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

[Mitradis]

LodGen auto remove vertex color for 8+ size cells and far mountains brighten without vertex colors.

 

how fix this?

Edited January 18, 2019 by Mitradis

[El_Rizzo]

One additional observation to my previous report, it seems that only when I tick the box for backing normals that the warning messages appear, I've tested without that box being ticked and xLODGen finishes without any warnings, in case that might help.

[sheson]

  On 1/18/2019 at 10:59 PM, El_Rizzo said:

I ran into some weird issues while trying to create LOD for Fallout 4 using version 36. While xLODGenx64 was running and generating texture files, I noticed several warnings about an error reading a few normal maps, 5 different normals to be specific. After xLODGen had finished I checked the log and tracked down the mods that provided the 5 normal maps in question and temporarily removed those 5 files to see if xLODGen would then run without warnings. To my surprise however, I got a whole boatload of new warnings about normal map reading errors from files that I didn't get any warnings from before and the program grinded to a halt while throwing whole pages of errors, forcing me to kill it with the task manager.

 

Putting the 5 files that originally caused warnings back into their respective mods didn't reverse the situation though, when I ran xLODGen afterwards it still gave me tons of errors about the other normal maps that ran fine the first time... Since all my mods are packed into BA2 archives I also tried to extract the 5 normals in question to see if having them loaded as loose files would have any effect, but that didn't change the situation either.

Any idea why removing the 5 files that initially caused errors suddenly created a lot more and causes the program to hang up?

 

Also, where does xLODGen save its settings? I want to reset it to its default settings but simply deleting all the files and reinstalling it doesn't reset my manuall settings.

  On 1/19/2019 at 2:29 AM, El_Rizzo said:

One additional observation to my previous report, it seems that only when I tick the box for backing normals that the warning messages appear, I've tested without that box being ticked and xLODGen finishes without any warnings, in case that might help.Using 

Using MO? Or maybe Antivirus, OS preventing access. I take it, it also happened with vanilla textures that are valid?

 

xLODGen is a renamed version of xEdit. So the default settings are where xEdit saves them. c:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\Fallout4\Plugins.fo4viewsettings

 

It only needs to reads the normal map textures when baking them onto the terrain normal.

[sheson]

  On 1/18/2019 at 11:56 PM, Mitradis said:

LodGen auto remove vertex color for 8+ size cells and far mountains brighten without vertex colors.

 

how fix this?

Unlike CK, xLODGen does not remove vertex colors from the LOD models for higher LOD levels by default.

 

The LODGen log should show a line like "Generate Vertex Colors: True, True, True, True"

A "true" for each for the 4 LOD levels.

 

The change between LOD levels is most likely because of a different LOD model, which uses a different LOD texture (that is too bright) and/or has no or all white vertex colors.

 

Use DynDOLOD. It will improve the empty vanilla distance LOD and allows assigning different LOD models for different LOD levels with simple mesh rules.

Edited January 19, 2019 by sheson

[Mitradis]

But version 3.1.2 dont do that. Does not delete vertex colors on moumtains in 8`+ cells

[sheson]

  On 1/19/2019 at 12:45 PM, Mitradis said:

But version 3.1.2 dont do that. Does not delete vertex colors on moumtains in 8`+ cells

As I said, no version of xLODGen removes vertex colors from a LOD model unless No Vertex Colors is set in the options (dontGenerateVertexColors command line argument for LODGen.exe) or 

GenerateVertexColors=false or GenerateVertexColorsLOD[4|8|16|32]=false is set in the export file. The log from LODGen.exe says what the setting is. In case all of a LOD models vertex colors are white anyways they are removed for optimization.

 

Typically all the vanilla LOD models for LOD level are 8 are the ones ending with meshes\lod\mountains\*_lod_1.nif.

None of these vanilla LOD models have vertex colors other than all white. All of these vanilla LOD models use (mostly pre-rendered) LOD textures unlike the LOD 4 models (typically ending in *_lod_0[h|l].nif) which have vertex colors other than full white and use the same mountainslab texture as the full models.

[El_Rizzo]

  Quote

 

Using MO? Or maybe Antivirus, OS preventing access.

Yes I'm using MO2, tried 2 different versions with the same result. OS preventing access does seem very unlikely since these textures are stored in archives and the rest of the archive's content is apparently accessible, or can Windows block individual files within archives? Aside from that, recent builds of MO2 are specifically checking all mod files for access when a 3rd party program is being run through it and fix any issues that arise. As for Antivirus, I'm only using the integrated Windows Defender and I specifically excluded my MO2 as well as my game and xLODGen directories.

 

  Quote

 

I take it, it also happened with vanilla textures that are valid?

No, with purely vanilla textures it doesn't happen. My main issue isn't that there are 5 normal maps that apparently can't be read, but that when I remove the 5 files in question that suddenly a whole bunch of new errors appear that weren't there before, which strikes me as rather strange. I can provide you with the 5 initial files and from which mods they came from if you want to take a look at them.

 

  Quote

 

It only needs to reads the normal map textures when baking them onto the terrain normal.

