DDS Image Viewer The Basic DDS Image Viewer is a very simple Windows utility used for viewing dds texture files. Typically these are from the various Bethesda games like Morrowind, Oblivion, Fallout, Skyrim, and also Nexus texture mods.
v2.0 is now available: • Replaced the Image Library with Pfim which has excellent support for DDS textures.
Important Notes: Be sure to register the viewer as the default application for the .dds file extension.
Windows DDS File Type Setup:
Open Windows Explorer, and navigate to any location where you have .dds files.
Right-click on the .dds file, and select "Open With >" from the context menu.
Select "Choose another app".
Click on "More apps", and scroll all the way to the bottom of the list.
Click on "Look for another app on this PC."
Using the Open File dialog window, navigate to the location where you unzipped the image viewer.
Select "Basic DDS Image Viewer.exe", and click Open.
Make sure to check the option to "Always use this App to open .dds files", and click Ok.
was looking for a dds image viewer for baldur's gate textures and this surprisingly worked! it obviously doesn't show up the same, but still very helpful, even if it's for buildings in skyrim. (: thank you!!
Unfortunately, the current support in this tool for DDS files is limited. Most DDS files from older Bethesda games like Oblivion, Skyrim, and Fallout 4 should work though.
I found an updated DDS library which may provide improvements over what I'm currently using. However I need to look into this, so no ETA at this time.
Tried this because of how kind and responsive @mnelson999 was in the comments section. This is sweet! I'm new to file exploration for anything like this and was trying to find a way to see what textures might be called; needed an idea of what I want to try to swap in the Vortex file conflicts section. Thank you for the photo assistance in the description section; I would not have easily found the textures to view them without it.
v1.4 now has a new Debug Window (menu > Tool > Debug Window). On the Debug Window is a button called "Reset User Config". This should completely reset your local config file, and hopefully resolve the problem of the viewer not remembering it's last position.
Please let me know if this fixes the problem (or not).
It still does not remember window position and size. I believe it may have to do with the "fit to view" function, as the behaviour is different from "full size" but at any rate, the tool seems to have its own ideas of how big and where on the screen the window should be positioned. Btw, I also noticed it handles transparency very poorly, like when parts of the texture are tranparent and the dds is either uncompressed or DXT5 compressed. EDIT: I saw below that other users have already pointed this out. My bad.
========================================= DEBUG INFO START ========================================= Found User Config File Path: C:/Users/****/AppData/Local/BasicImageViewerWPF/Basic_DDS_Image_Viewer.ex_Url_gnh0ancdqxtsslou05zwjlhkp1e3uvph/1.0.0.0/user.config ========================================== DEBUG INFO END ========================================== ====================================== ENVIRONMENT INFO START ====================================== Basic DDS Viewer Version: v1.4 Windows Version: Microsoft Windows 10 Pro 64-bit, v6.2.9200.0 Windows Culture: en-US Is Administrator: True Microsoft .NET Runtime Version: v4.0.30319 Microsoft .NET Latest Installed Version: v4.8.04084 ======================================= ENVIRONMENT INFO END ======================================= ======================================= USER SETTINGS START ======================================== Last Top: 50 pixels Last Left: 662 pixels Last Width: 1,237 pixels Last Height: 1,340 pixels Was Maximized: False Main Window Color: #FF333333 Text Color: #FFDDDDDD Last Known Theme Name: Dark Theme Last Known Theme Data: <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?> <ArrayOfThemeDTO xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"> <ThemeDTO> <UniqueKey>0e57f31e-fd84-435f-8bfc-e7615974408f</UniqueKey> <ThemeType>System</ThemeType> <Name>Default</Name> <WindowColorType>UserValue</WindowColorType> <WindowColorValue>#FFFFFFFF</WindowColorValue> <TextColorType>UserValue</TextColorType> <TextColorValue>#FF000000</TextColorValue> </ThemeDTO> <ThemeDTO> <UniqueKey>6363d051-14d4-4a62-8f26-277e9fd882e7</UniqueKey> <ThemeType>System</ThemeType> <Name>Dark Theme</Name> <WindowColorType>UserValue</WindowColorType> <WindowColorValue>#333333</WindowColorValue> <TextColorType>UserValue</TextColorType> <TextColorValue>#DDDDDD</TextColorValue> </ThemeDTO> </ArrayOfThemeDTO> View Full Size: False ======================================== USER SETTINGS END =========================================
Hey there. I was wondering... are there any plans to add a 'dark mode' toggle or option ? It could be in your "Display Mode" section. Have in there an option for light mode (current existing one) and another option for dark mode. I think it can be good not just for those who prefer the dark mode look, but also particularly for working/looking at DDS files and see if they have white parts or outlines that would not be immediately apparent with the current white background in your DDS viewer tool
for example see this screenshot I took-
the one on the left is with your DDS viewer tool and doesn't really show the white outline that the character has with that texture. It can be seen on the right using the image viewer "nomacs" with its dark mode (I converted the image to .PNG to view it in nomacs since nomacs doesn't display DDS files).
