Those Darn DDS files...

Started by Raze · 20 posts · 2,978 views

  1. #1
    OK here is my quick guide to the infamous dds files.

    First off, my experience is all the dds's in battlefield use mip maps with exception of the loadscreen.

    Please note, I am writing this on a novice level for posting in the forums.

    What is a mip map? They use mips to allow for the 3d zooming and close/near. Probably not a good description but it works

    What do I need?

    Recommended:

    Photoshop
    Battlecraft ( I use it to add my files)
    dds plug-in ( use the one from
    http://www.fileplanet.com/files/110000/118942.shtml
    after extracting it is found in the
    "_Bf_Unofficial_SDK_10Nov20022d texturespluginsphotoshop"
    folder)
    winrfa if you want to modify existing skins
    imagination

    First off let's make a thumbnail, the easiest to do.

    • Open a new image in photoshop, they must square and a power of 2 for example 256X256 (The game uses 128x128 for the thumbnail, but for greater resolution "less pixilated" I recommend 256X256.
    • create your image the way you like it. Just remember to leave the bottom 1/5th empty because it will under-run the map list header.
    • TIP* transparent areas will be transparent in the dds in-game.

    Next Let's make a loadscreen

    • open a new 1024x1024 canvas
    • mark off a 800x600 area on the top left with your guides (view menu - new guides in photoshop)
    • make your image in the 800x600 area

    Now lets edit an existing skin/vehicle.

    *(where can I get winrfa? It is part of the battlefield mod development kit found at http://www.planetbattlefield.com/mdt/)

    *I recommend using winrfa to extract the textures.rfa in the battlefield game archives folder somewhere for reference.

    Let's edit the F4 Fantom
    • Find the F4 texture in the folder you extracted. (ve_f4.dds)
    • Open pohotoshop then the ve_f4.dds (No to showing the MIP maps)
    • here is where the imagination kicks in.. edit the image the way you want

    Time for saving your files.

    • remember to save as a *.dds

    Raze's Recommendation, save with the following settings for best quality. Use the DX1 (1bit Alpha) this will allow you to skin multiple items without that dredded video lag.

    As for inserting these files into your map

    Insert the thumbnail and loadscreen in the menu folder within your map.
    Insert the custom skins in a customtextures folder in your map. I use "customtextures" as the foldername in mine. Keep in mind to edit the following line in your root init.con.

    textureManager.alternativePath "../../BfVietnam/levels/yourmapname/customtextures"

    That's pretty much what I know about DDS files.

    -Raze[/img]
  2. #2
    Man I really cant thank you enough. :twisted: Seriously

    Here is a pic of our first attmpts that worked out very well.

    Its wierd though. Some objects blur your imgae. ie..the Cobra. It wasnt even worth adding to this pic. But some objects become perfect if your graphics ar on high. ie..the Med pack. It'll take some practice to figure out the qwerks.

    Couldnt figure out how you got the Black Helo. I would like an entire fleet that looked like that. Scott did manage to turn the axis jeep into a clown car though.:twisted:
  3. #3
    On the black helo,
    1)I opened the dds file in photoshop,

    2)then I copied the whole image into another new canvas.

    3)once there I greyscaled it then adjusted the color levels to make it go from grey to black, keeping all the highlights.

    4)Then I would repaint the once were yellow stripes to white.

    5) Then I would copy that whole image back to the original, making it a 2 layer image.

    6) Crop the parts from the "greyscaled" image that wasn't external skin.

    7) Resaved the DDS file for inputting into the map using the settings above.

    That's how I did it.
  4. #4
    BTW, I love the mine... The VC guy has a Mortal Kombat feal. 😀
  5. #5
    Awesome. I will do that except instead of the white stripe, Imma go for a red one. Try and give it all an A-Team look.

    And the look I was going for on the Axis guy was Raiden. :twisted: Mission accomplished. Even though Raiden didnt have a mustache. But this dude needed one bad.

    My favorite is the US guy. You cant go wrong with 3-D glasses, A gold tooth, and a bloody nose. It even goes up inside his nostril. lol My first idea was to try and make them look like X-Ray glasses. 3-D was way easier. :twisted:

    Another wierd thing was, I painted both flags for Axis, and only the VC one will show up for both VC and NVA. Any ideas?

    I also thought about submitting this pic to PBF in a news update about our maps.

