xLODGen - Terrain LOD beta 128 for FNV, FO3, FO4, FO4VR, TES5, SSE, TES5VR, ENDERAL, ENDERALSE

[Constantine]

Hello everyone, hello sheson,

 

I'm a long returning player (easy 5 years since I touched the game, let alone modding) and a complete newbie to Dyndolod.

To save time, I followed very closely the STEP guide to modding in which Dyndolod is used at one point... but I'm facing a set of problems I can't resolve on my own. I do think I screwed up something along the lines, but what ?

 

My issue for the time being is that xLODGen64.exe does not generate anything into the xLODGen_Output folder located into my Tool directory, despite taking 10min+ processing all the data, with no error message at the end (screen 1). Everything seems normal, but xLODGen_Output remains empty (screen 2).

So here's the guideline I've been following in regards to installing and making Dyndolod work (step 5, and especially xLodGen) : https://stepmodifications.org/wiki/SkyrimSE:2.1.0

 

To sum up the basic things I have done for sure until now :

- installed my Dyndolod folder into my tool directory outside of UAC territory on the D: drive, separately of my SSE directory (also on the D: drive)

- game version is SE 1.640, Dyndolod Resources 3 installed and activated in MO2

- load order sorted via LOOT

- created a folder inside Tools/xLODGen named xLODGen_Output ; in MO2, created an xLODgen_Output empty mod with argument : -lodgen -SSE -o:"D:\Modding\Tools\xLODGen\xLODGen_Output"

- created the requested 2 other empty submods Texgen_Output and DynDOLOD_Output alongside (TEMP) Cathedral Landscapes - xLODGen, all enabled and sorted in the correct order in MO2

 

If I decide to ignore this step and try running TexGen 64.exe, I end up into a texture copying error message saying that the access path is nowhere to be found (screenshot3). I'm at loss.

 

 

 

Edited December 14, 2022 by Constantine

[Zerin99]

11 hours ago, sheson said:

It is correct that xLODGen is used to generate terrain LOD meshes and textures, while TexGen/DynDOLOD is used to generate object and tree LOD meshes and textures.

Okay when I try to run xLODGen it gives me an error saying too many plug-ins selected. I'm guessing this is because something happened with Vortex and it disabled all of my plug-ins so I went back and manually turned on the ones I thought was necessary, which was pretty much all of them. Do I need to disable them in vortex to run xLODGen?

[z929669]

32 minutes ago, Constantine said:

- created a folder inside Tools/xLODGen named xLODGen_Output ; in MO2, created an xLODgen_Output empty mod with argument : -lodgen -SSE -o:"D:\Modding\Tools\xLODGen\xLODGen_Output"

This isn't really an xLODGen support question at this point and is probably more of a guide-related issue, so I will address here.

Please check that the path in your MO config is accurate for your actual path to this folder (just paste this into your 'Run' commandlet or into your Explorer path or even your browser address bar).

EDIT: Run xLODGen from inside MO and not from the xLODGen folder itself.

xLODGen is totally independent of DynDOLOD/TexGen, which is a different app (installed to a different path and configured in a similar manner in MO)

[sheson]

1 hour ago, Constantine said:

Hello everyone, hello sheson,

 

I'm a long returning player (easy 5 years since I touched the game, let alone modding) and a complete newbie to Dyndolod.

To save time, I followed very closely the STEP guide to modding in which Dyndolod is used at one point... but I'm facing a set of problems I can't resolve on my own. I do think I screwed up something along the lines, but what ?

 

My issue for the time being is that xLODGen64.exe does not generate anything into the xLODGen_Output folder located into my Tool directory, despite taking 10min+ processing all the data, with no error message at the end (screen 1). Everything seems normal, but xLODGen_Output remains empty (screen 2).

So here's the guideline I've been following in regards to installing and making Dyndolod work (step 5, and especially xLodGen) : https://stepmodifications.org/wiki/SkyrimSE:2.1.0

 

To sum up the basic things I have done for sure until now :

- installed my Dyndolod folder into my tool directory outside of UAC territory on the D: drive, separately of my SSE directory (also on the D: drive)

- game version is SE 1.640, Dyndolod Resources 3 installed and activated in MO2

- load order sorted via LOOT

- created a folder inside Tools/xLODGen named xLODGen_Output ; in MO2, created an xLODgen_Output empty mod with argument : -lodgen -SSE -o:"D:\Modding\Tools\xLODGen\xLODGen_Output"

- created the requested 2 other empty submods Texgen_Output and DynDOLOD_Output alongside (TEMP) Cathedral Landscapes - xLODGen, all enabled and sorted in the correct order in MO2

 

If I decide to ignore this step and try running TexGen 64.exe, I end up into a texture copying error message saying that the access path is nowhere to be found (screenshot3). I'm at loss.

 

 

 

Do not post screenshots of text, copy and paste the text instead / upload the logfile that is created after closing the program.

The log tells you where files are written to or if not why like "skipping chunk * because"... as explained in the Terrain-LOD-Readme.txt included in the download archive.

The screenshot showing an empty folder does not have the same path as shown in the xLODGen messages log.

Do not install anthing into any game or steam folders. Make sure paths do not contain weird characters Use DynDOLOD 3 Alpha and if you have problems with it use the appropriate threads.

[sheson]

28 minutes ago, Zerin99 said:

Okay when I try to run xLODGen it gives me an error saying too many plug-ins selected. I'm guessing this is because something happened with Vortex and it disabled all of my plug-ins so I went back and manually turned on the ones I thought was necessary, which was pretty much all of them. Do I need to disable them in vortex to run xLODGen?

It is unclear what the load order is, which game version you are using, what it is you are doing or what the actual problem is since you are not providing a log or actual information.

There is never a need to disable plugins or mods of a working load order to generate LOD. If there are too many plugins reported by the current xLODGen terrain LOD beta, then there also are too many plugins for the game, e.g the max plugin limit the game version supports is exceeded.

[Zerin99]

On 12/14/2022 at 12:23 PM, sheson said:

It is unclear what the load order is, which game version you are using, what it is you are doing or what the actual problem is since you are not providing a log or actual information.

There is never a need to disable plugins or mods of a working load order to generate LOD. If there are too many plugins reported by the current xLODGen terrain LOD beta, then there also are too many plugins for the game, e.g the max plugin limit the game version supports is exceeded.

I have SSE 1.6.640, and Vortex says I have 236 plugins with 364 light.

The game runs fine except the missing terrain textures and meshes.

The xLODGen error log says I'm trying to run 600 plugins.

Is that everything?

loadorder.txt LODGen log.txt

[sheson]

32 minutes ago, Zerin99 said:

I have SSE 1.6.640, and Vortex says I have 236 plugins with 364 light.

The game runs fine except the missing terrain textures and meshes.

The xLODGen error log says I'm trying to run 600 plugins.

Is that everything?

loadorder.txt 15.91 kB · 0 downloads LODGen log.txt 82.54 kB · 0 downloads

You are not using the latest xLODGen terrain LOD beta version based on xEdit 4.1.4c linked from the first post but an 4 and a half year old version 3.2.1 that doesn't support light plugins.

[RainingTacco]

Where is the changelog for the xlodgen? I have beta 95, can't find patch notes what has changed since then.

[sheson]

1 hour ago, RainingTacco said:

Where is the changelog for the xlodgen? I have beta 95, can't find patch notes what has changed since then.

Asked twice and answered twice in this thread already. https://stepmodifications.org/forum/search/?q=changelog&quick=1&type=forums_topic&item=13451, on the xEdit discord in the xLODgen-builds channel. The bug fixes are typically preceded by reports and test versions in this thread or the xLODGen support channel.

If there are actual relevant feature changes, they will be mentioned here.

[Ciretose]

So.. I've had some decent history modding with skyrim, but never delved into DynDOLOD or xGenLOD before. I wanted to give it a go this time around.

Things went well and my mod list works great. But.. I didn't read all the instructions as carefully as I thought I did. I ran DynDOLOD before running xGenLOD. Before doing this, I ran xGenLOD from the exe instead of through MO2 and thus did not have an output path argument set. I've since tried running xGenLOD through MO2 but keep getting an error like to,  "This file already exists". I've tried tracking down where it might have generated files and come up with nothing.

I know.. I suck and I deserve whatever lecture is due for not following instructions properly. I guess I should have gone to the source instead of youtube. I just need to know what to do to fix this. Do I need to do a clean wipe of the game and reinstall my modlist completely? If I do, how do I make sure I have deleted everything to make sure it's a clean install?

