PNG 2 ACE Conversion

[pwillard]

A while back, I came up with a way to convert ACE files to PNGs for editing, along with a tool to convert the resulting PNGs to DDS. The idea behind the tools was to run in BATCH files and process an entire folder at a time instead of individual files. Though it can process individual files, as well. To be nice, I also included a Graphical Front end.

Some comments I received were along the lines of, "Hey, do you have one that converts PNG (or TGA) files to ACE files the same way?" Couple that with the fact that I just finished a course on the RUST programming language on Udemy, and I figured, why not try. So I give PNG2ACE the same treatment, just programmed in a different language.

The result: https://github.com/pwillard/PNG2ACE/releases

May have bugs... let me know.

[SjoerdB]

Works for me, thanks!

I'm just starting my first 2D Cabview, making a png with alpha channel in Gimp. Converted it with your tool (Release 1.2) choosing DXT5 format. I'm shocked by the file size... 3.6 MB for a file that started as a 29 kB png. The "Structured RGB/RGBA" option is much worse however.

Although I guess I'll soon use the command line version, may I suggest to change the color scheme in the GUI version? Gray text on a black background is really hard to read.

For an openrails user without interest in MSTS compatibility, is .ace still the preferred format for a 2D cabview?

[pwillard]

Yeah, I can fix that.

Honestly, if you're not interested in MSTS compatibility, DDS is probably a better choice.

[SjoerdB]

Yeah, I can fix that.

Honestly, if you're not interested in MSTS compatibility, DDS is probably a better choice.

Thanks, for the future fix and for the recommendation.

[pwillard]

https://github.com/pwillard/PNG2ACE/releases