VTF makes a mess of my TGAs

Huckle

L3: Member
May 31, 2010
149
101
So I've been trying to work on my custom skybox for the artpass map but I just can't get it to look good in the game. Somehow, as soon as VTF edit opens up a smooth-looking PNG file it goes completely bonkers and makes a mess out of my gradients.

I've tried changing around most of the normal settings, trying to get the "advanced" gaussian blur to smooth the errors out but to no effect, the changes don't seem to matter at all.

This is how the image looks if I open it in Photoshop (left) and VTF Edit (right)
vtfwtf.jpg


And these are my settings, basically default everything.
vtf_settings.jpg


Any suggestions at all? I've tried getting the plugin for Photoshop to work but not successfully so that's not really an option either.
 

Huckle

L3: Member
May 31, 2010
149
101
Doh. I tried BGR888 and it was a bit better but BGRA888 looks amazing. A small change will make a significant difference, reading the tooltip would've made my post pointless. Oh well.

Edit: after reading about the formats it makes no sense at all that there is a visible difference but there is. Whatever, I'll just go with it.
 

JoshuaC

L420: High Member
Sep 2, 2008
444
164
I've had the best results using RGBA888, but the vtf file format is still pretty damn shitty imo.

You just have to live with a certain amount of compression regardless of what you use.
 

Tehrasha

L3: Member
Nov 5, 2009
115
28
Curious tangential question....

Why do people choose to do texture work with every graphics format except TGA?
Wouldnt it be far easier to work in the engines preferred format by default?
 

Mr. Happy

L6: Sharp Member
Jul 16, 2008
320
158
Because TGA's and TIFF's are highest quality besides vtf, and some people don't have the vtf plugin for some reason.
 

Tehrasha

L3: Member
Nov 5, 2009
115
28
Because TGA's and TIFF's are highest quality besides vtf, and some people don't have the vtf plugin for some reason.

The lack of VTF plugin I understand. Not everyone uses PS.
But that still doesnt explain why people DONT use TGA for graphics.
(unless ppl are using Windows Paint for their graphics)