no, there isn't
That said, SC2 supports various size textures and there is certain data that is unnecessary but sometimes still there.
2 prime examples are:
Normal maps with more channels than needed having image data in them. If the Normal only uses 2 channels, then don't paste your image data is the others, its takes up space.
Smaller textures scaled up are often just fine. A 256x256 normal map is sometimes acceptable and is only a quarter the files size of a 1024x1024 normal.
likely its a problem with the way the programs used handle transparency and alpha channels.
Most file formats are treated in photoshop as if the alpha channel was extra and the transparency is multiplied into the color channels as partially erasing them. TGA is different though. It HAS to have an actual alpha channel to define the transparency and in photoshop will look none transparent but have a transparency mask in an alpha channel. GIMP works the same way but displays things a little differently. Its harder to get the issue confused in GIMP.
I'd have to know the specific workflow used to create these assets to tell you how it happened though.
Not sure what you are talking about here... The model files reference texture files and those textures are stored externally... Those files need to be converted to .dds and a script should be written and run to batch change all the paths to reflect this.
RLE is a compression option when saving .TGA files and is available in all editors I have used to save such files. My recommendation is to write a script to open and resave all your files doing this. Honestly though, you should have thought this out ahead of time. You really need to be using .DDS for this, your file size savings are going to be huge.
Look into scripting for 3DS Max, after all, you are only changing the extension.
Ditto with the exception that .TGA can use RLE compression. Its not very efficient though and converting to .DDS is much better. In many cases reducing resolution/dimensions can be perfectly acceptable. IE, 512x512 normal maps for terrain with 1024x1024 diffuse.
Also, if a channel is not needed, make sure it is black. IE, leaving duplicate image info in all three of RGB when you only need it in the green channel triples the file size.
Btw, why the reluctance to use .DDS? do you simply not have the ability to save into or work with it?
[EDIT] Fixed my own problem. I had made three terrain textures and two of them were not showing shadows over their surface and seemed to be drawn "above" the rest of the terrain.
Turns out I left out half the normal map on those two. I cut the red channel from standard normal maps but forgot to paste it into the alpha channel leaving the alpha totally white. Made the normal look kinda flat and seems to have affected how the shadows got drawn too.
I used the normal from the terrain that worked to find this out, then opened up the two broken normals to see what I had done. After adding in the other channel in those two normal maps, they work fine. I've attached the updated version of the map in case you want to see.
[UPDATE]
.TGA format seems to be safe to use. I used GIMP to save the .DDS file as .tga, opened it in photoshop and found it stored the transparency data purely in the alpha channel. I added some pure white and black in there and saved it, then went back to gimp, saved in .dds, then opened that and saved it back as .tga. The second .tga looked the same as the first, black and white added to the alpha where I left it, color channels untouched.
Id still recommend leaving the alpha not totally black, but working in .dds or .tga seem to be safe in this regard.
Something new to address:
.PNG format does not support saving color info for pixels that are totally transparent. .DDS does, but not .PNG
This is important as .PNG is otherwise a good format to work in with textures when not converted into .DDS
This is also important because specular maps for terrain texture tend to be very dark. If you allow the alpha (which is used by SC2 as the specular map) to go totally black anywhere, and you save a working copy in .PNG like that, the color info in that pixel is gone.
The way I work with the texture files now is to use a program called Aorta to compose an RGB image with a greyscale image into an RGBA image which can be saved as either .PNG or .DDS, as .PNG i run into this issue and will now make sure all alpha channels I generate are at least a value of 1 in every pixel just in case.
IN SHORT: Make sure all alpha channels are not totally transparent.
Not sure what you mean about the noise maps. All terrain sets point to the same creep noise map file which is grey scale.
I can tell you a few things about the creep texture files though. It has a true specular map for it and the edge normal map is a true normal map while the regular one is the sort used by the terrain. They also have diffuse maps which I bet work just like the terrain ones meaning you probably could mess with the alpha as in the above post.
A demonstration of the effect of alpha channels in diffuse terrain textures.
As you can see, they effect the brightness of the terrain when lit by world lighting.
The effect of the alpha goes away when unlit. In the unit shadows of the second image, some of that is bright alpha and some is original.
not really if its for in game. remember most of this is viewed from above so you want to make the details on the top and the features lower down large and obvious.
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@Enexy: Go
no, there isn't That said, SC2 supports various size textures and there is certain data that is unnecessary but sometimes still there.
2 prime examples are: Normal maps with more channels than needed having image data in them. If the Normal only uses 2 channels, then don't paste your image data is the others, its takes up space.
Smaller textures scaled up are often just fine. A 256x256 normal map is sometimes acceptable and is only a quarter the files size of a 1024x1024 normal.
