Deadmano

Hi there! I'm trying to generate LOD files for Fallout 3, using xLODGen v4.1.5. Loosely taking inspiration from this guide, I have been following the exact steps from LODIFY. The settings I use in LODGen are: I use the following resource files: The only texture/mesh replacer mods I am using currently on this minimal profile are: NMC's Texture Pack Rustic Grass - 4K Retexture There were no errors in the log, though I have observed xLODGEN complain about the following when trying to generate tree LODs: Is there reason for concern here or is this expected/normal? I was under the impression all the necessary files would be covered by the LOD resources above? I also noticed the following for a missing texture? However, no matter how many times I try to regenerate LOD files (ensuring I always start with an empty output folder), I run into issues where the LODs pop in quite close from where I am from the object, and once they're in full LOD they stay that way even if I double the distance from when they initially weren't in their LOD view. I notice objects begin to "flicker" before popping into view. Take the following as an example: This image there is an issue with the water ahead, notice how the water texture is smooth past the half-way mark of the water that is visible? From this location, the water area/dock on the other side of the river were flicking, and as I took a few steps forward they popped in and the water rendered a bit further: When I tried to generate terrain LOD, things were even worse, with LODs not swapping (staying on the distant LOD), and there being a case where LODs were clipping in with the actual texture causing this weird mismatch as seen in the screens below: I'm not super fussed on terrain generation, but I would like to find a solution for LOD "popping in" very close to me, or objects that seemingly just "fade in" such as certain bridges. From all the research I've done, both searching this forum, and on other websites, it seems like I am following the instructions correctly, but for whatever reason the output is not the same. The only custom ini values I have are as follows: Is there something I am perhaps missing given how dated the game is? Regarding detail pop-in, would increasing uGridsToLoad be worthwhile? It is currently on the default 5. Not sure if this would help in tandem with the LOD switching issue I am having, though technically that is what it does, renders more grids around you?

Jeez, I remember how terrible Oblivion was in that regard!! That, and the fact that only when I was half-way through the game did I realise that SLEEPING in a bed was the only time you were shown the level-up screen, of which I then levelled 15-20 levels at once! What I'm hoping to find out here, is a bit more concrete information as to how one can go about making a delevelled world, but without making it impossible for player progression. What I'm thinking is, you would need to keep some key locations (perhaps around the starting area near Helgen/Riverwood/Whiterun) that has a max spawn level between 1 and 10, that way you have a chance to level up, but the rest of the world is super challenging. Does anyone here perhaps know exactly how one could control the spawn points as mentioned? Near Riverwood/around Whiterun? As the leveled lists seem rather generic? There is a "LCharAnimalHills" which I would assume is around Whiterun, but could extend to other regions?

Wowee, TechAngel and Zilav himself?! I've truly struck GOLD! Thank you both for confirming my thoughts. Am I also right in assuming that the more lower level (albeit duplicate NPC references) you have in a leveled list, the more likely that specific NPC will spawn? So in a sense, one could still allow for the higher level (60, 70, 80) spawns, but dot the list with many level 1 - 20 mobs? Further, how would you approach this same situation, taking into consideration Requiem's deleveled world? See this image: A prior requiem patch for SiC changed 40-70 spawn levels to 30 each. But isn't that against the whole deleveled Requiem vibe? Or is this done to prevent OP spawns, whilst giving a challenge from level 30+ onwards? If I went and changed all that to level 1, I'm assuming things would be a whole lot harder, and potentially unplayable? Hopefully I can understand this better to make the most out of the monster/NPC mods I've got going, to play along with Requiem. Bonus question: I'm assuming the Skyproc (if anything like Skyre's one) for Requiem basically tries to resolve conflicts whilst also tagging weapons/armours and adding any stats/re-balancing them, which aside from the latter is what I'm actually doing with the conflict resolution? So leaving my "mega patch" in for the SkyProc phase I'm basically helping out to make the process easier as I've already manually cleaned up conflicts with many NPC/Leveled/Weapons/Armor records? Edit: I see that this mod may be able to shed some light on how I can go about creating the desired effect.

