DROPPED High Quality LODs (by Ethatron)

[Neovalen]

No snow seams for you in SR without the textures? These were taken outside of Windhelm.

 

I'll check them out tonight, my phone dies trying to view images in threads. I did most of my normals testing in whiterun area where there was good improvement. If snow is the real problem the better course might be to delete just those.

 

I've been playing in Dawnstar lately and haven't noticed seams tho...its quite snowy there.

[z929669]

Current SR:LE is HQLOD meshes' date=' normals + EDT2 textures. The normals do add a lot in some areas. Never had any issue with this.[/quote']

Indeed. I agree ... guess I forgot that HQ LOD included the normals

 

I think a minor seam here and there is worth it. In the meantime, we should let Sparrow know so he has an opportunity to remap the few offending textures onto the revised meshes.

[TechAngel85]

I'm home! So I'll fly around some areas and see if this happens everyone or if I just found a lucky spot. I still don't advocate the normal though because the the obvious color difference. It's at least obvious to me, but we'll see what some more testing reveals. It might simply come down to using a set of textures (like just using the snow textures from HQLODs and leaving the rest as EDT2).

[TechAngel85]

I did find some texture seams area Dawnstar and other ares; however, they are mostly hidden by the terrain in these areas. I did grab a full set of compares to show one seam that didn't disappear with the additional textures like the previous one did in my other compare. I'll let you all be the judge of what combination looks the best.

 

EDT2 Only  >>  MedRes Meshes  >>  HighRes Meshes  >>  MedRes+Normals  >>  HighRes+Normals

 

MedRes+Textures  >>  HighRes+Textures  >>  MedRes+Normals+Textures  >>  HighRes+Normals+Textures

 

 

Now I also wanted to do a compare the what is being recommended and it's affect in snowy areas. Lets take a look:

 

EDT2 Only  >>  High Res Meshes  >>  High Res+Normals  >>  High Res+Textures

As you can see, with the normals in snowy areas the LODs are brighter than those of the non-LOD textures. This isn't ideal. You will also notice some odd things happening in areas with the normals when it comes to snow. The best is the second images with only the Meshes installed. I would say that if the normals are going to be recommended, then we should delete the snow LODs from them.

[z929669]

I agree that the normals make the LOD snow too bright; however, I think EDT2 is slightly better. This is especially pronounced on non-snowy terrain.

 

STEP recommendation should be hi meshes with EDT2 only, IMO.

[TechAngel85]

I've testing in other areas and the texture seams happen just about everywhere; however, they are mostly hidden by terrain or flora when playing at eye level. The only time you may notice them is look down from a high point (sight seeing). The one I found outside of Windhelm was a rare case I believe due to the position of the character and terrain combination. There is another in these shots; however this is a compare of the normals for non-snowy terrain. It would appear they only add slightly darker areas to the LODs, which is nice but is it necessary or needed?

 

Hi Res Meshes >> Hi Res Meshes+Normals

 

I agree that EDT2 is the best in non-snowy terrain, however, the HQLODs do add some needed detail in distant terrain that mainly falls in the category of "terrain outlines" (you can see a small sample of this above in the snowy shots) which I think is all STEP needs. I agree with your recommendation. High Res meshes only for HQLODs.

 

@Neo,

Since you mainly tested near Whiterun you might want to reconsider those normals...at least in snowy areas.

[z929669]

I've testing in other areas and the texture seams happen just about everywhere; however, they are mostly hidden by terrain or flora when playing at eye level. The only time you may notice them is look down from a high point (sight seeing). The one I found outside of Windhelm was a rare case I believe due to the position of the character and terrain combination. There is another in these shots; however this is a compare of the normals for non-snowy terrain. It would appear they only add slightly darker areas to the LODs, which is nice but is it necessary or needed?

 

Hi Res Meshes >> Hi Res Meshes+Normals

 

I agree that EDT2 is the best in non-snowy terrain, however, the HQLODs do add some needed detail in distant terrain that mainly falls in the category of "terrain outlines" (you can see a small sample of this above in the snowy shots) which I think is all STEP needs. I agree with your recommendation. High Res meshes only for HQLODs.

 

@Neo,

Since you mainly tested near Whiterun you might want to reconsider those normals...at least in snowy areas.

I still don't understand what is in the screens above ... do both of these have EDT2 or not?

 

I think the second image is best, so those normals do add something in non snowy terrain.

[Neovalen]

It is especially apparent (the normals) when looking WAY out into the distance on the tundra (i.e. looking out from White River Watch).

[TechAngel85]

All the screens are will a full STEP:Extended install. Hi-Res Meshes are with the meshes only. Meshes+Normals are the the meshes and the normals for the HQLODs. EDT2 is present in all screens because the only thing being tested here is the HQLODs.

 

I think the best recommendation would be EDT2 + HQLODs + HQLOD Normals (but deleting the snowy terrain normals.). This can easily be done with a FOMOD for MO users if there happen to be a lot of snowy normals...or a batch file.

[z929669]

+1 to that (and I think that makes all of us).

[TechAngel85]

I guess the next step is pinpointing the snowy LOD normals. This will be fun...

[DoYouEvenModBro]

Just so I'm clear, the SRO Textures are no longer recommended for this mod?

[TechAngel85]

Correct. Their "okay" in the snowy terrain; however, in the tundra they become completely noticeable due to the color difference. Think blonde to brown contrast. Not something you want in your game.

 

The Hi-Res Meshes and the normals will be the recommendation. First we have to find the snowy normals so they can be recommended to be deleted from the mod to resolve the bright snow effect.

[DoYouEvenModBro]

Ok. So you're just going to recommend that we delete a few of the normals but keep the rest? Got it. I thought I saw you say no normals before. So...normals or no normals? lol

[TechAngel85]

Soo... tracking down these snow normals is going to be one hell of a chore (1344 files sift through). At this point I honestly don't even know what I'm looking for. Most of the associated textures look like "map view" textures. Then there are just textures with noise in them (which I've found out that DDSopt reduces them to a single pixel file with optimizing...don't know if this effect is desirable or not). Any help in pinpointing or how to pinpoint these normals that are making the snow brighter would be appreciated!