xLODGen - Terrain LOD beta 129 for FNV, FO3, FO4, FO4VR, TES5, SSE, TES5VR, ENDERAL, ENDERALSE

[sheson]

Is there a way to increase mesh and texture quality of object LOD similar to the way you can set quality and resolution for terrain LOD? Since Fallout 4 has no DynDOLOD I was wondering if there is a way to improve the object lod similar to the way you can set the quality for meshes and resolution for terrain LOD in xLODGen.

Object LOD uses LOD models and LOD textures. They need to be created.

 

There are some LOD textures that could be made directly from full models with TexGen. Then those LOD models could use textures with a higher resolution. DynDOLOD_Mod_Authors.html contains a brief explanation of the text file format used by TexGen to create textures.

 

In case full models are used for LOD, LODGen does some light optimization to counter the increased triangle count that happens because of the re-UV of tiled UV for the texture atlas. However, it is unlikely to happen automatically since that is a feature for DynDOLOD. It is nothing compared to true creation of LOD models, manually or with professional tools.

Edited September 15, 2018 by sheson

[El_Rizzo]

Okay good to know, thanks for the explanation! :)

[MongeHDS]

@sheson u can release a link to the xLODGEN beta v22?

[sheson]

@sheson u can release a link to the xLODGEN beta v22?

It is outdated. The newest version should work just as fine. If not, post about whatever problem you might behaving so it gets fixed for everybody.

Edited September 17, 2018 by sheson

[LoD7995]

Probably I'm just blind, but I can't find a changelog anywhere. Is there a separate site for it?

[CcaidenN]

Is there a way to fix the world map after using this? I know some people mentioned this problem, but I didn't find a clear answer. I used this with SSE and only used the terrain option. Now my world map is all glitchy looking as long as this is activated.

Edited September 20, 2018 by CcaidenN

[El_Rizzo]

 

Probably I'm just blind, but I can't find a changelog anywhere. Is there a separate site for it?

 

There is no changelog, if there is something important that changed/got added, Sheson posts it here, otherwise consider updates to be minor bugfixes/improvements.

[sheson]

Is there a way to fix the world map after using this? I know some people mentioned this problem, but I didn't find a clear answer. I used this with SSE and only used the terrain option. Now my world map is all glitchy looking as long as this is activated.

Depends on what glitchy looking is supposed to mean.

[CcaidenN]

Depends on what glitchy looking is supposed to mean.

Bodies of water are very defined and "blocky" looking, and random spots on the map are constantly flickering. I just tried installing "A quality world map" (loose files) AFTER the meshes and textures added by this, which helps, but the water and flickering are still a problem. Having no map mod installed produces the same problem. I can try upload a screenshot if that'd help.

Edited September 20, 2018 by CcaidenN

[sheson]

The water is very defined and "blocky" looking, and random spots on the map are constantly flickering. I just tried installing "A quality world map" (loose files) AFTER the meshes and textures added by this, which helps, but the water and flickering are still a problem. Having no map mod installed presents the same problem. I can try upload a screenshot if that'd help.

This has been asked, discussed and answered plenty of times in this thread already:

 

The map uses terrain LOD level 32 meshes and textures.

 

The vanilla LOD level 32 meshes were manually edited by Bethesda to combat z-fighting between water and terrain. xLODGen has the Optimized Unseen drop down that helps with coastlines and shallow terrain under the water surface. Start with values around 500 or 550 for LOD level 32. There are some posts here were users reported their experience with testing values.

 

Alternatively, you do not have to use all files that were generated - or use the options to generated only specific LOD levels. For example, delete all LOD level 32 meshes and/or textures so they do not overwrite the same files that might be in a BSA from a map mod. Or change overwrite order of loose files accordingly to your preferences. For example, you might prefer to use a map mod that shows roads.

 

LOD files are very simple and basic. They are just meshes and textures with defined folders and file names for each worldspace and each of LOD levels. Meshes are easy to check in nifskope etc.

Edited September 20, 2018 by sheson

[CcaidenN]

This has been asked, discussed and answered plenty of times in this thread already:

 

The map uses terrain LOD level 32 meshes and textures.

 

The vanilla LOD level 32 meshes were manually edited by Bethesda to combat z-fighting between water and terrain. xLODGen has the Optimized Unseen drop down that helps with coastlines and shallow terrain under the water surface. Start with values around 500 or 550 for LOD level 32. There are some posts here were users reported their experience with testing values.

