Need Help to Understand Normal Map For Human/Creatures

[oi__io]

For everything else, the RGB in texture file is for diffuse and Alpha is for gloss. RGB in normal map is for normals and Alpha is for alpha/emissive/foliage depending on materials type.

However I'm having difficulty understanding how it is set up for human and creatures. I know the RGB in texture is for diffuse and I assume the Alpha is still for gloss (even tho some textures Alpha doesn't match their respective diffuse - "human_male_head_variant6_diffuse_HI.dds" for example).

But what about the normal map? The RGB for normal map doesn't look like any other normals and I couldn't figure out the Alpha. If anyone could enlighten me on this I would greatly appreciate it. I'm in the process of updating my face mod and would love to improve it using texture painting software but without proper understanding of what I'm working on it's not going to be easy to make it look proper in game.

I hope someone will respond. Thank you.

[someone]

They use DXT5NM format. DDS exporters should have an export option to save a standard normal map in this format.
It is basically the same as DXT5 but with the red channel stored in the alpha channel to avoid compression artefacts.

[oi__io]

I see. Thank you for responding, now I understand it better.