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Converting FS9/FSX scenery to P3D.

thunderstreak

thunderstreak

Charter Member
Looking for some help or advice.
I have some old FSX scenery (airports) that I’d like to use in P3D.
All of the texture files are in Bitmap form and need to be converted to DDS.
Is there a simple program available to do this or is there more involved?
I have zero experience in this department but would like to learn.

Cheers, Bernard
 
I got this from fsdeveloper.com and it works like a charm.

If you have the SDK installed, you can use Imagetool.exe to do it, but you'll also need to run it through a batch file.

Here is the content of the batch file for DXT1:
imagetool -nobeep -nomip -dxt1 -dds -nodither *
​

Here is the content of the batch file for DXT5:
imagetool -nobeep -nomip -dxt5 -dds -nodither *

​
To make the batch files, open up a text document in notepadand paste the appropriate contentinto it and save it. Then change the .txt to .bat and you now have a batch file.


Something I did to make things easier for me was to create two folders and then I copy Imagetool.exe into each one.... naming one DXT1 and the other DXT5. Then I placed the appropriate batch file into each one.
This way, all I have to do is copy the BMP files into the folder of whichever version I want to convert and then run the batch file. As it works it will pause on some errors that can usually be ignored. Then just copy out the files you need and delete the ones you don't.

You may end up with a problem where some of the taxiways do not show up. This Orbx forum thread offers an easy way to fix it with Airport Design Editor:

https://orbxsystems.com/forum/topic/141914-missing-airport-taxiways-in-p3d-an-optional-fix/
 
Hi,
The textures don't need to be converted to dds format. dds is the preferred format for P3D texture files but bmp files will work in P3D, just not as efficiently.

Gavin

btw the imagetool command line batchfiles listed by awstub have a -nomip switch. This will prevent imagetool from creating mipmaps for the textures. If you are going to the effort of converting to dds you should enable mipmaps. Change the switch from -nomip to -mips
 
I have installed the scenery in P3D as an experiment.
All the new taxiways, runways etc. show up fine but none of the buildings or static objects show up.
Perhaps there is more to this than I realize!

Also how do I know what needs to be DXT1 and what needs to be DXT5?
Sorry, like i said, newb in this department!!

Thanks awstub and gavinc for your input.
 
thunderstreak said:
I have installed the scenery in P3D as an experiment.
All the new taxiways, runways etc. show up fine but none of the buildings or static objects show up.
Perhaps there is more to this than I realize!
Click to expand...

I assume you have tested the scenery in FSX and it works fine there?
Does the scenery need additional libraries installed?

thunderstreak said:
Also how do I know what needs to be DXT1 and what needs to be DXT5?
Click to expand...

If they have an alpha channel they should be DXT5. If you are converting the textures to dds format you can convert them all to DXT5 format without any issue. If you are leaving them as bmps then just leave them as they are.

Gavin
 
Yup, used it FSX without any issues. I did check for object libraries but will look again in case I missed something.
 
Thunderstreak,

What airport scenery are you trying to get working? ... also, have you taken a look at it with Airport Design Editor to see what should be displaying?

I had an issue with some of the Vietnam War Project airports where some, but not all, of them were not displaying 100% of their objects.
I used ADE to change the object density of each object from VERY_DENSE to NORMAL and after recompiling them they show up just fine.
 
Again, total newb when it comes to scenery modifications!
I have no experience with ADE.

A group called Flight Ontario made a package with all of the WWII BCATP bases in Canada. You could transform Canada in your (FSX) sim to the 1940’s.
Long story short, many of those airfields are abandoned today and not active or correctly portrayed in P3D.
In the real world I have flown to or over many of those airfields.
I was hoping to pick some airfields from that package, that are local to me, and drop the 1940’s version into P3D.
The package is freeware and still readily available.
 
I know that package. I haven't had a chance to confirm but I believe a lot (or all) of the objects are actually FS9 objects. That is probably why they aren't displaying in P3D. The objects probably need to be run thru MCX and recompiled to P3D standards.

Gavin
 
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