Working DynDOLOD with small Immersion problem

[jchernandez]

First, I give my firstborn already to Sheson. Second, thank you all mod/mod guides - creators/community and Bethesda for bringing joyous moments to my insignificant life. I am going to be honest here since these communities are really where I can be honest with than my family. This game keeps me from suicide.

 

There, it's out and sorry if you had to suffer that if you are reading this.

 

I've followed the instructions from youtuber GamerPoets video and have also read everything in description and understood as much as I can. In my sleepiness and excitement though I failed to modify the default settings (the part in clicking advanced settings in video) but everything worked fine after I installed it into my MO profile except one teeny tiny problem when I arrived to Darkwater Crossing.

 

I've installed all I could find from Arthmoor's village expansions including Castle Volkihar (total of 8) and I have merged them into a single esp using Mator's MergePlugins and called it 'Arthmoor village pack.esp'. I did this to reduce my loadorder count and I already have done this after I found Arthmoor's essential mod: 'Alternate Start - Live Another Life'. I've read that you should not install/uninstall mods mid-playthrough and I cannot anymore add those esps back because I will reach my load order limit of 245 (going further makes my saves reset from scratch and reinstall all mods)

 

I've also been to Kynesgrove but that place is working fine, the LOD is correct for the houses and when I approached and inspected the place there was no problem like I encountered in Darkwater Crossing.

 

And my PROBLEM: there is that the houses are submerged by landscape and I can't enter the houses since they are blocked. I am using MFGConsole and clicked on the object and it says it is DynDOLOD.esp that is the culprit(base:Skyrim locate:DynDOLOD.esp). I seemed to have failed to get a screenshot though, sorry if I cannot provide one now (will try later when I get the chance).

 

I have not yet tried to re-run from scratch for I had no reason to believe I needed to since it's only a small problem. I am writing now before I continue my playthrough and edit this post as I find more to report. I hope that someone can give me a bit of help in this small problem.

[sheson]

DynDOLOD modifies some base records by setting a flag to indicate it now has LOD. However that does not change the position of references added by mods.

 

The Form ID of the reference is the one after "ID:"

Enter this number into the FOrm ID field top left into xEdit.exe to bring up the reference to see which mods adds it or changes the position.

Edited January 9, 2017 by sheson

[jchernandez]

DynDOLOD modifies some base records by setting a flag to indicate it now has LOD. However that does not change the position of references added by mods.

 

The Form ID of the reference is the one after "ID:"

Enter this number into the FOrm ID field top left into xEdit.exe to bring up the reference to see which mods adds it or changes the position.

Thank you! I will try that. But may I ask if, when it says those plugins works out of the box then this means that even if I merged those plugins it will still work? Like I think the answer to this question is yes since it worked for Kynesgrove. Then you are right, another mod is editing it. I will find that the way you told me and report back. Thank you again! Forever thankful!

[sheson]

Thank you! I will try that. But may I ask if, when it says those plugins works out of the box then this means that even if I merged those plugins it will still work? Like I think the answer to this question is yes since it worked for Kynesgrove. Then you are right, another mod is editing it. I will find that the way you told me and report back. Thank you again! Forever thankful!

In regards to merging, you only ever need to worry about mods for which "custom rules" exist. Those are listed in the manuals 'Compatibility' section with a ¹

 

As explained in the 'Dealing with merged Mods' section of the manual, "custom rules" for such merged mods are usually automatically applied to the merge.esp if DynDOLOD.exe can read the merge data typically created by 'Merge Plugins'.

 

In any case, DynDOLOD.exe never changes positions of references regardless if they are merged or not - unless something breaks really badly, which should result in exception errors anyways.

 

My gut feeling would be that there might a mod that changes the terrain height maybe and that the buildings are at the correct positions. Or that another mod adds landscape features like a dirtclicff. Hard to tell without screesnhot. So if you can't solve it from here, post screenshots.

