Inconsistent tree brightness

[Soulmancer]

Hello,

 

I am using Enhanced Vanilla Trees (newest version) I selected Snowy Pines options (alt trees download) and SFO branches ver 2 (alt branches download)

 

I generate 3d tree lods with a -10 brightness (high quality dyndolod preset)

 

I am getting this inconsistency at the top part of forest pine tree seems much brighter then the bottom part.  also some trees are just overall much brighter than others such as the light/semi snow pines being much brighter than the other trees.   Any suggestions or is that the mod author that would need to balance this?

 

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/472571934463229953/732067127032545280/20200712194839_1.jpg

 

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/472571934463229953/732067113363308575/20200712194914_1.jpg

[DoubleYou]

It's the Sleeping Tree I do believe. It's a unique tree in the game.

[sheson]

4 hours ago, mooit said:

 

Ahh this is Sleeping Tree Camp.

Sleeping Tree Camp | Elder Scrolls | Fandom

This is a tree in SSE, I assumed there's a tree lod for it?

 

 

THANKS

P.S. I found Fancy Sleeping Tree Replacer (I'll give this a go)

Fancy Sleeping Tree Replacer at Skyrim Special Edition Nexus - Mods and Community (nexusmods.com)

https://dyndolod.info/Official-DynDOLOD-Support-Forum#In-Game-Screenshots
When making screenshots of things in the game, open console and click the object in question to show its reference form ID.
Use Mfg Console or More Informative Console to show additional information when opening the console and clicking an object.

DynDOLOD Resources SE include a 3D tree LOD model for the vanilla version of the tree.

[mooit]

Ok, maybe in tfc view it just looked this way is all.

THANKS

[sheson]

1 hour ago, mooit said:

Ok, maybe in tfc view it just looked this way is all.

THANKS

https://dyndolod.info/Help/Ultra-Tree-LOD#Generating
Depending on the mesh mask rules the LOD for such trees will use (hyrbid) 3D tree LOD models (if available) or use tree LOD billboards directly or as fallback in case a 3D tree LOD is not found. 
...
While the LOD is generated, a log file with a detailed report for each tree is created to ..\DynDOLOD\Logs\DynDOLOD_[GAME MODE]_Tree_Report.txt. It will contain an entry for each which types of assets were found and used for the different LOD levels

[mooit]

DynDOLOD_SSE_Tree_Report..txt should help track down the issue for the bright tops/dark bottoms?

I've tried 3 different textures, 80 hours and several weeks later, I can't come up with anything.

All I know is this only happens with EVT, no other tree mods.

I'm attaching DynDOLOD_SSE_Tree_Report.txt

THANKS

DynDOLOD_SSE_Tree_Report.txt

Edited July 19, 2022 by mooit

[mooit]

Well I will say, I'm pretty happy with these last results. I'm using Enhanced Vanilla Trees SE-Custom Trees 2K, Darker, small, SFO4.

Here's a screen shot at Whiterun looking out over the Tundra. The color difference is still noticeable, but I don't see it now in as many trees. Of course the picture has low lying clouds, but even clear, it looks better with this texture.

Tundra — ImgBB (ibb.co)

Here's Whiterun looking at the mountains on the side. SF04 looks really nice in the game too.

Whiterun-landscape — ImgBB (ibb.co)

And of course, just some eye candy, LOL, I'm really happy with my setup and Pi-CHO just put out an update the other day, really great ENB.

Whiterun — ImgBB (ibb.co)

If I could get the trees looking more consistent and even more realistic/detailed in the distance it would be great. I actually thought when I started messing with this, that using a 3080, trees would look more detailed real in the farther distance. The second screen shot 'Whiterun Landscape' they certainly do, but going beyond this distance, further out, they loose a lot of detail.

Even though Skyrim is fairly old, is it possible to create more realistic 3D looking trees in the game, I mean is someone working on a way?

THANKS

Edited July 19, 2022 by mooit

[sheson]

3 hours ago, mooit said:

DynDOLOD_SSE_Tree_Report..txt should help track down the issue for the bright tops/dark bottoms?

I've tried 3 different textures, 80 hours and several weeks later, I can't come up with anything.

All I know is this only happens with EVT, no other tree mods.

I'm attaching DynDOLOD_SSE_Tree_Report.txt

THANKS

DynDOLOD_SSE_Tree_Report.txt 245.04 kB · 0 downloads

The tree report can help to see which full tree is still vanilla or has been replaced and what LOD assets were found and used.

[sheson]

2 hours ago, mooit said:

Well I will say, I'm pretty happy with these last results. I'm using Enhanced Vanilla Trees SE-Custom Trees 2K, Darker, small, SFO4.

Here's a screen shot at Whiterun looking out over the Tundra. The color difference is still noticeable, but I don't see it now in as many trees. Of course the picture has low lying clouds, but even clear, it looks better with this texture.

Tundra — ImgBB (ibb.co)

Here's Whiterun looking at the mountains on the side. SF04 looks really nice in the game too.

Whiterun-landscape — ImgBB (ibb.co)

And of course, just some eye candy, LOL, I'm really happy with my setup and Pi-CHO just put out an update the other day, really great ENB.

Whiterun — ImgBB (ibb.co)

If I could get the trees looking more consistent and even more realistic/detailed in the distance it would be great. I actually thought when I started messing with this, that using a 3080, trees would look more detailed real in the farther distance. The second screen shot 'Whiterun Landscape' they certainly do, but going beyond this distance, further out, they loose a lot of detail.

Even though Skyrim is fairly old, is it possible to create more realistic 3D looking trees in the game, I mean is someone working on a way?

THANKS

I suggest to never "mess around" with anything and actually go about things methodically...

