I noticed that compared to TGA files, DDS are a hell of a lot smaller in size, with no noticeable loss of image quality.
But when I tell the mtr file to use a DDS texture for the diffuse map, it doesn't show up in game.
I get an error message saying "couldn't load blah blah blah.dds".
I thought Doom3 supported DXT1 and DXT3?? Or are they only available for models?

http://www.modwiki.net/wiki/Texturing#C ... compressed

It's probably more likely not a compression problem but you've not saved the DDS images to the correct location for D3; [Doom3 install path]/base/DDS, unlike Q4 you can't have the DDS images anywhere else.

rich_is_bored wrote:

http://www.modwiki.net/wiki/Texturing#Compressed_and_uncompressed

Yeah I was there, and that link doesn't help.

To the other guy, thank you very much that was exactly the problem.

Since I know exactly what the issue was now...

http://www.modwiki.net/wiki/Folder_stru ... 8Doom_3%29

In the event that you don't know where something should go in the future.

Rich got all wiki links on his table, ready to throw!

AluminumHaste wrote:

I get an error message saying "couldn't load blah blah blah.dds".
I thought Doom3 supported DXT1 and DXT3?? Or are they only available for models?

Doom3 supports if I remember correct all DXT variations (DXT 1, DXT 3, and DXT 5).

If you have Photoshop you should try NVIDIA texture plug-inn. With this plug-inn you can choose various compression methods for dds. Personally, I’m using for my diffuse textures, DXT 5, for specular DXT 5 or sometimes but very rare RGB 888 24bit and for lights always RGB 888 24bit method, because I’d like to keep smooth transition between colors. Although, the size of RGB 888 24bit is just a bit smaller than the original TGA texture.

These parameters are of course very relative. All depends from your texturing needs and your desire how much quality picture you’d like to have at the end.

And one more thing, try to find some dds viewer, so that you can easily compare quality of yours dds textures with the original TGA.

As for the problem which you have in the game with dds textures, you should know one thing.

Code:

textures/wall/001
{
    qer_editorimage  textures/editor.jpg       // custom DOOMEdit material preview image
    diffusemap       textures/wall/001_d.tga        // color and value information for the material
    specularmap      textures/wall/001_s.tga        // specular highlights
    bumpmap          textures/wall/001_local.tga    // normalmap for bumpmapped appearance
}

This is the basic code part for textures; you certainly don’t need to add anything else, except dds textures which should be placed in this case in the next folder:

Doom3/base/dds/textures/wall/001_d.dds

So check again where yours dds textures are placed!

If you have again the same issue, then you probably have the problem with the program which you using for creating dds textures.

Best

I have to pick up this thread as I receive the same error message. The game can't load the fresh created dds files. And it can't be resolved by putting them into the correct folder, as they are in there already. I'm using the exact compression settings kats tutorial is telling.

At the beginning, the compressonator(1.21.1044) wasn't working at all, as it required a not included MSVCP71.dll. kats, suggests to download the latest version of the compressonator, which should have the dll included, but the official file wasn't working for me on three different systems. I copied the dll from another system and the compressonator finally started.

Now it works fine as application, but if I'm using a batch file, following kats' tutorial, it just does nothing; neither an output dds, nor an error message.

Code:

textures/s_object/basedoor
{
    qer_editorimage  textures/s_object/basedoor_ed.tga       

    diffusemap        dds/textures/s_object/basedoor_d.dds    
    specularmap      textures/s_object/basedoor_s.tga     
    bumpmap          dds/textures/s_object/basedoor_b.dds   
}

the relevant dds files are located in /../base/dds/textures/s_object/

any ideas?

I don't bother with that tool, I use the Nvidia photoshop plugin right from nvidia's website to compress my tga's to dds.
Also try and keep texture names lower case, no spaces etc.

Good luck.

Hä ? - i had the intention the engine is able to output dds like "on the final map using tga only - enable preCompression in the console and using the startbuild/finishbuild commands - no ?

AluminumHaste wrote:

I don't bother with that tool, I use the Nvidia photoshop plugin right from nvidia's website to compress my tga's to dds.
Also try and keep texture names lower case, no spaces etc.

Good luck.

nvidia plugins are not working either...

bashport wrote:

Code:

textures/s_object/basedoor
{
    qer_editorimage  textures/s_object/basedoor_ed.tga       

    diffusemap        dds/textures/s_object/basedoor_d.dds    
    specularmap      textures/s_object/basedoor_s.tga     
    bumpmap          dds/textures/s_object/basedoor_b.dds   
}

That's your problem, remove the dds entries from the texture paths. Doom 3 will look in the regular texture path and if it can't find it there it looks in the DDS folder. So your material files should look like this:

Code:

textures/s_object/basedoor
{
    qer_editorimage  textures/s_object/basedoor_ed

    diffusemap        textures/s_object/basedoor_d
    specularmap      textures/s_object/basedoor_s
    bumpmap          textures/s_object/basedoor_local
}

So even though your bumpmap and diffusemap are in the DDS/Textures/s_object folder, doom3 will find them. Also remove the file extensions they are not needed.