I would suggest the hex color code #dddddd for text and #333333 for the background
another thing i noticed is that using the LEFT and RIGHT arrow keyboard keys to view the Previous or Next image in the list does not work anymore if your DDS viewer loses focus. For example with the screenshot above, if I click on the image on the right using the nomacs viewer and then I click back on your DDS viewer... LEFT and RIGHT arrow keyboard keys don't actually change the image anymore (even though I gave focus back to your DDS viewer by clicking back on it). Same thing if you click anything on the desktop (or anywhere that's not your DDS viewer) and then click back on the image/DDS file open on your DDS viewer, so I guess it's an issue when the DDS viewer loses focus. I also noticed that if I change the Display mode from "Fit to View" to "Full Size" or vice versa, the LEFT and RIGHT arrow keyboard keys work again (until I change focus again). Maybe a minor thing, but imo it would be better if it didn't stop working after changing focus.
Anyway, thanks for making this tool and sharing it! It's still very useful already
ah that is unfortunate about the out of focus situation -- well at least that's a minor thing
Thanks for the dark theme! However, somehow I'm not able to use your viewer anymore. I keep getting a message saying "File Not Found. DDS Image File not found" after I click on a DDS file (after right clicking and telling it to open with your viewer per the installation instructions).
I think I actually haven't used you viewer after I moved to windows 11. I'm not sure if my issue has something to do with Windows 11 then. I thought win11 and win10 were very similar internally... also I just tested the previous version of your viewer with a backup I had, and I'm getting the same error with that one... so I guess it's something on my end somehow, but I don't know what it could be...
any ideas as to why I'm not able to open/view a DDS file with your viewer currently ?
follow up to my last message: so I thought I had also tested with the previous 1.2 version yesterday, but apparently Windows was actually still trying to use version 1.3 even though I selected the .exe for 1.2 as a test. After realizing that... I deleted the Basic DDS Image Viewer.exe for the newest 1.3 version, and then I told windows again to use Basic DDS Image Viewer.exe (this time using the 1.2 version) to open a .dds file and now I can open/view DDS files with version 1.2 of your DDS viewer again, but well actually I can only open/view some of my DDS files. There are some that I cannot open/view, and those give me this message (using version 1.2)-
if I delete the Basic DDS Image Viewer.exe for version 1.2, extract again the Basic DDS Image Viewer.exe for version 1.3, and tell windows to use this one again (newest 1.3), then I cannot open any of my dds files. I always get this message if I'm using version 1.3-
in short, I can open/view some of my DDS files with version 1.2 and I cannot open/view any of my DDS files with version 1.3
I don't remember having problems opening/viewing any of my DDS files with version 1.2 last year though... weird...
