Im having an issues where in the uv editors the fullsize_d.dds wont show up. Im in editor mode. but it wont show up.
IIRC there are 2 workarounds of which I know about for this. Make a wip copy of the dds file and 1 - set its alpha channel to zero or 2 - save it as .png or .bmp or .jpg file Then in Blender use your wip dds file to put your uv's on.
Copy+paste the file, rename and change the reference in the materials to the new name, then after you are done change it back
No, this is not necessary for viewing the file in Blender. Just open the .dds file with your graphical program and save it in an other format, then in Blender select the new saved file instead of the one the game uses. It makes no difference as you only need the coordinates of the file to be right for uv mapping. If you can't see the .dds file in your graphical program (even when format is changed) THEN you need to change its alpha channel to zero. Paint.net does not have this feature out of the box I think (it only sets to 0 or 255) . But you can download a plugin for it that is called 'MultiTreshhold'. This is much easier then trying out all codex (BC1, BC2, BC3 and so on...) options. I think if you use Photoshop the feature of setting alpha values is kinda native but I don't use Photoshop so I don't know for sure. Just to keep things simple : Again, your problem is not being able to see the image when using the uv editor in Blender right ? So therefore you need a file that Blender can see. Just give Blender a file of bmp format instead for example, or try to manage to save your wip copy with alpha channel set to zero. Don't change the original texture file if you don't want to make changes to it. Just use a 'dummy file' (as I am explaining) to use in Blender Yes but it depends in which sub-format/codex the dds was saved (BC1, BC2, BC3...)