Dynamic Distant Objects LOD - DynDOLOD for Skyrim and Enderal 2.98

[godescalcus]

 

FAQ: LODGen.exe: Runs a long time / The LOD files generated are several GB in size

 

A: The selected configuration options require a lot of work. Do not manually close LODGen.exe. Wait for all processes to complete before closing DynDOLOD.

A: If there are more objects with LOD, it takes longer and creates larger files. If there are more triangles in the models used for LOD, it takes longer and creates larger files. If there are more triangles in the terrain meshes, it takes longer. 

A: Do not use the experimental TreeFullFallBack setting without understanding what it does and what it is for. 

 

Terrain LOD textures have nothing to do with object, tree or dynamic LOD, that should be obvious. Terrain LOD textures mipmaps are only used for the fade from full to LOD4 texture inside the active cells.

 

Always use latest version, obviously. 

 

It looks like something to do with treesfullfallback=0. I know it generates heavier files, but I've run it that way with success several times before, including my concurrent build with this one which has even more worldspaces, Project Rainforest, etc... and it finished successfully, albeit taking longer and with almost 10Gb of output. TBH I needed full models on that build because all the billboards for those trees look pretty bad. Now on this build I'm using vanilla trees with a simple retexture, so I turned back treefullfallback=1 and (and treelod=0) and it seems to have done the trick, DynDOLOD finished in 45 minutes, no stress.

Edited February 12, 2021 by godescalcus

[keypuncher]

This seems to be a billboard.txt with and invalid entry that is expected to be a number.

 

Replace LODGenx64.exe in Edit Script. This version should print out which txt file it is.

 

The new LODGenx64 pinpointed the error and it definitely was in the Billboard file.  The specific text file for terrain\lodgen\dragonborn.esm\dlc2treepineshortheavysnow01_0003383c.txt in Seamless Billboards looked fine to me, but I don't really have the expertise to know what I am looking at there.

 

Uninstalling Seamless Billboards, re-downloading it, reinstalling it, and regenerating LOD with Seamless Billboards continues to reproduce that error (there may be more, I was only generating LOD for Deepwood Redoubt in my tests), so it wasn't a bad download.

 

Switching to Indistinguishable Vanilla Billboards resolved the issue, and I am able to generate LOD for my entire load order with 2.88/2.91.

 

Thank you very much for your assistance.

 

[sheson]

The new LODGenx64 pinpointed the error and it definitely was in the Billboard file.  The specific text file for terrain\lodgen\dragonborn.esm\dlc2treepineshortheavysnow01_0003383c.txt in Seamless Billboards looked fine to me, but I don't really have the expertise to know what I am looking at there.

 

Uninstalling Seamless Billboards, re-downloading it, reinstalling it, and regenerating LOD with Seamless Billboards continues to reproduce that error (there may be more, I was only generating LOD for Deepwood Redoubt in my tests), so it wasn't a bad download.

 

Switching to Indistinguishable Vanilla Billboards resolved the issue, and I am able to generate LOD for my entire load order with 2.88/2.91.

 

Thank you very much for your assistance.

 

I believe I know what the issue is. If you get a chance, test with this version of LODgenx64.exe

It should have no problem parsing the txt file.

[keypuncher]

On 2/12/2021 at 2:44 PM, sheson said:

I believe I know what the issue is. If you get a chance, test with this version of LODgenx64.exe

It should have no problem parsing the txt file.

Sorry, when I click on the link, I get a "The file you are trying to download is no longer available." message.

[sheson]

2 hours ago, keypuncher said:

Sorry, when I click on the link, I get a "The file you are trying to download is no longer available." message.

That's because there updates between then and now (and whatever forum posts were made in the meantime got lost).

Get the latest DynDOLOD 2.92, it now includes the fix to LODGen.

