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| Alpha Mode | Tested Use Case | Notes | Alpha Layer Pictures |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 - Disabled | Anything with no alpha channel usage | Many NWN textures contain no alpha. Most tileset textures for instance, many GUI icons and textures, many feat and spell icons. | |
| 1- Differential Alpha | This seems to be pretty bad, at least for icons (in this case id_good.tga), see picture for what the "Alpha" layer turns into! It should be all black but instead has some alpha all over the place. Basically if we were using alpha more passively - like having wisps of smoke or the like, then it might be usable. Most domains, feats, spells icons will not use this and instead use mode 2. Will need to test it on some others. ife_disarm.tga as the second example shows it is awful, since it's got lots of random transparency all over the icon. |
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| 2 - Separated Alpha | Icons (feats, domains, actions) | This seems to work perfectly well for icons and the like where there is basically an icon in the middle, and alpha (tending to black) around it. Example of the same icon which as a much better "small amount" of alpha fade at the edges and otherwise the middle is all opaque. ife_disarm.tga looks ok - a little bit of transparency at the edges (here with 8 bit alpha on) - but it's got some weird harder edges compared to the other 2 options. |
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| 3 - Channel | This appears to be very similar to type 11, for icons at least. See id_good.tga to the right, again it moves some alpha into the icon which isn't present in the original. The outer edges however are more nicely/gradually faded. Not that they have to be - the original icon is basically "opaque or not" alpha, with the outer edge not even being entirely black (although it kinda "fades to black"). The second example shows a slightly better case when used on ife_disarm.tga - seems better rounded parts. |
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There is also an Alpha Depth option, using 2 - Separated Alpha, we have:
| Type | Notes | Picture |
|---|---|---|
| Full (8 Bit) | This is best for anything with fading alpha. IE not icons with a border, but for things like grass or whatever Note the fade in the example icon - it's not bad if you want a little fading however! |
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| Binary (1 Bit) | This may be quite good for alpha-with-a-border, ie things like icons See example picture it gives a nice crisp edge. |
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| Ternary (2 Bit) | This isn't really suitable for anything in NWN. It's basically a worse 8 bit version, where pixels do have bits of transparency at the edge, but don't look as good/as smooth. |
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Converting to DDS
The intermediary file, usually PNG, could be TGA or another uncompressed format, can be converted using NWN Crunch: https://neverwintervault.org/project/nwnee/other/tool/nwn-crunch-enhanced-edition
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