Custom textures are accepted in the form of DDS files.

What is a DDS file?#

DDS is a container format for GPU-native textures. The image data is ready to be uploaded to the GPU.

The image data of a DDS file can use various raw and compressed formats, with some of these focusing on specific use cases.

Recommended formats#

These formats are generally available on all modern desktop+laptop GPUs. For ARM SoC’s and such, you may need to do your own research.

Some of the common compression formats and their use cases:

• BC1: When low VRAM use is desired. No transparency. (aka DXT1)
• BC3: When transparency and/or fast compression times are desired. (aka DXT5)
• BC7: When transparency and/or high quality is desired.

BC7 is recommended for skyboxes, as it shows less banding artifacts.

Convert standard picture to DDS: Texpresso#

Texpresso does not support BC7, so if you’re working on a skybox, try Compressonator instead!

Texpresso is available via Cargo:

cargo install texpresso_cli

Usage example:

texpresso compress --format BC3 path/to/image.png

The resulting .dds file will be placed in your working directory.

Convert standard picture to DDS: Compressonator#

Compressonator is a set of open-source graphics utilities by AMD.

Compressonator Website・Download Compressonator

Example usage:

compressonatorcli -nomipmap -fd BC7 ~/Downloads/table_mountain_2_puresky.png ~/.config/wayvr/table_mountain_2.dds

Convert standard picture to DDS: GIMP#

GIMP supports .dds image import/export out of the box.

To export it, go to File -> Export As..., and then select your output filename with .dds at the end.

Select your compression type, for example BC3.

Be aware GIMP doesn’t support BC7 compression.