Yeah that explains why I don't get errors when de-selecting bake normals, makes sense.

 

  Quote

 

xLODGen is a renamed version of xEdit. So the default settings are where xEdit saves them. c:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\Fallout4\Plugins.fo4viewsettings

Thx, good to know! :)

[sheson]

  On 1/19/2019 at 2:09 PM, El_Rizzo said:

Yes I'm using MO2, tried 2 different versions with the same result. OS preventing access does seem very unlikely since these textures are stored in archives and the rest of the archive's content is apparently accessible, or can Windows block individual files within archives? Aside from that, recent builds of MO2 are specifically checking all mod files for access when a 3rd party program is being run through it and fix any issues that arise. As for Antivirus, I'm only using the integrated Windows Defender and I specifically excluded my MO2 as well as my game and xLODGen directories.

 

No, with purely vanilla textures it doesn't happen. My main issue isn't that there are 5 normal maps that apparently can't be read, but that when I remove the 5 files in question that suddenly a whole bunch of new errors appear that weren't there before, which strikes me as rather strange. I can provide you with the 5 initial files and from which mods they came from if you want to take a look at them.

 

Yeah that explains why I don't get errors when de-selecting bake normals, makes sense.

 

Thx, good to know! :)

Please send me one version of each different format. So if they all using the same format, one example should be enough.

[Mitradis]

  On 1/19/2019 at 1:51 PM, sheson said:

As I said, no version of xLODGen removes vertex colors from a LOD model unless No Vertex Colors is set in the options (dontGenerateVertexColors command line argument for LODGen.exe) or 

GenerateVertexColors=false or GenerateVertexColorsLOD[4|8|16|32]=false is set in the export file. The log from LODGen.exe says what the setting is. In case all of a LOD models vertex colors are white anyways they are removed for optimization.

 

Typically all the vanilla LOD models for LOD level are 8 are the ones ending with meshes\lod\mountains\*_lod_1.nif.

None of these vanilla LOD models have vertex colors other than all white. All of these vanilla LOD models use (mostly pre-rendered) LOD textures unlike the LOD 4 models (typically ending in *_lod_0[h|l].nif) which have vertex colors other than full white and use the same mountainslab texture as the full models.

I know this and much more (don't look at my new profile). Just see (3.1.2 vs 4.0.1, Falskaar gen for speed):

for example https://dropmefiles.com/CQtBC (in archive you found 2 version objects gen. (312/401) and custom mountains lod meshes)

all created on clear game (LE).

Edited January 19, 2019 by Mitradis

[sheson]

  On 1/19/2019 at 2:40 PM, Mitradis said:

I know this and much more (don't look at my new profile). Just see (3.1.2 vs 4.0.1, Falskaar gen for speed):

for example https://dropmefiles.com/CQtBC (in archive you found 2 version objects gen. (312/401) and custom mountains lod meshes)

all created on clear game (LE).

 

So I checked The file /401 Falskaar/Falskaar.8.0.16.bto and see that it the LOD mesh has vertex colors which unsurprisingly shows that they are not removed.

 

Looking at your screenshot there is one more setting that might be controlling vertex color. The base records for LOD models needs to have "HD LOD" flag set. Maybe something changed in regards to that flag or how it is overwritten in the export file.  Whatever I try here in regards to the HD flag though does not change that any tests I do always have vertex colors regardless of LOD level as long as the Generate Vertex Color  log entry says true.

Edited January 19, 2019 by sheson

[Mitradis]

Not Falskaar.8.0.16.bto see Falskaar.8.0.-16.bto

[sheson]

  On 1/19/2019 at 3:21 PM, Mitradis said:

Not Falskaar.8.0.16.bto see Falskaar.8.0.-16.bto

 

I installed the mountain LOD meshes from your archive. Generated LOD for Tamriel. All LOD levels and all mountains LOD meshes keep their vertex colors if they are not all white.

 

Now I also tested Falskaar and checked 8.0.-16 and both mountain meshes (there are 2 as far as I can tell) have vertex colors. No idea what else to test or what happens in in your case.

Edited January 19, 2019 by sheson

[Mitradis]

Thank. Where i can get info about format mesh block name?

as far as i understand it affects the generation. What should be the format for different models.

Edited January 19, 2019 by Mitradis

[sheson]

  On 1/19/2019 at 3:57 PM, Mitradis said:

Thank. Where i can get info about format mesh block name?

as far as i understand it affects the generation. What should be the format for different models.

The following identifiers are recognized in the shape names: NoReUV, FixedNormals, SphereNormals. None of them should change vertex color behaviors. Since I tested with the LOD meshes from your archive they work fine as they are. You may want to try to reset xEdit LOD settings by starting by holding SHIFT or deleting the file config file c:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\Skyrim\Plugins.tes5viewsettings

 

You can find LODGen.exe update notes in DynDOLODs changelog with the prefix LODGen.exe.

Edited January 19, 2019 by sheson

[Mitradis]

i no have idea. Where i get source code LODGen.exe? Only this take me answer.