[jchernandez]

In regards to merging, you only ever need to worry about mods for which "custom rules" exist. Those are listed in the manuals 'Compatibility' section with a ¹

 

As explained in the 'Dealing with merged Mods' section of the manual, "custom rules" for such merged mods are usually automatically applied to the merge.esp if DynDOLOD.exe can read the merge data typically created by 'Merge Plugins'.

 

In any case, DynDOLOD.exe never changes positions of references regardless if they are merged or not - unless something breaks really badly, which should result in exception errors anyways.

 

My gut feeling would be that there might a mod that changes the terrain height maybe and that the buildings are at the correct positions. Or that another mod adds landscape features like a dirtclicff. Hard to tell without screesnhot. So if you can't solve it from here, post screenshots.

IDK what I did but its fixed now! Only the LOD part is minor unfixed on my way from Kynesgrove back to Darkwater Crossing I did TFC to see the LOD there and this is what I got:

 

But when I got there ::its fixed! It is no longer submerged like before and I clicked the terrain and it says a different plugin in its locate as u can see in this image:

 

 

Also another in the list of working out of the box mod: Ashlander Camp New Zainab. It didn't get a LOD its also merged into the merged plugin I had along with all other Arthmoor's village expansion. On my way to Darkwater Crossing I came over there and everything else inside and out of the camp works fine. But going away It wasn't there:

here are screenshots I took:

 

and inside the camp:

Edited January 13, 2017 by jchernandez

[sheson]

Looks like a mod changes the height of the terrain without updating the terrain LOD.

The mod may ship with its own *.BTR terrain LOD files for the area, but maybe you are also using a high res terrain LOD that overwrites it.

You could use CK or Oscape to generate updated *.BTR. Though it is a bit more involved than using DynDOLOD.

 

Make sure to read the section 'Dealing with merged Mods' in the manual.

If you used Merge Plugin it should have found and use the data files that were created when merging the mod. Check the log for the message.

If all else fails the quickest option is to copy ..\DynDOLOD\Edit Scripts\DynDOLOD\rules\DynDOLOD_TES5_campnewzainabesp.ini to DynDOLOD_TES5_mergedpluginnameesp.ini as explained.

Edited January 13, 2017 by sheson

[jchernandez]

Looks like a mod changes the height of the terrain without updating the terrain LOD.

The mod may ship with its own *.BTR terrain LOD files for the area, but maybe you are also using a high res terrain LOD that overwrites it.

You could use CK or Oscape to generate updated *.BTR. Though it is a bit more involved than using DynDOLOD.

 

Make sure to read the section 'Dealing with merged Mods' in the manual.

If you used Merge Plugin it should have found and use the data files that were created when merging the mod. Check the log for the message.

If all else fails the quickest option is to copy ..\DynDOLOD\Edit Scripts\DynDOLOD\rules\DynDOLOD_TES5_campnewzainabesp.ini to DynDOLOD_TES5_mergedpluginnameesp.ini as explained.

I don't recall ever downloading other LOD mods. But I remember Ruffled Feather pack comes with a terrain bump? Could that be it? And I'm really sorry I had no idea there was such in a manual. I tried to read everything that was in front of me, sorry for that. This seems to be just a lack of reading in my part. I'll do that right away! Thank you so so much! I would even give you my second born if I will ever have one to give.

[sheson]

I don't recall ever downloading other LOD mods. But I remember Ruffled Feather pack comes with a terrain bump? Could that be it? And I'm really sorry I had no idea there was such in a manual. I tried to read everything that was in front of me, sorry for that. This seems to be just a lack of reading in my part. I'll do that right away! Thank you so so much! I would even give you my second born if I will ever have one to give.

AFAIK terrain bump is just about textures so that won't matter.

 

If there are no other meshes\terrain\tamriel\*.BTR files in the load order (you probably would have to check *.BSA from the mods as well) then I would assume a mod changes the terrain height but does not provide updated terrain LOD meshes. That's a very common scenario with a lot of mods.

Edited January 13, 2017 by sheson