[XenolithicYardZone]

Hey sheson,
having some issues with the latest versions of DynDOLOD (2.93/3.0) and Myrkvior. They keep generating 2D LODs for certain trees. I first noticed this issue in SSE while trying out 3.0. Dropped down to 2.93, no luck. Thinking it might be my SSE modlist, I switched to LE, but the issue persists. These LODs work fine in my 2.85 DynDOLOD o/p. Unfortunately, I didn't back up the 2.85 compatible DynDOLOD Resources so can't generate new LODs with it.

2.85
2.93
Tree 1 Tree 2 
LE log
SSE log

Checked the base id for the above trees in the LE log and it says "Billboard found, new tree, 3D LOD not found <sfotreepineforest05_DA7F1B12> fallback Billboard". Nothing's overwriting Myrkvior's LOD files afaik. I even download a fresh copy of Myrkvior to check if I have any missing LOD files. Also, 2.93 works fine with EVT.

TIA

Edited February 26, 2021 by XenolithicYardZone

[sheson]

2 hours ago, XenolithicYardZone said:

Hey sheson,
having some issues with the latest versions of DynDOLOD (2.93/3.0) and Myrkvior. They keep generating 2D LODs for certain trees. I first noticed this issue in SSE while trying out 3.0. Dropped down to 2.93, no luck. Thinking it might be my SSE modlist, I switched to LE, but the issue persists. These LODs work fine in my 2.85 DynDOLOD o/p. Unfortunately, I didn't back up the 2.85 compatible DynDOLOD Resources so can't generate new LODs with it.

2.85
2.93
Tree 1 Tree 2 
LE log
SSE log

Checked the base id for the above trees in the LE log and it says "Billboard found, new tree, 3D LOD not found <sfotreepineforest05_DA7F1B12> fallback Billboard". Nothing's overwriting Myrkvior's LOD files afaik. I even download a fresh copy of Myrkvior to check if I have any missing LOD files. Also, 2.93 works fine with EVT.

TIA

If a 3D tree LOD model with the filename *sfotreepineforest05_DA7F1B12* is required for a tree to have 3D tree LOD, there is nothing any version of DynDOLOD can do about the fact that the file does not exist in the load order. Every version will report it as not being found.

You need to post about the missing 3D LOD model on the mods page.

[XenolithicYardZone]

22 hours ago, sheson said:

If a 3D tree LOD model with the filename *sfotreepineforest05_DA7F1B12* is required for a tree to have 3D tree LOD, there is nothing any version of DynDOLOD can do about the fact that the file does not exist in the load order. Every version will report it as not being found.

You need to post about the missing 3D LOD model on the mods page.

Ok, will do. I thought you were managing the mod now so posted here.

Anyway, before I do, these are two affected tree ids in different SSE logs.

TREE:00051126

Spoiler

2.85 log:

TreePineForest05 [TREE:00051126] meshes\landscape\trees\sfotreepineforest05.nif
Billboard found, 3D LOD found 
LOD4: meshes\dyndolod\lod\trees\sfotreepineforest05_7905eb79passthru_lod.nif

2.93 log:

TreePineForest05 [TREE:00051126] meshes\landscape\trees\sfotreepineforest05.nif
Billboard found, new tree, 3D LOD not found <sfotreepineforest05_564424AA> fallback Billboard
LOD4: textures\terrain\lodgen\skyrim.esm\treepineforest05_00051126.dds using internal

TREE:0004FBB0

Spoiler

2.85 log:

TreePineForest04 [TREE:0004FBB0] meshes\landscape\trees\sfotreepineforest04.nif
Billboard found, 3D LOD found 
LOD4: meshes\dyndolod\lod\trees\sfotreepineforest04_092032b8passthru_lodold.nif

2.93 log:

TreePineForest04 [TREE:0004FBB0] meshes\landscape\trees\sfotreepineforest04.nif
Billboard found, new tree, 3D LOD not found <sfotreepineforest04_868B9674> fallback Billboard
LOD4: textures\terrain\lodgen\skyrim.esm\treepineforest04_0004fbb0.dds using internal

