DDS FileType Plus for Paint.NET

This plugin allows Paint. NET to load and save DDS files that use BC7 and other modern DDS formats.

The plugin is bundled with Paint. NET, but if you need the features from a newer version you can still install the plugin into the Paint. NET FileTypes folder.

The installed plugin will override the bundled version if it has higher version number.

The plugin supports loading and saving DDS files that contain single images and cube maps, texture arrays and volume maps are not supported.

If the file contains mipmaps only the main image will be loaded, the plugin has the option to generate mipmaps when saving.

Supported DDS Formats

The plugin can read most DDS formats, but only the following formats are supported when saving:

Compressed:

• []BC1 (Linear and sRGB)

  []BC2 (Linear and sRGB)

  []BC3 (Linear and sRGB)

  []BC4 (Unsigned)

  []BC5 (Signed and Unsigned)

  []BC6H (Unsigned 16-bit Float)

  []BC7 (Linear and sRGB)

  Uncompressed:

  • []R8G8B8A8 (Linear and sRGB)

    []R8 (Unsigned)

    []R8G8 (Signed and Unsigned)

    []R32 (Float)

    []B8G8R8A8 (Linear and sRGB)

    []B8G8R8X8 (Linear and sRGB)

    []B4G4R4A4

    []B5G5R5A1

    []B5G6R5

    Legacy DirectX 9:

    • []R8G8B8X8

      []B8G8R8

      []ATI1 (BC4 Unsigned)

      []ATI2 (BC5 Unsigned)

      []RXGB (A BC3/DXT5 variant used for normal maps)

    Known Issues
    • []DDS files that contain texture arrays or volume maps are not supported.

      []Manually editing mipmaps is not supported, but the plugin can generate them when saving.

      []You have to know the correct DDS format and options to use when saving an existing file, the plugin cannot automatically configure this information.

    The best way to determine the DDS format of a file is by using the DirectXTex texdiag utility.

    Installation

    • []Close Paint. NET.

      []Place DdsFileTypePlus.dll, DdsFileTypePlusIO_ARM64.dll and DdsFileTypePlusIO_x64.dll into the Paint. NET FileTypes folder which is

      usually located in one the following locations depending on the Paint. NET version you have installed.

      Classic: C:\Program Files\Paint. NET\FileTypes

      Microsoft Store: Documents\paint.net App Files\FileTypes

      Portable: <Paint. NET folder>\FileTypes

      3. Restart Paint. NET

    More Information and Source Code

    The Paint. NET forum thread for the plugin: https://forums.getpaint.net/topic/111731-dds-filetype-plus

    Source code is hosted on GitHub: https://github.com/0xC0000054/pdn-ddsfiletype-plus

    The plugin uses a customized fork of the DirectXTex library: https://github.com/0xC0000054/DirectXTex/tree/pdn-customizations