Accessing Textures

[SamIntel]

I need to edit a Texture file (.BMP), in a specific aircraft's folder. But when I try to view the file in My Computer as a thumbnail it says Drawing
Failed, instead of showing the picture. If I try to open or import the file into a program such as Photoshop, it says, "Could not complete your
request because of a disk error."
The aircraft runs just fine in FS, if FS can open the file why can't I?
Please Help.



Post Edited ( 07-13-06 16:44 )

[Drew]

You need to convert them from BMP DXT into standard BMP to be able to edit them (then back again to use them)

DXTBMP on
http://www.mnwright.btinternet.co.uk/index.htm



Post Edited ( 07-13-06 09:02 )

[olseric]

.blg? Sounds more like .bgl which = scenery file.

You won't be able to edit that with a graphic program...it's compiled XML or SCASM code.

Textures are usually BMP format and as Drew said, if it's a DXT or 32bit BMP, you'll need DXT2BMP to read it.

[vaccaro]

first of all it must be a "bmp" not a "bgl"
as Drew mentioned many texture files come as DXT3 (i think 16 bit) which a regular editor can't interprete. Thus you will need a converter
like "DXTBmp" (can be found at where Drew said. But don't forget to download also dll set) or "imagetool" (can be found at
http://www.projectopensky.com/files/inde...resources/). I personally prefer DXTBmp maybe because I am used to that one.
One more thing about DXTBmp. After your edit while converting the texture in MSFS format don't forget to disable mips which sometimes
cause a blurry texture.

[SamIntel]

Yeah, they are BMP, not BLG, that was a typo.
Thanks, I'll give it a try.

[SamIntel]

So do I need both of those programs, or just one or the other?

[SamIntel]

Drew wrote:
You need to convert them from BMP DXT into standard BMP to be able to edit them (then back again to use them)

DXTBMP on
http://www.mnwright.btinternet.co.uk/index.htm

Ok, I think I got it all, it worked fine, but how do I convert it back to BMP DXT format?

[SamIntel]

Nevermind, I got it all figured out.
Thanks for your guys' help.

[highlander]

Just so folk know, the reason FS9's BMP files don't often show up ("Drawing failed" error) is that they aren't standard BMP files; they're compressed
in DXT (DirectX Texture) format.

While this has the advantage of being a good compression format that allows bitmap files to be smaller, and which the DirectX-compatible GPU on their
graphics card is able to uncompress without too much of a worry, it's also a lossy format, which causes a degradation in image quality.

Additionally, you may find that aircraft from the likes of Project Opensky have very large textures (between 1 and 4 MB per file), and that these
aircraft reduce your frame rates quite badly (for those of us who use FS on an older or less powerful machine). In this case, why not try using
DXTbmp to convert these 32-bit BMP files to DXT-format. This will improve your frame rates, at the cost of a (very) slight reduction in texture
quality. (NOTE - you're NOT allowed to redistribute these textures once you've modified them).

Hope this helps!

[poden]

SamIntel wrote:
Nevermind, I got it all figured out.
Thanks for your guys' help.

Welcome to the world of repainting!