DynDOLOD Beta for Skyrim Special Edition, Skyrim VR and Enderal SE 2.98

[sheson]

Sheson, I hope you don't mind a smart-arsed question. I'm playing with BSArch to archive as many of my mods as possible. Only beginning, though, I don't have any experience at all and all I know is the trivial, that archived assets are loaded first in the order of the plugins that load those archives, and loose files are loaded later and override archived ones if conflicting. Assuming I can figure out and resolve any conflicts with loose files, if I archived DynDOLOD's output in .bsa format, which file would determine its priority regarding other archived assets - the master, DynDOLOD.esm which loads close to first in my load order, or DynDOLOD.esp, which loads last?

Without having tested this and knowing how we guys at Bethesda typically program, there is a chance such a BSA might be actually loaded twice for both plugins. However, you need to test to be sure. It should be as simple as putting a manually edited colorful LOD atlas texture into a BSA that loads with a plugin after DynDOLOD.esm.

 

Disclaimer: Obviously, I do not recommend putting generated LOD files into BSA files because for correct operation all files need to overwrite everything else and only people who really know what they are doing and are willing to test the result should do it. If there is any weirdness with LOD, you know what you have to check first...

 

Personally, with an SSD I find the file and folder compression of the OS sufficient to save some space and not have performance issues, it may a bit faster even, but I never really thoroughly tested that either. Mainly because loading for me is fast either way while I have almost no BSAs as I unpack them to analyze and dissect mods all the time. But such development is of course different to just playing.

Edited May 11, 2018 by sheson

[godescalcus]

Disclaimer: Obviously, I do not recommend putting generated LOD files into BSA files because for correct operation all files need to overwrite everything else and only people who really know what they are doing and are willing to test the result should do it. If there is any weirdness with LOD, you know what you have to check first...

Thank you! I think I'll try this and troubleshoot as you suggest. I've checked for file conflicts in MO2 and there's surprisingly few of them, considering only loose files. In my load order (and I'm using Lexy's LOTD behemoth guide, plus a few extras) only three mods have conflicting loose files: Qarxe's Questorium and The Grey Cowl of Nocturnal - HD Texture pack both have object .bto meshes that are overridden by DynDOLOD and Skyrim Bigger Trees has one single file, Tamriel.LST. So either I hide those files in their mods or leave DynDOLOD's loose, along with the .bsa, so that they override what needs to be overridden. Now it seems the difficult part will be to figure out conflicts with other archives. Of course, if doing the test you suggest proves that DynDOLOD.esp calls the .bsa, it will automatically win all conflicts with prior archives.

 

I do use an SSD but a low-end Crucial MX. I read somewhere, maybe at afkmods but maybe elsewhere, that seeking times are also improved when using archived assets. I absolutely can't confirm that but my anecdotal experience is that my current build, the first one where I'm trying to preserve archives as much as I can (I do extract and fiddle with some, hence my interest in BSArch to repack), is performing better than any of the previous ones with the same general load order and yet it's, arguably, the heavier build.

[godescalcus]

Without having tested this and knowing how we guys at Bethesda typically program, there is a chance such a BSA might be actually loaded twice for both plugins. However, you need to test to be sure. It should be as simple as putting a manually edited colorful LOD atlas texture into a BSA that loads with a plugin after DynDOLOD.esm.

Still testing, but MO2's archives list has DynDOLOD.bsa paired with DynDOLOD.esp and not with DynDOLOD.esm. I've hidden the conflicting loose files in their mods filetrees, not that much of a hassle considering it's only three mods and the whole ..\meshes\terrain\#worldname#\Objects folders, plus #WORLDNAME#.LST - now, to run the game and check if it crashes.

 

Edit: it crashed on main menu. Trying other option, leave folders intact and conflicted loose files as loose files in DynDOLOD's mod folder...

Edited May 12, 2018 by godescalcus

[godescalcus]

Edit 2: crashed as well, now on savegame load. So, maybe the whole thing isn't such a good idea... I could patiently check if BSArch left any files out of the .bsa...

Edited May 12, 2018 by godescalcus

[sheson]

Edit 2: crashed as well, now on savegame load. So, maybe the whole thing isn't such a good idea... I could patiently check if BSArch left any files out of the .bsa...

Since you seem to be using MO anyways it seems like a superfluous exercise.

[godescalcus]

Since you seem to be using MO anyways it seems like a superfluous exercise.

Does the vfs do more than just point to the archive? I asked about bsa management in MO2's forum at nexus and al12rs told me that it was never a feature of MO2, Tannin decided from the beginning to avoid the confusion of having a different archive management system than the game's. Either way, if I could get this to work it would still be useful in that I usually play SSE with Wrye Bash, once I have a stable build I'll probably build it there.

 

One thing I didn't do was use the DynDOLOD update procedure of disable-save in interior cell-exit-load etc... Don't know if it would make a difference since the plugins are the same. Crashing on load sounds like the game was looking for assets and couldn't find them.

[sheson]

Does the vfs do more than just point to the archive? I asked about bsa management in MO2's forum at nexus and al12rs told me that it was never a feature of MO2, Tannin decided from the beginning to avoid the confusion of having a different archive management system than the game's. Either way, if I could get this to work it would still be useful in that I usually play SSE with Wrye Bash, once I have a stable build I'll probably build it there.