And here's the 2.93 LE logs for these two trees:

Spoiler

TreePineForest05 [TREE:00051126] meshes\landscape\trees\sfotreepineforest05.nif
Billboard found, new tree, 3D LOD not found <sfotreepineforest05_DA7F1B12> fallback Billboard
LOD4: textures\terrain\lodgen\skyrim.esm\treepineforest05_00051126.dds using internal

TreePineForest04 [TREE:0004FBB0] meshes\landscape\trees\sfotreepineforest04.nif
Billboard found, new tree, 3D LOD not found <sfotreepineforest04_B0D61604> fallback Billboard
LOD4: textures\terrain\lodgen\skyrim.esm\treepineforest04_0004fbb0.dds using internal

Those two passthru nifs are still present in the SSE Myrkvior folder. 

Don't know if this info's any use, just thought you should know.

Edited February 27, 2021 by XenolithicYardZone

[sheson]

1 hour ago, XenolithicYardZone said:

Ok, will do. I thought you were managing the mod now so posted here.

Anyway, before I do, these are two affected tree ids in different SSE logs.

TREE:00051126

  Hide contents

2.85 log:

TreePineForest05 [TREE:00051126] meshes\landscape\trees\sfotreepineforest05.nif
Billboard found, 3D LOD found 
LOD4: meshes\dyndolod\lod\trees\sfotreepineforest05_7905eb79passthru_lod.nif

2.93 log:

TreePineForest05 [TREE:00051126] meshes\landscape\trees\sfotreepineforest05.nif
Billboard found, new tree, 3D LOD not found <sfotreepineforest05_564424AA> fallback Billboard
LOD4: textures\terrain\lodgen\skyrim.esm\treepineforest05_00051126.dds using internal

TREE:0004FBB0

  Hide contents

2.85 log:

TreePineForest04 [TREE:0004FBB0] meshes\landscape\trees\sfotreepineforest04.nif
Billboard found, 3D LOD found 
LOD4: meshes\dyndolod\lod\trees\sfotreepineforest04_092032b8passthru_lodold.nif

2.93 log:

TreePineForest04 [TREE:0004FBB0] meshes\landscape\trees\sfotreepineforest04.nif
Billboard found, new tree, 3D LOD not found <sfotreepineforest04_868B9674> fallback Billboard
LOD4: textures\terrain\lodgen\skyrim.esm\treepineforest04_0004fbb0.dds using internal

And here's the 2.93 LE logs for these two trees:

  Hide contents

TreePineForest05 [TREE:00051126] meshes\landscape\trees\sfotreepineforest05.nif
Billboard found, new tree, 3D LOD not found <sfotreepineforest05_DA7F1B12> fallback Billboard
LOD4: textures\terrain\lodgen\skyrim.esm\treepineforest05_00051126.dds using internal

TreePineForest04 [TREE:0004FBB0] meshes\landscape\trees\sfotreepineforest04.nif
Billboard found, new tree, 3D LOD not found <sfotreepineforest04_B0D61604> fallback Billboard
LOD4: textures\terrain\lodgen\skyrim.esm\treepineforest04_0004fbb0.dds using internal

Those two passthru nifs are still present in the SSE Myrkvior folder. 

Don't know if this info's any use, just thought you should know.

If the full model NIF changes, its CRC32 changes. Are yous saying that the full models are the same between the two generations and that one version of DynDOLOD is calculating a wrong CRC32?

[XenolithicYardZone]

1 hour ago, sheson said:

If the full model NIF changes, its CRC32 changes. Are yous saying that the full models are the same between the two generations and that one version of DynDOLOD is calculating a wrong CRC32?

