Simviation Forum - Information overload..

Reply #15 - Jul 9^th, 2008 at 1:21pm

Fr. Bill Offline
Colonel
I used to have a life;
now I have GMax!
Hammond, IN

Gender:
Posts: 962

Boikat wrote on Jul 7^th, 2008 at 12:14pm:

Nope! Haven't installed Delux yet. Is it possible for me to load Delux (as you suggest, at C\FSX) and not uninstall my current FSX? I don't think that would cause any conflicts, but I may be wrong.

You can have more than one FSX installation, but only the last one installed will have the correct Registry entry.

I currently have FSX installed two times, both of which are on my E: drive...

...but only one of which has a Registry entry. This means that ever addon installer will first 'see' the FSX installation listed in the Registry.

If I wish to direct the new addon to the "other" FSX installation, I need to use the Browse button on the installer to redirect it to use the alternate...

E:\FSX
E:\FSX_Virgin

The first is the installation that's listed in the Registry, and is the one I use for "playtime..." Grin

The second is a "virgin" copy of FSX that never has more than one addon installed at a time, and is then "sanitized" whenever testing is over for that addon.

Bill
Gauge Programming - 3d Modeling Eaglesoft Development Group Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600-4GB DDR2 Crucial PC6400-800 GB SATA-ATI Radeon HD2400 Pro 256MB DX10 NOTE: Unless explicitly stated in the post, everything written by my hand is MY opinion. I do NOT speak for any company, real or imagined...

Back to top

IP Logged

Reply #16 - Jul 9^th, 2008 at 1:38pm

Boikat Offline
Colonel
Hello!
NW Loueezianner

Gender:
Posts: 2978

Thanks Fr. Bill, that's what I needed to know. I'm looking forward to getting things set up so i can do some add-ons, which from what I understand will cause me to lose what little hair I have left, cause great consternation, tie my brain into wee little knots, causeing me to post many more questions in the design forums, and have fun doing so.

I'm going to try someting simple first, which means it's going to end up being horribly complex for a first attempt, and will probably take months. But once I get the hang of it, look forward some "weird" add-ons. You can never have too much "weirdness" in life, I always say. Well, that depends on the "class" of the "weirdness", I suppose... Wink

"I reject your reality, and substitute my own" Adam Savage, Mythbusters

Back to top

IP Logged

Reply #17 - Jul 9^th, 2008 at 11:43pm

Boikat Offline
Colonel
Hello!
NW Loueezianner

Gender:
Posts: 2978

Well, I tried to load FSX Delux on the "C", and it said "FSX cannot be installed on the root directory", of something like that, so I did a conventional install (Uninstalled my original and reinstalled delux according to the "Clean Install" instructions in the FSX sticky). I guess I'll have to put up with the inconvieniance.

I also installed the SDK and SP1

Ready to install GMAX...

I also already have DXTBMP, Paint Shop Pro Photo X2, Air Wrench (the unregistered version, I guess I'll have to cough up the $20.00 to get the capabilities I need)...

Any other utilities I need that I don't know about?

"I reject your reality, and substitute my own" Adam Savage, Mythbusters

Back to top

IP Logged

Reply #18 - Jul 10^th, 2008 at 1:45pm

Fr. Bill Offline
Colonel
I used to have a life;
now I have GMax!
Hammond, IN

Gender:
Posts: 962

If you are going to model for FSX, you need to know that DXTBMP.exe cannot create DDS files properly.

You will need to use the FSX version of Imagetool.exe to convert .psd or .tga bitmaps to DDS/DXT5 or DXT1 format.

Bill
Gauge Programming - 3d Modeling Eaglesoft Development Group Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600-4GB DDR2 Crucial PC6400-800 GB SATA-ATI Radeon HD2400 Pro 256MB DX10 NOTE: Unless explicitly stated in the post, everything written by my hand is MY opinion. I do NOT speak for any company, real or imagined...

Back to top

IP Logged

Reply #19 - Jul 10^th, 2008 at 1:46pm

Fr. Bill Offline
Colonel
I used to have a life;
now I have GMax!
Hammond, IN

Gender:
Posts: 962

Boikat wrote on Jul 9^th, 2008 at 11:43pm:

Well, I tried to load FSX Delux on the "C", and it said "FSX cannot be installed on the root directory", of something like that,

You should have entered "C:\FSX" in that case. You can NOT simply enter "C:" because that would be trying to install to the root... Shocked

Bill
Gauge Programming - 3d Modeling Eaglesoft Development Group Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600-4GB DDR2 Crucial PC6400-800 GB SATA-ATI Radeon HD2400 Pro 256MB DX10 NOTE: Unless explicitly stated in the post, everything written by my hand is MY opinion. I do NOT speak for any company, real or imagined...

