Need help with Windows Texture Viewer

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Need help with Windows Texture Viewer

I've been using the Windows Texture Viewer for the dds files and it worked just fine. But now it's broken: the task is open in the taskbar, but it can't be maximized anymore. So the progress is running, but I don't see anything on my display. This is on WinXP 32bit. On my Win7 64bit installation it works - but I don't work with that, yet. I've gone over the program commands in the readme again and again, because I suspect I hit a wrong key by accident. But I just can't figure it out. Do any of you have an idea how I might've jinxed the thing? ???
 
Can't help you with Windows Texture Viewer but I can offer an alternative just in case. I'm using DDS Converter 2.1. Maybe you'll find it useful.
 
I took a look at the tool... I don't need it so much for saving, but for finding out what format the texture is supposed to be. It seems to provide most of that info, except for the compression (dxt) for some files. But I think I can work with that and figure it out. Thanks for the tip. :beer:
 
It shows the compression method for dds files. Other file formats have different types of compression or none at all.
 
The folder I am sifting through has only dds files. Some of them have the compression info, some don't. I dunno why not. For example, the kikimore body doesn't have compression info, the corresponding normal map does. They are the texture files I unbifed from the key file.And I can't seem to be able to save the files right, argh! I save a texture with PS with DXT5 and 9 mipmaps, when I check back, there are 8 mipmaps and only half a picture. Huh, but when I save the picture as jpg to somewhere else, then use the converter, set the options I checked earlier and then convert, it gets it right. I get confused. Shouldn't Photoshop with the dds plugin be able to do that? That is one weird format! And it's not even the first time I work with it, I've modded textures for other games before. But that reminds me again why I prefer using TexMod, which swaps the textures on the fly only when you run the game exe with it and never changes any actual game content. Maybe I should consider using that method... means a lot of leg work for Geralt, though. ;)
 
I'm not using photoshop, can't help you with it but it's good to know that DDS Converter works fine :)I don't like TexMod. It can be very resource hungry.
 
Yeah, I can't work with photoshop either, but it was the only program I had that could save dds at all. So of course I'm glad about having an alternative. :)
I don't like TexMod. It can be very resource hungry.
I'm not sure about this, but is it possible that it depends on the texture format you choose to log and edit? Like if you use uncompressed bmp, it's very big files. But if you use jpg or png, they shouldn't use up that many resources? And you can build and load multiple tpf's, but you needn't load all of them at once for one area...Anyway it was just a thought and probably not really the best choice for what I want to do. Because of the manner in which you "collect" the files by running around in the game. I guess I better figure out how to efficiently work with the converter and my good old paintshop. Once I'm awake and alert again...
 
Sure it depends on texture size and file size, but bigger or not than the original, all textures loaded in TexMod are additional performance hit.
 
Thank you for the link, will definitely try this, has nice features and effects. But still it isn't a one-program-for-all-your-needs regarding dds files. It doesn't do what PS doesn't do, too: simply show the actual properties of the file. I cannot save the file, if I don't know what compression and mipmaps I'm supposed to use. And that is exactly what the WTV is for. IF it works. There's also no preview for opening files, so I still need the converter to a) find a texture I want to edit and b) find out the properties. Which is really, really important. Ask Princess Adda. I fiddled with her textures and saved a wrong format once - she looked very funny, but she was not amused at all. :DI still don't know why the converter doesn't show compression info for all files, though. I guess I should take another look at those same files with the WTV on my Seven installation. Which makes it a nice incentive to actually use Seven instead of just having it sit around on my computer, heh.Nothing really there to stop me. The very first thing I did was installing The Witcher just to see if it'll run because so many people had problems with it on Seven. It installed just fine and got rid of the TAGES drivers without any hassle.
 
Yep, doesn't work for me, either. But WTV does. And guess what? They tell different stories about the textures. I took two kikimore files and two Adda files and compared them. WTV says for example that the compression of one file is DXT1 and 10 mipmaps. The converter (used with XP) doesn't say anything about compression and 9 mipmaps. One of the Adda files gets DXT5 in either program, but WTV says 11 mipmaps, converter 10 mipmaps. So how can I ever know how I'm supposed to save the files? ???Preferably with only one OS at a time.
 
DelightfulMcCoy said:
So how can I ever know how I'm supposed to save the files? ???
Trial&Error ;)Irfanview gives also informations about compression but not about mipmaps. With this program Adda's body is DXT1 and her head DXT5.
 