Quote:

That's your problem, remove the dds entries from the texture paths. Doom 3 will look in the regular texture path and if it can't find it there it looks in the DDS folder. So your material files should look like this:

hmm... removing the extension works, but the engine still won't use the dds instead if I remove the tga...
WARNING: Couldn't load image: textures/s_object/basedoor_d

AluminumHaste wrote:

I don't bother with that tool, I use the Nvidia photoshop plugin right from nvidia's website to compress my tga's to dds.

maybe my compressonator is f****
what kind of settings do you use for diffuse and bumps with the photoshop plugin?

Did you also remove dds/ from the texture paths?

Remove all bolded text from your material definitions. Also in the config file it should be
r_usedprecompressed 1
r_usecompression 2 (or something like that)

textures/s_object/basedoor
{
qer_editorimage textures/s_object/basedoor_ed.tga

diffusemap dds/textures/s_object/basedoor_d.dds
specularmap textures/s_object/basedoor_s.tga
bumpmap dds/textures/s_object/basedoor_b.dds
}

EDIT: I found this information for DarkMod (which uses doom3 engine) but I'm not sure how accurate it is:

Quote:

You'll need ATI's "The Compressonator" application version 1.21.1044 with this exact version - other (newer) versions will not work! Install/unzip it to a folder and create a shortcut if you like.

Find a quick tutorial for compressing with Compressonator here: http://modetwo.net/darkmod/wiki/index.php/Dds

The DDS files get used when the cvar "image_useprecompressedtextures" is set to 1, so there's no need to screw around with the MTR files at all. I'm pretty sure you can have DDS without TGA, and TGA without DDS, and the engine will just use whichever it comes across, but ideally you always want to have both available, despite the bigger pack sizes.

Why?

I mean, Crysis only use DDS and it don't look "bad" as everyone claim DDS are.
Plus using DDS is a pack size gain and/or a texture size gain, and so details.

If we could only use 1024² or 2048² DDS textures for the same packs size than the original game, it should be... cool!

I dream about a 2048² textures' Hellknight with new :shock:

details!

dudes, "image_useprecompressedtextures" solved the problem......
.........
..............almost :wink:

the engine guzzles the dds files now, except the _locals.
I tested it on three different textures, a door, a floor and a wall, using the excact compressonator (stupid name btw) settings.

the engine loads none of them. still same error - WARNING: Couldn't load image...
the funny thing is: the wall_local gets the error as the others do, but the bump is actually showing, even there is no .tga file available anymore :?:

I noticed that compared to TGA files, DDS are a hell of a lot smaller in size, with no noticeable loss of image quality.
But when I tell the mtr file to use a DDS texture for the diffuse map, it doesn't show up in game.
I get an error message saying "couldn't load blah blah blah.dds".
I thought Doom3 supported DXT1 and DXT3?? Or are they only available for models?

http://www.modwiki.net/wiki/Texturing#C ... compressed

It's probably more likely not a compression problem but you've not saved the DDS images to the correct location for D3; [Doom3 install path]/base/DDS, unlike Q4 you can't have the DDS images anywhere else.

rich_is_bored wrote:

http://www.modwiki.net/wiki/Texturing#Compressed_and_uncompressed

Yeah I was there, and that link doesn't help.

To the other guy, thank you very much that was exactly the problem.

Since I know exactly what the issue was now...

http://www.modwiki.net/wiki/Folder_stru ... 8Doom_3%29

In the event that you don't know where something should go in the future.

Rich got all wiki links on his table, ready to throw!

AluminumHaste wrote:

I get an error message saying "couldn't load blah blah blah.dds".
I thought Doom3 supported DXT1 and DXT3?? Or are they only available for models?

Doom3 supports if I remember correct all DXT variations (DXT 1, DXT 3, and DXT 5).

If you have Photoshop you should try NVIDIA texture plug-inn. With this plug-inn you can choose various compression methods for dds. Personally, I’m using for my diffuse textures, DXT 5, for specular DXT 5 or sometimes but very rare RGB 888 24bit and for lights always RGB 888 24bit method, because I’d like to keep smooth transition between colors. Although, the size of RGB 888 24bit is just a bit smaller than the original TGA texture.

These parameters are of course very relative. All depends from your texturing needs and your desire how much quality picture you’d like to have at the end.

And one more thing, try to find some dds viewer, so that you can easily compare quality of yours dds textures with the original TGA.

As for the problem which you have in the game with dds textures, you should know one thing.

Code:

textures/wall/001
{
    qer_editorimage  textures/editor.jpg       // custom DOOMEdit material preview image
    diffusemap       textures/wall/001_d.tga        // color and value information for the material
    specularmap      textures/wall/001_s.tga        // specular highlights
    bumpmap          textures/wall/001_local.tga    // normalmap for bumpmapped appearance
}

This is the basic code part for textures; you certainly don’t need to add anything else, except dds textures which should be placed in this case in the next folder:

Doom3/base/dds/textures/wall/001_d.dds

So check again where yours dds textures are placed!