I'm using Windows 11 Education with latest updates (public release - not insiders). I've also made sure to install the latest version of Microsoft .NET Framework (I even tried going online to get and download the latest version in case my current version wasn't good, but the installer said I had this version or newer already), so it's not an issue with this I guess
latest 1.3 version does allow me to view some DDS files now. nice
though it's basically like 1.2 now in that I can view only some DDS files. with some DDS files I get this (with 1.2 and latest 1.3)-
I wonder what the difference is... like why the viewer can load and display some DDS files fine while with others I get that message. i can see them all in photoshop, but i think it would be more convenient if I could see them all with your viewer too.
also, I got to test the dark theme on the DDS files that I was able to load and I liked it. I also really like how you even added an option for users to make new themes. However, there were 2 things I noticed here that I'm thinking maybe are bugs too. one thing is that the viewer keeps opening with the light/default theme whenever I open a new instance of the viewer or simply after closing and reopening - even after I went into tools --> setup options, set available themes to dark theme, and hit the save button. the theme does change to dark, but apparently it's not being saved for next time the viewer is opened.
the other thing I noticed is that DDS textures with a transparent background are actually showing up with a white background when I can open these with your viewer. maybe this was always the case with the previous versions too and i guess people wouldn't be able to tell back then since the only theme used to also have a white background and so it didn't really matter then, but I think with the dark theme it would be nice if the images that have a transparent background would show the dark background (or whatever is currently set for the theme). i double checked with photoshop to confirm that the DDS file in fact had a transparent background and not a white one.
so basically, now with the latest 1.3 version on my pc-
- I can open/view some DDS files but not all - light/default theme is being used whenever the viewer is opened despite having changed to and saved the dark theme - DDS files with transparent backgrounds are not keeping the transparency in the viewer - instead they have a white background currently
This may be a limitation of the library that I'm using to read the DDS files. I get similar behavior with Windows Explorer though.
hmm well in windows file explorer I can see thumbnails for only some of the DDS files. I guess because some use different compression or something. I can open and view all the DDS files with Photoshop though, so they're all still valid DDS files I Imagine at least. I think I used to be able to open any of my DDS files with your viewer too last year though - I'm really confused as to what's changed that caused this issue now...
I'm not able to reproduce this. Maybe try running as Admin?
Weird. Well I tried your suggestion: I set your DDS viewer with admin compatibility (right clicked the Basic DDS Image Viewer.exe, clicked on properties, went to compatibility, and checked the option that says "Run this program as an administrator), then I tried to open a DDS file, set your viewer to the dark theme, hit save, opened an image with your DDS viewer again and it opened again with the light/default theme instead of the dark theme that was supposed to have been saved, so apparently the dark theme still doesn't save for me somehow =/
i'm not sure if this matters, but i have your Basic DDS Image Viewer.exe in drive c (where i have windows also). specifically in- C:\basic DDS viewer\Basic DDS Image Viewer-108272-1-3-1651094909
Is there a way somehow for you to post the DDS file you are seeing this behavior with? I'm looking at Bethesda game textures, but not seeing this.
Best Regards!
sure. here's a DDS texture I have that has a transparent background, but with your DDS viewer set to dark theme I get a white background-
I'm looking at Tales of Berseria game textures by the way. i dumped them to disk from the game using Special K (great tool for texture dumping/injection, fps limiter, and other good stuff for games)
UPDATE: I've uploaded v1.3 again, which should hopefully resolve the Themes not working correctly.
Regarding these open items, I currently do not have a way to support these: - Transparent background - Why some DDS images do not display
Unfortunately, these appear to be limitations in the graphics library that I'm using. Because of that, there's no ETA for me as to when this will get updated.
I will continue to look for updates and other ways to resolve these two items.
Hi, thanks for the tool! I'm having a strange issue though. When opening some files from Windows explorer, with this tool as default, I get the error "DDS File Cannot be Processed", "LoadImage(): Unable to load image: "some_file.dds". However, when I try to open the same file from MO2 under the "Data" tab on the right via double clicking, it opens with no problem. A file that I can reproduce this error on is the tintmask "femalehead_cheeks.dds" from The Pure - CBBE. I am on SSE btw, I realize this tool is under LE and LE textures are not compatible with SE. Not sure whether the reverse is true, but maybe that's the issue?
