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Adding texture guidelines (#60)
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‎Asset/Art/dds/texture_guidelines.md

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# Texture Guidelines
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In *Command & Conquer: Generals and Zero Hour*, there are several variations of textures adapted to different seasons,
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weather conditions, times of day, and more. Each variation is updated accordingly, and the suffixes in the
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DDS filenames indicate the type and condition of the texture.
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## Texture Naming Structure
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> [!TIP]
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> the `_en` and `_rn` textures are invalid because 99% of textures with these suffixes do not have proper night lighting
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> but are simply darkened versions of the base texture. They only increase the brightness from `_dn` to `_en`.
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### Summer Textures
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- `<none>`: Pristine texture.
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- `_d`: Damaged texture.
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- `_e`: Really Damaged texture.
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- `_r`: Rubble texture.
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- `_g`: Garrison texture.
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- `_dg`: Damaged Garrison texture.
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### Winter Textures
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- `_s`: Pristine Snow texture.
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- `_ds`: Damaged Snow texture.
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- `_es`: Really Damaged Snow texture.
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- `_rs`: Rubble Snow texture.
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- `_sg`: Snow Garrison texture.
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- `_dsg`: Damaged Snow Garrison texture.
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### Summer Night Textures
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- `_n`: Night texture.
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- `_dn`: Damaged Night texture.
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- `_en`: Invalid texture, to be removed with Mod Builder.
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- `_rn`: Invalid texture, to be removed with Mod Builder.
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- `_ng`: Night Garrison texture.
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- `_dng`: Damaged Night Garrison texture.
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### Winter Night Textures
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- `_sn`: Snow Night texture.
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- `_dsn`: Damaged Snow Night texture.
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- `_esn`: Invalid texture, to be removed with Mod Builder.
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- `_rsn`: Invalid texture, to be removed with Mod Builder.
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- `_sng`: Snow Night Garrison texture.
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- `_dsng`: Damaged Snow Night Garrison texture.
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## Vehicle Texture Variations
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- `<none>`: Pristine vehicle texture.
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- `_d`: Damaged vehicle texture.
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- `_d1`: Wrecked vehicle texture.
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## PSD Layer Naming Conventions
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- If the Background layer is flattened, it represents the original retail texture (DDS) in best discovered quality.
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- If the bottom layer is not the original retail texture (DDS), it must be named to reflect the source texture
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name in sufficient detail. That can be a DDS or TGA or a processed (AI upscale) texture, for example
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`cbcnvstr01_s.dds realesr-general-wdn-x4v3`. Or a "merged" aka composited PSD image of the same (and never another!)
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texture set, for example `cbcnvstr01 merged`.
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- If PSD textures are modified, edits must move to lower-order textures that use higher-order merged
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textures (Pristine -> Damages, Summer -> Winter, ...).
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- Layer & Group names are lower case and use common keywords such as "damage", "light", "barricades", "snow", or any
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other name that gives it meaning.
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- Layer & Group names must end on a texture variant suffix (`_d`, `_g`, `_e`, ...) which helps to identify the origin
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texture variant.
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- Layers & Groups can be copied to other texture variants and are expected to be identical if they share the same name
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within the same texture set.
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- Groups meant to be used to assemble an alpha channel are named `_alpha` and must be hidden before saving the image
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file.
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## Working with Textures
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1. **Editing Software**: Use software like **Photoshop**, **GIMP**, or **Paint.NET** for editing DDS
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textures.
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2. **PSD**: When working with **PSD** files, maintain an organized layer structure and use clear names for each texture
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variant (e.g., `_d`, `_g`). Layers with an alpha channel must be named `_alpha` and hidden before saving the file.
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3. **Saving and Conversion**: Don’t manually export DDS files. Texture conversion should be automated by the build
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pipeline via Mod Builder to ensure optimal quality and file size.
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## Typical Errors in Textures
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Many textures have small, and sometimes big visual discrepancies between damage, weather or garrison states.
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Fixing this requires reassembling textures from other parts of the texture set.
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### Texture Resolution Mismatches
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Zero Hour textures are often aggressively downscaled, unlike Generals, which utilizes around 500 higher-resolution
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assets. Winter texture sets in Zero Hour tend to be significantly smaller than their Summer counterparts, leading to
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noticeable quality loss on Winter maps. Improving these undersized Winter textures is one of the most difficult tasks
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in texture refinement.
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### Damage Transition Mistakes
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Damage transitions are frequently inconsistent across weather variants. The progression from pristine to rubble is
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rarely seamless—details may vanish or shift between states. For instance, a damaged feature in the `(_d)` texture
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might disappear entirely in the `(_e)` version. Some fixes are simple overlays, but others demand detailed repair work.
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### Window Barricade Discrepancies
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Window barricades—used to represent infantry occupation—often vary wildly in alignment and appearance across
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damage states. They may shift slightly, vanish completely, or be visually incoherent from one texture to the next.
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### Window Reflections Problems
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Reflections on windows often misalign between damage and garrison states. These mismatches affect nearby damage
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effects and barricades. Reflection intensity also varies too much and can bleed incorrectly over snow. Reflections
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typically reside in the Alpha Channel of pristine and damaged `(_d)` textures, but are sometimes mistakenly included
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in `(_e)` textures. Shapes frequently don’t match the actual window geometry, and reflections can overlay unwanted
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visual elements.
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### Night Light Inconsistencies
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Night lights, mainly found on windows, show visual discrepancies across damage and garrison states.
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They commonly clash with barricade placements and can spill unrealistically over snowy surfaces.
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### Rubble Textures Anomalies
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Rubble and heavily damaged `(_e)`/`(_r)` textures sometimes include damage holes defined by black Alpha Channel
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regions. While intentional in some cases, this can result in parts like walls or roofs appearing suspended with no
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connection to adjacent structures—especially evident when viewed up close.
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### Alpha Channel Errors
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Some textures contain outdated or irrelevant Alpha Channels that can be safely removed. Others are missing
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Alpha data entirely, though in many cases, this can be reconstructed using neighboring textures in the same set.

‎Asset/_Sidebar.md

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- Textures
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- [Cameo Sizes](cameo_sizes)
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- [DDS files and DXT compression](dds_files_and_dxt_compression)
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- [Texture Guidelines](Art/dds/texture\_guidelines.md)
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- Audio & Video
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- [Game WAV Audio files](audio)

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