xLODGen - Terrain LOD beta 132 for FNV, FO3, FO4, FO4VR, TES5, SSE, TES5VR, ENDERAL, ENDERALSE

[tsunami2311]

I like to thank @sheson

After redoing Lod32 with unseen 550, the world map is no longer missing textures,  would seem that also extend the world map a bit? not completely sure but world map is looking correct now.

Test with a new game directly after  I had my hands untied, So all is correct now.

Well after some weirdness where Hadvar mysteriously disappeared, as I wasn't greeted by "who are you" deleting all saves and close the game and starting up again fixed that. ulfric might been missing some lines when first hear him but I wasnt really paying attention. cant see how xgenlod/texgen/dyndolod have anything to do with that though.

 

One last question does DynDOLOD Resources SE 3.00 need remain in my modlist  and checked for DynDOLOD to work properly? cause I initial leave in mod list and there for check and it DynDOLOD was working but I read that need to say in modlist and active?

 

Again I thank you and sorry if I was pain

Edited May 12 by tsunami2311

[sheson]

3 hours ago, tsunami2311 said:

I like to thank @sheson

After redoing Lod32 with unseen 550, the world map is no longer missing textures,  would seem that also extend the world map a bit? not completely sure but world map is looking correct now.

Test with a new game directly after  I had my hands untied, So all is correct now.

Well after some weirdness where Hadvar mysteriously disappeared, as I wasn't greeted by "who are you" deleting all saves and close the game and starting up again fixed that. ulfric might been missing some lines when first hear him but I wasnt really paying attention. cant see how xgenlod/texgen/dyndolod have anything to do with that though.

One last question does DynDOLOD Resources SE 3.00 need remain in my modlist  and checked for DynDOLOD to work properly? cause I initial leave in mod list and there for check and it DynDOLOD was working but I read that need to say in modlist and active?

Again I thank you and sorry if I was pain

https://dyndolod.info/Generation-Instructions#2-Generate-The-LOD-Mod-with-DynDOLOD
Keep all LOD assets (DynDOLOD Resources, 3rd party mods, TexGen output etc.) that were active for LOD generation activated unless there are specific instructions to disable 3rd party mods.

[tsunami2311]

@sheson

 

Thanks agian so just I clear DynDOLOD Resources SE should remain in the load order after outputs have been made and launched the with the game.

Load as early with lowest priority as possible, so that any other plugins overwriting or adding land records or cells with the same coordinates take precedence.

Only required to be loaded when generating terrain LOD. No harm done when loaded in-game but typically the player can not get close to these areas. There are no effects outside the far away added cells.

This means it is safe to remove TES5-Terrain-Tamriel.esm from load order? cause I removed from load order  and put back  after dyndolod said to remove permanently.  so no need to put back in modlist correct?

 

Modlist order I know this all want modlist finalized before doing all this, but does also apply to skse mods that dont add plugin? I check logs and it dont parse Grass Cache Helper that I had to add I kind just stuck under NGIO which also skse mod that dont add plugin and dont get parsed either. prefer not to half redo this cause I just fixed issue I had.

 

Again Thanks really sorry if I am pain

 

xGenLod, TexGen, DyndoLod, has really made my game look so much better. with very little to no performance hit

[z929669]

2 hours ago, tsunami2311 said:

@sheson

 

Thanks agian so just I clear DynDOLOD Resources SE should remain in the load order after outputs have been made and launched the with the game.

Load as early with lowest priority as possible, so that any other plugins overwriting or adding land records or cells with the same coordinates take precedence.

Only required to be loaded when generating terrain LOD. No harm done when loaded in-game but typically the player can not get close to these areas. There are no effects outside the far away added cells.

This means it is safe to remove TES5-Terrain-Tamriel.esm from load order? cause I removed from load order  and put back  after dyndolod said to remove permanently.  so no need to put back in modlist correct?