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The Basic DDS Image Viewer is a very simple Windows utility used for viewing dds texture files. Typically these are from the various Bethesda games like Morrowind, Oblivion, Fallout, Skyrim, and also Nexus texture mods.
v2.0 is now available:
• Replaced the Image Library with Pfim which has excellent support for DDS textures.
Important Notes:
Be sure to register the viewer as the default application for the .dds file extension.
Windows DDS File Type Setup:
- Open Windows Explorer, and navigate to any location where you have .dds files.
- Right-click on the .dds file, and select "Open With >" from the context menu.
- Select "Choose another app".
- Click on "More apps", and scroll all the way to the bottom of the list.
- Click on "Look for another app on this PC."
- Using the Open File dialog window, navigate to the location where you unzipped the image viewer.
- Select "Basic DDS Image Viewer.exe", and click Open.
- Make sure to check the option to "Always use this App to open .dds files", and click Ok.
Other DDS Tools:• Skyrim DDS Image Viewer
• Fallout 4 DDS Image Viewer
Please let me know what you think, and Endorse if you find it useful.
Which texture are you trying to view? Can you post the path name to it, so that I can try to view it also, please?
Best regards!
It just straight up crashes on some files.
^ Those are files I added to my DropBox for you to see if you can replicate the issue.
They're dds files for Starfield, but still. :(
Unfortunately, the current support in this tool for DDS files is limited. Most DDS files from older Bethesda games like Oblivion, Skyrim, and Fallout 4 should work though.
I found an updated DDS library which may provide improvements over what I'm currently using. However I need to look into this, so no ETA at this time.
Best Regards!
Please try v2.0 and see if it able to view all of your DDS images.
Best Regards!
It does have build in support for that. It should remember window position, width, height, and whether it is maximized or not.
Can you try running it as Admin?
If that doesn't work, please try this:
- From the menu, select "Tools"
- Click on "Setup Options..."
- Click "Save", then exit and restart the app.
Please let me know if this works or now.
Best Regards!
Best Regards!
v1.4 now has a new Debug Window (menu > Tool > Debug Window). On the Debug Window is a button called "Reset User Config". This should completely reset your local config file, and hopefully resolve the problem of the viewer not remembering it's last position.
Please let me know if this fixes the problem (or not).
Best Regards!
Btw, I also noticed it handles transparency very poorly, like when parts of the texture are tranparent and the dds is either uncompressed or DXT5 compressed.
EDIT: I saw below that other users have already pointed this out. My bad.
On the Debug Window, click the "Copy to Notepad", then paste those details here. That will really help with the troubleshooting.
Best Regards!
========================================= DEBUG INFO START =========================================
Found User Config File Path: C:/Users/****/AppData/Local/BasicImageViewerWPF/Basic_DDS_Image_Viewer.ex_Url_gnh0ancdqxtsslou05zwjlhkp1e3uvph/1.0.0.0/user.config
========================================== DEBUG INFO END ==========================================
====================================== ENVIRONMENT INFO START ======================================
Basic DDS Viewer Version: v1.4
Windows Version: Microsoft Windows 10 Pro 64-bit, v6.2.9200.0
Windows Culture: en-US
Is Administrator: True
Microsoft .NET Runtime Version: v4.0.30319
Microsoft .NET Latest Installed Version: v4.8.04084
======================================= ENVIRONMENT INFO END =======================================
======================================= USER SETTINGS START ========================================
Last Top: 50 pixels
Last Left: 662 pixels
Last Width: 1,237 pixels
Last Height: 1,340 pixels
Was Maximized: False
Main Window Color: #FF333333
Text Color: #FFDDDDDD
Last Known Theme Name: Dark Theme
Last Known Theme Data: <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?>
<ArrayOfThemeDTO xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
<ThemeDTO>
<UniqueKey>0e57f31e-fd84-435f-8bfc-e7615974408f</UniqueKey>
<ThemeType>System</ThemeType>
<Name>Default</Name>
<WindowColorType>UserValue</WindowColorType>
<WindowColorValue>#FFFFFFFF</WindowColorValue>
<TextColorType>UserValue</TextColorType>
<TextColorValue>#FF000000</TextColorValue>
</ThemeDTO>
<ThemeDTO>
<UniqueKey>6363d051-14d4-4a62-8f26-277e9fd882e7</UniqueKey>
<ThemeType>System</ThemeType>
<Name>Dark Theme</Name>
<WindowColorType>UserValue</WindowColorType>
<WindowColorValue>#333333</WindowColorValue>
<TextColorType>UserValue</TextColorType>
<TextColorValue>#DDDDDD</TextColorValue>
</ThemeDTO>
</ArrayOfThemeDTO>
View Full Size: False
======================================== USER SETTINGS END =========================================
Unfortunately I can't find anything wrong based on the contents - everything is looking correct.
