Textures in DOW

The Relic Developers Network (RDN) DOW WIKI states that apart from DDS files (Direct X texture files) there are three other texture formats used in DOW:

• .RSH – Shader files (texture and material properties)
• .DDS – Textures
• .WTP – Team Pattern file (layers that are blended with user colors) for the army painter
• .RTX – Preset team color for each player slot when a player turns off team coloring. Also used in campaigns through the Misc_PlayerTeamcolor() SCAR function to set the colours of the armies.

(copied from http://www.relic.com/rdn/wiki/DOWFileFormats)

After poking around in these files and posting a question on Relic's Adeptus Modificatus forum I think I've got the fundamentals on how these formats fit together.

The RSH files can be considered the main textures while the other files add "capabilities". RSH files contain the base texture and a SHDR (Shader) section which I haven't had time to look any closer at.

The WTP files contain information for the army painter. It's got one base texture and up to 6 different grescale layers that define different regions for the army painter. The regions I found are:

• Primary
• Secondary
• Trim
• Weapon
• Eyes (Trim2)
  
• Dirt

All these layers except dirt are available in the army painter so it's pretty obvious what they do. When it comes to the dirt layer I haven't checked it out yet but I guess it defines areas that should be covered with a dirt textrue - possibly from the base texture. I'll look more into this and report my findings.

The RTX files are preset team colors as the WIKI states. There are as many RTX file for each model as there are possible team numbers to select from and they're loaded when team colors are set to off.