 

Modlist order I know this all want modlist finalized before doing all this, but does also apply to skse mods that dont add plugin? I check logs and it dont parse Grass Cache Helper that I had to add I kind just stuck under NGIO which also skse mod that dont add plugin and dont get parsed either. prefer not to half redo this cause I just fixed issue I had.

 

Again Thanks really sorry if I am pain

 

xGenLod, TexGen, DyndoLod, has really made my game look so much better. with very little to no performance hit

DynDOLOD Resources mod should always be active in the installed mods (there's no plugin for this one). It is typically installed at lower priority than everything besides the Uofficial Patch (USSEP). Keep in mind that this mod is for DynDOLOD and not xLODGen.

But TES5-Terrain-Tamriel mod/plugin should only be active during terrain LOD generation using xLODGen. Then it can be disabled/removed (and the corresponding plugin disabled/removed from the LO). This one has no conflicts, so it really doesn't matter the priority it's installed as long as it's plugin is sorted early as a master (use LOOT for sorting).

[sheson]

2 hours ago, tsunami2311 said:

@sheson

 

Thanks agian so just I clear DynDOLOD Resources SE should remain in the load order after outputs have been made and launched the with the game.

Load as early with lowest priority as possible, so that any other plugins overwriting or adding land records or cells with the same coordinates take precedence.

Only required to be loaded when generating terrain LOD. No harm done when loaded in-game but typically the player can not get close to these areas. There are no effects outside the far away added cells.

This means it is safe to remove TES5-Terrain-Tamriel.esm from load order? cause I removed from load order  and put back  after dyndolod said to remove permanently.  so no need to put back in modlist correct?

 

Modlist order I know this all want modlist finalized before doing all this, but does also apply to skse mods that dont add plugin? I check logs and it dont parse Grass Cache Helper that I had to add I kind just stuck under NGIO which also skse mod that dont add plugin and dont get parsed either. prefer not to half redo this cause I just fixed issue I had.

 

Again Thanks really sorry if I am pain

 

xGenLod, TexGen, DyndoLod, has really made my game look so much better. with very little to no performance hit

https://dyndolod.info/Generation-Instructions#2-Generate-The-LOD-Mod-with-DynDOLOD
Keep all LOD assets (DynDOLOD Resources, 3rd party mods, TexGen output etc.) that were active for LOD generation activated unless there are specific instructions to disable 3rd party mods.

Keeping mods that were active for LOD generation activated means the mod remains in the order.

Only required to be loaded when generating terrain LOD.

Only required to be loaded when generating terrain LOD means the plugin should be permanently deactivated/removed after terrain LOD generation.

Do not invent opposite instructions. The DynDOLOD message to permanently remove the plugin that is only required for terrain LOD generation, means what it says. 

ATM there are a couple  third party DLL plugins - DVLaSS and BackportedESLSupport/SkyrimVRESL - that can affect LOD generation messages or functions. Other 3rd party DLL plugins do not affect LOD generation.

[tsunami2311]

20 hours ago, z929669 said:

 

But TES5-Terrain-Tamriel mod/plugin should only be active during terrain LOD generation using xLODGen. Then it can be disabled/removed (and the corresponding plugin disabled/removed from the LO). This one has no conflicts, so it really doesn't matter the priority it's installed as long as it's plugin is sorted early as a master (use LOOT for sorting).

 

Thanks This much more clear to me for 

Wording everything what is clear to one person does mean it is to another. Needed for Lodgen and can de disabled/removed after much for clear to me

19 hours ago, sheson said:

Do not invent opposite instructions. The DynDOLOD message to permanently remove the plugin that is only required for terrain LOD generation, means what it says. 

ATM there are a couple  third party DLL plugins - DVLaSS and BackportedESLSupport/SkyrimVRESL - that can affect LOD generation messages or functions. Other 3rd party DLL plugins do not affect LOD generation.

I was not inventing anything if it was clear to me I would not of asked , see above.  Good to know DLL plugins dont effect things.

 

Again thanks for all the help  sorry if I was pain.

Edited May 13 by tsunami2311

[sheson]

20 minutes ago, tsunami2311 said:

 

Thanks This much more clear to me for 

Wording everything what is clear to one person does mean it is to another. Needed for Lodgen and can de disabled/removed after much for clear to me

I was not inventing anything if it was clear to me I would not of asked , see above.  Good to know DLL plugins dont effect things.

 

Again thanks for all the help  sorry if I was pain.

Please explain which one is not clear, the instructions of xLODGen, the message from DynDOLOD or both?
"Only required to be loaded when generating terrain LOD."
"Found SSE-Terrain-Tamriel*.esm Remove it permanently from the load order."

With both messages combined, what were you uncertain about that made you enable it again after running DynDOLOD? What extra information should be added to not do extra steps?

[manekk]

Hiya

 

First of all, thank you, for both creating the tools and patience to support them. The amount of complexity it takes away, and how it managed to make some hardcore stuff accessible to wider audience, it's simply amazing.

I have started with LOD generation for Fallout 4 a few days ago, and as always, until I know exactly what I'm doing, I'm following the guide and try to understand it all while I'm doing.

Everything went silky smooth, I have all the recommended LOD resources, did FOLIPs, TexGen, and of course xLODGen. Sadly I have ran into an issue with billboards, luckily the actual ones - the adverts displayed across commonwealth. They flicker whenever you're on the move, and only load the textures upon getting close to them. Below are two links to show the flickering, and when it stops and actually loads the textures. As you can see, other textures also load quite aggressively, but they don't flicker. Ideally I'd like to both remove the flickering, and also smoothen the textures transformation.

I have done the search here and the recommending troubleshooting, and can't fix it, any help would be very much appreciated.

https://streamable.com/n28wej
https://streamable.com/t4lgf3

 

These are setting from Bethini:

https://imgur.com/a/eh9CUQk

Edited May 19 by manekk
more info added

[sheson]

1 hour ago, manekk said:

Hiya

 

First of all, thank you, for both creating the tools and patience to support them. The amount of complexity it takes away, and how it managed to make some hardcore stuff accessible to wider audience, it's simply amazing.

I have started with LOD generation for Fallout 4 a few days ago, and as always, until I know exactly what I'm doing, I'm following the guide and try to understand it all while I'm doing.

Everything went silky smooth, I have all the recommended LOD resources, did FOLIPs, TexGen, and of course xLODGen. Sadly I have ran into an issue with billboards, luckily the actual ones - the adverts displayed across commonwealth. They flicker whenever you're on the move, and only load the textures upon getting close to them. Below are two links to show the flickering, and when it stops and actually loads the textures. As you can see, other textures also load quite aggressively, but they don't flicker. Ideally I'd like to both remove the flickering, and also smoothen the textures transformation.

I have done the search here and the recommending troubleshooting, and can't fix it, any help would be very much appreciated.

https://streamable.com/n28wej
https://streamable.com/t4lgf3

 

These are setting from Bethini:

https://imgur.com/a/eh9CUQk

No logs were provided. No screenshot of the full model with console information with precombines disabled showing the reference/base record IDs was uploaded.
What did you search? What recommended troubleshooting have you done - report the results. They not flicker with xLODGen output disabled?
What does "textures also load quite aggressively" refer?

xLODGen is a LOD generator which does not change how the game works. It does not change how the game loads and displays LOD for example.

If you followed a third party guide you might have installed additional third party LOD assets. They may cause the flickering.

Once you know the base record of a full model, you can look it up in xEdit to see what LOD model it defines. Typically a model in LOD\SetDressing\Signage\. Check if a mod overwrites those.

