.dds files opened in photoshop CS6 appear black

I am new to modding but I'd like to make some contributions to the workshop. I'm struggling with getting textures to appear as designed so I am trying to open Keens existing .dds files for reference, but when they load all channels are black. They appear properly in picopixel. I can open DX9 DDS files properly. I have installed the Nvidia texture tools multiple times, not an x64 vs x32 issue. Does anyone have experience with this issue?

 

ehm, whats the actual issue? - can you specify it please?!
the nvidia tools are only for showing - not editing!
i recommend "Woody's Texture Viewer (WTV)" for that purpose or "Irfan View" - theire more powerfull than the stupid nvidia tools!
actually that is the featured "windows texture viewer"!
(the nvidia tools are just a windows thumbnail plugin that only works on nvidia machines! - if you have an ati/amd graphics youre forced to use a texture viewer!)

you need an .dds capable editor like PS, Gimp (plugin needed), Paint.net (no plugin needed, but quality issues) or Inkscape (no experience yet, but heared its a good tool)

for the appearance ingame you need to safe them in DXT5, with mipmaps (but it turns out that you need to safe alpha channel textures without mipmaps)

 

Thanks for the tool recommendations. I was under the impression they could be edited in PS but I guess not. Can I export .dds files in photoshop using the Nvidia plugin? Does each _cm _ng _add .dds have the same export settings? What image file should I use for the UV map in Blender?

Sorry if these are basic questions - it would help me to see example photoshop / gimp files of really basic textures.

 

they can - you need a plugin for it in PS and gimp!
just search google for how to export as .dds via PS! ;-)
i guess so, but havent edited those parts so idk - just that if you safe the alpha mask with mipmaps you get a strange "fading to black" effect ingame unless you dont stick your virtual nose onto the textures surface ;D

another helpfull thread got just created How to edit textures you already noticed - i personaly dont like to work with command lines anymore, they antiquaried and anoying to handle because every typo will result in an error xP
batches are nice to work with but also need to be reconfigurated for every task - but well i also wont miss these methods!^^ - in the end they can safe your life if other tools fail at a task!
(exspecially if keens provided tools just crash without error message xP)