Well, I was thinking more like an external program like BCMI that could go through and read them, unlock, then write out a black alpha and change it back to read-only, but unless I write something like that for NanoFX GE Tools, I won't be writting one for BC.
Come to think of it, there is a strong change I WILL be writting a tool like that, because it's a pain in the ass to convert all those TGA textures into DDS files for my Engine. (DDS being the optimal format for NanoFX GE)
SO we'll see. It's a maybe.