however, i think if you're at the level where you actually need dxtc, then you've really just outgrown blitz3d and you should be moving on to something else, like torque or whatever has dxtc in it.
True, but it's a pain to learn everything from the start again - and of course where can I find a forum half this good? DB forums? Naa, don't think so... :)
Blitz3D is so close being "perfect" DX7 game programming langage, so why leave few final goodies out of it?