What's the best DDS converter these days?

[Xyth]

I've returned to modding Civ4 after far too long and discovered my go-to software for working with .dds files (Aorta) no longer works. What's software is everyone using for this these days? Is it still DXTBmp?

I'm not looking for something to edit images, just something that can convert PNG <--> DDS, control MipMaps, handle Alpha layers, and choose compression type. Prefer something lightweight and standalone (i.e not a GIMP or Photoshop plugin).

 

[<Nexus>]

I know what you said about GIMP but I still think that is the best option and really worth to learn using it. Once you know how to use it, it is very efficient, whether it's just a conversion you want to do or something more complex.

 

[PPQ_Purple]

Personally I use Paint.NET. It's free, much easier to use than Photoshop or GIMP and it supports DDS natively (no plugins required) quite well including all the options you mentioned.

Converting to .dds is as simple as going open -> save as and selecting the options you want from the menu that opens.


And if you ever do want to learn image editing later down the line it has all the options you need for the job and yet is infinitely easier to learn and use than the alternatives. It's what I did the textures for all of my models in.