sheson

Judging from the screenshot I think at the time DynDOLOD was run, the Darkwater Crossing.esp was the last overwrite at the time. AFAIK the wbCopyElementToFile command of xEdit doesn't forget data when it deep copies a record, check other cells.

AFAIK Vurt is the only creating billboards for his own tree mod. I suggest to discuss with him directly, he seems very active.

If you want to remove mods that are masters in DynDOLOD.esp, you need to generate from scratch with clean save and all. See "Uninstallation / Updating" in the included manual. I do not know if the full model and billboards you are using match as good as they can or if there is room for improvement. You should ask the creator of the full model tree / billboard or verify with other users of the mods involved. It sounds like the LOD tree is too "full" of pixel and could use some thinning. LOD can only have transparency or be full opaque. The billboard probably has an alpha channel. The threshold for LOD is 128. With an image program you could manipulate/increase the alpha channel to "thin" the leaves. Check this video about billboard creation and file section of Indistinguishable Vanilla Tree Billboards for a tutorial.

Doesn't matter what mods you have or what 3rd party video you followed. My steps and explanations are generic: Tree LOD is done by TES5LODGen for trees, DynDOLOD just uses it functionality. Check the TES5LODGen nexus page for information and discussions about trees and billboards. DynDOLOD does not include billboards for the vanilla trees. That is why you need to install vanilla tree LOD from TES5LODGen or the new alternative version as explained in the included manual. If a mod changes the full model tree, which you have identified as 0004FBB0, bring up that record in xEdit you will see the full model it uses -> Landscape\Trees\TreePineForest04.nif From that you correctly identified the billboard as ..\textures\terrain\LODGen\Skyrim.esm\TreePineForest04_0004FBB0.dds You should use MO right pane, Data tab, browse to ..\textures\terrain\LODGen\Skyrim.esm\TreePineForest04_0004FBB0.dds to find out which is the current last overwrite mod depending on your load order. Do the same for ..\Meshes\Landscape\Trees\TreePineForest04.nif They should match, e.g. if TreePineForest04.nif is supplied by SFO, TreePineForest04_0004FBB0.dds should be supplied by billboards for that SFO version. Open the nif in nifksope, the dds in an image viewer to visually check they match. If not, find or create the correct billboard for that full model tree. After changing the billboard dds files you need to generate LOD again so the process is using the new files. The billboard dds files are not used by the game directly when running. Billboards are a one sided representation of a full model tree and can never truly match its looks. There is always a transition when a LOD tree is replaced by the full model version when moving around in the world.

Some full 3D tree models can use "loose" branches the further away from they player they are. They are "Skinned". There are ini settings for that. Type "tll" without quotes in console (toggle LOD). If the tree is staying visible it has nothing to do with tree LOD / billboards. If the tree you are looking at disappears, it was tree LOD, then continue reading: Each full model 3D mesh needs a matching tree LOD billboard dds for generating tree LOD. If they do not match visually find or create a billboard that does. When generating tree LOD with TES5LODen or DynDOLOD the log contains lines like TreePineForest01 [TREE:0001306D] using LOD Textures\Terrain\LODGen\Skyrim.esm\TreePineForest01_0001306D.dds 0001306D is the form id of the base record which defines the 3D full model of the tree -> Landscape\Trees\TreePineForest01.nif compare that in nifskope to Textures\Terrain\LODGen\Skyrim.esm\TreePineForest01_0001306D.dds in an image viewer. Make sure they match. Simple as that. Regarding the order in the left: No need to use SkyFalls/Mills. SkyFalls/Mills sorted after DynDOLOD Output makes me worried about the esp order. If SkyFalls/Mills contains object LOD meshes / textures it it simply wrong to be there. Why is there "TES5LODGenOutput" and "DyndoLOD Output", that doesn't make sense. Either use TES5LODGen or DynDOLOD. I would assume DynDOLOD Output overwrites every single file of TES5LODGenOutput. Billboards should load right after the mod they belong to. Read "Overwrite Orders" in the manual. I can not tell if the order makes sense or not, because it depends on the files in the mods. You have to figure it out based on the files. No idea why you would insert DynDOLOD Output before any other mods, at least treebark and unqiue grass should have no conflicting files so it shouldn't matter.

Yeah that is a game engine limitation with tree LOD that needs a workaround. The easiest method is to give each tree reference an enable parent (the player). Then such trees will be ignored by the tree LOD generation and DynDOLOD will automatically create static LOD for them, which works properly. You could edit each tree reference in xEdit. It is probably easier to add a mesh rule for each tree reference, since it is is only 30 or so. In fact, it is as simple as exporting the form ids of the tree references with the almost default xEdit script, copy/paste the data into a text editor and create the mesh rules file for the mod. 15 minutes for creating the rules and generation LOD to verify it works et voila: https://mega.nz/#!VRACHA7S!SiA4u7n3Z2oTsCNVOL2Pb5UP439-OC96KA3XLut3Yro Put this file into ..\DynDOLOD\Edit Scripts\DynDOLOD\rules\DynDOLOD_TES5_whiterunfernsesp.ini Start DynDOLOD.exe, when you click low/medium/high it will show that it loaded the rules "Loaded 32 mesh rules for Whiterun Ferns.esp" and you will see the trees being processed before it generate tree LOD. Rules will be included in next version of course.

