Hypobolic

I do realize that STEP is not designed as a pick and choose guide, however, I found it immeasurably helpful in organizing the setup of MO2 and all of the associated tools, paths, outputs, etc... Also getting everything primed for LOD generation and what settings to use for what resolution is invaluable. the DynDOLOD page can be a bit of a challenge to interpret for a new modder. I applaud you guys for what you've done here, even for someone picking and choosing, basically all of the important information from A-Z about getting SkyrimSE modding up and sold in MO2 is here in one place. Before diving in here, I had absolutely no idea that I was completely missing steps in all different areas. So I hope you're not upset that I'm using STEP and your forums not completely in the way it was intended, but still finding tremendous value. I'm a hair away from making a few mods of my own now. So, thank you guys very much!

Okay, so that's good to know. In essence I should always run tree LOD4 at Billboard4. Also, I actually have gone with not using the Conflict Resolution patch, simply because I did not choose to use every mod flagged in the STEP modlist, as well as adding a whole bunch of mods outside of the list. I was concerned that if my modlist did not mirror the list in STEP that running the conflict resolution patch might cause additional problems for me. As far as compatibility goes, I've got everything sorted and working great, LOOT has been my safety net, as well as just reading about individual mod compatibility issues. So, in this situation, would there be any harm in running the STEP conflict resolution patch? I guess that might depend on what I am actually running. Just curious though. Thanks!

Hi, So after changing the tree mod I'm using as well as grass and some terrain textures, I'm going through the STEP LOD generation guide, in the DynDOLOD section there are some recommended rules for LOD generation when using A Clear Map of Skyrim. Specifically is says to set the Tree LOD4 rules to use Billboard4, and also notes that the Aspen trees can drop FPS by 30 if this is not done. It actually says that Aspen trees are ALWAYS set to tree LOD4, so as not to render branches. I am choosing not to use A Clear Map of Skyrim. My question is if the above statement is true for all tree LOD generation, even when not using A Clear Map of Skyrim? Even through these recommendations are inset under the heading specifically for A Clear Map of Skyrim, is this true when not using it? 30fps is an alarming number. Thanks!

Greg, Yeah, I had the targeting all set up correctly, that's why I was confused. It turns out one of the mods I had installed was overriding a particular ini setting I set in BethINI. It just didn't occur to me that a mod was doing it. Mod and learn! Thanks, You can mark this resolved if you like.

Yeah, ok, I keep forgetting the scope of the environment I'm working in. With a few hundred 3rd party mods installed, it's amazing how easy it is for me to not take that into account every time I have a new problem pop up. Anyhow, you were right, I forgot that I had 'Customizable Camera' installed, which ironically I just discovered is able to take care of half of what I was trying to do just with ini settings. Not sure why I can't set fNearDistance... I'll go with user error, there's something I'm likely overlooking. Thanks again!

And away we go. Is it inappropriate to salute you right now? It's funny, I was a game dev for many years, and this recent burst of modding activity for me has been wildly addicting. It's like the best parts of being a designer without all of the finnicky drudge and crap that goes along with it. And here I am, about to roll up my sleeves again, and I don't even get health insurance covered! At least I don't have to deal with any mandates from on high, out of touch producers or middle-management. =)

So I have a couple of questions about and with ini files and what settings can be set in ini files and what can't. I have two examples I'm working with right now: I can set the following in my `SkyrimCustom.ini` file [Camera] fVanityModeMinDist=50 But, when I go into the game and type in the console getini "fVanityModeMinDist:Camera" The result it returns is `185.000`. I have verified that my the ini files I am using are being picked up my MO2. I modified a setting that is already existing in the file and when use `getini` on it in game, the correct modified ini result displays. The `fVanityModeMinDist` value is not represented in any ini files by default. It will only show up in `SkyrimCustom.ini` after I edit it using the custom tab in BethINI. Does this mean, that any values that are not in the vanilla ini files can not be set there? Why would BethINI allow me to do so if this is the case? I am trying to solve some z-fighting issues and am attempting to use the following console command in game: setini "fNearDistance:Display" 13 This results in an error message in the console. I forget what the exact error is, but it's the same one given whenever the parameters are not correct for a command. `fNearDistance:Display` does exist in an ini file, but am I unable to change it through the console in real time? Of course, I am sure that some ini settings must be loaded from the file as the engine initializes, and in that case would not be modifiable dynamically through the console. For the above two issues, is there any way to know which settings are or are not able to be manipulated either from an ini file or the console, or do I just have to pound away to figure it out? Also, in the case of the `fVanityModeMinDist` setting, is there any other way to set it? Thank you.

