xLODGen - Terrain LOD beta 130 for FNV, FO3, FO4, FO4VR, TES5, SSE, TES5VR, ENDERAL, ENDERALSE

[niston]

So we're looking at the generated 32.0.-32.bto file in Nifskope:

It's what we see in game with the regenerated LOD files present: A few skyscrapers, the Prydwen, and -most notably- the Overpass piece, for which I've created the override with the Level 2 Mesh name, copied into the Level 3 field.

If we look at the vanilla mesh for this:

We can see that it is the same, minus that particular overpass piece.

So we can already conclude that it is like you say: We are not looking at the same LOD level in these screenshots.
But it seems illogical!

What makes it switch the LOD level for Goodneighbor; Apparently depending on loose LOD files being present or not?

Also, does it influence the LOD level elsewhere? Lets investigate...

[niston]

Ok so we've moved to, uh, Fort Strong, I believe?

Looking towards Boston Downtown, it looks like this in vanilla:

After regenerating the LOD and reloading from the same spot:

It appears the LOD is proper. We can even see the changes I've made to the airport in this picture!

So the whole thing appears to be an edge case with Goodneighbor? I will investigate from Diamond City as well.

[niston]

Ok, reporting back from Diamond City!

We can observe the same phenomena at work here. We enter the city, do a TFC and go up, looking towards the Overpass.

In Vanilla:

With regenerated LOD:

One thing we immediately notice is the absence of the Mass Fusion Building in the regenerated LOD. The Overpass is... different as well.
So it appears, here too, another LOD level kicks in, as soon as we supply new LOD files via filesystem.

It remains to be seen if this also happens when using BA2 packed files.

The other oddity is the weirdly out-of-place seemingly floating skyscraper in the background, with the regenerated LOD. But that's probably just the perspective and the fact that the Mass Fusion building isn't there.

Edited May 18, 2021 by niston

[niston]

Also, let me try one more thing. How does it look from a skylit interior cell, with commonwealth LOD? I happen to have one right in Goodneighbor...

 

[niston]

Ok, so we are now *inside* Hotel Rexford.
This is an interior cell that has sky lighting and Commonwealth LOD. Set up as follows:

and

 

Now, I have carefully restored the Hotel to working order and we are using TFC and looking out slightly towards the southwest, located a bit above the 4th floor of the restored Hotel as it exists in said interior cell. You can see a small part of the 4th floor at the bottom edge of the screenshot. I've also carefully propped up the LOD with "real" statics a bit in the near field, as to give a better "immersive experience" when looking out the windows.

With Vanilla LOD:

With regenerated LOD:

Unfortunately, the same thing is going on here. The Overpass is different, not to mention the large swaths of buildings missing entirely.
We are very likely not looking at the same level of LOD either here, once new files have been supplied.
The "real" statics I've placed can be seen in both screenshots.

This is also the reason why I started looking into xLODGen - I wanted to have a bit more detailed LOD when looking out my Hotel

Edited May 18, 2021 by niston

[sheson]

  On 5/18/2021 at 5:27 PM, niston said:

Ok, so we are now *inside* Hotel Rexford.
This is an interior cell that has sky lighting and Commonwealth LOD. Set up as follows:

and

 

Now, I have carefully restored the Hotel to working order and we are using TFC and looking out slightly towards the southwest, located a bit above the 4th floor of the restored Hotel as it exists in said interior cell. You can see a small part of the 4th floor at the bottom edge of the screenshot. I've also carefully propped up the LOD with "real" statics a bit in the near field, as to give a better "immersive experience" when looking out the windows.

With Vanilla LOD:

With regenerated LOD:

Unfortunately, the same thing is going on here. The Overpass is different, not to mention the large swaths of buildings missing entirely.
We are very likely not looking at the same level of LOD either here, once new files have been supplied.
The "real" statics I've placed can be seen in both screenshots.

This is also the reason why I started looking into xLODGen - I wanted to have a bit more detailed LOD when looking out my Hotel

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LOD generation does not care about interior cells and their LOD settings. The interior cells simply use the parent world LOD files as defined on those records.

[niston]

Yes, but the point is, I think, the same thing apparently happens for interiors (as opposed to Worldspaces like DC and Goodneighbor) as well: The Game does not show the same level of Exterior LOD, depending on if there are loose LOD files or not. I will have to pack some BA2 archives to see if that perhaps makes a difference.

[sheson]

  On 5/18/2021 at 6:11 PM, niston said:

Yes, but the point is, I think, the same thing apparently happens for interiors (as opposed to Worldspaces like DC and Goodneighbor) as well: The Game does not show the same level of Exterior LOD, depending on if there are loose LOD files or not. I will have to pack some BA2 archives to see if that perhaps makes a difference.

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You should follow the instruction given by NeuraLOD (or probably any other well made modding guide) which packs generated LOD into BA2.

[niston]

I was not going to pack everything for my initial testing. It was expected that the process would not yield satisfying results at first

[OregonPete]

  On 5/17/2021 at 3:10 PM, OregonPete said:

Part of the new mod I'm currently working on is set in a custom worldspace that is almost entirely underwater. With Sheson's help, I've already been able to resolve a few issues in regard to mountain LOD (I've surrounded the area the player needs to stay in with mountains as a natural barrier).

