Simviation Forum - "Invisible" Textures?

Jun 20^th, 2007 at 9:06pm

Groundbound1 Ex Member

Ok, this is a newbie question for sure, (don't you love questions that start that way?) but why is is that when I try to look at texture bitmaps in Microsoft Paintbrush, some of the textures appear to be nothing more than blank black or white bitmaps, while others look as you'd expect. I'm using Windows 98SE, and don't have any other "paint" programs at my disposal (yet). The reason I ask is that I've started expirimenting with animated effects and some bitmaps I'm using don't display correctlly. Maybe the two are somehow related?

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Reply #1 - Jun 20^th, 2007 at 10:53pm

Moach Offline
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FS bitmaps aren´t regular bitmaps, they are extended BMP formats with alpha channel... you need DXTBMP to convert them back so you can edit them using paint or whatever...

i´m not sure where i got DXTBMP tho... try searching this site, or google for it...

it´s a really simple tool to use, just load the offending file and choose to save as normal bitmap Wink

save as extended before trying to use in FS...........

Moach

Come, one and all aboard! - The Russian Roullete in the sky!
One in each Six of my personalities knows not at all how to fly!

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Reply #2 - Jun 20^th, 2007 at 11:04pm

Groundbound1 Ex Member

Moach wrote on Jun 20^th, 2007 at 10:53pm:

FS bitmaps aren´t regular bitmaps, they are extended BMP formats with alpha channel... you need DXTBMP to convert them back so you can edit them using paint or whatever...

i´m not sure where i got DXTBMP tho... try searching this site, or google for it...

it´s a really simple tool to use, just load the offending file and choose to save as normal bitmap Wink

save as extended before trying to use in FS...........

Moach

AH-HAAAA, now I see! I've heard about this elusive critter called "Alpha Channel", but I was never sure where it lived! Wink

Cool, thank you for the help!

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Reply #3 - Jun 21^st, 2007 at 12:58pm

Groundbound1 Ex Member

Moach wrote on Jun 20^th, 2007 at 10:53pm:

FS bitmaps aren´t regular bitmaps, they are extended BMP formats with alpha channel... you need DXTBMP to convert them back so you can edit them using paint or whatever...

i´m not sure where i got DXTBMP tho... try searching this site, or google for it...

it´s a really simple tool to use, just load the offending file and choose to save as normal bitmap Wink

save as extended before trying to use in FS...........

Moach

I tried DXTBMP, and that did the trick! Thank you again!

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