 

Alternatively, you do not have to use all files that were generated - or use the options to generated only specific LOD levels. For example, delete all LOD level 32 meshes and/or textures so they do not overwrite the same files that might be in a BSA from a map mod. Or change overwrite order of loose files accordingly to your preferences. For example, you might prefer to use a map mod that shows roads.

 

LOD files are very simple and basic. They are just meshes and textures with defined folders and file names for each worldspace and each of LOD levels. Meshes are easy to check nifskope etc.

I downloaded "A Quality World Map Paper," extracted all the files out of the BSA format the author had them in, then installed that. This actually covers up all the problems with the realistic map and it looks quite nice in my opinion! But, I will experiment with the option you mentioned to see how that does. Thanks.

Edited September 20, 2018 by CcaidenN

[CcaidenN]

So, I'm stumped. I use this for the terrain, and DynDOLOD for the objects and trees; which seems highly recommended. When I have this active along with DynDOLOD, my LOD looks a bit worse than when I have DynDOLOD running alone. I used the following settings:

 

LOD4 Diffuse 512, Normals 256, Protect Borders

LOD8 Diffuse 256, Normals 256, Optimize Unseen On

LOD16 Diffuse 256, Normals 128, Optimize Unseen On

LOD32 Diffuse 128, Normals 128, Optimize Unseen 550

Baked normals checked.

 

Here's a link to a couple of screenshots I took: https://imgur.com/a/r24TDjN

 

It's a bit hard to see the difference in those shots, but SSELODGen merely makes my LOD a little brighter. Running DynDOLOD alone has better shadows in the distance which looks better IMO. Am I missing something? It seems like DynDOLOD is doing all the work.

Edited September 21, 2018 by CcaidenN

[sheson]

So, I'm stumped. I use this for the terrain, and DynDOLOD for the objects and trees; which seems highly recommended. When I have this active along with DynDOLOD, my LOD looks a bit worse than when I have DynDOLOD running alone. I used the following settings:

 

LOD4 Diffuse 512, Normals 256, Protect Borders

LOD8 Diffuse 256, Normals 256, Optimize Unseen On

LOD16 Diffuse 256, Normals 128, Optimize Unseen On

LOD32 Diffuse 128, Normals 128, Optimize Unseen 550

Baked normals checked.

 

Here's a link to a couple of screenshots I took: https://imgur.com/a/r24TDjN

 

It's a bit hard to see the difference in those shots, but SSELODGen merely makes my LOD a little brighter. Running DynDOLOD alone has better shadows in the distance which looks better IMO. Am I missing something? It seems like DynDOLOD is doing all the work.

DynDOLOD creates improved tree and object LOD and does not change terrain meshes or textures. LOD does not cast or receive shadows.

 

Neither screenshot seems to show vanilla terrain LOD, so it is unclear what you are comparing.

 

For all I know this could be just different ambient occlusion settings, terrain noise overlay, terrain LOD generation brightness settings or different resolutions of baked terrain normal textures.

[CcaidenN]

DynDOLOD creates improved tree and object LOD and does not change terrain meshes or textures. LOD does not cast or receive shadows.

 

Neither screenshot seems to show vanilla terrain LOD, so it is unclear what you are comparing.

 

For all I know this could be just different ambient occlusion settings, terrain noise overlay, terrain LOD generation brightness settings or different resolutions of baked terrain normal textures.

I stated that I'm comparing SSELODGen + DynDOLOD VS DynDOLOD alone. I didn't change any other settings. The only difference I can see is SSELODGen makes the lod brighter and less pleasing to look at. I was under the impression they work/compliment each other when ran together. Edited September 21, 2018 by CcaidenN

[sheson]

I stated that I'm comparing SSELODGen + DynDOLOD VS DynDOLOD alone. I didn't change any other settings. The only difference is SSELODGen makes the lod brighter and less pleasing to look at. I was under the impression they work/compliment each other when ran together.

xLODGen generates terrain meshes and textures with the settings and options are you are selecting.

 

None of the pictures shows vanilla terrain LOD. It is unclear what terrain LOD meshes/textures/noise textures are used in the screenshot you are comparing to, e.g. what tool or settings were used to generate it and what the full model textures were at the time of creation.

 

If you want terrain LOD textures to be darker, use the brightness/contrast/gamma settings or adjust the noise texture. If the brightness/contrast/gamma settings are default the color tone of the created LOD textures is exactly as the color tone of the full textures currently installed in the load order.

 

The normal texture resolution, compression, baking of normal maps and the steepness setting will also affect how terrain LOD reacts to lighting and seem to have more detail.

Edited September 21, 2018 by sheson