Any chance you could post a few screenshots of the problem?
for example see this screenshot I took-
the one on the left is with your DDS viewer tool and doesn't really show the white outline that the character has with that texture. It can be seen on the right using the image viewer "nomacs" with its dark mode (I converted the image to .PNG to view it in nomacs since nomacs doesn't display DDS files).
I would suggest the hex color code #dddddd for text and #333333 for the background
another thing i noticed is that using the LEFT and RIGHT arrow keyboard keys to view the Previous or Next image in the list does not work anymore if your DDS viewer loses focus. For example with the screenshot above, if I click on the image on the right using the nomacs viewer and then I click back on your DDS viewer... LEFT and RIGHT arrow keyboard keys don't actually change the image anymore (even though I gave focus back to your DDS viewer by clicking back on it). Same thing if you click anything on the desktop (or anywhere that's not your DDS viewer) and then click back on the image/DDS file open on your DDS viewer, so I guess it's an issue when the DDS viewer loses focus. I also noticed that if I change the Display mode from "Fit to View" to "Full Size" or vice versa, the LEFT and RIGHT arrow keyboard keys work again (until I change focus again). Maybe a minor thing, but imo it would be better if it didn't stop working after changing focus.
Anyway, thanks for making this tool and sharing it! It's still very useful already
Great suggestions and very doable. I should have an updated version within the next week or so.
Best Regards!
but yeah no rush. Whenever you can make some time for it is fine
Thanks again for the tool and considering the request/suggestions
I did get started on this, and owe you an update. I will let you know this weekend yet.
Best Regards!
Unfortunately, I'm not able to provide a way to keep the behavior of the Left and Right arrows once the window has lost focus.
Best Regards!
Thanks for the dark theme! However, somehow I'm not able to use your viewer anymore. I keep getting a message saying "File Not Found. DDS Image File not found" after I click on a DDS file (after right clicking and telling it to open with your viewer per the installation instructions).
I think I actually haven't used you viewer after I moved to windows 11. I'm not sure if my issue has something to do with Windows 11 then. I thought win11 and win10 were very similar internally... also I just tested the previous version of your viewer with a backup I had, and I'm getting the same error with that one... so I guess it's something on my end somehow, but I don't know what it could be...
any ideas as to why I'm not able to open/view a DDS file with your viewer currently ?
if I delete the Basic DDS Image Viewer.exe for version 1.2, extract again the Basic DDS Image Viewer.exe for version 1.3, and tell windows to use this one again (newest 1.3), then I cannot open any of my dds files. I always get this message if I'm using version 1.3-
in short, I can open/view some of my DDS files with version 1.2 and I cannot open/view any of my DDS files with version 1.3
I don't remember having problems opening/viewing any of my DDS files with version 1.2 last year though... weird...
I'm using Windows 11 Education with latest updates (public release - not insiders). I've also made sure to install the latest version of Microsoft .NET Framework (I even tried going online to get and download the latest version in case my current version wasn't good, but the installer said I had this version or newer already), so it's not an issue with this I guess
Thoughts ? =/
I found a bug that was left over from the development process.
I am working on an update now.