Hey Guys, So I've been patching my Skyrim and its assortment of 200+ mods for almost a year now, 6 months of which I spent hand-picking and replacing textures to cover roughly 90% of the game... In that time I've been forced to understand how conflict resolution works, and even managed to put something together for Fallout 3. Enter @Hishutup bringing me up to speed with Mator's Smash, and my life got a thousand times easier... Anyway, I'm drifting off of topic already, sigh... I'm trying to do the somewhat impossible, by having Requiem as my core, and patching every mod I use to be compatible/resolving incompatibilities as I go along. One thing I have never figured out, as of yet, is how levelled lists work. My basic understanding from simply looking at them, is that each record that has the "level" sub-record refers to the players record, right? So if you have several at level 1, those items or those NPCs will appear from level 1, right? So others marked at level 10, they will only appear from level 10 onwards? What happens to the level 1 ones, do they stay throughout but now get mixed with the level 10s? Am I wrong in assuming that chests/loots etc. pull the levelled lists in to decide what will be given to the player, much the same encounter zones randomly pull mobs from the lists? Once I can understand this, I can hopefully understand what to do with Skyrim's Monster Mod. It has many leveled NPC records for its NPCs that it adds, ranging from level 1 to around level 70. From what I've seen, Requiem takes all the NPC levels and delevels them (sets them to level 1). HOWEVER, if I simply went and set all the leveled NPCs of Monster Mod to 1, wouldn't that mean all the high-end mobs would get a chance to spawn, which are basically insanely OP? Or is there something I am missing here? Obviously that is what makes Requiem stand out, in that you will get areas that have mobs with a percentage chance of being a higher level than you, which just means you go level somewhere else, return and kick their ass, but if I keep doing this for ALL the leveled NPC lists, chances are the entire region will be covered with unbeatable mobs... So yeah, sorry about that, quite a mouthful! I guess I too am trying to grasp what exactly I'm looking for here, though it could just be the fatigue of yet another day of several hours of patching, which seems to be never-ending... I already have thousands of records amongst a hundred or so mods, so hopefully when I am finished I can replace my "mega patch" which may help others who use the same mods I do, or at least prove to be a decent reference for their own conflict resolution endeavours.

Thanks MistakenMystic! An interesting point I thought I would add to this... One needs to remember that LOOT is not the be all and end all tool of modding. It is heavily based on user input/mod authors to specify what goes where, and it cannot possibly account for the tons of mods being added/updated all of the time. It is a great concept, but sadly it does not work as originally hoped for (when it comes to quite the larger load order). I have had it many times place like-mod (Weather/Animations/NPCs) etc. all over the place and I prefer to neatly group things for consistency/troubleshooting. Furthermore it doesn't account for any patches that are made for other mods (like TWPC) so often times my TWPC patches are in different load orders UNLESS a fake master is set. Combined with the fact that some mods are just meant to override others (and LOOT does not know this unless specifically told) it becomes quite the headache. I am sure STEP has a full on guide to proper LOOT usage, but from personal experience you will want to manually sort once LOOT gives you the base and knowing what a mod does (taking a quick peek with xEdit) can certainly help and lessen your conflicts, etc. So in short, it isn't the tool's fault, but rather the lack of support for the newer mods like TWPC. If we build a database collaboratively and agree upon the best load order then we are definitely making progress, but that is something that takes a ton of effort! For now, that is why I specify explicitly that TWPC patches be loaded at the end of your load order, and not after the specific mods being patched, as many other mods later on in the load order may still conflict with my changes. :O_o: If you have any other further questions/comments feel free to ask!

Hi there guys, Just thought I would quickly pop in here officially before I respond in length to Kelmych. It has been a while since I have worked on my own patches, what with work and my programming course, but the issue I had was that in some cases a bashed patch would incorrectly carry over records or merge records from other mods that I SPECIFICALLY chose to leave out BY HAND in order to carry over balance aspects such as in the case of FWE. So it is not as much bashed patches don't work as it is a specific request I have to ensure everything works as intended. :: I wouldn't put up such a warning if it were not absolutely necessary. You can bash and merge as you wish with every other mod out there (subject to any author notes etc.) but my patches should be loaded as stand-alone overwriting patches as the changes are required. You can however (and I ABSOLUTELY recommend it) merge all the patches safely, once you have them in the correct order as specified (in the case of multi-patch patches). The latter is an unfortunate side-effect which I hope to correct in due time with an even more streamlined installer. Sorry for any confusion caused, I hope I can clear that up as well.