Graphic Files

FreeSpace 2 Open is able to use several different graphic file formats. These include the .PCX file format which was originally supported by the retail FreeSpace 2. In addition to this the game is able to make use of several other graphic file formats which are .JPG, .TGA and more recently .DDS file formats. Of these the .DDS file format is the most often used with FreeSpace 2 Open modifications.

For animated effects and textures see Multimedia Files.

DDS

DDS is a compressed texture format that is supported by FreeSpace SCP. Any modeler should use DDS for their textures as much as possible, as it is 1/2 the size of a PCX and 1/8 the size of a TGA image.

Background

The DDS File format was created by Microsoft for its DirectX graphics API, however, it has become a general format for textures and is supported by OpenGL (the graphics API the FS2 SCP uses). The official description of DDS is "The Microsoft DirectDraw Surface (DDS) file format is used to store textures and cubic environment maps, both with and without mipmap levels. This format can store uncompressed and compressed pixel formats, and is the preferred file format for storing DXTn compressed data."

Tools

Several tools exist for working with this format, besides any tools created by the FS2 SCP team. These tools are detailed at the nVidia website and should be useful.

Usage of DDS

The primary note to any texturer using the DDS file format is that even if DDS enables you to have twice the texture size, doesn't mean you should use all the available memory.