Funky Glows on Edited DJ Century Textures?

[Tyenkrovy]

I modified the *.tga files from the blank texture pack in Photoshop, and they all look fine except the h3_glow.tga file. The entire portion of the mesh that texture's applied to glows. I'm not sure what I've done wrong. I've even tried copying the texture from the EnterpriseF model and just copying the registry onto it, and it still happens. If I put the h3_glow file from the EnterpriseF or a blank one from the blanks file, it works fine. The other textures I made work fine, too.

Any idea what could be causing it?

Here's a screenshot of what I mean:

[NeoKaede]

Looks like the entire alpha channel is white. It needs to be black, with only the glowing parts in white.

That, or you took a texture without an alpha channel and added the suffix _glow.

[Shadowknight1]

lol, I don't know why, but that looks cool 

[Tyenkrovy]

That, or you took a texture without an alpha channel and added the suffix _glow.

That's the way it is on the default Century-class by DJ Curtis. Perhaps there's something he did that I missed? Any tips for adding this "alpha channel" to a texture? Would it be a separate file, or would I add it as a new channel in photoshop (along with the RGB channels)?

Edit: Looks like I fixed it. I made some alpha maps from scratch for porting it into 3DS Max - trying to figure out why it wasn't looking right in BC - and I just used those, with the _alpha suffix appended to the files. Worked like a charm.

Edit 2: *sigh* I'm mistaken. I just forgot I didn't have my custom texture in there.

As far as I know, none of the texture files have an alpha channel, they all have the _glow suffix, and yet only that one has that funky glow effect.

This is a bit frustrating. It makes no sense. If that was what was causing it, shouldn't all of the textures be that way?

Edit 3: Wow, I'm stupid. Went into Photoshop, opened up the file, and clicked "Channels". BOOM, clear as day, there's an alpha channel.

* smacks himself on the forehead *

Guess it just took a while for your advice to sink in. Sorry 'bout that. :/

[NeoKaede]

Guess it just took a while for your advice to sink in. Sorry 'bout that. :/

Naw, man, don't worry. I'm glad I could help. Just remember:

- Texture without glows = 24-bit TGA, no alpha, no suffix.
- With glows = 32-bit TGA, alpha, suffix "_glow".
- Specular maps = 32-bit TGA, black and white, black alpha (to prevent the "bright glow" bug in Nanofx), suffix "_specular".

[ACES_HIGH]

you are jumping way ahead, those textures, and any others that have the suffix, must have an alpha channel, which is included in the texture.  it is not a separate map.  you cant see it because you are using photoshop, which also removes the alpha channel from files when saved to .tga.  you need to use .TGAtool to open TGA files properly, then you can use photoshop to edit either the main or the alpha channel.

[Kirk]

you cant see it because you are using photoshop, which also removes the alpha channel from files when saved to .tga.

I'm sorry, but what are you on about? Photoshop definitely can open and save .tgas without removing their alpha channels. They are only removed if you save them as less than a 32-bit targa.

[JamesTiberiusKirk]

you cant see it because you are using photoshop, which also removes the alpha channel from files when saved to .tga.

I'm sorry, but what are you on about? Photoshop definitely can open and save .tgas without removing their alpha channels. They are only removed if you save them as less than a 32-bit targa.

yeah youre right  :arms:

[ACES_HIGH]

hmm, I didn't know that

[Adonis]

Guess it just took a while for your advice to sink in. Sorry 'bout that. :/

Naw, man, don't worry. I'm glad I could help. Just remember:

- Texture without glows = 24-bit TGA, no alpha, no suffix.
- With glows = 32-bit TGA, alpha, suffix "_glow".
- Specular maps = 32-bit TGA, black and white, black alpha (to prevent the "bright glow" bug in Nanofx), suffix "_specular".

Ahem, let's clear something up here a bit:

With glow, if you port the mesh to *.nif with the textures having a say "_cookie" suffix, then you need to write into the script in scripts/ships the glow suffix as "_cookie". If you port it without a suffix, then you write a "" there only. Same game with speculars too, with the only distinct difference that with them you need to match the specular suffix in the texture name with what's written into the scripts/ships script, since you don't need the specular maps for porting to *.nif.