But another issue I'm having is that the water tiles aren't displayed in the distance, and they keep popping in when I get closer (independent of whether I'm above or below the water), which is really annoying, especially since you can only see the mountain peaks that are above water through the water tiles when you're underwater, meaning you can't see the peaks in the distance when you're underwater. Has anyone ever had this issue, or does anyone have any suggestions on how to solve it? Any advice is highly appreciated.

 

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  On 5/17/2021 at 3:33 PM, sheson said:

Are you saying that CELLs which are defined in a plugin do not have water LOD generated for cell water that is above the terrain level? Maybe post a screenshot.

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Yes, because this worldspace is set underwater, I have the terrain defined at a height of -5000. The water is at 0. This mean all the cells should have water LOD, but they don't. Here are some screenshots. The first two are from underwater, and the last three are seen from above water. In all of them, you can see the sharp cutoff where the visible water tile cuts off. When you move close, the tiles pop in. Any advice or suggestion? I sure would appreciate it!

 

[sheson]

  On 5/18/2021 at 6:17 PM, OregonPete said:

 

Yes, because this worldspace is set underwater, I have the terrain defined at a height of -5000. The water is at 0. This mean all the cells should have water LOD, but they don't. Here are some screenshots. The first two are from underwater, and the last three are seen from above water. In all of them, you can see the sharp cutoff where the visible water tile cuts off. When you move close, the tiles pop in. Any advice or suggestion? I sure would appreciate it!

 

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So the CELL record for the cell that does not have water LOD has the Has Water flag set? The water height is default, -2147483648.000000 (which also means default) or 0.0?
The cell is inside the SW and the SW + stride coordinates  of the lodsettings file?
Have you checked the *.BTR for that area that it is exists?

[niston]

But no, it makes no difference if the new LOD is in BA2 Files or not.

So, IDK. There is no setting to tell an interior with exterior LOD what kind of LOD Level to use, AFAIK.

[OregonPete]

  On 5/18/2021 at 6:28 PM, sheson said:

So the CELL record for the cell that does not have water LOD has the Has Water flag set? The water height is default, -2147483648.000000 (which also means default) or 0.0?
The cell is inside the SW and the SW + stride coordinates  of the lodsettings file?
Have you checked the *.BTR for that area that it is exists?

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I'm not sure I understand exactly what you're asking, but let me attempt to formulate a bit differently. In the Worldspace window of the Creation Kit of my N79MSSunkenRealm worldspace, the Default Water Height is defined as 0.0000 and the Default Land Height at -5000.0000. I have the LOD Water Type defined the same as the Water, which is N79MS_SunkenRealmWater. When I right-click on any of the cells of that worldspace and select Edit, the Has Water box is checked but grayed out, and the Height is at 0.

What are SW or stride coordinates? And how can I look at the lodsettings.lod file? It's binary, and I'm not sure how to view the contents.

[sheson]

  On 5/18/2021 at 6:30 PM, niston said:

But no, it makes no difference if the new LOD is in BA2 Files or not.

So, IDK. There is no setting to tell an interior with exterior LOD what kind of LOD Level to use, AFAIK.

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The distances of the different LOD levels are defined in the *Prefs.INI under [TerrainManager]. Typically the launcher sets them so that LOD level 4 is the first starts beyond the loaded cells, then 8, then 16 and then 32. If generated BTOs contain what they should for each LOD level, then there is really nothing else to do or check in regards to xLODGen or the LOD generation process.

  On 5/18/2021 at 6:57 PM, OregonPete said:

I'm not sure I understand exactly what you're asking, but let me attempt to formulate a bit differently. In the Worldspace window of the Creation Kit of my N79MSSunkenRealm worldspace, the Default Water Height is defined as 0.0000 and the Default Land Height at -5000.0000. I have the LOD Water Type defined the same as the Water, which is N79MS_SunkenRealmWater. When I right-click on any of the cells of that worldspace and select Edit, the Has Water box is checked but grayed out, and the Height is at 0.

What are SW or stride coordinates? And how can I look at the lodsettings.lod file? It's binary, and I'm not sure how to view the contents.

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Check the CELL record for the coordinates that have no water LOD in xEdit.

The xLODGen log  shows the values SW and Stride values  which were read from the lodsettings file.

[OregonPete]

  On 5/18/2021 at 8:16 PM, sheson said:

The distances of the different LOD levels are defined in the *Prefs.INI under [TerrainManager]. Typically the launcher sets them so that LOD level 4 is the first starts beyond the loaded cells, then 8, then 16 and then 32.

Check the CELL record for the coordinates that have no water LOD in xEdit.

The xLODGen log  shows the values SW and Stride values  which were read from the lodsettings file.

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None of the cells have water LOD when you're distant. They just pop in as you get closer. And when you move away, they disappear again. When I check in SSEEdit, all of the CELL records have "Has Water" flagged.

Here is what I found in the SSELODGen Log:

[00:00] [N79MSSunkenRealm] Land height: -5000, Water height: 0, Scanned: 206 CELL records, Found: 202 LAND records for area [-7,-12] to [6,9]
[00:00] [N79MSSunkenRealm] LODsettings: Level 4 to 32 stride 256 from -96,-96 to 0,0

Is that what you needed?