If you have again the same issue, then you probably have the problem with the program which you using for creating dds textures.

Best

I have to pick up this thread as I receive the same error message. The game can't load the fresh created dds files. And it can't be resolved by putting them into the correct folder, as they are in there already. I'm using the exact compression settings kats tutorial is telling.

At the beginning, the compressonator(1.21.1044) wasn't working at all, as it required a not included MSVCP71.dll. kats, suggests to download the latest version of the compressonator, which should have the dll included, but the official file wasn't working for me on three different systems. I copied the dll from another system and the compressonator finally started.

Now it works fine as application, but if I'm using a batch file, following kats' tutorial, it just does nothing; neither an output dds, nor an error message.

Code:

textures/s_object/basedoor
{
    qer_editorimage  textures/s_object/basedoor_ed.tga       

    diffusemap        dds/textures/s_object/basedoor_d.dds    
    specularmap      textures/s_object/basedoor_s.tga     
    bumpmap          dds/textures/s_object/basedoor_b.dds   
}

the relevant dds files are located in /../base/dds/textures/s_object/

any ideas?

I don't bother with that tool, I use the Nvidia photoshop plugin right from nvidia's website to compress my tga's to dds.
Also try and keep texture names lower case, no spaces etc.

Good luck.

Hä ? - i had the intention the engine is able to output dds like "on the final map using tga only - enable preCompression in the console and using the startbuild/finishbuild commands - no ?

AluminumHaste wrote:

I don't bother with that tool, I use the Nvidia photoshop plugin right from nvidia's website to compress my tga's to dds.
Also try and keep texture names lower case, no spaces etc.

Good luck.

nvidia plugins are not working either...

bashport wrote:

Code:

textures/s_object/basedoor
{
    qer_editorimage  textures/s_object/basedoor_ed.tga       

    diffusemap        dds/textures/s_object/basedoor_d.dds    
    specularmap      textures/s_object/basedoor_s.tga     
    bumpmap          dds/textures/s_object/basedoor_b.dds   
}

That's your problem, remove the dds entries from the texture paths. Doom 3 will look in the regular texture path and if it can't find it there it looks in the DDS folder. So your material files should look like this:

Code:

textures/s_object/basedoor
{
    qer_editorimage  textures/s_object/basedoor_ed

    diffusemap        textures/s_object/basedoor_d
    specularmap      textures/s_object/basedoor_s
    bumpmap          textures/s_object/basedoor_local
}

So even though your bumpmap and diffusemap are in the DDS/Textures/s_object folder, doom3 will find them. Also remove the file extensions they are not needed.

Quote:

That's your problem, remove the dds entries from the texture paths. Doom 3 will look in the regular texture path and if it can't find it there it looks in the DDS folder. So your material files should look like this:

hmm... removing the extension works, but the engine still won't use the dds instead if I remove the tga...
WARNING: Couldn't load image: textures/s_object/basedoor_d

AluminumHaste wrote:

I don't bother with that tool, I use the Nvidia photoshop plugin right from nvidia's website to compress my tga's to dds.

maybe my compressonator is f****
what kind of settings do you use for diffuse and bumps with the photoshop plugin?

Did you also remove dds/ from the texture paths?

Remove all bolded text from your material definitions. Also in the config file it should be
r_usedprecompressed 1
r_usecompression 2 (or something like that)

textures/s_object/basedoor
{
qer_editorimage textures/s_object/basedoor_ed.tga

diffusemap dds/textures/s_object/basedoor_d.dds
specularmap textures/s_object/basedoor_s.tga
bumpmap dds/textures/s_object/basedoor_b.dds
}

EDIT: I found this information for DarkMod (which uses doom3 engine) but I'm not sure how accurate it is:

Quote:

You'll need ATI's "The Compressonator" application version 1.21.1044 with this exact version - other (newer) versions will not work! Install/unzip it to a folder and create a shortcut if you like.

Find a quick tutorial for compressing with Compressonator here: http://modetwo.net/darkmod/wiki/index.php/Dds

The DDS files get used when the cvar "image_useprecompressedtextures" is set to 1, so there's no need to screw around with the MTR files at all. I'm pretty sure you can have DDS without TGA, and TGA without DDS, and the engine will just use whichever it comes across, but ideally you always want to have both available, despite the bigger pack sizes.

Why?

I mean, Crysis only use DDS and it don't look "bad" as everyone claim DDS are.
Plus using DDS is a pack size gain and/or a texture size gain, and so details.

If we could only use 1024² or 2048² DDS textures for the same packs size than the original game, it should be... cool!

I dream about a 2048² textures' Hellknight with new :shock:

details!

dudes, "image_useprecompressedtextures" solved the problem......
.........
..............almost :wink:

the engine guzzles the dds files now, except the _locals.
I tested it on three different textures, a door, a floor and a wall, using the excact compressonator (stupid name btw) settings.

the engine loads none of them. still same error - WARNING: Couldn't load image...
the funny thing is: the wall_local gets the error as the others do, but the bump is actually showing, even there is no .tga file available anymore :?: