Arma 3 PAA Converter - Native C++ Edition

High-performance native C++ texture converter for Arma 3's PAA format.

Features

• Native C++ Performance - Uses libsquish for DXT1/DXT5 compression
• CLI Tool - Batch conversion from command line
• GUI Application - Dear ImGui interface with drag & drop support
• Format Support - PNG, TGA, JPG input formats
• Auto Mipmap Generation - Generates all mipmap levels automatically
• DXT Compression - DXT1 (no alpha) and DXT5 (with alpha)
• LZO Compression - Automatic LZO compression for large mipmaps (>128px)

Requirements

• CMake 3.20+
• C++17 compiler (MSVC, GCC, or Clang)
• vcpkg (for dependency management)

Installation

1. Install vcpkg

git clone https://github.com/Microsoft/vcpkg.git
cd vcpkg
bootstrap-vcpkg.bat  # Windows

Set environment variable:

setx VCPKG_ROOT "C:\path\to\vcpkg"

2. Build the Project

cd arma3-paa-converter-native
mkdir build
cd build
cmake .. -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE=%VCPKG_ROOT%/scripts/buildsystems/vcpkg.cmake
cmake --build . --config Release

vcpkg will automatically install all dependencies:

• libsquish (DXT compression)
• LZO (additional compression)
• stb (image loading)
• Dear ImGui + GLFW + GLAD (GUI)
• Boost.GIL (image processing)

Usage

GUI Application

./build/Release/arma3-paa-gui.exe

Features:

• Drag & drop files directly into the window
• Select output format (Auto, DXT1, DXT5)
• Batch conversion with progress tracking
• Real-time conversion statistics

CLI Tool

Single file:

arma3-paa-cli texture.png texture.paa
arma3-paa-cli texture.png texture.paa --format DXT5

Batch conversion:

arma3-paa-cli --batch "*.png" --output-dir ./paa/

Technical Details

PAA Format Implementation

Compression:

• DXT1: 8:1 compression (RGB, 1-bit alpha)
• DXT5: 4:1 compression (RGBA, 8-bit alpha)
• LZO: Additional compression for textures >128px

Mipmap Generation:

• Bilinear downsampling
• Stops at 4x4 minimum size
• Stored in descending order (largest to smallest)

Tags:

• AVGCOLOR (GGATCGVA): Average texture color
• MAXCOLOR (GGATCXAM): Maximum color values
• FLAGTRANSP (GGATGALF): Transparency flag
• OFFSETS (GGATSFFO): Mipmap offset table

Dependencies

• libsquish - DXT compression library
• LZO - LZO1X compression
• stb_image - PNG/TGA/JPG loading
• stb_image_write - PNG writing
• Boost.GIL - Image resampling for mipmaps
• Dear ImGui - Immediate mode GUI
• GLFW3 - Window management
• GLAD - OpenGL loader

License

MIT License

Credits

• Based on gruppe-adler/grad_aff
• Uses libsquish for DXT compression
• Uses Dear ImGui for GUI