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

[AlbertH69]

Quick question, I understand that when choosing mesh LOD quality, the lower the number, the higher the quality. Thus far, I've chosen 0 when I thought I wanted the highest quality possible, but I only just noticed that there's actually a negative value? -1

Is it supposed to represent an even higher quality than 0? Or is it a setting that represent something else (like disabling the mesh generation process for specific distances) ?

[sheson]

47 minutes ago, AlbertH69 said:

Quick question, I understand that when choosing mesh LOD quality, the lower the number, the higher the quality. Thus far, I've chosen 0 when I thought I wanted the highest quality possible, but I only just noticed that there's actually a negative value? -1

Is it supposed to represent an even higher quality than 0? Or is it a setting that represent something else (like disabling the mesh generation process for specific distances) ?

See the included Terrain-LOD-Readme.txt for a brief explanation of the settings for terrain LOD generation. Read the hints that are shown when the mouse pointer rests on a setting.

-1 = no optimization

https://stepmodifications.org/forum/topic/13451-xlodgen-terrain-lod-beta-84-for-fnv-fo3-fo4-fo4vr-tes5-sse-tes5vr-enderal-enderalse/?do=findComment&comment=244093
https://stepmodifications.org/forum/topic/13451-xlodgen-terrain-lod-beta-84-for-fnv-fo3-fo4-fo4vr-tes5-sse-tes5vr-enderal-enderalse/?do=findComment&comment=234737

[AlbertH69]

If it has no optimization, does it mean that xLodgen leaves the mesh alone? Would it result in faster xLodgen process?

Is it worth using -1 for any reason at all?

Edited September 9, 2021 by AlbertH69

[z929669]

16 minutes ago, AlbertH69 said:

If it has no optimization, does it mean that xLodgen leaves the mesh alone? Would it result in faster xLodgen process?

Is it worth using -1 for any reason at all?

If you use -1 for all LOD levels, then there is no point in generating terrain LOD ... it's effectively an 'off' switch. You should use default settings if you are uncertain, as they are set that way for general, evidence-based compatibility. You only need to generate terrain LOD when you make changes to fundamental mods affecting landscapes, which don't often get changed once decided (unless you are testing a bunch of them).

[sheson]

36 minutes ago, AlbertH69 said:

If it has no optimization, does it mean that xLodgen leaves the mesh alone? Would it result in faster xLodgen process?

Is it worth using -1 for any reason at all?

From the linked posts:

"... which means the terrain LOD mesh is equal to the loaded cell"
"The loaded cells do not really use files. The terrain mesh is built on the fly."

Terrain LOD meshes are always generated by LODGen, just with the different select quality.
Generating terrain LOD meshes takes seconds, minutes. If you want to know if an option is faster or slower, just compare the run time written to the log for different settings.

The option exists for mod authors requiring full resolution terrain meshes for whatever nefarious reasons.

27 minutes ago, z929669 said:

If you use -1 for all LOD levels, then there is no point in generating terrain LOD ... it's effectively an 'off' switch. You should use default settings if you are uncertain, as they are set that way for general, evidence-based compatibility. You only need to generate terrain LOD when you make changes to fundamental mods affecting landscapes, which don't often get changed once decided (unless you are testing a bunch of them).

A quality of -1 means the terrain LOD meshes have the same number of triangle as the full terrain without any optimization.

A quality of 0 is visually the same. A quality of 0 means triangles that have an elevation difference of 0 are combined.

It is based on this http://mgarland.org/software/terra.html, the successor of "Scape"

[z929669]

Thanks for clarifying my faulty assumptions

[bob124]

Hello, thank you for these amazing tools sheson! I am having a problem with some weird gray snow LOD textures after running the current versions of LODGen and DynDOLOD (though I think it's LODGen that actually generates the terrain LOD right so DynDOLOD wouldn't affect this?) that I can't figure out. I've linked a couple screenshots below that show the problem. I'm using HD Snow LODs, Majestic Mountains, Better Dynamic Snow 3.3, Dave's UFHD Mountains SE, and Nordic Snow (in that load order) but cannot for the life of me figure out what's causing the problem as enabling/disabling mods has not helped. I've also re-run LODGen and DynDOLOD 3 alpha 39 several times after changing mods out and still the issue persists. The snow in loaded cells around me as I move around is fine, it's just the LOD that's having the problem. Any help is greatly appreciated, this is driving me nuts.

https://imgur.com/a/AvkfptO

[sheson]

