DDS Conversion and Windows 7...

[cmdrkoenig67]

Hi guys, I need a bit of help, please....I recently had to get a new computer (which has Windows 7)...None of my DDS converters are working now.  I even tried downloading the original DDS Converter 2 (by Bluehair), but that doesn't work either (it won't let me select TGAs and the convert button always stays grayed out).  I have XnView which does seem to batch convert the files, but every thing shows up pink after conversion.

I really need to have a converter that works in Windows 7...Any suggestions on a good DDS batch converter or a way to get them to work with Win 7?

Dana

BTW, I have GIMP and I've heard there is a DDS plugin, but when I look for the plugin, all that I find is a list of files and I have no clue what to do then...

[hoss20]

I had the same problem on my laptop. My version of Windows 7 was also 64 bit, which may have been part of the problem. Unfortunately, my hard drive was damaged, so I can't tell you the exact steps I used as a workaround. I used DDS Converter 2 as well. I believe it came down to a combination of using the destination path dropdown to select the path (even though it's already populated) and then reselecting the file you want to convert. I'm sorry I can't remember what I did, but I did get it to work even though I could never get the preview to show, either. I just remember that I couldn't find a converter for Windows 7, besides saving as DDS in Photoshop.

If this is the the place you went to download the GIMP plug-in: http://code.google.com/p/gimp-dds/ , then the downloads are on the left hand side.
gimp-dds-2.0.9.tar.bz2 is for both a 32 bit and 64 bit system
gimp-dds-win32-2.0.9.zip is just for 32 bit
The files contain a dds.exe file and a read me. The instructions are in the read me file. You just extract the files to your GIMP plug-in directory (the read me shows you where it is) and you're all set. You don't need to run the exe file.

[cmdrkoenig67]

Thank you, Hoss...but I'm not seeing an .exe file anywhere in the folders?  There is an install text file that seems to say I have to build the installer?  I do have Win 7 (64 bit), BTW.

Dana

[hoss20]

Sorry, Dana. I just checked out the 64 bit plug-in and, yeesh, that looks like a pain to have to go through. Is GIMP installed in your Programs or Programs (x86) folder? If it's in the (x86) folder, then you can use the 32 bit plug-in and save yourself a headache. I'm sorry if I got your hopes up. Hopefully, somebody around here has stumbled upon a DDS converter for Windows 7. I found this little tutorial for people using DDS Converter 2 with Windows 7: http://www.middleearthcenter.com/forums/showthread.php?t=21872
It mentions using the step that I had mentioned about clicking the button to set your output folder in order to activate the "Convert" button. It also has a link to a thumbnail viewer so, even though the preview pane doesn't seem to work, at least you can see what you're working with.

[cmdrkoenig67]

Yeah, GIMP is in the (X86) folder. I'll try the 32 bit plugin and I'll check out the tutorial you posted.  thank you, Hoss...I really appreciate the help and advice.

Dana

[cmdrkoenig67]

Argh!  I tried installing the 32 bit plugin, but it keeps giving me an error saying the libgimp-2.0-0.dll is missing and won't install.  I've got the DDS Converter 2 to convert one file at a time...That's going to take me a while...Sigh.

Dana

[hoss20]

Remember, just unzip the contents into your plug-ins folder. You don't need to run the exe file. I did the same thing at first, but the instructions in the read me give you all of the details. You might have to create the plug-ins folder, but the correct spelling of it is in the instructions where it tells where to find or place it.

[stumpy]

Dana, have you tried nVidia's DDS Utilities? I am certainly no image expert, but this utility (i.e. nvDXT) would seem to do the job of converting TGA files to DDS files, and they run in a command window, so batch work is straightforward.

From nvDXT.pdf

nvDXT.exe
This program
  compresses images
  creates normal maps from color or alpha
  creates DuDv map
  creates cube maps
  writes out .dds file
  does batch processing
  reads .tga, .bmp, .gif, .ppm, .jpg, .tif, .cel, .dds, .png, .psd, .rgb, *.bw and .rgba
  filters MIP maps

Once again, I am not familiar with all the ins and outs of DDS files (and the PDFs with the utilities detail some options), but I tried using the defaults. That is, I installed the utilities and then opened a command prompt in a sample folder where I knew there were some TGA files and ran the utility on all of them with one command (nvDXT.exe -file *.tga).

It was easy and it seemed to work fine. Here's the process, with a dir before and after to show which files were there and which new one were created by the utility. (In my example, installed the utilities to C:\Program Files (x86)\Media\NVIDIA Corporation\DDS Utilities and the TGA folder was C:\Program Files (x86)\games\Freedom Force vs The 3rd Reich\Custom\Art\library\characters\blok_thv\skins\c6.)

C:\Program Files (x86)\games\Freedom Force vs The 3rd Reich\Custom\Art\library\characters\blok_thv\skins\c6>dir
Volume in drive C is OS
Volume Serial Number is FBE4-A280

Directory of C:\Program Files (x86)\games\Freedom Force vs The 3rd Reich\Custom\Art\library\characters\blok_thv\skins\c6

04/19/2006  10:23 PM           786,971 male_basic.tga
04/19/2006  10:25 PM           197,147 tom_extras.tga
               2 File(s)        984,118 bytes
               0 Dir(s)  255,361,409,024 bytes free

C:\Program Files (x86)\games\Freedom Force vs The 3rd Reich\Custom\Art\library\characters\blok_thv\skins\c6>"C:\Program Files (x86)\Media\NVIDIA Corporation\DDS Utilities\nvDXT.exe" -file *.tga
Version 8.30
    Reading \male_basic.tga  [Processing] Writing .\male_basic.dds
    Reading \tom_extras.tga  [Processing] Writing .\tom_extras.dds

C:\Program Files (x86)\games\Freedom Force vs The 3rd Reich\Custom\Art\library\characters\blok_thv\skins\c6>dir
Volume in drive C is OS
Volume Serial Number is FBE4-A280

Directory of C:\Program Files (x86)\games\Freedom Force vs The 3rd Reich\Custom\Art\library\characters\blok_thv\skins\c6

04/14/2012  04:23 AM    <DIR>          .
04/14/2012  04:23 AM    <DIR>          ..
04/14/2012  04:23 AM           349,680 male_basic.dds
04/19/2006  10:23 PM           786,971 male_basic.tga
04/14/2012  04:23 AM            87,536 tom_extras.dds
04/19/2006  10:25 PM           197,147 tom_extras.tga
               4 File(s)      1,421,334 bytes
               2 Dir(s)  255,361,409,024 bytes free

C:\Program Files (x86)\games\Freedom Force vs The 3rd Reich\Custom\Art\library\characters\blok_thv\skins\c6>

You can see that it created two new DDS files from the two TGA files.

(Obviously, this would look less messy if I did something like simply use Windows to dump all the TGAs I want to convert into the folder where nvDXT is installed...)

[cmdrkoenig67]

Remember, just unzip the contents into your plug-ins folder. You don't need to run the exe file. I did the same thing at first, but the instructions in the read me give you all of the details. You might have to create the plug-ins folder, but the correct spelling of it is in the instructions where it tells where to find or place it.

Thank you so much, Hoss...I'm tech-challenged, so your direction is appreciated.

Dana

[cmdrkoenig67]

Thank you, Stumpy...I'l give that ultility a try.

Dana