Brilliant

Don't worry about it. I think I fixed the issue. Get the latest 2.07 BETA and see if the problem is gone. This is why it is not working: "crops up with an error and stops". This is what you have to do to make it work: "fix an error" A firstborn broke my crystal ball again, and the replacement got lost in the mail.

It is not recommended to ever remove esps from any saves. Having said that, the clean save will work just the same without activating a new esp.

It's just on my end, the data is fine.

Could be something with antivirus or an extension.

If DynDOLOD works without issue just by itself, do not execute crapware (to quote Boris) while it does its thing Unless DynDOLOD ends with its successful message it is not finished. It needs save the esp,then it is truly complete. Things to look at would be CPU (cooling), memory problems, overclocking, weak power supply.

Yes they need to match. I would rather fix the loading problem in v2. You could also rename the *_map.txt in the merge folder so it can not be read. Still no idea what the merged mods are - but there is a good chance there is no need to even read the data.

I am not quite sure why you would need to do that. Static and Tree LOD will only be for the mods that are loaded when generating, unless you would know which btt and/or bto files to keep and not overwrite from earlier generations - there is a chance texture atlas works for both generations as it stays the same overall. Dynamic LOD data stays in the esp even if you remove a mod (if you can), though I am actually not 100% sure about the json data for the objects to be honest. Maybe you could upload the .....merge\*_map.txt of the merged mod? That is all I need to replicate reading in the data.

I am not making any recommendation where to install it, other than its own dedicated folder. Maybe you are referring to GamerPoets video for 1.x? As long as you do not install it into the data folder of the game, it should be fine. Does it still use CPU when it hangs? Maybe it just takes a long time to read the merge data. Is this a specific merge I could replicate? You can run v2 in stages no problem. See couple posts above

The "master mod" the instructions refer to, is the mod to the very left that is the first to insert the data. Skyrim.esm in this case. In your 2nd screenshot you can see all mods in a row have the same number for a row and the only one being different is holds. Simply edit holds to the same numbers.

In theory it should be a tad better. I didn't notice any dramatic changes, either way - but my setup is light and efficient to begin with. Regarding the crash fixes, I just don't seem to need them so far, because see above. There is certainly no rush, since there exists a tried and tested method for normal modding :) Pre-loading is only required by very specific things that have to happen before the game starts to do anything. Memory patching or ENBoost for example. Maybe some day someone else has a need and I am looking forward to what that might be.

This is now a thing :) My tests the past week have been very encouraging. Since I am somewhat more cautious in these matters, I still suggest to do some in-depth testing with quests and stuff. Somehow I am focused on LOD, ultra trees and meshes/textures where I went past the 1024 default heap. I suggested the alternate loader mechanism so lots of people can test. Any serious problems should show quickly. Anyone just doing normal game play should just wait, if SKSE memory patch works, there is no need to change anything anyhow.

Everything needs to be created with v2 - you should not mix with pre v2. If you update existing, merge new output to existing output - that means overwrite all older files - including DynDOLOD.esp and jsons - with new files.

Nothing changed in regards to Darkend, so just do the same step you did before. Using "Restart" is the same as starting DynDOLOD.exe with the current esp saved and then loaded. There is no need to cache stuff anymore, because that part makes full use of multithreading and only takes a few seconds.

Yes you could, but the billboards are not that much and you are going to need them again soon enough :) Theoretically you should be able to pack both meshes/textures from the output folder into BSA. Do not pack the SKSE folder or the esp of course. Personally I use file and folder compression of the OS with the SSD. The principle is the same and I do not have to worry about manually packing every time. However, I create LOD several times a day testing things, so my requirements are different.

It will work, bit no needed either. The billboard dds and text files are only need when generated LOD and not loaded in game (unlike the other models or textures). It won't be. DynDOLOD adds required masters (linked form ids) and masters for the last overwrite of certain records for data consistency. The process throws errors if a required master is not added, so you would know.

The more of the small bushes and scrubs have LOD, there more you will notice how much performance tree LOD actually costs :) Oh and first rule of DynDOLOD, we do not talk about that other thing.

Check out SolitudeExterior. Needed to also adjust occlusion planes which are the cause of the missing water. This could mean slightly better or worse performance in Solitude itself due to my optimizations. Note important info in included readme before generating LOD.

You have a mod that changes the full model nif version of the building. You probably installed it after generating LOD. Could be SMIM or ELFX for example. Generate LOD after installing the mod that changes the full model nif. If you installed it before generating LOD, please let me know the mod that replaces the nif. You could try to update the 3D Indexes of the null textures to the new numbers of the new full model. The numbers can be looked up for the base record in the CK if you know how texture sets work.