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I first have a question about these two textures, basically I want to know what's the difference between these two textures.....what would make them work in FS9 and why they would not work in FS9.

And generally I just need some facts other then the difference thanks much appreciated.

This texture I quicklly Cropped saved as a bitmap ect. and formats
*Non Working Texture* file name=elevator_T


*Working Texture* file name=propdisk_t




P.s the working texture makes me happy and keeps making me want to try harder, just need a tad more support.....I will be posting pics and previews of my aircraft when completed.

Thanks -skynoz

I'm not sure, but it may be that you're saving the texture as a simple bmp file, which doesn't work.  You have to convert it to an extended bitmap with a program called DXTBmp.  I believe DXT3 is the format you want to use.

Good luck!  ;)

The top image is probably not of the proper dimensions 256x256, 512x512 or any multiples of 2 256x128, 512x256 and so on. The second image may be square but what are its dimensions and what format are you using in the texture directory, 8-bit, 16-bit 32-bit? Just no 1 bit or 24-bit bitmap images.

Lou

[quote]I'm not sure, but it may be that you're saving the texture as a simple bmp file, which doesn't work.

I'm at the point, where I need to no how to save a bmp to the format at which I can upload it in G-max and still load up in Flightsim.

I'm at the point, where I need to no how to save a bmp to the format at which I can upload it in G-max and still load up in Flightsim.  :)

Thanks -SkyNoz

I don't think there is a single format that will allow you to do that.  In gmax, you can use a simple .bmp file to apply the texture, but when you export it to flight sim, you have to convert the texture to an extended bitmap.  Just keep the filename the same.

Sorry I can't give any more info, I too am trying to figure this texturing thing out.  Hope that helps though.  :)

Gmax cannot use any bmps with alpha channels so you  must maintain two sets of files, one for gmax, and one for FS.

Gmax can use several types of file formats.  Personally, I like to use .jpeg instead of .bmp (24-bit)  in gmax due to size differences (1/10th the size).

In FS, if you need transparency, reflections, or high definition color, you will need an extended format bmp.  DXT3 is my format of choice (over 32-bit) giving good quality, smaller total size,  and has an alpha channel for reflections/transparency.  I also use 8-bit for basic things and 32 bit for the blurred prop texture.  (24-bit bmp is a no-no.)

I keep master textures in a gmax UVW folder used by gmax.  It also contains the same textures in jpeg format.  All textures should be power of 2 (16x16, 32X32, 256X256, 512X512, etc where a mix is also okay, 512X1024)

I create the FS textures from the master textures and place them in the aircraft's texture folder.

Hope this helps.

I like to use png in gMax as they do support simple on-off transparancy masks, are 24-bit and are compressed but without loss of quality like jpg. You can get the transparancy to work in gMax by assigning the texture to the Opacity map slot as well as the Diffuse slot as an instance. Click and drag from Diffuse to Opacity and select Instance when asked. Under Bitmap Parameters, set the Mono Channel Output to Alpha and the Alpha Source to Image Alpha . When you go to export, you will get complaints but just ignore them, it will not cause a problem.



In this image you will see that many of the parts are simple plane objects with a texture applied to them with an opacity map from the textures alpha channel.

Lou

Hi Lou, :-)

Very interesting method and examples.  Thanks.

Thank's everyone for the support, it helps enormously.