[manekk]

1 hour ago, sheson said:

No logs were provided. No screenshot of the full model with console information with precombines disabled showing the reference/base record IDs was uploaded.
What did you search? What recommended troubleshooting have you done - report the results. They not flicker with xLODGen output disabled?
What does "textures also load quite aggressively" refer?

xLODGen is a LOD generator which does not change how the game works. It does not change how the game loads and displays LOD for example.

If you followed a third party guide you might have installed additional third party LOD assets. They may cause the flickering.

Once you know the base record of a full model, you can look it up in xEdit to see what LOD model it defines. Typically a model in LOD\SetDressing\Signage\. Check if a mod overwrites those.

Thank you for such a fast response. Everybody starts somewhere, and my place to start is at early retirement, with some time on my hands and zero expertise, pretty much from the scratch - which means I'd love to be able to provide what you have requested, but I may not know (yet) how to. I will do my best though to both learn and be more descriptive. Apologies in advance if this is not the standard expected / required, but that's all I can do for now - here we go...

 

1. I have read all the links you're attaching to allow you for better troubleshooting, and with best intentions I don't know how to provide a log of what I am observing in the game - as there's no bugs or errors to report or log. Maybe it's just my lack of knowledge.
2. I have just learnt (which shows I guess my expertise level) how to make a screenshot with the model ID with precombines off, here is the link:

https://imgur.com/a/S5rqme1

3. The problem with looking it up in xEdit is that it definitely doesn't show what you said it should, but some INV_CloudDistant... Which probably means I got the ID wrong and most likely don't know what I'm doing. I hope you see though that I try and not just throw nonsense at you.

4. So here's a recording showing the issue and how it disappears after disabling LODGen Output, which sadly doesn't have any of the info required.

https://streamable.com/yf79af

4. I have followed the LOD guide on The Midnight Ride, to the letter, my understanding is that this is a very conservative site, not promoting wild modifications to the game, so the only third party LOD assets are from there - https://themidnightride.moddinglinked.com/lod.html

5. Texture load quite aggressively meant that in the originally posted vid (https://streamable.com/t4lgf3) textures look mildly appealing until you come near, and then suddenly boom - things look great. In an ideal world they'd look good from a further distance and not kill the immersion. Which I guess is a matter of loading distance?

Which I have tried to change in Bethini modifying  [TerrainManager] fBlockLevel0, 1, and 2Distance and fSplitDistanceMult, but it didn't bring the desired effect.

6. I know I could just play vanilla without any mods (which means instead of this 1 flickering I'd have 1000 other vanilla issues), but I didn't start this path to give up at the sight of trouble. It's by doing, asking, reading that I'll learn. In case this is not a known issue, and I need to provide something more, I'd appreciate if you could tell me what and how... Meanwhile I'll be trying to generate LOD removing some of the textures from TMR and maybe this way I'll find the culprit.

 

[sheson]

2 hours ago, manekk said:

Thank you for such a fast response. Everybody starts somewhere, and my place to start is at early retirement, with some time on my hands and zero expertise, pretty much from the scratch - which means I'd love to be able to provide what you have requested, but I may not know (yet) how to. I will do my best though to both learn and be more descriptive. Apologies in advance if this is not the standard expected / required, but that's all I can do for now - here we go...

 

1. I have read all the links you're attaching to allow you for better troubleshooting, and with best intentions I don't know how to provide a log of what I am observing in the game - as there's no bugs or errors to report or log. Maybe it's just my lack of knowledge.
2. I have just learnt (which shows I guess my expertise level) how to make a screenshot with the model ID with precombines off, here is the link:

https://imgur.com/a/S5rqme1

3. The problem with looking it up in xEdit is that it definitely doesn't show what you said it should, but some INV_CloudDistant... Which probably means I got the ID wrong and most likely don't know what I'm doing. I hope you see though that I try and not just throw nonsense at you.