UPDATE: This should be fixed now. Please download v1.3 again and let me know if it is working now.
latest 1.3 version does allow me to view some DDS files now. nice
though it's basically like 1.2 now in that I can view only some DDS files. with some DDS files I get this (with 1.2 and latest 1.3)-
I wonder what the difference is... like why the viewer can load and display some DDS files fine while with others I get that message. i can see them all in photoshop, but i think it would be more convenient if I could see them all with your viewer too.
also, I got to test the dark theme on the DDS files that I was able to load and I liked it. I also really like how you even added an option for users to make new themes. However, there were 2 things I noticed here that I'm thinking maybe are bugs too. one thing is that the viewer keeps opening with the light/default theme whenever I open a new instance of the viewer or simply after closing and reopening - even after I went into tools --> setup options, set available themes to dark theme, and hit the save button. the theme does change to dark, but apparently it's not being saved for next time the viewer is opened.
the other thing I noticed is that DDS textures with a transparent background are actually showing up with a white background when I can open these with your viewer. maybe this was always the case with the previous versions too and i guess people wouldn't be able to tell back then since the only theme used to also have a white background and so it didn't really matter then, but I think with the dark theme it would be nice if the images that have a transparent background would show the dark background (or whatever is currently set for the theme). i double checked with photoshop to confirm that the DDS file in fact had a transparent background and not a white one.
so basically, now with the latest 1.3 version on my pc-
- I can open/view some DDS files but not all
- light/default theme is being used whenever the viewer is opened despite having changed to and saved the dark theme
- DDS files with transparent backgrounds are not keeping the transparency in the viewer - instead they have a white background currently
Best Regards!
hmm well in windows file explorer I can see thumbnails for only some of the DDS files. I guess because some use different compression or something. I can open and view all the DDS files with Photoshop though, so they're all still valid DDS files I Imagine at least. I think I used to be able to open any of my DDS files with your viewer too last year though - I'm really confused as to what's changed that caused this issue now...
Weird. Well I tried your suggestion: I set your DDS viewer with admin compatibility (right clicked the Basic DDS Image Viewer.exe, clicked on properties, went to compatibility, and checked the option that says "Run this program as an administrator), then I tried to open a DDS file, set your viewer to the dark theme, hit save, opened an image with your DDS viewer again and it opened again with the light/default theme instead of the dark theme that was supposed to have been saved, so apparently the dark theme still doesn't save for me somehow =/
i'm not sure if this matters, but i have your Basic DDS Image Viewer.exe in drive c (where i have windows also). specifically in-
C:\basic DDS viewer\Basic DDS Image Viewer-108272-1-3-1651094909
sure. here's a DDS texture I have that has a transparent background, but with your DDS viewer set to dark theme I get a white background-
https://mega.nz/file/FsxSiKjI#JjDKrgGTDx10ZUfuv9pCrC7vvZuvSJUaceKXImUESq8
for reference or to illustrate how/what I'm seeing regarding the background, here's a screenshot-
left is how it shows on my end with your DDS viewer, and middle/right is with photoshop
also, here's a texture that I cannot view with your DDS viewer but I can view it with photoshop-
https://mega.nz/file/lwpGXbwB#0ieRdxLV289HfixeUd-q7K8QevL1jQVOyl2qjxxRVkI
for reference-
I'm looking at Tales of Berseria game textures by the way. i dumped them to disk from the game using Special K (great tool for texture dumping/injection, fps limiter, and other good stuff for games)
Thanks for still looking into this!
I'm currently testing another update, and will hopefully have it published this weekend.
Best Regards!
Regarding these open items, I currently do not have a way to support these:
- Transparent background
- Why some DDS images do not display
Unfortunately, these appear to be limitations in the graphics library that I'm using. Because of that, there's no ETA for me as to when this will get updated.
I will continue to look for updates and other ways to resolve these two items.
Best Regards!
The no ETA on the open items is understandable. I know things can get tricky and time consuming etc.
Thanks again for your work and time on this
Since I have already given you a kudo, my only option now is to gift you some points :) Be sure to check your Nexus wallet!
Best Regards!
ah the points were not necessary, but I just noticed I got those yep. Thanks!
It Simply Works Great!
Excellent Job!