replied.

 

-- John

[StringBean]

So are you advising no mix-n-match of of bmp's & dds's within a single texture folder? Or no mix-n-match EVEN amongst multiple folders within the same local aircraft folder?

I am advising exactly what I said, err..typed...

 

Be careful with having both .bmp and .DDS textures in the same folder, with the same name, ...

 

That is, if you have ABC.bmp and you convert it to ABC.DDS, do not leave them both in the same folder.

[b3burner]

Okay cool. Got ya'.

 

I'll also add that maybe I answered my own question (inadvertently... mind you) much earlier than this and didn't even think about it at the time:

 

When I first ran/tested the converted .dds textures in the sim, the plane displayed with all the images turned upside down. Later I read that this was because .dds's require flipping the images to display correctly. Therefore, had the .bmp's been displaying instead of the .dds, I would have never seen the upside down images in the first place. Thus it was indeed the .dds's that were taking precedence over the .bmp's... and my folder arranging assured this to be the case.

 

Didn't think about that until now... so yes, it now all makes sense.

 

Thanks.