Skinning in Gimp issue

I've recently developed a skinning issue.

About 6 months ago I updated to the most modern Gimp, which comes with the DDS plug in.

However, I am having an issue with some skins. They're not showing up in game, a 'default' skin shows up instead.

The 2 cars it's happening to me is the Trackaholics Lambo SVR and the GT1 VW Nardo.

I'm guessing it's a loading or saving issue?

Hello Harvestmouse,

Very strange in fact as I use this gimp-2.10.28 version but I'm not sure finally if the dds plugin was included or not in this version.

I just checked the dds.exe date and it seems to be the old one I already used with the Gimp 2.8.XXX as it's dated 03-12-13

I already refused twice to download and install the latest version update. Did you too or did you update it.

Anyway, 2.10.28 with this old dds.exe is perfectly working and all .dds files appear correctly in game.
So I guess your problem might be somewhere else.... maybe a wrong file naming ? ... so that the cars showing might use the original dds for the gmt and that GTR2 might not be able to display the right car dds.
This can easily happen if Gmts are wc_team_xxxxxxxx ... ( or wc_cpit_xxxxxxxx ) a single wrong character is enough to cause the problem you're encountering here.

I think you're on the right lines there. I'm using gimp 2.10.30 (on my newest computer).

So the VW Nardo GT1 issue, I've fixed and it doesn't seem to be a Gimp issue at all.

I wanted to do a sister skin for Chaos Zero's car. He had changed the engine, manufacturer etc.

So I changed those to the original and the car appeared, but other cars disappeared.

Then I edited the original slightly and they both appeared.

So with the Lambo SVR. I saved my skin about 14 times and 1 time it showed up, rather than the default skin. I'm using Passive Obsessive's aero package though. So.........possibly it's an issue here, but why did one save show up?!

That's one of the hardest problem to solve .... a tiny difference in one single name may make a big difference to let the right skin to show up in game.
A single space added or deleted, a missing underscore, a manufacturer name not corresponding with the one needed ( a case I already experienced but for which I never can remember the right one to choose as it's not always the same as the .cas name ) or maybe a conflict with another car or mod.

Sometimes you need to be lucky and find the problem after a few hours search in the files for just a very tiny tiny detail which may remain very hidden sometimes.

Without the files, I cannot say more of course. There's a reason for sure. !

It's very strange. I really need to think about it. You've given me something to work with though, thanks!

It sounds like an algorithm not recognized by gtr2 engine. DXT1,DXT3,DXT5 are the only accepted formats. Maybe there is a new update to one of these standards that cannot be read by GTR2? Try to save again from another editor like paint.net

It can also be because the image size is wrong, it has to be 1024x1024, 2048x2048, 4096x4096...

So the result was the same for both cars.  However, I think the issues are different.

The VW was as Jempy suggested a .car file issue.

The Lambo I'm sure is a save/load issue.  I've been through the .car files with a fine tooth comb.  I've copied and pasted every part several times.  And the really weird thing is that I've got it to show up in gtr2 once.

I've been saving as DXT1.  I've tried DXT3 and 5.  It's extremely frustrating.

I don't think it's image size. I've tried working with the template and copy pasting directly on another skin.

Very strange.

Did you already try to have a look at a trace file when this Lambo doesn't show up ?
Maybe you might notice what's the problem about.

Not sure there'll be anything in it but worth a look of course.

If Gimp works for one this means that it can do it without any problem.
Are you sure that maybe one single layer is not partially out of the normal image limit ? .... 2048*2048 looking xcf image may easily become a 2052*2048 dds if you're not aware of it ... depending if you're active on this special layer or not when exporting in dds.