5 hours ago, bob124 said:

Hello, thank you for these amazing tools sheson! I am having a problem with some weird gray snow LOD textures after running the current versions of LODGen and DynDOLOD (though I think it's LODGen that actually generates the terrain LOD right so DynDOLOD wouldn't affect this?) that I can't figure out. I've linked a couple screenshots below that show the problem. I'm using HD Snow LODs, Majestic Mountains, Better Dynamic Snow 3.3, Dave's UFHD Mountains SE, and Nordic Snow (in that load order) but cannot for the life of me figure out what's causing the problem as enabling/disabling mods has not helped. I've also re-run LODGen and DynDOLOD 3 alpha 39 several times after changing mods out and still the issue persists. The snow in loaded cells around me as I move around is fine, it's just the LOD that's having the problem. Any help is greatly appreciated, this is driving me nuts.

https://imgur.com/a/AvkfptO

The ground between objects is terrain LOD.

If terrain LOD textures are generally too bright or too dark compared to the load terrain textures in the loaded cells, it is because of the noise.dds as explained in the first post.

If non snowy areas match, but snowy areas do not match, it is because of the "improved" snow shader and other shader settings related to snow which make snow in the loaded cells be different depending in lighting conditions. Since none of that is applied by the engine to terrain LOD it is best to turn all that off as explained in the first post.

What mod is "HD Snow LODs"?

 

[z929669]

Cathedral Landscapes is known to cause snow to be gray-ish. We generally increase the gamma a smidge to 1.25 I think during Terrain LODGen (in addition to using a less-noisy, more neutral noise map as mentioned). Then ENB can further be used to improve Skyrim's horrific snow (in addition to not using the 'improved' shader as mentioned).

[bob124]

Many thanks to you both, I was able to get the issue fixed. Turns out I missed changing the lodgen gamma to 1.25 as stated in the STEP guide and that was the cause. Also sheson  here's the mod I was talking about, I got the name wrong and it's actually HD LODS Textures SE. https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/3333

[Rasvakeitin]

Today I ran into a bug somewhere in the coast of Dawnstar. There was a huge block of water missing that could only be seen from a distance. I googled for a fix and found xLODGen. I looked up how to use it and generated Occlusion.esp. I put it last in my load order, launched the game and the problem was gone. Ofcourse there's a but: My map now looks horrible. All the bodies of water look blocky and the roads from my map mod are gone. I deleted Occlusion.esp but the problem persists. I also disabled everything that I had generated using DynDOLOD earlier just in case but the map is still looking the same.

I'm quite new to this aspect of modding and I'd like to know how the problem persists even when I've deleted the esp-file. Also a possible fix to my problem would be appriciated.

[sheson]

3 hours ago, Rasvakeitin said:

Today I ran into a bug somewhere in the coast of Dawnstar. There was a huge block of water missing that could only be seen from a distance. I googled for a fix and found xLODGen. I looked up how to use it and generated Occlusion.esp. I put it last in my load order, launched the game and the problem was gone. Ofcourse there's a but: My map now looks horrible. All the bodies of water look blocky and the roads from my map mod are gone. I deleted Occlusion.esp but the problem persists. I also disabled everything that I had generated using DynDOLOD earlier just in case but the map is still looking the same.

I'm quite new to this aspect of modding and I'd like to know how the problem persists even when I've deleted the esp-file. Also a possible fix to my problem would be appriciated.

Generating Occlusion.esp does not change anything on the map or the quality of the LOD.

It appears you generated terrain LOD meshes (and textures) as well, but did not set a good enough quality and/or optimize unseen value for LOD level 32 for the map as explained on the first post.

[gg77]

I have another LOD problem in my "Star Wars Worlds in Skyrim" mod in ENDOR: a HOLE appears in the same place, systematically for LE, once for 2 for SE !! Why ?

Edited September 10, 2021 by gg77

[sheson]

38 minutes ago, gg77 said:

I have another LOD problem in my "Star Wars Worlds in Skyrim" mod in ENDOR: a HOLE appears in the same place, systematically for LE, once for 2 for SE !! Why ?

The LOD area starts outside the loaded cells, the uGridsToLoad. Open console and toggle LOD on/off with the tll command and you will see the edge of 5x5 cells.

Whatever happens inside the uGridsToLoad area has nothing to do with LOD or LOD generation.

Could be that Force Hide Land flags are set on the cell.

[gg77]

Ok, so what can I do to correct this problem?