Generating LODs with current mods

[Katarsi]

My relevant plugin setup in sorted load order:

• majesticmountains_landscape.esm
• smim-se-farmhouseflickeringfix.esp
• smim-se-dragonbornternfix.esp
• majesticmountains_moss.esp
• majesticmountains.esp
• cathedral landscapes.esp
• cathedral - water.esp
• cathedral weathers.esp
• cathedralweathermcm.esp
• plocktons culling glitch fix.esp
• icepenguinworldmapclassic.esp

With SMIM I have windmill LOD.

While installing Majestic Mountains, I chose SMIM patch for smaller rocks, and then let MM overwrite SMIM. I didn't install MM landscape because I already have Cathedral.

I also installed Majestic Mountains LOD Pack (512 textures).

There is an optional file in Cathedral Landscapes - LODGEN Textures, which I understand should be enabled while generating LOD, and then disabled.

 

Before I run TexGen and then DynDOLOD, I will install DynDOLOD Resources and then Indistinguishable Billboards because I have vanilla trees.

 

Now my questions:

1. Is my load order correct?
2. Should I disable MM LOD Pack as well after I finish generating LOD?
3. Should I disable DynDOLOD Resources and Indistinguishable Billboards as well after generating LOD?
4. Will my LOD be messed up if I choose Medium BethINI settings? I wish to use low resolution for LOD.
5. Should I have uLargeRefLODGridSize=21 or less - like 11? How much does it influence performance?

I'm asking all these because whenever I generate LOD, the snow on the mountains and distant landscape looks blocky and flat. Granted, I haven't tried LODGEN Textures that come with Cathedral Landscapes. I also didn't have Majestic Mountains before.

I want to get it right this time, so some advice/guidance is more than welcome.

Edited April 13, 2020 by Katarsi

[sheson]

1. See Load/Overwrite Orders in the DynDOLOD manual. The load order of third party mods depends entirely in their instructions and your preference what mod should win in case they modify the same things.

 

2. + 3. No. LOD resources are often used directly in the game.

 

4. No. INI settings do not influence LOD generation.

 

5. Not sure why  anyone would want to use an insane number like 21 for that buggy feature. It makes no sense. Higher values require exponential more resources/performance and the large reference bugs and other visual oddities (decals for example) will be more visible.

 

None of these questions seem to directly relate to the reason you gave why you are asking these questions:

 

Object LOD uses two snow LOD material object shaders. They are applied onto the object LOD in game.

Shaders do not affect object LOD generation or vice versa object LOD generation does not change the shader records.

Whatever plugins modify 00050372 SnowLODMaterial or 0006AE38 SnowLODMaterialHD are responsible how snow covered mountain rocks look in the distance.

 

LOD mountain rocks without snow use the same LOD models/textures as the one with the snow, meaning any other issues would be visible on all LOD mountain rocks.

 

Edited April 13, 2020 by sheson

[Katarsi]

Thank you, sheson.

You have no idea how many people eagerly use uLargeRefLODGridSize=21 and recommend it to boot. My default is 7 and I'll keep it that way. I have to admit that I was a bit confused with the offered options Near and Far Grid while generating LOD, where it says 11 and 21. I guess my default setting doesn't matter in this case.

As for the reason of my questions, I probably didn't express myself properly, sorry. I was genuinely interested about how and whether all those listed things influence LOD. And I was actually wondering about the snow as well. I'll look more deeply into it if the issue reappears, thank you for the references.