Is this a known Skyrim SE bug?

[sneakers789]

 

Are missing tree lods like this a known Skyrim special edition bug?  Basically after fast traveling, any of the fully loaded cells where I was will not get tree LoDs.  In the shot I was at half moon mill, and fast traveled to Agni's camp.  This was with uGridstoLoad=7 so it's a pretty big square, but it happens at normal ugrids 5 too.  It's only the last location too. If I fast travel from here to say Riften, then back to Agni's camp, the missing tree lods in the shot will be back (but there will now be a missing square back at Riften).  This is 100% reproduceable and not random.  The lods also return seemingly when they switch lod level (from say 16 to 8) if I'm just walking towards the blank area.

 

At first I suspected DynDolod, but it's only tree lod and you can see the full object lod in the shot. So the bug still happened without Dyndolod installed.  I kept removing more and more mods to try to isolate it (this is all off a fresh, never had mods before save in riverwood). Finally I just ran SE completely vanilla, no mods, enb, nor skse even, with freshly generated SE launcher ini files, and it still happens. Is there a known workaround (other than don't fast travel) or should I stop wasting my time and just live with it?

Edited September 7, 2019 by sneakers789

[Shadriss]

Since I can't think of any reason for you to be that far in the air to be able to see it in a normal situation, I wouldn't worry about it at all. From the steps you've taken, it would appear, to me, to be a vanilla engine related issue... I wouldn't call it a bug, per se, especially since I would imagine that, as you moved normally about, those trees would be reloaded anyways.

[sneakers789]

Oh I'm not flying in the air, I'm standing on a ledge overlooking the valley, right next to a vanilla location, something you'd commonly do during normal gameplay to avoid a repeated climb.

Edited September 7, 2019 by sneakers789

[Shadriss]

My answer remains unchanged, even so. I'd add in a recommendation to not fast travel, but since you already ruled that out as an answer... (that said, I don't do that, as I miss out on a lot of experience and the like when I do.)

[sneakers789]

Out of curiosity, I checked a 100% vanilla LE install, and the same bug happens there too.  As if the game doesn't register that you left those cells in respect to tree lod when fast travelling.  I'm just surprised I can't find mention of it anywhere (no help from google).  Sad thing is I can't find a quick fix to make them reappear besides saving/reloading.  Even console command tll, which toggles drawing all lod doesn't help.  I think I'm going to have to go with the "don't fast travel short/medium distances where you know you'll see the missing lods" solution.

[Shadriss]

Balgruf Voice: That would be best.

 

In seriousness though, I've not seen anyone else ever mention this problem, likely for the reason that most people don't use fast travel over short distances - they just hoof it, I'd guess. Obviously a vanilla issue, so nothing that can really be done.

 

I didn't think about this before... are you using DynDOLOD? If not, you may want to consider it, as it may fix this issue. If you were initially, than I guess there really isn't anything to do about it...

[Greg]

The way I understand it, using uGridsToLoad=7 with DynDOLOD is overkill so you might consider backing that down to uGridsToLoad=5.

[soupdragon]

You don't have any mods that cover that area by any chance? I've noticed that tree LOD will fail to generate in DynDoLOD if there is a mod that already includes packaged tree LOD. Remove the packed LOD and its fine. 

 

edit: sounds like its a random issue rather than a permanent one so may not be related. 

Edited September 11, 2019 by soupdragon

[sneakers789]

Yes, I use dyndolod.

 

The issue still happens with zero mods and at ugrids 5, in both SE and LE.

 

It's not isolated to this one area, it happens everywhere.  This was just a clearly visible example shot.

 

Here's a more concise, final description based on my testing: When leaving loaded cells via fast travel or coc, tree lod for those cells will not appear until they would naturally change lod level from additional player movement (whether it be walking or another fast travel).

 

Really seems like a vanilla bug with no fix other than avoiding it.

Edited September 11, 2019 by sneakers789

[sneakers789]

Actually there are two things that "fix" it, if it bothers me enough in a certain spot.

 

1. Save -> reload

 

2. In DynDolod's MCM, under settings, lower fTreeLoadDistance to a sufficiently low value that the affected area would no longer be displayed anyway, exit the menu, then go back in and change it back to what it was.  This seems to "refresh" whether lods should be displayed for that area.  Not really any faster than saving/reloading though.

 

This is probably the reason why no one (nor I) noticed it back in LE, fairly low fTreeLoadDistance settings for performance reasons. You'd have to fast travel a very specific distance to see it when you have a relatively small tree lod ring, and even then you might not notice it as you have a clear, harsh line where tree lod stops anyway.  SE has much better performance in this regard, but higher values make this more apparent.  I checked with vanilla LE with a modest fTreeLoadDistance of like 40000 and it definitely happens, it's just harder to notice.