They are the original diffuse textures minus the original alpha channel as it is not required (the diffuse/albedo alpha is now pure white) and then they are saved with a new name to comply with the PBR naming convention ('diffuse' becomes 'albedo') as specified in the P3D materials options within MCX. In some cases (not all) I have re-worked things like small logos to improve the fine detail as some of these textures were originally made at 1024x1024 for FS9 and then up-sized to 2048x2048 for the FSX conversion and lost a lot of detail in the process.
The specular texture is deleted except for copying the specular alpha channel as this is used in the new 'metallic' texture required for the PBR format.
The 'metallic' texture is all new and requires me to create 'masks' on a layer where anything painted is pure black and anything bare metal is pure white. I also have to create a shading layer much like the way shading was done for FS9 repaints before we got active shadows in FSX. This helps reduce the metallic shine on normally shaded areas. The specular alpha is put onto a layer and modified to show painted areas similar to the 'mask' layer (in fact the black areas in the mask layer are used to fill the painted sections on the alpha layer). Once completed the alpha layer is then copied to a new layer and inverted in terms of light/dark to make a totally new version. All the layers are then copied into the red, green and blue 'channels' to create the new 'metallic' texture. Only the 'alpha' channel was used in FS9 or FSX but in a PBR texture ALL the channels are used.
The original 'bump map' texture is retained untouched but it is now known as a 'normal map'. Some models/conversions may rename the bump texture to something that contains the word 'normal' but I opted to retain the original name in the case of the Lodestar.
The above just covers the processes involved for the textures but I also have to convert all the models used too which is four in the case of the Lodestar (one internal and one external for each of the two engine types).
As I am re-using other texture artists work I have had to seek permission first because morally and legally I can't release another person's work without that permission. There are three schemes I wanted to convert but I have not yet received permission so while I may be able to convert them for personal use I can't release them to the public. One person has an email address that bounced back but as it was from 2015 it could well have changed since then and the other is a member here but a PM I sent to him has not been answered and he has not been seen on the forums since Sept. 25, 2024 so I hope everything is OK with him. I could of course use those textures as a 'guide layer' and then recreate the texture myself to get around that issue but I have lots of other things I could be doing instead!
I hope that answers your questions.