Back to top

IP Logged

Reply #20 - Jul 10^th, 2008 at 2:15pm

Boikat Offline
Colonel
Hello!
NW Loueezianner

Gender:
Posts: 2978

Fr. Bill wrote on Jul 10^th, 2008 at 1:46pm:

Boikat wrote on Jul 9^th, 2008 at 11:43pm:

Well, I tried to load FSX Delux on the "C", and it said "FSX cannot be installed on the root directory", of something like that,

You should have entered "C:\FSX" in that case. You can NOT simply enter "C:" because that would be trying to install to the root... Shocked

Well, it's like I said, when it comes to software, I'm a bit of an ignoramous. Tongue

"I reject your reality, and substitute my own" Adam Savage, Mythbusters

Back to top

IP Logged

Reply #21 - Jul 10^th, 2008 at 2:18pm

Boikat Offline
Colonel
Hello!
NW Loueezianner

Gender:
Posts: 2978

Fr. Bill wrote on Jul 10^th, 2008 at 1:45pm:

If you are going to model for FSX, you need to know that DXTBMP.exe cannot create DDS files properly.

You will need to use the FSX version of Imagetool.exe to convert .psd or .tga bitmaps to DDS/DXT5 or DXT1 format.

Thanks for the info on that. At the moment I'm taking a break from mowing the Back Yard Jungle, but after I'm done, I'll look for the FX version of Imagetool.exe.

Thanks again for your advice and assistance!

"I reject your reality, and substitute my own" Adam Savage, Mythbusters

Back to top

IP Logged

Reply #22 - Jul 11^th, 2008 at 2:22am

Boikat Offline
Colonel
Hello!
NW Loueezianner

Gender:
Posts: 2978

I downloaded "Imagetool" V.3

Is there as FSX specific IT somewhere?

You said it was for converting psd and tga to DDS/DXT5 or DXT1 formats. I'm probably getting way ahead of myself at this stage of the gme, but what are, and why would, or where would psd and tga files come into play?

"I reject your reality, and substitute my own" Adam Savage, Mythbusters

Back to top

IP Logged

Reply #23 - Jul 11^th, 2008 at 1:24pm

Fr. Bill Offline
Colonel
I used to have a life;
now I have GMax!
Hammond, IN

Gender:
Posts: 962

Boikat wrote on Jul 11^th, 2008 at 2:22am:

I downloaded "Imagetool" V.3

Is there as FSX specific IT somewhere?

You said it was for converting psd and tga to DDS/DXT5 or DXT1 formats. I'm probably getting way ahead of myself at this stage of the gme, but what are, and why would, or where would psd and tga files come into play?

Imagetool.exe is included in the FSX SDK, and instructions for its use are included in the documentation.

There are three 'paint programs' that are most often used for texture creation:

Photoshop v8.0 or later... ~$700
Paint Shop Pro v7.0 or later... ~$70
Gimp

*

... freeware

All three are capable of saving your artwork as .PSD (Photoshop format), layered files, which may also include a 4bit Alpha channel.

All three will also save your artwork as 32bit Targa (.tga) files, in which all the RGB layers are collapsed to a single layer, and include a 4bit Alpha channel.

Imagetool.exe will load either of the two formats, .psd or .tga, and then allow you to save them as DDS/DXT5, DXT3, or DXT1 files for use in FSX.

The main reason for developing and keeping your master artwork in a layered PSD file is so that you can keep your detail layers separate from the shadow layers, from the lines & ribbons layers, and from the main color layers.

*

Note: yesterday I noticed that someone has developed a version of Gimp that closely mimics the GUI of Photoshop, which should make it a bit more familiar to Photoshop users. Cheesy

Bill
Gauge Programming - 3d Modeling Eaglesoft Development Group Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600-4GB DDR2 Crucial PC6400-800 GB SATA-ATI Radeon HD2400 Pro 256MB DX10 NOTE: Unless explicitly stated in the post, everything written by my hand is MY opinion. I do NOT speak for any company, real or imagined...

Back to top

IP Logged

Reply #24 - Jul 11^th, 2008 at 5:58pm

Boikat Offline
Colonel
Hello!
NW Loueezianner

Gender:
Posts: 2978

Thanks again! I'll just leave that ImageTool V.3 where it's at then Tongue

Like i said, information ovrload! Shocked

"I reject your reality, and substitute my own" Adam Savage, Mythbusters

Back to top

IP Logged

	Search the archive: