Performance vs Quality balance. all things lod

[Soulmancer]

No doubt the answer will depend on individual systems but xlod and dyndolod have many extensive options, but I'd like to try to eek out a bit more performance if I can.

 

I am currently using 512 across the board for texgen, xlodgen (lod 16 and 32 is 256) and dyndolod... is there any screen shots that compare 256 vs 512 vs 1024 ?

 

I do use this as well https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/3333

 

I am using the performance friendly version of 512, which probably makes the most sense since I am 512 elsewhere for the most part.

 

 

With regards to xlodgen how much difference does the "quality" value make on performance vs quality? currently I am 4/8/12/12.

 

Lastly I used this article for ultra trees https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/articles/570

 

Obviously the lod 4 to static lod 4 for trees is the important.  Is changing the near lod to far lod though also important as this article suggests?

 

My ultra 3d trees look awesome, but seems like a 5-10 fps hit on my system using that article settings (I use EVT custom small vanilla branches)

Edited March 13, 2020 by Soulmancer

[sheson]

The only one that can answer most of these questions is yourself. The performance impact different settings have highly depend on the load order and the hardware. If the visuals are satisfactory depends on personal preference.

 

I am not in the habit of testing different settings to see what minuscule performance differences they might have. I am spending thousands of hours programming and making sure things work correctly as it is.

 

Changing LOD distances in the DynDOLOD SkyUI MCM might even be the easiest way to adjust performance after the fact... and together with tll in console give a hint of the impact of terrain, object (and tree) LOD has in general.

 

Read the DynDOLOD\Docs\DynDOLOD_Manual.html Performance chapter.

Read DynDOLOD\Docs\trees.ultra\DynDOLOD-Trees.html

 

The default Grid for trees is probably negligible as there aren't that many trees being done as dynamic LOD - the Whiterun Gildergreen has its own setting. I doubt a performance difference can be measured for the vanilla game. But this could all be different with just one mod that for some reason has lots of dynamic trees, which brings me back to: only you can do the tests and answer the questions if the visuals you desire are worth the performance impact.

[Soulmancer]

Is it fairly typical to use half the size for normals vs the diffuse? I noticed your screen shots you posted were 512 diffuse and 256 normals... lexy's guide also does this same. 

[sheson]

The Terrain-LOD-Readme.txt explains the native max resolutions of the terrain normal data.

 

Normal Size - texture resolution in pixels. See hints for native resolutions per LOD level. Higher resolutions are just a resize - see the hint message for the size that is native to the data (typically 256x256 for LOD4, 512x512 for LOD8 etc.), but can be useful because of compression and when baking normal-maps. Remember that each increase in resolution quadruples the resources and times needed to generate the textures. Higher than 1024 will start to take some serious time.

 

Without baking the normal maps from the landscape textures, higher normal resolutions will not have more detail.

[Soulmancer]

There do seem to be some varied recommendations.   For example Lexy's guide.

 

1. LOD4 quality 5; Build Diffuse Size 512, Build Normal Size 256, Protect Borders, Format BC7 Quick 
2. LOD8 quality 10; Build Diffuse Size 256, Build Normal Size 128, Optimize Unseen On, Format BC7 Quick - 
3. LOD16 quality 10; Build Diffuse Size 256, Build Normal Size 128, Optimize Unseen On, Format BC7 Quick -
4. LOD32 quality 15; Build Diffuse Size 256, Build Normal Size 128, Optimize Unseen 550, Format BC7 Quick - 

 

Jtharpla seems to do the opposite for Cathedral Landscapes with further LODs having increased size, starting with lod 4 and only 128/128 (quality = 3) and lod 32 at 512/256 (quality = 12)

 

What is the logic in that approach? (higher size for further lods vs smaller size for closer lods) ?

Edited March 14, 2020 by Soulmancer

[sheson]

Read How LOD works in the DynDOLOD manual. It  has this helpful image:
 

 
Each higher LOD level covers 4 times the area and the increase is not fully compensated by the distance.

In any case, I suggest to try different resolutions yourself and compare the visual and resource impact for your load order.

 

I can not answer why guides suggest this or that. Ask their author.

Edited March 14, 2020 by sheson

[Soulmancer]

Ok thanks, in the event I decide to re-run xlodgen at a different resolution or quality, would running texgen and dyndolod again be recommended following that?

[sheson]

You only need to run TexGen if source textures changed.

 

You only need to run DynDOLOD if anything object or tree models or textures changed or in case there are terrain height changes and you updated terrain LOD meshes.

[Parl]

What is the reference for the 5 cells my character stands on in the LOD level image?

Lets take the LOD 4 level. That immediate square with the -8 is part of my 5 cells my character is centered on?

But still my 5 cells I am centered on would not form a square that LOD 4 could be on the edges of.

or can 5 cells form a square, I would think not.

I'm thinking to go ahead with LOD 4 regardless and take your advice to move the LODS out with MCM.

I'm hoping to not see the object/LOD swap but just the object when I arrive.

You seem to not have a strong opinion about LOD levels making a difference besides using more resources as they increase

so I will go with LOD 4.

[sheson]

On 12/1/2023 at 8:49 AM, Parl said:

What is the reference for the 5 cells my character stands on in the LOD level image?

Lets take the LOD 4 level. That immediate square with the -8 is part of my 5 cells my character is centered on?

But still my 5 cells I am centered on would not form a square that LOD 4 could be on the edges of.

or can 5 cells form a square, I would think not.

I'm thinking to go ahead with LOD 4 regardless and take your advice to move the LODS out with MCM.

I'm hoping to not see the object/LOD swap but just the object when I arrive.

You seem to not have a strong opinion about LOD levels making a difference besides using more resources as they increase

so I will go with LOD 4.

Read https://dyndolod.info/How-LOD-Works
The image on top shows the active cells grid of 5x5 cells. All LOD has been disabled in the image with tll in console. LOD shows beyond the active cell grid. LOD always shows the levels 4, 8, 16 and 32 for terrain LOD according to the distance settings. The LOD distance settings do not change where LOD starts, they define how far a LOD level shows.