@sheson

Please ignore everything I said. I might not have touched my Myrkvior installations, but I completely forgot that I had that Morekvior mod installed which is recommended on Myrkvior's page. It only clicked after you mentioned full model NIF changes. Since that mod doesn't have any LOD files as such, I never realized it could affect LOD generation. And now I see something about potential issues with DynDOLOD mentioned at the very bottom of that mod's page. I should read mod pages more carefully. 

Apologies.

Edited February 27, 2021 by XenolithicYardZone

[Marina]

On 1/31/2021 at 8:48 AM, sheson said:

There is no requirement or use to delete the cache folder since several years.

 

I am not sure what the issue is? 

 

Read ..\DynDOLOD\Docs\trees.ultra\DynDOLOD-Trees.html how to generate ultra tree LOD.

 

If you want 3D tree LOD you need to have 3D tree LOD models installed, change the INI setting and change LOD4 to Static LOD4 if it isn't by default (high rules only)

I‘m sorry for my late reply, I wasn’t doing well these past few weeks.

I have 3D models installed, I changed the INI and I also changed LOD4 to Static LOD4, because it didn’t change automatically.

I‘ve done this so many times - running DynDOLOD I mean. And I have no clue what I‘m doing wrong all of a sudden. Right now I‘m using an old Resource back-up, but that can‘t be the answer to the riddle since eventually I need to run DynDOLOD again. 😞

[sheson]

7 hours ago, Marina said:

I‘m sorry for my late reply, I wasn’t doing well these past few weeks.

I have 3D models installed, I changed the INI and I also changed LOD4 to Static LOD4, because it didn’t change automatically.

I‘ve done this so many times - running DynDOLOD I mean. And I have no clue what I‘m doing wrong all of a sudden. Right now I‘m using an old Resource back-up, but that can‘t be the answer to the riddle since eventually I need to run DynDOLOD again. 😞

As the ultra tree LOD manual explains, each tree for which you want 3D tree LOD requires a 3D tree LOD model, otherwise it will use a billboard as fallback. As the manual explains, the log prints a list of each tree and which LOD assets were found.

The log tells you everything that DynDOLOD does. Look at the log and check what it tells you. Also pay attention to warning or error messages.

[Marina]

Yes, but I‘m using the same mods as before, there ARE 3D models. Anyway, I will do as you suggested and I already apologize if I need to come back. Thank you for your quick replies - I know it‘s annoying and I really do appreciate the help!

Edit: I just read the sticky post at the EVT forum, which is a little bit confusing. I‘m using an older version now, so everything works like a charm. Thank you again!

Edited March 6, 2021 by Marina

[sheson]

7 hours ago, Marina said:

Yes, but I‘m using the same mods as before, there ARE 3D models. Anyway, I will do as you suggested and I already apologize if I need to come back. Thank you for your quick replies - I know it‘s annoying and I really do appreciate the help!

Edit: I just read the sticky post at the EVT forum, which is a little bit confusing. I‘m using an older version now, so everything works like a charm. Thank you again!

I suggest to ignore all third party instructions. The sticky says to set TreeFullFallBack=0 without any explanation or warning. Do not do this unless you understand what the setting does.

Read and follow the included manual instead.

You are using an older version of what?

The log prints a line for each tree which LOD assets were found and which are used. If a tree does not have a 3D LOD model, make sure the mod and its LOD assets are installed correctly. If the mod is missing require LOD assets I suggest to notify the author.

[Hypernova1912]

What is the in-game effect of "never ignore neverfades in child worlds for upgrading to static or dynamic LOD" in DynDOLOD 2.94? Also, on a related note, why are there no rules for Solitude Expansion in DynDOLOD SSE? Are they just unnecessary due to changes in the SSE version of the mod or the game itself?

Also, is there a way to configure DynDOLOD to keep a LOD object loaded even when close enough for the full model to load, or alternatively load the full model of an object that a mod places in the Tamriel worldspace in a child world?

Edited March 7, 2021 by Hypernova1912
Adding an additional question.