After the discussion here at SOH about how different cab file generation tools have implications with their performance affects in FSX, I thought it might be of interest to show the results that can occur with the use of different graphics programs in the creation of DDS files. This should be of interest to those who do repaints as well as those creating textures for custom FSX objects.
The basic thread of interest describing this can be read here:
http://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/showthread.php?t=73631
A number of caveats and notes:
1. Normally the best results are obtained by using the NVIDIA Plug-in for Adobe Photoshop, followed by DXTBmp and finally the FSX SDK Image Tool. As always, your mileage may vary, so try all three tools (if you have them) to determine what produces the best results for the particular image you are working with.
2. All three programs will produce a DDS file of approximately the same size, any major differences would be the result of the number of MIPS used (if any) and the DDS compression format used (DXT1, DXT3 or DXT5). That being said, the end result can be noticeably different or quite subtle depending on the intricacies of the source image.
3. You will notice that all conversions are worse than the original BMP image; the DDS is a "lossy" compression. Always do your conversions on the original BMP or Photoshop image if at all possible.
4. Don't waste your time looking at the results in FSX (where MIPS could come into play), just save your different converted DDS images in separate folders and compare with an image viewer (I use IrfanView).
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