    If you want any of these textures to use, Ill give you the .DDS files.
  6. #6
    Was nva the team originally before editing?
  7. #7
    The NVA flag is the All Red one. The VC flag is Rec and Blue. But they are both on the same pic. Either way I set the teams, it only shows the VC style flag.
  8. #8
    I got it... change teamGeometry 1 to o_NVAflag_m1 on the control point properties.
  9. #9
    Sweeeet. Man this kicks a$$. :twisted:
  10. #10
    One thing to keep in mind is the custom textures increases the size of the maps tremendously. Raze and I were talking about the size difference between the maps he put custom textrures in and the one's he did not.

    I just wanted to give you a heads up.
  11. #11
    I wanted to make my water tower different for my map. I have already unpacked the textures folder from battlefield and edited the texture.

    How do I add it back into the map? Do I overwrite the original watertower DDS? Then do I save in custom textures like Raze mentioned? IF so, do I have to extract the textures.RFA, modify the water tower, then repackage the textures.rfa with the new watertower? Then add a copy of this to my custom textures folder in my map??

    Im a little confused about the RFA programs (WinRFA). I have used it so far to add in a new loading screen and thumbnail, those look cool!
  12. #12
    Actually it is fairly simple. If you found your dds file that you edited. Just insert that changed dds in a "customtextures" folder within your map. Don't put it back in the textures rfa for punkbuster will see the change and you won't be able to get on most servers because if this. I use battlecraft to insert my dds files. Under the tools menu there is add files to archive. In the path section, I add my folder "usually customtextures" to the end of the path for the map.

    One last thing. You will need to edit the init.con to reflect this folder with the custom textures like I mentioned above. Keep in mind that battlecraft will mess this line up on every save so I'd save the custom textures for last.
  13. #13
    Ahhh OK, I was missing the add files to archives command. Thanks again for the help Raze. I used your last tips to put in the ambient jungle sound in my map, it's a blast.

    What's your opinion of the Cajunwolf lightmap fix? I've heard different results, mainly that the BFV engine doesn't handle lightmaps well anyway, so adding them can cause problems. I would like to do it to my maps if it's worth it, but it's going to take me a while to set it up and I wanna get some opinions before I invest the time.
  14. #14
    ... Which was the cajunwolf lightmap fix? It that the one makeing the bfv mod in 42 and using bc42 lightmap or the bflight? Or is this one all together different?
  15. #15
    It was the one where he made BFV a mod for BF42 and used BC42 lightmapping.
  16. #16
    AH! That's the one that turned my objects black... Make a backup of your map before you do. I'd like to spend some time and figure out bflight and give that a shot. Does your terrain shadowing work? I've tried it on 3 machines with 3 different results. 1 just doesn't work, 2 it will spend the time to make the shadows but won't merge them, cpu 3 makes shadows and allows for a merge but then I wonder where is comes up with the shadows because the side of a hill ends up like a checkerboard. Go figure.... Be glad when the next version of bcv comes out. hopefully it will have the object lightmaps. I figure it will come out after the 1.1 patch with the new vehicles and map.
  17. #17
    When I did my terrain shadows it seemed to work fine, BUT when I looked at No Remorse in BCV the shadows were anything but correct.

    It was like only one square was generated, and then that square was repeated all over the map. As in there are palm tree shadows under my ocean!!!
    Since thie map is mostly under water you cant really tell, but open it up in Battlecraft, turn off the water, and see what im talking about.
  18. #18
    I did it in mine and it seemed to run through and then merge, but I never noticed much effect. Also, though, I have alot of vegetation and its a night map, so shadows might not show up very much anyways. Do you have a link or anything to the BFLight stuff? How would I use that?

    There was a thread on PB that showed shadow generation done in BCV and BC42. Basically it was like comparing an 8bit game vs a 16bit game, it was total ass, BCV is NOT good at rendering shadows evidently.
  19. #19
    DDS problem. I have gone back and edited my original post, but I recommend saving your dds files as DX1 (1 bit Alpha). This reduces lag if you have more than one object reskinned.

    Or there is a conversion utility in the SDK I mentioned in the original post that converts them for you.

    Located in the sdk @ ..2d texturesconversion

    This makes them DX3...but with some switches that I didn't see in the above image. It always crashes on me though.