Okay, well I'll keep it on my list of things to look into as I get more comfortable with the dev environment for SSE. I finally got my build finished (yeah right!) and compatible and want to play a bit. Also, I've done countless google searches on this issue and have definitely come across people reporting the same problem but the very few solutions offered haven't worked. The most common one I've come across is to set [Display] fNearDistance=13.0000 But that has zero effect on this problem for me, though some people report it helping, I wonder if they're actually just talking about actual mountain mesh/texture z-fighting and not the fog clouds. It's hard to tell.

So, I was wondering what I can actually do about it at this point. I know that the USSEP guys take bug requests, but they don't actually deal with SKSE native bug right? I could submit a bug report to them and see what happens. I did post a comment on Skyrim Engine bugs and Fixes, to the host/author there. Seems to be something more in line with the work done on that mod. This is not world ending stuff, just immersion breaking for me, at least with ENB and Obsidian fogs installed it's a lot more noticeable. I've dabbled with just installing mods many times over the years, but I'm taking a really deep dive right now and have a couple of small ideas I'd like to work on. So I guess I'm saying that since I find myself getting more involved, I'm curious what to do when I come across a 100% repo issue like this.

Okay, update: I decided to go all the way for this test and remove as many possible variables as I reasonably could. Skyrim SE v1.5.97 , no mods except for ENB and a few dlls that can't be managed by MO2, guess what: It happens in Vanilla too! So, this is some sort of engine bug happening, likely in the native code. Anyhow, It's super easy to reproduce, and actually I'm going to lay out the step here in case any intrepid modder feels like tackling a challenge (likely not every single one of these steps is necessary, but I'm including them for posterity): Vanilla Skyrim SE v.1.5.97 Set launcher graphics settings to Ultra, borderless, windowed. 1440p (I just put resolution here because that's what I'm running at. Yes, I've made bug reports before!) Launch the game and in the console type coc riverwood Wait for three hours (T key) in the console type cow tamriel 40 -24 You should now find yourself on the Rifen docks. In 1st person, turn your view towards SSW (I could give an exact vector, but I don't feel like trying to figure out and fiddle with the getangle command right now) Pan the yaw of your camera over the trees on the other side of the lake. Pay attention to the mountains in the upper right of the screen. If you hit the correct angle, the exact patch of fog shown in my screenshots above should pop in and out like clockwork. Now, there is a small chance that some of the .DLLs that in my skyrim root directory could be causing this, but I find it unlikely. Anyhow, there's the short of it, and, well, the long of it...

Okay, that's good to know. It wasn't apparent that being able to edit my sig was blocked until a minimum number of posts. Anyhow, I'm modding up a storm right now, so I'm sure I'll cross 20 posts soon enough. Thanks for the assist!

Okay, finally got around to running LODs with the alternate Obsidian Fog recommended above. No go. The problem is still happening. I initially did try to run both the modified mountain fog and Obsidian Weathers at the same time hope one would overwrite the other, but they just doubled up. Anyhow, I then just disabled OW complete and ran the modified fog alone and the problem was still there. I dunno, I think I'll might try running some other weathers, or even the vanilla Skyrim fog and see what happens. It could just be a limitation of the engine, or a side effect of the all of the mods I have running that LOOT doesn't catch. Of course it would be great to actually find a fix for this. I'll return with whatever I discover in my experiments next.

So I've only recently started using STEP and your forums, and after asking a few questions I noticed that my posts had an auto signature attached to them that I never added. The API seems to have pulled from a newegg.com purchase list of some PC components I picked up a while ago, and it was little jarring to see it there. I click on or around this signature and there was an option to hide all signatures. Unfortunately this seems to have hidden signatures from everyone for me. I did get around to the page where you list out your system specs, but now I can not locate any place to re-enable signatures in the forums. Whether or not I like what my new system spec sig looks or not is immaterial if I can't even see what it looks like in a post. If anyone can point me to where signatures are enabled/disabled I would be quite thankful. Cheers

I haven't run LODs for the fog yet. I did read a conversation in the nexus comments for that mod where people seemed to be pretty confident that just removing the flag will allow the tweaked mod to overwrite the fog from OW. I dunno, they may be wrong, therefore I am too... I can always undo it, disable OW and run just the fog to see if it fixes the problem, and then come up with a complete solution.

Actually, would you happen to know if those fog/weather type clouds are considered billboards or not? Just trying to see if I can get away with only running TexGen and not going through DynDOLOD, which is a pain cause I'm using Open Cities.