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

[Hedehog17]

Hello,

I'm currently working on my second custom worldspace for Fallout 4. Both of my worldspaces are based on heightmaps to generate the terrain. The LOD for my first world space was generated by using an older version of xLODgen(I forgot the version number). It appears that both the terrain as well as object LOD generation for my first worldspace were succesful. I'm getting no stuttering or other issues. I've tested it with both loose files as well as everything packed into BA2 archives. The first worldspace contains a pretty large number of objects and it's pretty decent performance-wise, even with LOD.

 

My second worldspace is just in its layout stage with only a couple hundred of objects in it so far. However, generating LOD for the second world space causes some serious micro stuttering when I'm moving around. I've tested this with loose as well as packed files. I even tried generating new worldspaces, based on differently sized heightmaps with a different amount of complexity. I even put different objects into those worldspaces, some 100% vanilla some more custom and the result was always the same: Just using generated terrain LOD is ok, using object LOD causes the micro stuttering. So I loaded back into my second worldspace with just terrain LOD and everything is fine until I generate object LOD. I'm currently using the most recent version xLODGen beta 106 to generate both terrain as well as object LOD. I've tried messing with the compression levels and atlas sizes, but nothing seems to help. No object has a higher z-position value than 6000 so far.

I've attached the LODGen_log output:

Spoiler

Skyrim/Fallout Object/Terrain LOD Generator 3.0.19.0
Created by Ehamloptiran and Zilav
Updated by Sheson

Log started at 17:10:20
.NET Version: 4.8
Game Mode: FO4
Worldspace: RTRDSouthernCommonwealth
Fix Tangents: False, False, False, False
Generate Tangents: True, True, True, True
Generate Vertex Colors: True, True, True, True
Merge Vertex Colors: False, False, False, False
Merge Meshes: True
Grouping: False
Remove Faces under Terrain: True
Remove Faces under Water: True
Use HD Flag: True
Ignore Materials: False
Alpha DoubleSided: False
Default Alpha Threshold: 128
Use Source Alpha Threshold: False
Use Backlight Power: False
Use Decal Flag: False
Specific level: No
Specific quad: No
Max Level: 32
Output: c:\Output\meshes\terrain\RTRDSouthernCommonwealth\Objects\
Using UV Atlas: C:\Users\myUsername\Documents\FALLOUT\everything\TOOLS\xLODGen\Edit Scripts\LODGenAtlasMap.txt
Generating object LOD meshes for worldspace RTRDSouthernCommonwealth
Threads: 16
Concs: 2
Finished LOD level 16 coord [0, 0] [308/308]
Finished LOD level 4 coord [4, 0] [42/42]
Finished LOD level 4 coord [8, 4] [884/884]
Finished LOD level 8 coord [8, 0] [246/246]
Finished LOD level 8 coord [0, 0] [3275/3275]
Finished LOD level 4 coord [4, 4] [3505/3505]
LOD level 4 total triangles 4431 reduced to 4431
LOD level 8 total triangles 3521 reduced to 3521
LOD level 16 total triangles 308 reduced to 308
Log ended at 17:10:21 (00:00:01)
Code: 0

Your help would be very much appreciated as I can't really continue working on the worldspace if I don't know how to fix the performance issues.

Edit: I'm using none of the additionally provided resources. Just xLODgen to generate.

 

 

 

Edited January 18 by Hedehog17

[sheson]

8 minutes ago, Hedehog17 said:

Hello,

I'm currently working on my second custom worldspace for Fallout 4. Both of my worldspaces are based on heightmaps to generate the terrain. The LOD for my first world space was generated by using an older version of xLODgen(I forgot the version number). It appears that both the terrain as well as object LOD generation for my first worldspace were succesful. I'm getting no stuttering or other issues. I've tested it with both loose files as well as everything packed into BA2 archives. The first worldspace contains a pretty large number of objects and it's pretty decent performance-wise, even with LOD.

 

My second worldspace is just in its layout stage with only a couple hundred of objects in it so far. However, generating LOD for the second world space causes some serious micro stuttering when I'm moving around. I've tested this with loose as well as packed files. I even tried to generating new worldspaces, based on differently sized heightmaps with a different amount of complexity. I even put different objects into those worldspaces, some 100% vanilla some more custom and the result was always the same: Just using generated terrain LOD is ok, using object LOD causes the micro stuttering. So I loaded back into my second worldspace with just terrain LOD and everything is fine until I generate object LOD. I'm currently using the most recent version xLODGen beta 106 to generate both terrain as well as object LOD. I've tried messing with the compression levels and atlas sizes, but nothing seems to help. No object has a higher z-position value than 6000 so far.

I've attached the LODGen_log output:

  Hide contents

Skyrim/Fallout Object/Terrain LOD Generator 3.0.19.0
Created by Ehamloptiran and Zilav
Updated by Sheson

Log started at 17:10:20
.NET Version: 4.8
Game Mode: FO4
Worldspace: RTRDSouthernCommonwealth
Fix Tangents: False, False, False, False
Generate Tangents: True, True, True, True
Generate Vertex Colors: True, True, True, True
Merge Vertex Colors: False, False, False, False
Merge Meshes: True
Grouping: False
Remove Faces under Terrain: True
Remove Faces under Water: True
Use HD Flag: True
Ignore Materials: False
Alpha DoubleSided: False
Default Alpha Threshold: 128
Use Source Alpha Threshold: False
Use Backlight Power: False
Use Decal Flag: False
Specific level: No
Specific quad: No
Max Level: 32
Output: c:\Output\meshes\terrain\RTRDSouthernCommonwealth\Objects\
Using UV Atlas: C:\Users\myUsername\Documents\FALLOUT\everything\TOOLS\xLODGen\Edit Scripts\LODGenAtlasMap.txt
Generating object LOD meshes for worldspace RTRDSouthernCommonwealth
Threads: 16
Concs: 2
Finished LOD level 16 coord [0, 0] [308/308]
Finished LOD level 4 coord [4, 0] [42/42]
Finished LOD level 4 coord [8, 4] [884/884]
Finished LOD level 8 coord [8, 0] [246/246]
Finished LOD level 8 coord [0, 0] [3275/3275]
Finished LOD level 4 coord [4, 4] [3505/3505]
LOD level 4 total triangles 4431 reduced to 4431
LOD level 8 total triangles 3521 reduced to 3521
LOD level 16 total triangles 308 reduced to 308
Log ended at 17:10:21 (00:00:01)
Code: 0

Your help would be very much appreciated as I can't really continue working on the worldspace if I don't know how to fix the performance issues.

Upload the FO4LODGen_log.txt

Probably something changed in the load order, the used mods or game and/or LODGen settings are different.

If you have the old set of BTO files that are fine and the set of the new BTO files that are problematic, upload both sets.

[Hedehog17]

14 minutes ago, sheson said:

Upload the FO4LODGen_log.txt

Probably something changed in the load order, the used mods or game and/or LODGen settings are different.

If you have the old set of BTO files that are fine and the set of the new BTO files that are problematic, upload both sets.

 

I've only one .esp in my data folder which is my esp. Although, it appears that another mod that I deleted some time ago shows up in one of the text files of Bethesda but not in my home load order.

 

Here are the files you were asking for https://mega.nz/file/d6QizQBS#CkPnKhTtauSV6FTFNhrO2WgjNDdxqHi-3eXpSrTWkKU

I suppose that the bto files of my first worldspace don't cause any micro stuttering, since I can run around in that worldspace properly, but I'm not 100% sure tho, since my test setup isn't really the best(ultra wide screen) and the first worldspace is quite performance intensive. However, I can remember that I tested it wither another screen some time ago and everything was fine. The micro stuttering in the second worldspace is extremely noticable.

 

[sheson]

10 minutes ago, Hedehog17 said:

 

I've only one .esp in my data folder which is my esp. Although, it appears that another mod that I deleted some time ago shows up in one of the text files of Bethesda but not in my home load order.

 

Here are the files you were asking for https://mega.nz/file/d6QizQBS#CkPnKhTtauSV6FTFNhrO2WgjNDdxqHi-3eXpSrTWkKU

I suppose that the bto files of my first worldspace don't cause any micro stuttering, since I can run around in that worldspace properly, but I'm not 100% sure tho, since my test setup isn't really the best(ultra wide screen) and the first worldspace is quite performance intensive. However, I can remember that I tested it wither another screen some time ago and everything was fine. The micro stuttering in the second worldspace is extremely noticable.

The uploaded BTO files are from different worldspaces.

You wrote you had old BTO and new BTO for the first worldspace that you suspect to be different. Can you upload those?

[Hedehog17]

The working ones I uploaded are from the first worldspace where everything seems to be fine. The faulty ones are from the second worldspace in which I get the micro stuttering. I unfortunately don't have any "proper" bto's for the second worldspace, only the faulty ones.

[sheson]

10 minutes ago, Hedehog17 said:

The working ones I uploaded are from the first worldspace where everything seems to be fine. The faulty ones are from the second worldspace in which I get the micro stuttering. I unfortunately don't have any "proper" bto's for the second worldspace, only the faulty ones.

We have "fine" BTOs for RTRDNoMansLand. Generate new object LOD for RTRDNoMansLand with the latest xLODGen and test. If there is any issues, upload the new BTOs so we can compare to the "fine" ones. Compare the generated textures are the same.
If there is no issue, then we know we have to look for something else.

[Hedehog17]

I just generated obj LOD with the latest xLODGen for my first worldspace(RTRDNoMansLand) and tested it. No problems at all. No micro stuttering as far as I can tell. The only difference I noticed was that the new bto files are larger than the old ones and that the texture atlas is packed in a different way, it's stretching further horizontally. I guess those are just changes you guys made or the algorithmn is acting differently this time. But yeah, it seems to be working perfectly.

Edited January 18 by Hedehog17

[sheson]

14 minutes ago, Hedehog17 said:

I just generated obj LOD with the latest xLODGen for the my first worldspace(RTRDNoMansLand) and tested it. No problems at all. No micro stuttering as far as I can tell. The only difference I noticed was that the new bto files are larger than the old ones and that the texture atlas is packed in a different way, it's stretching further horizontally. I guess those are just changes you guys made or the algorithmn is acting differently this time. But yeah, it seems to be working perfectly.

OK.

Test if hiding/removing RTRDSouthernCommonwealth.4.4.4.bto and RTRDSouthernCommonwealth.8.0.0.bto makes a difference.

If it does, it probably has to do with the LOD model that uses Data\Textures\lod\decomainlod_d.dds, decomainlod_n.dds, decomainlod_s.dds directly. It's the corners of that one the budlings. The UV has a huge outlier.

[Hedehog17]

10 minutes ago, sheson said:

OK.

Test if hiding/removing RTRDSouthernCommonwealth.4.4.4.bto and RTRDSouthernCommonwealth.8.0.0.bto makes a difference.

If it does, it probably has to do with the LOD model that uses Data\Textures\lod\decomainlod_d.dds, decomainlod_n.dds, decomainlod_s.dds directly. It's the corners of that one the budlings. The UV as a huge outlier.

That didn't help, unfortunately. What makes me wonder is that I already created like ~2-3 other test worldspaces with just vanilla SCOL buildings in them which use the shell kit, and therefore not the decomainlod_d.dds files, and those worldspaces were suffering from the exact same problem - they all had micro stuttering in them once I generated obj LOD. Could it have something to do with the fact that my esp contains so many records?

 

Edit: Also, how are you able to see the LOD meshes? How do you view/open those bto files?

Edited January 18 by Hedehog17

[sheson]

7 minutes ago, Hedehog17 said:

That didn't help, unfortunately. What makes me wonder is that I already created like ~2-3 other test worldspaces with just vanilla SCOL buildings in them which use the shell kit, and therefore not the decomainlod_d.dds files, and those worldspaces were suffering from the exact same problem - they all had micro stuttering in them once I generated obj LOD. Could it have something to do with the fact that my esp contains so many records?

Edit: Also, how are you able to see the LOD meshes? How do you view/open those bto files?

RTRDSouthernCommonwealth only has 6 BTO, hide all but one at a time to see if it is only specific ones.

Use NifSkope to open meshes. Double check the newly generated ones use atlas textures only - which means UV is fine then.

[Hedehog17]

18 minutes ago, sheson said:

RTRDSouthernCommonwealth only has 6 BTO, hide all but one at a time to see if it is only specific ones.

I tested each one singly, one after another. 4.4.0, 4.4.4, 4.8.4 cause micro stuttering. 8.0.0, 8.8.0, 16.0.0 are fine.

 

26 minutes ago, sheson said:

Use NifSkope to open meshes

Thank you. That's really cool to know. I never knew that nifskope can open those bto files. What am I supposed to look out for?

 

25 minutes ago, sheson said:

Double check the newly generated ones use atlas textures only - which means UV is fine then.

What do you mean by that?

[sheson]

28 minutes ago, Hedehog17 said:

I tested each one singly, one after another. 4.4.0, 4.4.4, 4.8.4 cause micro stuttering. 8.0.0, 8.8.0, 16.0.0 are fine.

Thank you. That's really cool to know. I never knew that nifskope can open those bto files. What am I supposed to look out for?

What do you mean by that?

If RTRDSouthernCommonwealth.4.4.0.bto alone causes problems that seems wild. It just has one Shape with 84 triangles.
There is really nothing that seems obviously wrong or different.
You can try to narrow it down further. Open C:\Users\myUsername\Documents\FALLOUT\Everything\TOOLS\xLODGen\Edit Scripts\LODGen.txt in notepad.
Scroll down a bit until you see the lines start with the reference form ID, positions, rotation, scale and eventually the LOD models. Each object has its own line.
Remove all but the 4 lines/references/objects that correspond to the RTRDSouthernCommonwealth.4.4.0.bto
Open a windows command prompt and run

"C:\Users\myUsername\Documents\FALLOUT\Everything\TOOLS\xLODGen\Edit Scripts\LODGenx64.exe" "C:\Users\myUsername\Documents\FALLOUT\Everything\TOOLS\xLODGen\Edit Scripts\LODGen.txt"

It should then just generate that one BTO with the 4 objects for you to test without any of the others. We expect it to still have an issue.
Make a backup of C:\Users\myUsername\Documents\FALLOUT\Everything\TOOLS\xLODGen\Edit Scripts\LODGen.txt and then generate LOD with only one object at a time by  removing the lines for the others to find out which one causes problems. Make sure there are no empty newlines anywhere.
Upload the smallest (fewest vertices, triangles) BTO that still has issues.

LOD models needs to have their UV between 0.0 and 1.0 so they can use textures on the atlas.
If the UV is outside of those bounds, it will use the texture directly instead.

[Hedehog17]

Okay. I did exactly what you just said. Here are the results:

 

1. All at once cause problems
2. 011E5BE3 IndFrame512Straight01 alone causes micro stutters
3. 011E5BE4 IndFrame512Straight01 alone causes micro stutters
4. 011E5BE5 IndFrame1024Straight01 alone causes micro stutters
5. 011E5BE9 BldgShellMetalRoofMid01Solid alone produces two files 4.4.0/8.0.0 - causes micro stutters
6. 011E5BEA BldgShellMetalRoofMid01Solid alone produces two files 4.4.0/8.0.0 - causes micro stutters
7. 011E5BEB BldgShellMetalRoofMid01Solid produces no output after the commandline prompt. It has a scale 4.0.

 

I'm completely confused. I've already used all of these objects in my other worldspace, even with similar scales and they've never caused any problems.

[sheson]

47 minutes ago, Hedehog17 said:

Okay. I did exactly what you just said. Here are the results:

1. All at once cause problems
2. 011E5BE3 IndFrame512Straight01 alone causes micro stutters
3. 011E5BE4 IndFrame512Straight01 alone causes micro stutters
4. 011E5BE5 IndFrame1024Straight01 alone causes micro stutters
5. 011E5BE9 BldgShellMetalRoofMid01Solid alone produces two files 4.4.0/8.0.0 - causes micro stutters
6. 011E5BEA BldgShellMetalRoofMid01Solid alone produces two files 4.4.0/8.0.0 - causes micro stutters
7. 011E5BEB BldgShellMetalRoofMid01Solid produces no output after the commandline prompt. It has a scale 4.0.

I'm completely confused. I've already used all of these objects in my other worldspace, even with similar scales and they've never caused any problems.

Oh yes of course, it will create LOD level 8/16 files too if the objects has something for them defined.
Have you checked if the RTRDSouthernCommonwealth.8.0.0.bto alone in this causes issues or is fine, since originally the issues was only in the LOD level 4 files. The game does load the LOD level 8 if it is the only file and shows it right?
Do these 2 references use same or different LOD models for LOD level 8?

[Hedehog17]

Okay. I compared the bto objects from my first worldspace and their UVs to the bto objects of my secondworldspace(RTRDSouthernCommonwealth). It appears that all the LOD objects in the first worldspace have clean UV maps when I look at them in nifskope and the texture atlas is visible. The LOD objects in the second worldspace all have warped UVs and the texture atlas isn't visible in Nifskope. It's just another warped texture.

 

Edit: Just saw your new response. I'm gonna test it.

Edited January 18 by Hedehog17