ace to dds

[bigjohn]

Can you change ACE files to DDS?
John

[ChandlerBranchRailfan]

Speak of the Devil, I was gonna ask the same question.

[oper190]

Try MW Graphics at https://www.mwgfx.co.uk/
Go to - Train Simulator - check out DXTbmp - it can open ACE and supports saving as DDS. Also it's freeware.
I have DXTbmp on my decktop but am away on my laptop so can't run a check. There well might be other programs.

[qballbandit]

Yep. I use a program called DXTBmp. I learned of this years ago on the Flightsim forums. You can convert either way.

[ChandlerBranchRailfan]

In that case, time to convert my OR-Only stock to MSTS.

No, you cannot have them lol. Well maybe uhh the ones explicitly marked as "Public Domain" you can have.

[geepster775]

In that case, time to convert my OR-Only stock to MSTS.

But......but......but......will the shapes work without choking MSTS ??? (hehehehe)

[ChandlerBranchRailfan]

That depends. I’ll just convert them and see which ones work and which don’t.

[bigjohn]

sounds good Thanks
John

[scottb613]

Hi Folks,

A couple tips.

if you have a large number of files or prefer command line - AceIt can convert from ACE to TGA.

AceIt.exe -i C:\Images\example.ace -o C:\Images\example.tga

Then you can convert to DDS via NVDXT.

nvdxt.exe -file C:\Images\example.tga -dxt5 -output C:\Images\example.dds

You can get NVDXT here:

https://github.com/Stehfyn/Legacy_DDS_Utilities.git

ACE normally contains compression (loss) DXT1 or DXT3 so you don’t want to repeatedly reuse multiple copies of ACE over and over again as you will introduce more loss on each subsequent save.

When saving as DDS you can use the following (I’ve personally tested):
DXT1 - compression w alpha
DXT3 - compression w alpha
DXT5 - compression w alpha
U888 - uncompressed 24 bit color
U8888 - uncompressed 32 bit color

There is no quality difference on the base texture between DXT1,3,5 - the only difference is the quality of the Alpha Channel.

If making vegetation - use DXT1 - as that will prevent the synchronous ROW flashing we see on many routes.

You can use the command line utilities to process thousands of files at once via a BAT file.

Regards,
Scott

[pwillard]

I might add, "Don't fear the terminal window." Once you figure it out, it can be way faster and easier than firing up a GUI app and dealing with each app's limitations.

[rdayt]

The easy way.
Use Shapeviewer to export the .ace textures as .bmp no alpha, or .tga w/alpha.
Open the .tga or .bmp with PaintDotNet and save as a .dds.

Randy

[pwillard]

Randy, that would work... but it's pretty painful if you need to convert more than, say 10 files

[oper190]

But......but......but......will the shapes work without choking MSTS ??? (hehehehe)

Not sure what you mean, but MSTS does not read DDS, only ACE - so you can go DDS to ACE for MSTS but not ACE to DDs. Also MSTS can only work with 1024x1024 textures as the largest and must be square. 512x512 and 1024x1024 are the most common.

[crstagg]

Back to the OP.

John,
Considering the problems you have posted previously, I must ask: WHY do you want to know if you can change ACE files to DDS?

[geepster775]

Not sure what you mean, but MSTS does not read DDS, only ACE - so you can go DDS to ACE for MSTS but not ACE to DDs. Also MSTS can only work with 1024x1024 textures as the largest and must be square. 512x512 and 1024x1024 are the most common.

As the level of detail evolved, locomotive models for MSTS had to be broken up into multi-part shapes. OR does not require that. The difference between BNSF Seligman 2 route for MSTS and the OR grade version, aside from the DDS textures, was the loco shapes were re-joined into a single higher-poly shape again in the OR version. Try hosting a meet between 2 trains using the higher poly models in MSTS. And besides, many newer OR grade payware packs do not employ square textures.

The point being, ChandlerBranch is converting in the wrong direction. But that is definitely his time to waste when finding out the hard way.

DDS files can be opened directly in your editor of choice (mine is photoshop) without any need for TGAtools as a de-converter, and any texture edits of DDS files can be saved directly to both PSD and DDS without any subsequent AceIt re-conversion steps required.

SMH at the time wasting things we do just because some can't master the new activity editor and need rolling stock files in a format that allows them to fall back on using the MSTS AE.