Textures

This page will document how the shader processes textures, what texture formats you should be using and how they are used in Kerbal Space Program.

Overview

Each planet can take up to 22 textures. Here they are in order:

Surface Textures

• Surface Map (Low)
• Surface Map (Mid)
• Surface Map (High)
• Surface Map (Steep)

Surface Normal Maps

• Surface Normal Map (Low)
• Surface Normal Map (Mid)
• Surface Normal Map (High)
• Surface Normal Map (Steep)

Combined Maps

• Surface Tessellation Map (Low, Mid, High and Steep)
• Surface Influence Map (Low, Mid, High and Steep)

Format

This wiki will assume you are the using Direct Draw Surface (DDS) format for your textures. While PNG works, it is not recommended because of their memory usage.

You must be using MipMaps for all of your textures otherwise they will not load

Surface Maps

• Surface maps should be using DXT5, as the alpha channel is used for specular highlights.

Normal Maps - Non Emissive

• Normal maps should be using DXT5_NM. The alpha channel is not used.

Normal Maps - Emissive

• Normal maps should be using DXT5, with lighting stored in the red-green channel. The alpha channel is used for emission power

Combined Maps

• The tessellation/displacement map should be using DXT5. The alpha channel is used for the steep texture displacement
• The influence map only needs to use DXT1. The steep texture is not affected by the influence map