3D tree LOD models using the full model crowns and textures are as detailed as the (static parts) of full tress.

If tree LOD in the distance seems inconsistent it might be because not all trees have 3D tree LOD models and fallback to billboards.

For the vanilla 3D tree LOD models included in DynDOLOD Resources you should not really see much of a difference for the same distance when compared to their full models.  LOD tends to have better mipmap transparency.

[mooit]

I am testing methodically, not sure what you mean, I'm not just messing around, I've been trying to troubleshoot this issue for 2 weeks, still scratching my head. Because from what I can tell, I don't have any mods installed that are suppose to be conflicting with EVT to cause this. Also the trees for EVT are the only tree mod that does this, I've probably used in the past 4 other tree mods, never once saw this issue with them.

As far as the difference in colors from tops and bottoms, I'm not talking about any general tree mods, I'm only talking specifically about EVT, so I assumed DynDOLOD has this mod covered very well, since it's in the Guide.

Does EVT have  3D tree LOD models for these pine trees in the distance?

Soulmancer posted the same exact issue before, that first screen shot, shows brighter tops, and many of those trees aren't that very far in the distance. I get the feeling this has been around in EVT for some time, and no one has really noticed it.

I've disabled every landscape/texture mod and nothing has changed this, trees still look the same.

Edited July 20, 2022 by mooit

[DoubleYou]

Yes, EVT has 3d tree LODs.

Yes, using the darker version is likely to cause the issue you are seeing, as has already been explained to you multiple times.

And yes, you can choose to have 3d LODs farther out, by simply changing the tree rule in DynDOLOD to use the higher quality 3d LODs in the higher levels.

[z929669]

1 hour ago, mooit said:

I am testing methodically, not sure what you mean, I'm not just messing around, I've been trying to troubleshoot this issue for 2 weeks, still scratching my head. Because from what I can tell, I don't have any mods installed that are suppose to be conflicting with EVT to cause this. Also the trees for EVT are the only tree mod that does this, I've probably used in the past 4 other tree mods, never once saw this issue with them.

As far as the difference in colors from tops and bottoms, I'm not talking about any general tree mods, I'm only talking specifically about EVT, so I assumed DynDOLOD has this mod covered very well, since it's in the Guide.

Does EVT have  3D tree LOD models for these pine trees in the distance?

Soulmancer posted the same exact issue before, that first screen shot, shows brighter tops, and many of those trees aren't that very far in the distance. I get the feeling this has been around in EVT for some time, and no one has really noticed it.

I've disabled every landscape/texture mod and nothing has changed this, trees still look the same.

Myrkvior for one has the same issue. It's largely an issue with vanilla-derived pine trees in general. It has been noticed, but others have largely resolved it to acceptable degree (as I have demonstrated).

1 hour ago, DoubleYou said:

Yes, EVT has 3d tree LODs.

Yes, using the darker version is likely to cause the issue you are seeing, as has already been explained to you multiple times.

And yes, you can choose to have 3d LODs farther out, by simply changing the tree rule in DynDOLOD to use the higher quality 3d LODs in the higher levels.

Agree. And as I have mentioned multiple times, there are two mesh vertex-color variants, two mesh size variants, and no less than 6 texture variants in the Lush version of EVT alone. That is 2 * 2 * 6 = 24 possible variants in this single version. With Basic, there are at least 12 more, and with Custom Trees, you can create far more than even Lush. We haven't even considered the SFO variants ...

I have tried third-party vanilla trees textures with EVT for kicks (because EVT is compatible with vanilla pine texture replacers), and found that the tree tops were significantly darker or lighter with those, depending ... so just trying different branch texture versions alone can change this ... but for some reason, when multiple 'fixes' are right there, advice and suggestions are not heeded.

EVT has a configuration for just about any ENB. Approaching the 'problem' methodically would arrive at the solution rather quickly, I think

[mooit]

20 hours ago, DoubleYou said:

Yes, EVT has 3d tree LODs.

Yes, using the darker version is likely to cause the issue you are seeing, as has already been explained to you multiple times.

And yes, you can choose to have 3d LODs farther out, by simply changing the tree rule in DynDOLOD to use the higher quality 3d LODs in the higher levels.

 

I'm using the guide settings from the 'DynDOLOD-HD-QHD' screen shot, what tree rule in DynDOLOD would I change to use higher quality 3d LODs in the higher levels, further out?

THANKS

 

 

Edited July 20, 2022 by mooit

[DoubleYou]

1 hour ago, mooit said:

 

I'm using the guide settings from the 'DynDOLOD-HD-QHD' screen shot, what tree rule in DynDOLOD would I change to use higher quality 3d LODs in the higher levels, further out?

THANKS

 

 

Use the Ultra settings described on the EVT mod page under "Recommended DynDOLOD 3 'tree' mesh rules." 

[mooit]

1 hour ago, DoubleYou said:

Use the Ultra settings described on the EVT mod page under "Recommended DynDOLOD 3 'tree' mesh rules." 

• Ultra: LOD4/Level0, LOD8/Level1, LOD16/Level2

Thanks

[sheson]

8 hours ago, mooit said:

I'm using the guide settings from the 'DynDOLOD-HD-QHD' screen shot, what tree rule in DynDOLOD would I change to use higher quality 3d LODs in the higher levels, further out?

THANKS

https://dyndolod.info/Help/Ultra-Tree-LOD#Generating
https://dyndolod.info/Help/Mesh-Mask-Reference-Rules

Using 3D tree LOD in the higher LOD levels most likely has a noticeable performance requirement. Consider generating HD billboards with TexGen and to set Billboard4 in the mesh mask rules.