Hey everyone. I wanted to know if anyone knows how to convert 32 bit, 4 mb size textures for FSX to smaller values like we did in FS9? In FS9, I would run DXTBMP and convert to DXT3, but I am not sure what settings to use for FSX as a whole. Your help is most appreciated. :)

FSX appears to use DXT3 just fine.You can also use DXTBMP to convert to DXT5 files.The correct file extension for DXT3 and DXT5 should be .DDS, but most of our utilities are set to .BMP for compatability with earlier versions of FS.The critical point is the texture name and extension must be exactly the same if the file is converted to a different format.The model file calls the texture file by name - including the file extension. You can open a model file with Notepad and see the exact name the texture file need.

Thanks so much for your help Reggie. I am glad I can still just use DXT3, as this is what I've always used in FS9. That's one of the easy things for me with all this new technical stuff I am still learning with FSX. Have a great night. :)

Reggie,Do I use DDS Converter for this? Do I just convert the scenery files from BMP to DXT3? Please, if you can put together a small tutorial, I would appreciate it very much.Corrie

Imagetool in the SDK. You can run the commandimagetool.exe -batch -DXT3 -nomip *.bmpThis will keep the bmp extension. If you want to convert bmp to ddsimagetool.exe -batch -dxt5 -vflip -nomip -dds *.bmpA texture backup is a good idea before doing this since it's a batch command.Jos

JoseSorry, what is SDK? I am very new to this? Is it a good thing to do, or not? My PC consists of; AMD 3.0 , 768MB DDR 400 , FX5500 256 running at 128 bits , 2 x HDDs and 17" CRT monitorI want to fly in FSX. I can but, it seems so dull. Here in South Africa PC parts are very expensive. Thanks for your help so far.Corrie

>The correct file extension for DXT3 and DXT5 should be .DDS,>but most of our utilities are set to .BMP for compatability>with earlier versions of FS.Um, technically, DDS is a unique format that stores the image 'flipped vertically' so it's ready to be drawn by the video card: hence the name "Direct Draw Surface..."Also, for FSX it is best practice to use DDS/DXT5 format. The file size is identical to a DDS/DXT3 compression, but DXT5 is a more robust compression algorithim and produces less artifacting.

Woohoo, I took the plunge and I got wet. Wet with all the excitement. With the little RAM that I have, I can now see my airport buildings and the cities/suburban houses, and the best of all...............20 FPS. DDS Converter worked, in some files it didn't want to convert them. I left them like that. It wasn't so difficult after all. The only thing I want to know is this. Which files were I supposed to have converted? Scenery or textures? I am learning about things that I never thought would be possible. My passion is even growing more and more to be able to fly around with traffic enabled. Hopefully this will be sorted out as I am planning on buying 1024MB RAM soon. Then I will eventually have 1.5 Gigs of RAM.Corrie