Various things learned from messing with Sins graphics files (problems and solutions)

from Sins Forums
When I got a file viewer/converter program, I immediately looked through all the Sins graphics.  I found that Sins wasn't displaying my planets properly, they were all fuzzy and translucent, with no detail (and my settings were on Planet Detail Very High),  anyway, I  converted the planet textures from DDS to BMP, and Back to DDS, with Paint, and that fixed the problem, and I got clear, sharp, highly detailed planets, as they should be from the files (maybe my DirectX is corrupted or something, as long as it works now :)

   The opposite happened when I modified the RaceLogos file, I wanted all new emblems for all the players, so I put it in Paint, and saved my results, but the file now reads "color 0" as opaque, and I get solid squares.  So, how do I save the file to accept color 0 as transparent  (it seems the same thing that solved my first problem is causing my second problem, how ironic :) :D

modding
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Reply #1 from Sins Forums Top
Usually, the transparency is handled through the Alpha channel. I don't know how to set one up in Paint though, I use Photoshop myself.
Anyway, if you are getting solid squares, that happens mostly either because Sins can't read your stuff (in which case the square should be white or at least that's what happens when I mistype a texture file name for particles) or because you haven't set up the alpha channel. When setting it up, remember - full white is full opacity, full black is full transparency, anything in between is anything in between. ;)

Oh, and also - when replacing the logos, keep them *exactly* the same size as the originals. Sins uses .brushes and .window files to control how the UI is displayed, and they expect icons of exact size from a texture file, so if you change that in the texture file but not in the appropriate .brushes file you will get garbled or partial displays.
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Reply #2 from Sins Forums Top
Thanks, I noticed that extra set of hex numbers on my RGB color codes seemed to cause transparency, but somehow didn't make the connection...
Star Control: Origins