 

One thing I didn't do was use the DynDOLOD update procedure of disable-save in interior cell-exit-load etc... Don't know if it would make a difference since the plugins are the same. Crashing on load sounds like the game was looking for assets and couldn't find them.

I am not aware of the vfs doing anything else than redirecting any OS API calls to the file, but I only look at things when something doesn't work.

 

You only need to do a clean save if after generating from scratch (or in the rare case that compiled scripts changed properties between major versions, which implies changed plugins).

Edited May 12, 2018 by sheson

[sheson]

 

I misunderstood you. No, the plugin name wasn't changed, but there were quite a few updates recently.

 

JKs Skyrim.esp;00023952;RTSouthGate01

JKs Skyrim.esp;00023951;RTWall03Outer

JKs Skyrim.esp;00000DB3;RTWall05Inner

JKs Skyrim.esp;000084D8;WHMarket01

 

These are the lines that were previously missed.

 

Thanks I will add these to be included in the next version.

[El_Rizzo]

In case you haven't seen it already Sheson, there is now a way to fix the tree LOD alpha bug without the use of ENB, SSE Engine Fixes by Aers/meh321 contains the fix as well.

Edited May 13, 2018 by El_Rizzo

[sheson]

In case you haven't seen it already Sheson, there is now a way to fix the tree LOD alpha bug without the use of ENB, SSE Engine Fixes by Aers/meh321 contains the fix as well.

You guys are all waay to late telling me this, I have the second endorsement :)

[El_Rizzo]

Hehe, good to know ;)

[David2408]

Would it be possible to implement a function to generate custom LOD textures for objects with baked textures, namely Glaciers and the Cities?

Edited May 14, 2018 by David2408

[sheson]

Would it be possible to implement a function to generate custom LOD textures for objects with baked textures, namely Glaciers and the Cities?

The short answer is no, unless you are willing to spend some serious time (and money probably).

[jap2112]

Hello:  I am following the checking for errors and cleaning as recommended to fix an issue with DynDOLOD. However, I am getting the strangest situation. I am receiving the following message in SSEEdit.

[00:00] Checking for Errors in [05] Verdant - A Skyrim Grass Plugin SSE Version.esp
[00:00] WhiterunExterior08 [CELL:000095DC] (in Tamriel "Skyrim" [WRLD:0000003C] at 5,-1)
[00:00]     CELL \ XCLR - Regions \ Region -> [0500A92D] < Error: Could not be resolved >
[00:00] WhiterunExterior05 [CELL:000095FB] (in Tamriel "Skyrim" [WRLD:0000003C] at 5,-2)
[00:00]     CELL \ XCLR - Regions \ Region -> [0500A92D] < Error: Could not be resolved >
[00:00] WhiterunExterior03 [CELL:00009619] (in Tamriel "Skyrim" [WRLD:0000003C] at 6,-3)
[00:00]     CELL \ XCLR - Regions \ Region -> [0500A92D] < Error: Could not be resolved >

 

Interestingly enough, this is the exact same region/cell that DynDOLOD tells me I need to fix. The problem is, when I try to go to the reference in SSEEdit, it does not exist. Has anyone seem this before? My first thought is I am just missing it, but I have been able to clean the other errors in the plugin. The hotkey {CTRL} and mouse button does not take me there, I can only get to the Worldspace. When I search for that specific cell, the search comes back with no results.  Any thoughts?

[sheson]

Hello:  I am following the checking for errors and cleaning as recommended to fix an issue with DynDOLOD. However, I am getting the strangest situation. I am receiving the following message in SSEEdit.

[00:00] Checking for Errors in [05] Verdant - A Skyrim Grass Plugin SSE Version.esp

[00:00] WhiterunExterior08 [CELL:000095DC] (in Tamriel "Skyrim" [WRLD:0000003C] at 5,-1)

[00:00]     CELL \ XCLR - Regions \ Region -> [0500A92D]

[00:00] WhiterunExterior05 [CELL:000095FB] (in Tamriel "Skyrim" [WRLD:0000003C] at 5,-2)

[00:00]     CELL \ XCLR - Regions \ Region -> [0500A92D]

[00:00] WhiterunExterior03 [CELL:00009619] (in Tamriel "Skyrim" [WRLD:0000003C] at 6,-3)

[00:00]     CELL \ XCLR - Regions \ Region -> [0500A92D]

 

Interestingly enough, this is the exact same region/cell that DynDOLOD tells me I need to fix. The problem is, when I try to go to the reference in SSEEdit, it does not exist. Has anyone seem this before? My first thought is I am just missing it, but I have been able to clean the other errors in the plugin. The hotkey {CTRL} and mouse button does not take me there, I can only get to the Worldspace. When I search for that specific cell, the search comes back with no results.  Any thoughts?

There is no issue with DynDOLOD. There is an issue with a plugin in your load order that needs to be fixed which DynDOLOD tells you about. Since DynDOLOD is just a special version of xEdit, so both telling you about the same problem is expected.

 

It is unlikely that 000095DC, 000095FB and 00009619 do not exist. A mod is overwriting these CELL records, adding a region to the XCLR - Regions list, but the form id (0500A92D) that is linked to does not exist.

Edited May 15, 2018 by sheson