How to load .dds files into a picturebox?

Question

How do I load .dds texture files as an Image in C#? There's nothing useful on google that I could find.

The more information with samples you give me,the better it will be for me to understand it.

Answer 1

You might want to take a look at the Microsoft's XNA Game Studio SDK to load the textures in memory and possibly capture the images in a System.Drawing.Graphics usable way.

Answer 2

I had the same issue. Here is a good solution.

1. Source: http://www.mastropaolo.com/devildotnet/
2. Download Version 1.3 from that link (bottom of page)
3. Add the Devil.NET.dll as a reference to your application

4. Use the code that I have supplied below.

   PictureBox1.Image = DevIL.DevIL.LoadBitmap(DDS_File_Path)

It's really that easy. We owe the DevIL .NET Wrapper creator a beer.

Answer 3

I think the short answer is that you don't. The documentation says that the supported formats are BMP, GIF, EXIG, JPG, PNG and TIFF.

Update: there seem to be a number of converters to be found through Google, that might help you out. Also, as Wayne suggests, look at XNA (if you didn't already). The Texture2D.FromFile method seems to handle the .dds files, but I never used it myself so I can't say if it is what you are looking for or not...