Photoshop stopped opening alpha channels from dds.

Xolo

I have a weird problem with photoshop that I probably caused by accidentily ramming some hotkey combo or something like that.

Since a week or so when I open a dds in photoshop it opens the alpha channel as transparency instead of as an alpha channel. At first I thought it was just something unique to fallout 4's dds files and I didn't need alpha channels yet so I paid it no mind.
Now I noticed it does this with all dds files. Even those that opened with alpha as an alpha channel just a few weeks ago. 
Obviously I changed something to cause this. Maybe it is because I have both the nvidia and the intel dds plugins installed but removing and reinstalling didnt help.
Google just returned a whole bunch of articles on how to create alpha channels and work around this for png, but this worked just a week ago so I turn to Polycount for help.

Anyone have an idea how I can convince photoshop to open transparancy as an alpha channel again?

Eric Chadwick

Which version of Photoshop? Do you have the latest Nvidia DDS plugin?

Xolo

CS5. Plugin is the latest I think. As far as I know it hasn't been updated for years. Looked around on nvidia's site and can't find anything newer than a 2013 release so I guess I'm good.

kurt_hectic

Maybe it's in the settings, you changed something and forgot? I would start by checking that.

Xolo

That's what I was thinking too Kurt. I can't find any settings that seem related though. But it's likely something like this.

Is there a way to set what plugin opens a dds file? as I have both nvidia and intel plugins installed maybe it's using the intel plugin to open it.
[edit]
Found it's a known issue with the intel pugin.
https://github.com/GameTechDev/ITW-Beta-Test/issues/4
Layers -> Layer Mask -> From Transperacy to restore the alpha channel works apparently. I thought there would be some loss of information when doing that.
[/edit]

Eric Chadwick

I would suggest uninstalling the Intel one, and restarting your OS.

When you save as DDS format, check the Read and Write configs in the Nvidia DDS panel.

Xolo

Cheers for the assistance folks. Known issue with teh intel plugin it seems.

Eric Chadwick

It would help to attach a screenshot of the error, and the original DDS file. I don't have CS5, I use CC2016, but maybe it can be reproduced here.

Also you could try asking your question here. https://devtalk.nvidia.com/default/board/74/other-tools/

Xolo

Thanks Eric. But I sort of solved it. It seems to be a known issue with the intel plugin. The offered workaround to get the alpha channel back apparently doesn't lose anything along the way.
Layers -> Layer Mask -> From Transperacy to restore the alpha channel.

Eric Chadwick

Ah, I missed your solution. I probably posted without refreshing the page. Glad you figured it out!

Yeah the From Transparency thing works great, use it all the time for PNGs. 

throttlekitty

Eric Chadwick said:

I would suggest uninstalling the Intel one, and restarting your OS.

When you save as DDS format, check the Read and Write configs in the Nvidia DDS panel.

Actually if he wants to be working with Fallout 4 textures for modding or whatever, the Intel plugin is the better one. nVidia's doesn't handle the BC5 textures properly. Funny to see that thread linked, I never knew about that transparency thing, learn something new all the time!