Photoshop 5 and 7 transparency issues

I am having trouble creating a texture with partial transparency. I have tried following the directions in the how-to guide and i run into the same problem in both photoshop 5 and 7. When I go to save my image as a .tga file the option to include the alpha layer becomes grayed out. Has anyone else experienced this problem or know what i am doing wrong?

thanks,
Dae

Unless you save the image as 32-bit, I don't think it will save the alpha channel. Make sure you check 32 bit before you save.

the option to save as 24 bit or 32 bit is not available until after the "save as" command.

I'm just guessing; but I know that some modes, such as Multi-Channel, won't allow you to save a .tga file at all. It's possible that you're in a mode that cripples some of the options. Make sure that you're in RGB mode.

If it's still happening after that, I'm not sure what's going on. If you want to send me a zipped copy of your photoshop file, I'll be happy to take a look at it for you. (Although I no longer have a copy of Photoshop older than CS, so things might be a little different.)

You can get my e-mail address from my site.

i have attached images of the "save as" dialog box in case it may help see what is happening. the file is in RGB mode.

thanks for your help

After seeing so many people refer to ver. 7.0.1, I decided to look into what specific version i have. as it turns out, 7.0.1 deals specifically with the issue of the way photoshop handles the alpha layer in targa files when saving.

So if anyone else has this problem, just upgrade to version 7.0.1 (which is free) and it should solve the issue.

thank you robin and cindy for your efforts.

-Dae