"Ehm... I thought DXT3 was 32 bit?""DXT3 - this is a 16 bit compressed format with a 4 bit alpha (16 levels). These are used for textures that need a varying level of alpha. Most of the Aircraft textures are in this format." -- Martin Wright.
Often repaints are offered in what are described as DXT3 and/or 32bit formats.
The former is a smaller file size than the 32bit. As mentioned, I only output to DXT3 16/32 files to keep the size smaller by a factor of (almost) eight (8 times).
Whether or not the others are 32bit 88-8 I do not know.
Here's what the author of DXTbmp.exe,Martin Wright, states:"Things you probably need to know about editing FS textures. By default they are usually in DXT1 or DXT3 format. However both these compressed formats are "lossy" so repeated editing back and forth will soon result in a graphical mess. The first step is usually to
convert to 32 bit. You can then edit as much as you like without degrading the image . You can either use the
Extended 32 bit version in FS or convert a copy to DXT format for actual flying. The drawback with
32 bit is the filesize (4 or 8 times the size of the equivalent DXT) and performance (DXT formats are optimised DirectX formats and are stored and displayed using the Graphics card built-in DXT hardware). The normal procedure recommended with my FS tools is to load in the original texture, save out as 32 bit Targa or 32 bit Extended and then do all your editing using this 32 bit version. When you want to try the texture in FS load in the 32 bit version and save out an Extended DXT version. For any further editing load the 32 bit version again. Of course if you decide to work with
32 bit Extended then all the editing can be done directly on the FS texture itself."
References cited:
Martin Wright author of DXTbmp.exe
Update to DXTbmp v.4.00.83
while you're there . . .
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