4. So here's a recording showing the issue and how it disappears after disabling LODGen Output, which sadly doesn't have any of the info required.

https://streamable.com/yf79af

4. I have followed the LOD guide on The Midnight Ride, to the letter, my understanding is that this is a very conservative site, not promoting wild modifications to the game, so the only third party LOD assets are from there - https://themidnightride.moddinglinked.com/lod.html

5. Texture load quite aggressively meant that in the originally posted vid (https://streamable.com/t4lgf3) textures look mildly appealing until you come near, and then suddenly boom - things look great. In an ideal world they'd look good from a further distance and not kill the immersion. Which I guess is a matter of loading distance?

Which I have tried to change in Bethini modifying  [TerrainManager] fBlockLevel0, 1, and 2Distance and fSplitDistanceMult, but it didn't bring the desired effect.

6. I know I could just play vanilla without any mods (which means instead of this 1 flickering I'd have 1000 other vanilla issues), but I didn't start this path to give up at the sight of trouble. It's by doing, asking, reading that I'll learn. In case this is not a known issue, and I need to provide something more, I'd appreciate if you could tell me what and how... Meanwhile I'll be trying to generate LOD removing some of the textures from TMR and maybe this way I'll find the culprit.

Upload the FO4LODGen_log.txt that can be found in the xLODGen folder. It contains the message you saw while generating LOD with xLODGen.

Go close to the full model, use console command tcl if required, in order to click it with console open. You can try to use the mouse wheel to cycle through references in case the one you clicked is not shown. The look up correct base record in xEdit to find out which LOD model the records defines.

Then check if a mod overwrites the LOD model - in MO2 right window data tab. Make sure to enable archive parsing in MO2 in menu Tools, Settings, Workarounds tab. Report results.

Without any mods, xLODGen uses the LOD assets from the vanilla game, which means the LOD generated for the billboards should look the same as in the vanilla game. If you have problems following thirds party guides you will need to ask their author/forum for help.

LOD being disabled after the full models for an entire cell are faded-in is how the Bethesda games work. For that brief time both LOD and full models show at the same time. LOD levels switch in large square areas in the distance. There is no morphing or cross fading.

[manekk]

15 hours ago, sheson said:

Upload the FO4LODGen_log.txt that can be found in the xLODGen folder. It contains the message you saw while generating LOD with xLODGen.

Go close to the full model, use console command tcl if required, in order to click it with console open. You can try to use the mouse wheel to cycle through references in case the one you clicked is not shown. The look up correct base record in xEdit to find out which LOD model the records defines.

Then check if a mod overwrites the LOD model - in MO2 right window data tab. Make sure to enable archive parsing in MO2 in menu Tools, Settings, Workarounds tab. Report results.

Without any mods, xLODGen uses the LOD assets from the vanilla game, which means the LOD generated for the billboards should look the same as in the vanilla game. If you have problems following thirds party guides you will need to ask their author/forum for help.

LOD being disabled after the full models for an entire cell are faded-in is how the Bethesda games work. For that brief time both LOD and full models show at the same time. LOD levels switch in large square areas in the distance. There is no morphing or cross fading.

Thanks for all the advice. I learnt a lot of new things. The way it looks is that for some reason, following the 3rd party thorough and accurate process to the letter, the game still stubbornly mixed up vanilla meh LODs with freshly generated LOD textures. Or even worse, simply regenarated LOD textures from vanilla resources again. Many attempts to redo it have failed.

The hammer method would be to simply change uGrids to higher, break many things in game, and just enjoy primary textures loading in cells further away without new LODs, and pretend nothing happened, seems like it has many fans.
But having seen the amazing results of LOD generation done via this tool, I'd rather skip the hammer and use some surgical tools. Maybe I made too much of a mess in my FO4 folders and inis, and time has come for clean wipeout and reinstall of all.
In case things go bad again, I'll return with logs, which I can't really understand myself, to check what xLODGen loaded and produced, meanwhile sorry for the hassle and keep fingers crossed!