Need some help with replacing painting

[Back2friday]

Im trying to replace some painting in the Azura Dawn house mod. Im using Gimp. The thing is in game the paintings turn black. The only way i can get it to work is if the replaced painting is a tiny bit smaller then the original picture. 

So the way i do it is adding another picture as a layer into the project. Then i rescale the picture to match the original then i merge the two pictures into one so that the new pic covers the original. Im probably doing this all wrong i know so i need some help with this. 

thanks

[traison]

3 hours ago, Back2friday said:

Im using Gimp.

 

As far as I know, the Gimp DDS plugin hasn't been updated since the lightbulb was invented.

 

3 hours ago, Back2friday said:

So the way i do it is adding another picture as a layer into the project. Then i rescale the picture to match the original then i merge the two pictures into one so that the new pic covers the original. Im probably doing this all wrong i know so i need some help with this.

 

That's probably fine, but you left out the most relevant part. How did you save the modified dds?

 

Personally I use Microsoft's DirectXTex. Use texdiag on the original dds to find out what format it is.

texdiag.exe info path/to/texture.dds

 

Use texconv to convert between png/tga and dds. Make sure the format of the modified dds is the same as the original.

texconv.exe -f rgba -ft png path/to/texture.dds
texconv.exe -ft dds -f bc7_unorm path/to/texture.png

 

3 hours ago, Back2friday said:

The only way i can get it to work is if the replaced painting is a tiny bit smaller then the original picture.

 

While texture sizes are not limited to 2^n squares anymore, I really wouldn't recommend using anything other than the good ol' standard sizes, especially in older games like Skyrim.

 

Edit: and to save someone else the trouble of posting it, Paint.Net is apparently quite good at handling dds files as well if you don't want to fiddle with the terminal/powershell. Personally I prefer tools that are simple, fast and possible to automate.

Edited June 13, 2025 by traison

[anjenthedog]

FWIW, since the save format was brought up... Paint  Dot Net is a nice free way to make edits on photos... AND it deals with dds files quite handily without extra plugins or workarounds. 

 

 

[traison]

7 hours ago, traison said:

...and to save someone else the trouble of posting it, Paint.Net is apparently quite good at handling dds files...

 

5 hours ago, anjenthedog said:

...Paint  Dot Net is a nice free way to make edits on photos... AND it deals with dds files...

 

Man... 🤪

[Back2friday]

11 hours ago, traison said:

That's probably fine, but you left out the most relevant part. How did you save the modified dds?

 

I just overwrite the same file. File>overwrite filename.dds. (yes i make backups:P) Seems to work with almost everything i retexture. Before that i either used bc1 or bc3 depending on the texture i recolored. Gimp does not have bc7. 

 

11 hours ago, traison said:

As far as I know, the Gimp DDS plugin hasn't been updated

I dont understand what you mean. Im using Gimp 3.0 and can open all dds files. 

 

I think the issue is with the scaling. Im doing something wrong. If its too big it does not show, but if its a bit smaller then it works. But then you can see the underlaying picture i covered on the borders lol. I will try to mess around some more. 

Edited June 13, 2025 by Back2friday

[traison]

1 hour ago, Back2friday said:

Gimp does not have bc7.

 

1 hour ago, Back2friday said:

Im using Gimp 3.0 and can open all dds files.

 

These seem mutually exclusive.

 

1 hour ago, Back2friday said:

I think the issue is with the scaling.

 

Make sure the size is 2^n and square, and that the format is supported by Skyrim. If in doubt, save with the exact same size, and texture format as the original (working) texture.

 

If you can't get it working, upload the original and modified dds files here and I'll tell you why its not working.

[anjenthedog]

6 hours ago, traison said:

 

 

Man... 🤪

I'm sorry. Although I thought I read your response, I honestly didn't even register your comment on paint dot net. Total brain melt on my part

 

[traison]

2 minutes ago, anjenthedog said:

I'm sorry. Although I thought I read your response, I honestly didn't even register your comment on paint dot net. Total brain melt on my part

 

 

I'm just teasing you. I just thought it was funny.