0
@Ahli634: Go
likely its a problem with the way the programs used handle transparency and alpha channels. Most file formats are treated in photoshop as if the alpha channel was extra and the transparency is multiplied into the color channels as partially erasing them. TGA is different though. It HAS to have an actual alpha channel to define the transparency and in photoshop will look none transparent but have a transparency mask in an alpha channel. GIMP works the same way but displays things a little differently. Its harder to get the issue confused in GIMP.
I'd have to know the specific workflow used to create these assets to tell you how it happened though.
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@Terminator8: Go
As was said earlier, there are ways to change all the file paths and there are ways to batch convert all the files. That is your solution.
I can promise one thing though, people aren't going to be happy about mod files that are 8 times bigger than they need to be.
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In the editor or ingame?
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@Terminator8: Go
Not sure what you are talking about here... The model files reference texture files and those textures are stored externally... Those files need to be converted to .dds and a script should be written and run to batch change all the paths to reflect this.
0
RLE is a compression option when saving .TGA files and is available in all editors I have used to save such files. My recommendation is to write a script to open and resave all your files doing this. Honestly though, you should have thought this out ahead of time. You really need to be using .DDS for this, your file size savings are going to be huge.
Look into scripting for 3DS Max, after all, you are only changing the extension.
0
@Triceron: Go
Ditto with the exception that .TGA can use RLE compression. Its not very efficient though and converting to .DDS is much better. In many cases reducing resolution/dimensions can be perfectly acceptable. IE, 512x512 normal maps for terrain with 1024x1024 diffuse. Also, if a channel is not needed, make sure it is black. IE, leaving duplicate image info in all three of RGB when you only need it in the green channel triples the file size.
Btw, why the reluctance to use .DDS? do you simply not have the ability to save into or work with it?
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[EDIT] Fixed my own problem. I had made three terrain textures and two of them were not showing shadows over their surface and seemed to be drawn "above" the rest of the terrain.
Turns out I left out half the normal map on those two. I cut the red channel from standard normal maps but forgot to paste it into the alpha channel leaving the alpha totally white. Made the normal look kinda flat and seems to have affected how the shadows got drawn too.
I used the normal from the terrain that worked to find this out, then opened up the two broken normals to see what I had done. After adding in the other channel in those two normal maps, they work fine. I've attached the updated version of the map in case you want to see.
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@DrSuperEvil: Go
http://www.sc2mapster.com/wiki/galaxy/import/texture/
Not the cleanest edit, but the information is in there. Feel free to edit it down, move it around, format it, or ask for clarifications.
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[UPDATE] .TGA format seems to be safe to use. I used GIMP to save the .DDS file as .tga, opened it in photoshop and found it stored the transparency data purely in the alpha channel. I added some pure white and black in there and saved it, then went back to gimp, saved in .dds, then opened that and saved it back as .tga. The second .tga looked the same as the first, black and white added to the alpha where I left it, color channels untouched. Id still recommend leaving the alpha not totally black, but working in .dds or .tga seem to be safe in this regard.
Something new to address:
.PNG format does not support saving color info for pixels that are totally transparent. .DDS does, but not .PNG
This is important as .PNG is otherwise a good format to work in with textures when not converted into .DDS
This is also important because specular maps for terrain texture tend to be very dark. If you allow the alpha (which is used by SC2 as the specular map) to go totally black anywhere, and you save a working copy in .PNG like that, the color info in that pixel is gone.
The way I work with the texture files now is to use a program called Aorta to compose an RGB image with a greyscale image into an RGBA image which can be saved as either .PNG or .DDS, as .PNG i run into this issue and will now make sure all alpha channels I generate are at least a value of 1 in every pixel just in case.
IN SHORT: Make sure all alpha channels are not totally transparent.
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@DrSuperEvil: Go
Indeed, and as I said, every texture set has that field pointing to the same file as a noise map, a 256x256 greyscale .dds file.
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@DrSuperEvil: Go
Not sure what you mean about the noise maps. All terrain sets point to the same creep noise map file which is grey scale.
I can tell you a few things about the creep texture files though. It has a true specular map for it and the edge normal map is a true normal map while the regular one is the sort used by the terrain. They also have diffuse maps which I bet work just like the terrain ones meaning you probably could mess with the alpha as in the above post.
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A demonstration of the effect of alpha channels in diffuse terrain textures. As you can see, they effect the brightness of the terrain when lit by world lighting. The effect of the alpha goes away when unlit. In the unit shadows of the second image, some of that is bright alpha and some is original.
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@Alrik1989: Go
not really if its for in game. remember most of this is viewed from above so you want to make the details on the top and the features lower down large and obvious.
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@JackRCDF: Go
make two copies of a texture with full white and full black alpha channels and the same normal map and see for yourself what happens.