24 bit TGA; Terrain Textures

I wanted to make a few 512 x 512 terrain textures but I don't know how to save TGA files as 24 bit. I use the most current edition of GIMP, and I also have an older version of Photoshop ~ 6.0. Neither seems to have an option for 24 bit, and I believe the default is 32 or 36 bit for TGA.

I haven't messed around with terrain files for ages, but just looking at an ordinary Targa in Photoshop you can see in Mode how many bits are assigned to each channel. A desaturated opaque image at 8 bits/channel has 4 channels, equalling 24 bits, and will give you a choice of saving as 24 or 32 bits. A greyscale image has one channel, so it must be 8 bits.

To get 24 bit files in GIMP simply flatten the image before saving. That removes the alpha channel. If your terrain files are multi layered and you use the "save as" option under the file menu you will get a dialogue pop up stating that the file must be exported due to layers, offsets, transparency (something to that effect anyway)......you will be given the option of either merging the layers or flattening them. For 24 bit choose flatten. For 32 bit choose merge. The dialogue is defaulted to merge (32 bit).