Frequently Asked Questions
Answers to common questions about the S&box tools on this site.
Which image formats can I upload, and what's each one for?
- TGA - Lossless, full alpha support. Good for textures/masks needing clean quality, but larger files.
- PNG - Lossless with alpha. Smaller than TGA, good default for diffuse maps and hard-edged alpha (UI, decals).
- JPG/JPEG - Lossy, no alpha. OK for color photos, but avoid for normal/data maps or repeated re-saving.
- WEBP - Lossy or lossless, alpha support, smaller than PNG. Avoid for Materials.
- TIF/TIFF - High bit depth (16/32-bit), lossless. Best for heightmaps/normal maps - avoids banding you would get from 8-bit.
- RAW - Uncompressed sensor data, no color management. Only for photogrammetry/scanning; needs width/height/bit depth specified manually (no header).
What PBR suffixes does S&box use?
S&box VMATs expect canonical suffixes on texture filenames. The PBR Material Renamer detects common aliases and batch-renames to these targets:
- _color - Base color / albedo / diffuse
- _normal - Tangent-space normal map
- _rough - Roughness
- _metal - Metallic
- _ao - Ambient occlusion
- _trans - Opacity / alpha / transparency
- _selfillum - Emissive / self illumination
- _mask - Tint mask
- _blend - Blend mask
- _height - Height / displacement
What texture size should I use for S&box?
S&box expects power-of-two dimensions - 128, 256, 512, 1024, 2048, or 4096 on each side. Non-square sizes are fine (e.g. 1024×512) as long as both width and height are powers of two. For most assets, stay in the 512–2048 range; go higher only when needed.
- 4096 - Reserve for important assets - avoid on small props.
- 2048 - Solid default for most surfaces, item props, characters, etc.
- 1024 - Most gameplay props, furniture, and environments.
- 512 / 256 (or smaller) - Small clutter, distant geometry, decals, and tiles only seen at a distance or for stylised assets/environments.
- Data maps - Normal, roughness, metal, and AO can often be half the _color resolution with little visible loss but for maximum detail use the same size as the color map.
Are my files uploaded to a server?
No. All tools run entirely in your browser. Your textures and material files stay on your device - nothing is sent to SubZero Studios or any third-party server.
How can I suggest a new feature or contact if there is an issue?
Join the SubZero Studios Discord (link in the site header) and DM Jinjav6 with feature ideas, bug reports, or questions. You can also ask in the server if you prefer a public thread.
What is the difference between DirectX and OpenGL normal maps, and which does S&box use?
DirectX and OpenGL normal maps use the same red and blue channels, but the green (Y) channel is flipped. OpenGL treats +Y as up in tangent space; DirectX treats +Y as down. S&box uses OpenGL-style normal maps (green channel up).
When should you use height maps?
Use a height map (_height) when you need elevation data rather than surface direction: parallax or displacement, height-based material blending, terrain layers, or generating a normal map from grayscale depth. Height maps keep more precision than an 8-bit normal for conversion and shader effects. For everyday surface detail you usually assign the _normal map in your VMAT; keep _height when your material or pipeline reads it directly for parallax, tessellation, or blend masks.