Simviation Forum - oceanheightfield.bmp water effect question

Sep 21^st, 2004 at 12:34pm

Magneto Offline
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Corpus Christi, Texas

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I'm wondering if someone can advise me.
I've been trying to experiment with water textures, etc.., and I'm having a problem with the oceanheight bmp file.
The original size and format is 512x512, 8-bit, indexed color, uncompressed with a file size of 342k. Both Photoshop 5.5 and Corel Photopaint show this file as a normal 8-bit BMP, and they show no special "masking" or alpha channel.
I've used Photoshop 5.5 to convert a rework of mine to (what should be) the same size and color mode, but my file size comes out to 257 kb.
Ok.. something is wrong here. File sizes should match if they are the same dimensional size and format.
When I install my 257kb file into FS9, the sim crashes at scenery load with water effects set to high. Works just fine with the original 342kb file.
So I then tried installing a 24 bit color version (768kb) into FS, and the sim will load, but I have no water effects. Ok. so that isn't working.

Any ideas what I need to do to get my file correctly formatted to FS9? DXTbmp shows the file as a "normal" bitmap, but I guess there's something else that I'm missing.

Your help is seriously appreciated.. Thanks. Mag...

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Reply #1 - Sep 22^nd, 2004 at 12:39pm

garymbuska Offline
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I would rather be flying
Jacksonville, Florida

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I have read here somewhere that alot of the BMP files use extended textures and the programs that you are using will not support that and is porbably chopping of parts of the file. There was mention of a program that could be used that would allow you edit those files in that format but for the life of me I can not rember what it was.
I am not sure if the oceanheight.bmp file is one of these files but from what you are saying it sounds like it might be. That would explain the file size differance.But I could be out in left field here.

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Reply #2 - Sep 22^nd, 2004 at 7:54pm

Magneto Offline
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Corpus Christi, Texas

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Posts: 31

Quote:

I have read here somewhere that alot of the BMP files use extended textures and the programs that you are using will not support that and is porbably chopping of parts of the file. There was mention of a program that could be used that would allow you edit those files in that format but for the life of me I can not rember what it was.
I am not sure if the oceanheight.bmp file is one of these files but from what you are saying it sounds like it might be. That would explain the file size differance.But I could be out in left field here.

Thank you very much for the reply. If you happen to remember which program that was used to edit those types of files, I would be extremely grateful. I'm not even sure exactly how the alpha info is stored in a bitmap, but it does appear to be there. I was able to get a "targa" of the file with the alpha on it, but was unable to convert this back to the proper bmp format that FS needs.
Not much info around the web on this. I was hoping some of the designers might help me out a bit.

Mag...

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Reply #3 - Sep 24^th, 2004 at 1:32pm

garymbuska Offline
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I would rather be flying
Jacksonville, Florida

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Posts: 2850

try searching for a extended bitmap editor using your favorite search engine .You might get lucky The program I saw might have been for FS2002 and that would be of no use to you. Since fs2004 uses a diferent approach.

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Reply #4 - Sep 24^th, 2004 at 6:05pm

RollerBall Ex Member

Quote:

I was hoping some of the designers might help me out a bit.

Mag...

OK here we go. General method to edit ANY extended bmp with alpha. Let's say it's called file.bmp

1. Fire up DXTBmp.exe and load the file as an extended bmp. NOTE FROM THE TASK BAR IN THE LOWER LEFT-HAND CORNER WHAT KIND OF EXTENDED BMP YOU'RE PLAYING WITH - VERY IMPORTANT.

2. Export the alpha channel - save it with a name you can recognise linked to the original file.

I save it as fileA.bmp (clever eh Wink

)

3. Save the original file as a normal bitmap - see what I've said above - I save it as fileN.bmp

4. Edit fileN.bmp to your heart's content using you usual graphics program. I use PaintShop Pro or PhotoShop, other people might use Corel Photo-Paint. Despite what some (dare I say less-experienced) people say, forget MS Paint - it's useless except for six year old kids to play with.

5. When you've finished editing, save fileN.bmp.

6. Open your new fileN.bmp in DXTBmp.exe. Import the alpha channel you saved earlier ie fileA.bmp.

7. Save your new edited extended bmp as file.bmp (ie overwriting the original file) IN THE SAME FORMAT THAT YOU TOOK A NOTE OF FROM STEP 1.

As you become more experienced you can begin to change the extended bmp formats around but let's leave that to another time eh?

Hope this helps 8)

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Reply #5 - Sep 24^th, 2004 at 7:44pm

Magneto Offline
Colonel
Corpus Christi, Texas

Gender:
Posts: 31

Rollerball,

Thank you for the in-depth reply. I appreciate the help.
I have found the answer to my problem, and it wasn't an alpha channel problem like I thought it might be.

The oceanheightfield.bmp shows as an 8-bit indexed(or grayscale) bmp, but it contains mips.
After downloading Microsoft's TerrainSDK , and getting the ImageTool.exe utility, I was easily able to add the missing mips and save the file in the proper format and size. It works correctly now.

Another thing I wanted to touch on is way DXTbmp won't load a normal bmp as an "extended" one. It also would not convert my 24 bit version to an 8-bit one. I'm not even sure if it matters if the file is 8-bit or 24, but the mips are essential.

So now I can do some experimenting.. Thanks for all the help. I needed ideas, and you people helped.

Mag...

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