DelightfulMcCoy said:
I've been using the Windows Texture Viewer for the dds files and it worked just fine. But now it's broken: the task is open in the taskbar, but it can't be maximized anymore. So the progress is running, but I don't see anything on my display. This is on WinXP 32bit. On my Win7 64bit installation it works - but I don't work with that, yet. I've gone over the program commands in the readme again and again, because I suspect I hit a wrong key by accident. But I just can't figure it out. Do any of you have an idea how I might've jinxed the thing? ???
Have you tried deleting the version you have and downloading it again? With luck, a new copy won't have saved whatever inadvertent setting jinxed it.I found WTV essential when recoloring stuff. There were things that looked okay on my computer that didn't look okay on one of the play-testers' computers, and it was because it had the wrong number of mipmaps. You need to know both the compression method (DXT1 or DXT5) and the number of mipmaps.DDS files are a pain! I tried recoloring them with Gimp, and although there IS a downloadable plug-in for Gimp that supposedly works with DDS files, it didn't actually save the files in the right format. The Nvidia plug-ins for Photoshop, on the other hand, work beautifully. I have a very old copy of Photoshop Elements, and even a really old version of something that's just a subset of Photoshop did a great job.
 
Corylea said:
Have you tried deleting the version you have and downloading it again? With luck, a new copy won't have saved whatever inadvertent setting jinxed it.
Nope, because it's the exact same download that works in Win7. And since it's just a .exe to use as is, I think I can't have done anything to it. Must've been some mistake while using it. Or I installed some other program that broke it. But I can always try a fresh download, can't hurt.
I found WTV essential when recoloring stuff. There were things that looked okay on my computer that didn't look okay on one of the play-testers' computers, and it was because it had the wrong number of mipmaps. You need to know both the compression method (DXT1 or DXT5) and the number of mipmaps.
Preaching to the choir! That's exactly why I'm not at all inclined to use the trial & error method here. What works for me, might be terribly wrong on another computer. While at this point I'm not even sure yet if any of the stuff I'm doing is of any interest for other players, I might decide to release some of it. Depending on what I'll be doing - no, I don't have a plan, just a couple buckets of paint. ;)
DDS files are a pain! ... The Nvidia plug-ins for Photoshop, on the other hand, work beautifully.
My Photoshop cut the textures in half, dunno why it did that. I can't work with PS at all, I hate it.I could work with the converter and with Paint.net, no problem. Even if it's a little cumbersome. But first I need the right info. Well, if you say, you worked with WTV and the info you got from it is correct, I could sift through the files in Win7 and make notes and then work on them in XP. A little crazy, but doable. Why isn't there a program that can both VIEW and SAVE dds files, is that really too much to ask? :dead:
 
Thanks but... I don't get it. I don't get how I am supposed to include stuff and where and how can I browse my files or anything, the readme doesn't help. And anyway, I don't think this does what I am searching for: a tool that displays the correct properties of a dds file (with a preview). By now have PLENTY of tools to edit the textures and save them, but the basic problem is still that I need to know how to save them, which compression and how many mipmaps. I can edit textures just fine, but if I save them wrong, they just don't work. I really don't get why a program that can open and save a certain texture format, can't also read it's properties. I guess that's because I'm no programmer, because from the point of view of a user of a program, that's just plain stupid. :dead:
 

Guest 2005166

Guest
Witaj!No idea if that helps you, but that´s the setting I use to export dds files from paint.net.http://ckintzel.bplaced.net/tw/save_mipmaps.jpgSorry, that it is in german.And in Gimp, you can see the Image properties when pressing ALT+ENTER. It doesn´t show what format, but shows you how many layers are used for mipmaps.I´d not recommend Gimp to export dds files, this sometimes gets screwed up, while the files from paint.net are okay.Cheerio
 
Unkreativ said:
No idea if that helps you, but that´s the setting I use to export dds files from paint.net.http://ckintzel.bplaced.net/tw/save_mipmaps.jpg
Ich will ja nicht nach Belieben rumexportieren, sondern die files so wieder abspeichern, wie sie vorher waren, wie das Spiel sie haben will (habe schon gelernt, dass es nicht funktioniert, wenn man einfach mal rumprobiert und nicht alle sind DXT5). Dazu brauche ich aber ein Programm, das mir den Status der Original-Textur anzeigt. Paint.net habe ich ja mittlerweile, alternativ könnte ich auch mit meinem Paintshop jpg editieren und dann mit dds converter konvertieren, aber... wie gesagt, das Problem liegt immer noch dabei, dass ich die ursprünglichen Texturen nicht anschauern kann, weil mein WTV, der scheinbar der Einzige ist, das das zuverlässig macht, seinen Dienst verweigert, seufz.
 

Guest 2005166

Guest
Wie viele willst Du denn editieren? Für Charaktere habe ich bisher immer dieses Setting benutzt und Djinni scheint sich nicht dran zu stören. Schwieriger sind glaube ich nur die Bäume, die ein anderes Setting brauchen (weniger Mipmaps so wie es scheint.) Was passierte denn, als Du die Textur in Djinni ansehen wolltest?
 
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