corrupt dds file

[warbirds 555]

Went to save an important dds texture I was working on and windows 10 crashed so now that dds file will not open with DXTBmp. Is there anyway to fix it or is there a program that can open a corrupt dds file?

[Steve Dra 7,579]

Do you have the nvidia plug in for PS and if so have you tried opening it with that?

If you send me the file I can try that way if you dont have or don't want to install it.

[warbirds 555]

Thanks, I have tried to install the Nvidia plug in twice but no luck. The first time it installed but still will not open any dds file and the second time the installer failed several times and locked up. 

[thibodba57 462]

4 hours ago, Steve Dra said:

Do you have the nvidia plug in for PS and if so have you tried opening it with that?

If you send me the file I can try that way if you dont have or don't want to install it.

Remember Paintshop has a different install than Photoshop.  I don't know which you are using Paul.

[warbirds 555]

Photoshop, but I use the old PSP7 for most work and the plugin will not work in this old version.  I am not sure why the PS install stalls unless it might be windows firewall. 

[Leen3131cs 107]

I use PSP7 with the DDS plug-in and that works OK.

A real corrupted DDS file cannot be opened with any program.

I always work with layered files  PSD or PSP and save to DDS in the end.
Just doing all the paintworks on a DDS is not very handy.
Paint on PSD or PSP and make a backup , you`ll never fail then.

DDS is a format to save to, no a good format to paint on.
It degrades everytime its gets saved.

[warbirds 555]

Yes, I did make a backup but still lost about an hours work so all is not lost, just thought if it ever happened agian there might be a way to resolve it. 

As for layers, they are nice for weathering and shadows and such but I work much too fast to mess with layering everything. I can put out a pro paint in less than a week usually but when I was experimenting with layers it took more than twice as long and when you are getting paid for your time, well fast is better.

[Leen3131cs 107]

Where can I download one of your  "pro"  paints? 

Making a "pro-paint" without using layers ??? I am really curious to see what you can make without a layerfile.

Personally I cannot make an acceptable paint without using layers and never sold a paint I made within a week.

I hardly ever sell a paint , I am to expensive, once in a while I supervice a group of painters working for a developer,
That does not take so much of my time and is more affordable for a developer.

Cheers
Leen

pS  

How professional is a painter who is  struggling with a corrupted DDS file and is asking about it on hobby-forum ? 



 

[warbirds 555]

I have painted for various developers over the 20 years I have been doing this and never have had one complaint or do over. Most of my paints (90%) are freeware and I put just as much love and care into them that I do with my developers liveries. 

If you have the Just Flight Connie you can purchase and download texture pack "B" to see the paints I did for them years ago. Recent freeware has been the A2A Connie and the PMDG 747 (All are here in the Avsim Library under Paul Grubich. 

We all have our own way of doing things and if what works for you is fine then stick with it but I know, after 20 years, how to mangle a texture or two.

Here is my latest A2A paint that seems to be popular. (I am also working on an authorized A2A house paint for the Connie and that is the one that got corrupted (thank the big guy for making me backup often). I also do cockpit interiors and other details. I sometimes work up to 16 hours a day painting and find it is the best thing you can do at 73 to keep your mind fresh.

Click on the below image to go to my Smugmug photo/screenshot gallery to see most of my current repaints in larger format.

To see all my repaints go to Flightsim.com library where (as Nels just told me) I have liveries and cockpits from the year 2000 to date.

[Leen3131cs 107]

Today I downloaded several paints you made and they gave me a fair impression about your works.
 

Let me start saying , your paints, they look very nice. ( I am not commenting in-detail paint quality here ) 
Nevertheless when I had seen these paints for the first time without knowing you do not use layers, my first reaction would have been, "What a pity this painter did not use layers"
 

One of the paints I downloaded was the Chicago Southern it looks really nice ,nevertheless the vertical stabilisers ( and all other painted parts)  lack all details they are death-flat green with dito characters on them.
On the underside of the wings we see CS ( and the registrations as well ) painted over some hatches, on the bare wing these hatches are clearly visible, they vanish however under the CS characters and the registration.
I am sorry to say, but that would not pass my quality control when I supervise painters working for a developer.
Using layerfiles is essential for a painter when he wants to keep the details the way the initial painter/developer of the aircraft ment them to be.

Herewith an example
I took the texture from your B377-Coastguard and made an orange rectangle on it using a layer-method.
As you can see all details, rivets and shadings from the original texture are clearly visible in the orange rectangle.
On the right side we see your orange fuselage, its death-flat orange, no details no "life"

My advice, start working with layers and the result will come much closer to "prof-paints" 
Making professional repaints of sim aircraft without using layers is simply impossible .

 

I think its usefull to repeat the warning I already gave on this topic:

DDS is a format to save to, no a good format to paint on.
It degrades everytime its gets saved.
Everytime you save a edited DDS file with DXTBmp its quality degrades.
Exporting the DDS from DXTBmp to PSP7 , editing the files in PSP7 , re-loading them in DXTBmp and saving again with DXTBmp gives a degrade of quality.
No need to say multiple repeats of this procedure will bring severe damage to the quality of the texture..

Better export the texture from DXTBmp to your PSP7 and save the file in PSP7 to a PSP or PSD format.
Do all your editing on this (layered) PSP file.
After editing save the PSP file and export a copy in a PNG (lossless) format.
Load this PNG in DXTBmp and save to DDS to load for testing in the sim or viewer.
Resume editing of the PSP file in PSP7 and save to PNG , import this PNG in DXTBmp etc etc etc..

When I started painting for Sim-aircraft I made all my paints without using layers too, after a few years I was confronted by a real professional with an explanation likewise the one I gave on this topic.
I decided to follow his advice and it brought me to another level.
Nothing about painting I invented by myself, nothing I am telling has not been told to me by others.
I am just handing over knowledge and facts. ( thats why I am asked for moderating this forum) 

 

 

 

[Leen3131cs 107]

Forgot to say;

"The best thing you can do at 73 to keep your mind fresh". (your words)

In my opinion the best way to keep your (painting-) mind fresh, is to explore painting , learn new things and to be eager to improve yourself.
I am only 66 years, I assume its not much different at 73.

"When you are getting paid for your time, well fast is better." (your words)

That depends on the customer.
If the customer does not care for top-quality and the painter is more interested in money than in top-quality, its a perfect match.

 

[DavidV935 6]

Reading this chain tells me you guys are real pros at painting, so I'm going to take a shot in the dark and ask if you have experienced the problem I suddenly have. I'll start by saying I upgraded my AMD graphics card driver in June and things haven't been quite right ever since. Recently, I discovered that many of my downloaded add-on planes do not show all the textures, and I get several variations like: the body textures display okay, but aircraft wheels and struts do not show (but they are there); the complete aircraft is white and no paint textures display at all; the wheels and struts textures display, but the body is white without textures. What I cannot fathom is that all the FSX default aircraft display normally. Do the addons have something that the default aircraft don't? Is there something common to all these partial displays of textures? Is there some setting in my graphics card that I should look for? I'm stumped by the inconsistency of effects across the myriad aircraft I have. Any insights or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for your time.

[Leen3131cs 107]

Sorry  have no clue.