[ART] .DDS Files Not working?

[Pshyched]

Okay, I'm sorta new to figuring this out, but I converted an image to .dds using Paint.net. All seemed fine, until I couldn't look it up in the Material Editor. the .dds file was not there. I'm not sure If i'm doing everything wrong or something but I just need a bit of help. It's all quite disheartening not seeing it work time after time when I'm so interested in working on this project.

Do I need to First start off with a .PNG File?
Which Compression do I need to use?
Do I need to generate MIP Maps?

I would like someones help on this if possible Thanks In advance!

[DnALANGE]

You could try this.
Open up a material already existing.
For example Entitie\Cloth\ClothPile..
Open it and you see all the dds\jpg\tga files it uses.
then open the diffuse file... Press on the ...
Then search for your picture (dds) and open it. (Have to be in YOUR custom story folder!)
That way you can see if it excually works.
that is how i Always make materials
Give it a try.
There you can add also If it would be a Decal\SolidFuse\Water etc..

[Mudbill]

Well, if there's some error, the log should say so. Post the contents of Documents\HPL2\MaterialEditor.log after running into the issue and shutting it down.

Make sure you deleted the previous mat file (if you opened it before from another format). It might be the compression also. Use DXT5 if you need trancparency, or DXT1 if not. These are the settings I normally use (from Photoshop):



Also just make sure you don't have a black alpha channel. That might make your texture fully invisible.

[Romulator]

These work for me on Paint.Net.

You're okay to start with a png, but I would never include the transparency of the image. Make any areas which need to be transparent as black. You can then use your image as an alpha channel as well in the Material Editor.

The other two questions - I use the above and it works for me. If there are problems, generate the MIP maps and see what happens :3

Edit: Also - be sure you have a pow2 resolution image. This may not be the problem, but if it is, that tends to cause problems for the editor and game. A pow2 means using resolutions like 128x128, 256x256, 512x512, 1024x1024 etc. Choose one suitable for your material size - 1024 will eat memory

[Daemian]

Material editor only opens .mat files, .dds and others are used below, in diffuse,nmap and such.
You gotta activate the ones you want, then select the image.

[Pshyched]

Alright thanks for all the help guys, the paint.net thing worked fine.

[Acies]

Mipmaps are basically smaller versions of the original texture:


So, depending on the distance/how much of the screen your model covers a different mip-map is chosen. If you are very close the largest version (the original size) of the texture will be used. You'll be able to see details and stuff. As you move further away, a smaller version of the texture will be used (a mipmap). This will sort of 'naturally blur' the texture to better account for the distance you are viewing it. It's also nice for performance, as objects further away use a smaller texture (less memory used).

Not using mipmaps can produce weird results:


Left = no mip maps
Right = mip maps

You can also get a grainy texture if not using mipmaps (as the blurring doesn't occur):
http://i.imgur.com/L8TtEFQ.jpg
(The image to the furthest left is the same in both top and bottom, and it's the image shown through the entire series of images at the bottom.)

The images at the bottom has no mip-mapping on the diffuse map - and you can see how they do not really blend well, but rather turn out quite grainy.