Paint question - 737 NGX

[tmetzinger 0]

Hoping someone can help as I*'ve been tearing my hair out (and I don't have any to spare) trying to do some paint fixes with the PMDG NGX paint kit.  I've got an airplane with the wrong N-Number in the VC, so I understand I have to edit the PSD file from the paint kit, then flatten the file, save it, and convert it to a DXT5 texture.

I have Photoshop CC, so I can open and edit the PSD file, but there's no plug-in available for the newer releases.  But I do have the P3D SDK and Imagetool to convert from PSD to DXT5/DDS.

My problem is that no matter what I've tried, I cannot get a DDS file that looks correct.

I can select the text layer, and change the Number from N738PM to N931WN.   And then I can remove the gray background, flatten and save the file.  I get a file that looks decent, with a gray background and the proper text in contrast. (My layered and flattened PSD files are linked below).  Then when I run Imagetool on the file with the following parameters:
imagetool -nobeep -nogui -nomip -dxt5 -dds -nodither N931WN.psd
I get a new file, N931WN.dds, that looks awful - it's like the N738PM is bleeding through somehow.  I wonder if the emboss effect isn't working on the text layer?

I'd appreciate any clues that people could give me.

The files are here - https://www.dropbox.com/sh/x3qodgzfbqjqo44/AABoXsh6z84wRFBqDlWwf-6ra?dl=0

[downscc 1,327]

Is it Tom or Tim?  I recommend you post this in the AVSIM Painters forum, you are sure to get advice from folks there.

[scandinavian13 5,192]

MOD NOTE: Moved into painters forum for better visibility for the type of request.

[ozzieblr 134]

Dear tmetzinger

You have forgotten to change the alpha texture to match the new number.  Here is a link to the corrected file:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/lb4r7tath7oak4k/PMDG_NGX_VC_N_Number.dds?dl=0

Good luck!

[tmetzinger 0]

Thanks.   I just need to figure out how to change the alpha texture in Photoshop... I knew I was missing something, but the alpha channel is new to me.  I'll have to look up how to manipulate it in Photoshop.

And I think I was able to duplicate what you did - thanks very much!

Edited January 5, 2019 by tmetzinger