Compressed textures: Windows 10 & nVidia conflict

Hi there, for those using Windows 10 [Pro] along with nVidia [current drivers], I was just wondering if anyone else is experiencing problems in FSX (white aircraft) with certain [compressed] formats of aircraft textures as a consequence of the corporate dynamic that exists between Microsoft and nVidia as described by this post from the nVidia forum:

 

https://forums.geforce.com/default/topic/905976/geforce-drivers/fsx-fligh

 

No, this is not a problem of the DirectX 10 Preview feature being selected or not selected, and it is not a problem of excessive texture file resolution. This is a system problem. I.e.: Windows 10 OS, itself, cannot open and/or read these certain few .bmp or .dds files when dtx compression is involved. Sure, I can use tools like DXTBmp and ImageTool to open, convert and work with such files, and Photoshop can as well to some degree; but I was simply wondering if anyone else has encountered this issue with their system & OS in general. Apparently, this is a more significant and external dynamic than simply a case of having to select different app preferences, etc.

 

I can work with it all, but I'm Just curious really; thanks!

I have been running FSX, first on Windows 8, then 8.1 and now 10 ever since it came out, on Intel i3 and now i7 CPUs, on the i3 with nVidia GT 620 and 640 graphics and on the i7 with GTX 960 graphics, in all cases with the most up-to-date drivers available, and I have never - ever - seen anything like the described.

 

Jorgen

Thanks both of you; as I said, I was simply curious :).

I run into this problem all the time.

 

When displaying older fsx graphics, which are in (DXT 1).bmp format Windows does not support it as shown in the graphic below.

 

 

I usually convert it to DDS 5 as shown in the graphic. Photoshop also cannot read the BMP file giving an end of file error.

 

I also use the two programs you listed above to help convert the files, so they can be worked on.

 

Another useful program is XnView for windows. Just google it.

 

It will do some conversions, but is great for viewing a large amount of graphic files without having to load each individual file separately.

 

By the way, it will read the (DXT 1).bmp format.

 

Cheers.....

This is interesting. Just because I haven't seen the problem, doesn't mean that there isn't a problem.

 

I have taken the liberty of bringing this problem up in AIG's forum of AI Modelling, in order to get some more opinions.

 

Jorgen

Here is what I received on the AIG forum, from one of their repainters:

 

"It happens when using BMP and DXT1/DXT3 compression. Pretty sure DXT5 too. Same for DDS, but here DXT5 is showing up.

 

But 32-bit BMP and DS works fine.

 

But it's not a problem in FS/P3D. The paints will show up. It's only in Windows Explorer (the folders) where they won't show up. So those files that can't be shown in Explorer, can be seen in FS/P3D, unless there is a problem with the texture-file itself."

 

Jorgen

I run into this problem all the time. ...

 

By the way, it will read the (DXT 1).bmp format.

 

Cheers.....

 

Thanks OleGrey, I'll give it a whirl with one of the image file conversion tools; I'll also take look at the one you mentioned.

 

To Jorgen: Yes, this is also a FS (FSX) problem, not simply a Windows problem- not only are the textures unreadable by Windows (or by standard image programs for that matter), but they are also unreadable by FSX... hence the white aircraft exteriors when using FSX. After all, in the final analysis, FSX does, and can only, use the graphics resources of & available on the computer upon which FSX resides.

 

Regards, Russ

Here is another comment made on the AIG forum:

 

"This is a very old issue I think.. And is not DXT format related.

 

Remember that FS9/FSX does NOT use standard BMP format, but an extended format! Has nothing to do with Windows or NVidia. There is an image browser that can display these, it's XNView. All other will fail to show AFAIK.

 

You can only identify these BMP when going into the respective properties. A 1024 DXT3 16 bit extended shows 1048650 Bytes, while a standard BMP is a little bit smaller, sorry, cannot remember the exact size."

 

Jorgen

Here is another comment made on the AIG forum:

 

"This is a very old issue I think.. And is not DXT format related ..."

 

Jorgen

 

Hey Jorgen,

 

Thanks much for bird-dogging this one. Yes, this is a very old issue, but it is an issue that is happening right now, today, on my 6-month old, fairly serious Alienware computer (see specs. below), and that is apparently also happening to others, such as OleGreyGhose, to this very day.

 

Regards, Russ

A couple of months ago (I think) there was a thread on AIG about batch-converting BMP textures to DDS. It might be worth it to look that up, at least I will.

 

Jorgen

Archer,

 

Let me clarify my previous post,

 

When displaying older fsx graphics, which are in (DXT 1).bmp format Windows does not support it

 

was what I was referring to.

 

The graphic shows the explorer view pointing us to Photoshop because of the nVidia plugins. Photoshop cannot display this graphic format because it cannot read the end of file format due to the disparity in length referred to by Jorgen in his post.

 

Most of the time the (DXT1).bmp files will display properly, for me, in FSX.

 

When they do not display properly for me, I observe more of a very bright shiny reflective texture, which seems to wash out the color. I think it has something to do with how the painter utilized the alpha channel.

 

It shows up more with this type of FSX model: plane_refl -

 

These are just my observations, as I am not that technically proficient in the coding of the graphic formats.

Hey Ole,

 

Totally understand, totally acknowledge!

 

Regards, Russ

Simply batch-converted the DXT-1, compressed .bmp texture files to uncompressed .bmp, and all's good, all works just fine. Sure, it consumes a bit more storage space in the respective texture folders, and there is a 1 - 2 fps hit as a consequence of the larger texture files but, hey, the solution works and it allows me to choose the livery of my choice. Oh well...................... lol.