Sorry for the noob questions. I'm sure someone has asked this before.. but I'm not seeing a thread that resolves this particular set of stupid decisions.

[sheson]

4 hours ago, Ciretose said:

So.. I've had some decent history modding with skyrim, but never delved into DynDOLOD or xGenLOD before. I wanted to give it a go this time around.

Things went well and my mod list works great. But.. I didn't read all the instructions as carefully as I thought I did. I ran DynDOLOD before running xGenLOD. Before doing this, I ran xGenLOD from the exe instead of through MO2 and thus did not have an output path argument set. I've since tried running xGenLOD through MO2 but keep getting an error like to,  "This file already exists". I've tried tracking down where it might have generated files and come up with nothing.

I know.. I suck and I deserve whatever lecture is due for not following instructions properly. I guess I should have gone to the source instead of youtube. I just need to know what to do to fix this. Do I need to do a clean wipe of the game and reinstall my modlist completely? If I do, how do I make sure I have deleted everything to make sure it's a clean install?

Sorry for the noob questions. I'm sure someone has asked this before.. but I'm not seeing a thread that resolves this particular set of stupid decisions.

Moved to the xLODGen terrain LOD beta thread.

From the first post and included readmes:
Use -o:"c:\OutputPath\" command line parameter to change where files are generated to, default is the game folder. 

The log file - the saved messages you see will running the program - tells you where files are generated to. The log file is saved to the same folder where the program is.

Make sure to read Terrain-LOD-Readme.txt included in the download, which details the paths for the terrain LOD meshes and textures.

 

[mattski123]

On 12/13/2022 at 9:15 PM, sheson said:

https://dyndolod.info/Help/xLODGen
xLODGen is a renamed xEdit to automatically start the -lodgen xEdit tool mode.

The filename of the program is [game mode][tool mode].exe

List of possible game modes https://github.com/TES5Edit/TES5Edit/blob/dev-4.1.5/xEdit/xeInit.pas#L530
List of possible tool mode https://github.com/TES5Edit/TES5Edit/blob/dev-4.1.5/xEdit/xeInit.pas#L531

Game and tool modes can be passed as command line arguments as well and take precedence.

xLODGen.exe -sse -edit = xEdit.exe -sse = SSEEdit.exe
SSEEdit.exe -lodgen = SSELODGen.exe

Skyrim-Occlusion-Readme.txt
When running in xLODGen mode or if generating LOD/occlusion for Skyrim.esm or several plugins at the same time in xEdit mode, a new plugin Occlusion.esp will be generated. It will contain the WRLD/CELL records from the winning overwrite with the updated TVDT data.
To update the CELL records in a specific plugin, start in xEdit mode, right click the desired plugin, select Other, Generate LOD. Note the text next to the Occlusion checkbox mentioning the plugin that is updated. Skyrim.esm can not be updated, so instead it will create the usual overwrites in Occlusion.esp.

Hey, just letting you know, adding the -o worked! Thank you!

[Ciretose]

so if it put everything in the game folder by default.. I'm guessing I need to locate the files and remove them. how do I tell what's generated from xgenlod and what's original files?

[sheson]

1 hour ago, Ciretose said:

so if it put everything in the game folder by default.. I'm guessing I need to locate the files and remove them. how do I tell what's generated from xgenlod and what's original files?

The log file and the readme tells you where and what files in the meshes and textures folder are created. The vanilla game has no meshes/texture folders in data.

[Ciretose]

I've located the meshes.. there's a textures folder there, but the log shows no history of texture files being generated in that folder. Also, I can't seem to figure out why lodgen keeps giving me this error when I try to run it. "A file of that name exists already". I have set the -o argument and it's making the outputs folder where it should.. but it puts nothing in it. It throws this error and stops before anything is generated. The log file has nothing in it about this error or that i've even tried to run the program again.

 

Edit: It was giving that error because I still had the occlusion.esp in the game folder. Fixed now. I guess I'm going to try removing the textures and meshes folder as all the files in them appear to be generated with the same timestamp. I think all the files in here are from lodgen. *crosses fingers*

Thanks for the help

Edited December 22, 2022 by Ciretose