I just recently downsized some of the iFDG A320-211 AAF Texture files to 512x512 (off 1024x1024)The following files were resized: Engine.bmp, Fuse.bmp, Gear2.bmp, Misc2.bmpI'm new to all this. Didn't even touch the Alpha Channel for the only image which had one: Engine.bmp. My problem: FS9 refuses to load up the aircraft. Crashes to Desktop while prompted to do so.Ideas, please? :(

First and most importantly, does the Sim still load other aircraft besides the one(s) you 'worked' on correctly? If so I would suggest replacing your modified textures with the originals to make sure the problem goes away. What tool(s) did you use to redo the textures, knowing that will help us figure things out. Last but not least, I would politely inquire as to why you are resizing them in the first place? The only aircraft textures that I have ever rescaled are the night map textures for a few AI aircraft that were compatible to that kind of change. What you have done will also result in a significant loss of detail BTW. Taking all of this into account, unless your Hard Drive is really, really maxed full, it probably isn't a real good idea, besides, what you gain in texture load time will not be worth what you loose in quality. IMHO anyway.I hope this helps some, and, . . . Best regards,Mel

Hey, MelThanks for your prompt answer.Answering questions.1)does the Sim still load other aircraft besides the one(s) you 'worked' on correctly?R: Yes, it does.2)If so I would suggest replacing your modified textures with the originals to make sure the problem goes away. R: Did so, the problem went away.3) Tools used to redo the textures:R: Loaded them with DXTBmp, sent to Photoshop CS3 , resized to 512x512 by using Image--Image Size--Reducing LenghtxWidth Pixels to 512x512---Bicubic Transformation4) Why was I resizing?R: Under the Nvidia 9500 GS dictatorship there's no much I can do. It's an entry level video card. I discovered that other default planes give me good FPS as for graphic matters. However this iFDG is not helping me at all. When inflight, or just at the airport, if I switch to the second view by pressing S, the still-inside-the-cockpit-view, the FPS come back to a good value 23+. However, when on wing views or panel view or Spotter View (focusing on the acft) I get a big hit to performance.

You missed the final step.Photoshop cannot produce a bitmap that FS can use.You have to run them through DXTBmp and save as an extended bitmap, or FS will crash.Did you do this step?regards,Joe

I suppose I can also suggest that you take a look at the Project Airbus version of the airbus model you are using. Freeware, and very good looking models and they may or may not be easier on your system. Just a thought anyway. In regards to your Nvidia 9500 GS, if it was the major part of your problem, you would notice other effects such as blurred scenery at moderate distances and diminished autogen in the middle distance as well as micro stutters. Welcome to the Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004, headache department! A lot of us spend as much time tweaking and fixing as we do flying. :( Regards,Mel

If I may give you some friendly advice that may greatly increase the enjoyment factor of your time spent here at Avsim:1. Don't start a new thread in a new forum because you don't like the answer given when you asked the same question in another forum.2. Don't ignore the efforts of someone who has taken the time to respond to one of your threads.3. Don't assume that what you post in one forum will not be read by people who frequent another forum. That goes for the different forums here at Avsim as well as most any other FS related site on the net. We usually read them all.Now you can see that your question in this forum has generated the same response that your post in the panel design forum did. Failing to re-proccess your resized texture through DXTBmp as Joe (and me) have suggested is what you're doing wrong. We know these things, we've been doing this for a while. If you don't understand what you're being told to do, ask for a better explanation rather than cast the reply off as garbage and re-post the question in another forum. Doing so is an excellent way to really ###### people off.Have a great day,Jim

Simple answer to your problem is:You resized texture...but you DIDN'T resize alpha chanell. FS, or any other game, can't load texture size 512x512 with alpha chanell 1024x1024. It's unpossible. Texture size and Alpha size MUST be same size in pixel.

Simple answer to your problem is:You resized texture...but you DIDN'T resize alpha chanell. FS, or any other game, can't load texture size 512x512 with alpha chanell 1024x1024. It's unpossible. Texture size and Alpha size MUST be same size in pixel.

Since the alpha channel is a part of the image as much as the red channel or the blue channel, resizing the image will re-size the alpha. No way around it.regards,JoePS. Jim, thanks for saying what I was thinking.

Hey!Wow, great to see the feedback. Thanks you all for helping me figure this out. I'll try the final step I missed.As for Jim post: Jim, I didn't mean to repost in another forum. I just checked in with the panel design forum and saw my recently opened topic was missing.I thought it was deleted by some of the moderators till you told me it wasn't. That's why I tried posting in this other forum. No offenses intended at all and no contemptuous attitude towards those who tried to solve my problem in the previous forum.Thank you again.!I'll try this and see what happens.BTW: I'm sure it's this Nvidia 9500GS who's causing my problems!

Alright.Just did what you guys told me to. I saved the textures with DXTBmp as DTX1 with Alpha Channel. Granted, it will reduce visual quality but I prefer performance. BTW, it doesn't look as bad as I thought it would. Mel, couldn't be more right than you with that 'headache club', could I have a premium membership please?Thanks, guys!PD: I didn't mean to make you lose your time when you responded my previous topic on the other forum. I'm really sorry for that

Glad you got it working. Yeah, that iFDG A320 is not a gmax model so it's a bit of a frame hog. I half-sized mine too and I can see a noticable improvement. Like you said, they look a lot better than I thought they would too. Have a good one.Jim

Since the alpha channel is a part of the image as much as the red channel or the blue channel, resizing the image will re-size the alpha. No way around it.regards,Joe

Yeap, it should work like that, but it happen to me million times, with a clouds, i resize texture, than FS simply crash. Than if i open those textures first in dxtbmp, and than in photoshop, textures are 512x512 and alpha is 1024x1024. Duno why...?

A final thought on the subject.And this won't apply to DXT1.As a test, I opened the texture for the default FS9 Cub in DXTBmp.Then I sent the norm.bmp to Photoshop and re-sized it to 512 squared.I refreshed in DXTBmp and saved as a DXT3 without re-sizing the alpha channel.While it did not crash the sim, it did scramble the alpha pretty good and the plane was ugly.Bottom line, if you plan on re-sizing and saving as DXT3 or 32-bit make sure to re-size the alpha also. regards,Joe

I would guess that when you open the A 32bit texture with DXTBmp you split the 32bit bmp into a 24bit norm (red,green,blue)and 8bit alpha , there by allowing you to work with them separately , so it would make sense that when you edit the norm texture you are only editing the 24bit part of the texture , not the alpha Then again I could be wrong , it does happen quite often :(

Correct, if you use the "send to editor" function in DXTBmp you must also resize the alpha. If you don't, DXTBmp apparently uses only the upper left quarter of "trans.bmp" as the alpha channel. If you use DXTBmp (or Imagetool for that matter) to convert the textures to 32 bit, save them, and then open them in PhotoShop directly (which I assume ordmr was doing since he was missing the final pass through DXTBmp and crashing the sim), then PhotoShop will resize the alpha right along with the RGB. Seems the latter method is quicker and simpler to me, but I guess it's all in however you learned to do it.Jim