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Created by
Jasperre, last updated on Aug 01, 2024
3 minute read
There are several texture file formats that NWN can utilise, including several more that can be used just for the NUI.
File Format Comparison
You may need to use multiple types of file format the game has in a single project. Below is the key recommendations for each one:
| File Format | Model Compatible | Game Load Priority | NUI load priority | NUI Compatible | Recommendation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DDS | Yes | 2 (may be not loaded if TGA is also present see Content Load Order) | 6 | Yes (8193.36) | Use for all usual textures except ones requiring PLT or TGA as per below. The quality is sufficiently fine for NUI as of 8193.36 added support for DDS in NUI (however it is loaded last). |
| PLT | Yes | 3 | n/a | No | Of course the only use case is PLT itself. Not loaded in NUI. |
| TGA | Yes | 4 | 2 | Yes | Use for inventory icons - both for toolset compatibility and some quirks with the engine where it requires TGA to be "valid" (but server and clientside). Loaded fine in NUI as well. Can be slightly compressed with RLE compression. Palette definition files also should be TGA again for toolset loading. Portraits may need to be TGA (need to fully test) but can now just be single files not 5 different files. |
| PNG | No | n/a | 3 | Yes | Best quality for NUI icons. Can be compressed and lossless. Beamdog used TGA for theirs. |
| JPG | No | n/a | 1 | Yes | Best file size for NUI icons. Is compressed and lossy. |
| GIF | No | n/a | 4 | Yes | Can be animated |
| WBM | No | n/a | 5 | Yes | Can be animated but note there is no sound available (see Movies for the limited video with sound options) |
| KTX | Yes | 1 | n/a | No | Noted here for completeness but you probably shouldn't use this format generally. This is the mobile file format for OpenGL ES 3.0. It uses ETC2 compression but seems to be buggy on desktop (and probably mobile) for non-diffuse, non-normal map files (ie specular, roughness). |
The best combination for different use cases are as follows. The NUI recommendation vary depending on the game version since 8193.36 added DDS support simplifying this significantly.
| Texture Type | Game Model Recommendation | NUI Recommendation | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Creature, placeable, tile, item textures | DDS | n/a | |
| minimap | DDS or TGA | DDS (if on 8193.36), TGA (if earlier, or if overriding base game icons) | TGA at 32x32 retains quality, but DDS at a higher resolution is good for new minimaps (not overriding base game content). Cannot rotate in NUI yet... |
| Portraits | DDS | DDS (if on 8193.36), PNG or JPG (if earlier, side by side with DDS) | If you're not converting all portraits using TGA at the original sizes would be OK. However higher resolution DDS is bound to look better. For better quality/use if you make all portraits DDS, make sure a blank portrait.txi is included since the default portrait.txi disables mipmaps |
| Feat, spell, skill etc. icons | DDS or TGA | DDS (if on 8193.36), TGA (if earlier, or if overriding base game icons) | These should load fine if DDS. |
| Inventory icons | TGA | TGA (see Notes) | TGA files are validated for the "icon existing" which means making DDS versions is pretty pointless for new content. Recommended to compress with RLE compression. Use the original size of Icons for the toolset - see below for notes. |
| Load screens | DDS or TGA | n/a | Use the original size of load screens for the toolset - see below for notes. |
File Dimensions and Toolset Note
Note that the game does resize smaller or larger textures as needed, generally going bigger on icons and letting the UI scaling and game sort out the presentation is best since there is no longer a 1:1 mapping of pixel:pixel especially given UI scaling alters the size.
The toolset will be loading icons roughly resized as of 8193.37.
Previously the toolset only ever loads by cropping oversized images. This meant for inventory icons and load screens you need to include the original dimensions of the icons for building purposes. The best method of seeing them in the toolset but not having them in your hakpacks is adding them to the /development folder or on a top-level hakpack you remove before release.