DDS file format problem

Question

I am working on custom scenery and I have multiple tools to convert JPG files to DDS (DXT1) format. Unfortunately the fastest one, GraphicConverter, the resulting file doesn't seem to be readable by X-Plane and neither I, nor the developers of GraphicConverter can figure out why. The same JPG converted to DDS DXT1 using nvcompress works fine, they have the same mipmaps and header info. Can anyone help us understand why the one DDS file works and the other does not?

You can find the original JPG, and both versions of the DDS file here: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/2i3v0qbapu0uluo/AACX2OIzxj9hYVdYPZZt_YSoa?dl=0

Any ideas greatly appreciated!

Answer 1

Hi,

Same thing happened to me, not all DDS converters worked for x-plane. I can not remember which one I tried unsuccessfully, though.

I think it is best to use DDSTool, integrated in XGrinder, developed by Laminar Research. XGrinder is included in XPTools package :
https://developer.x-plane.com/tools/xptools/

More information about DDS formats :
https://developer.x-plane.com/docs/scenery/ddstool-manual/

PNG2DDS also worked.

So I am not very much answering your question, but at least here are more ideas and I am sharing some some of my experience.

Comments

My understanding, unfortunately, is that DDSTool only does PNG's not JPGs, and I need to process JPG's to DDS. Those tools are also several years old, and I'm looking to maximize performance on my 10 core iMac Pro.

Thanks