Lods, Trees and Me

[Soulmancer]

I just released a tree mod mash up I was working on.  My first one.

 

https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/42266

 

Though I am not sure if LODs are appropriate... or whether or not matching 3d tree lods could even be generated for it through dyndolod with what I've got.

 

I included the LOD textures and meshes provided by Lush Vanilla Trees SE  These look like this.  http://icecream.me/uploads/afc3d7fffc2a2dd8e83181ac5f4babaf.png

 

Delicate Pines and HD Dead Trees and Driftwoods  have nothing lod specific included in them.

 

HQ Tree Bark offers only this, which I assume are the 2d billboards.  http://icecream.me/uploads/02f1c314caa216e13916207e3131d5d6.png

 

So essentially if I run dyndolod for 3d trees is what I have now enough to produce an appropriate match? I find trees to be the most complex part of the LOD process.

 

Much appreciated as always.

Edited November 11, 2020 by Soulmancer

[theblackman]

Why did you upload it to the Alchemy category?

 

Looks good though! :)

[TechAngel85]

You've gotta have those passthru files for 3D Trees. They're actually not hard to make. Everything is documented within "..\DynDOLOD SE\Docs\trees.ultra" folder.

[sheson]

Note that new tree references added by ESL flagged plugins can not have traditional tree LOD. DynDOLOD will automatically do tree LOD in object LOD for them. Modifying existing references is fine.

 

Make sure to only include tree LOD billboards for the trees that are changed or newly added by the mod. Do not include tree LOD billboards for trees that are not changed or added by the mod.

The tree LOD billboards filenames in textures\LODGen\fantasticforest.esp\ do not match any of the new trees added by the mod.

The tree LOD generation log shows lines like these:

<Spook_TreePineForestLarge01 [TREE:FE001800] billboard not found textures\terrain\lodgen\fantasticforest.esp\treepineforest01_large_00000800.dds>
<Spook_TreePineForestLarge02 [TREE:FE001802] billboard not found textures\terrain\lodgen\fantasticforest.esp\treepineforest02_large_00000802.dds>
<Spook_TreePineForestLarge03 [TREE:FE001804] billboard not found textures\terrain\lodgen\fantasticforest.esp\treepineforest03_large_00000804.dds>
<Spook_TreePineForestLarge04 [TREE:FE001805] billboard not found textures\terrain\lodgen\fantasticforest.esp\treepineforest04_large_00000805.dds>
<Spook_TreePineForestLarge05 [TREE:FE001806] billboard not found textures\terrain\lodgen\fantasticforest.esp\treepineforest05_large_00000806.dds>

The "dead" versions of the tree base records have no objects bounds. You need to generate them with CK.

Tree LOD Billboard Creation : Start to Finish

 

 

Make sure to only include 3D tree LOD meshes for the tree that are changed or newly added by the mod. The file naming convention and other things are explained in docs\trees.ultra\tools\DynDOLOD_CreateStaticTree.html

Basically, a 3D tree LOD model is a static model version of the tree, preferable with less triangles (decimated or trunk replaced by "billboard" for example) and UVs within 0.0 and 1.0.

We discussed some of that in the past https://forum.step-project.com/topic/15258-following-createstatictrees-workflow

Edited November 12, 2020 by sheson

[Soulmancer]

"<Spook_TreePineForestLarge01 [TREE:FE001800] billboard not found textures\terrain\lodgen\fantasticforest.esp\treepineforest01_large_00000800.dds>"

 

Would me having compressed the plugin and/or flagging it esl done that?  Because the ones from the default mod were all "59##' in their numerical.  I plan to remove the ESL flag later today and I can update these texture names.

[sheson]

As you can see, the base record form id is part of the billboard filename. If compacting changes form ids of tree base records, the billboards filename need to be updated as well.

[Soulmancer]

with T4 help I also updated the SFO snow pines add on for EVT with the newest available ones from SFO...  Fixed some problematic texture pathing and T4 tweaked the meshes a bit.

 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1N9RWxzvtOjld-eNsy-KNbDyS0DpsYmlU/view?usp=sharing

 

Though I guess this would make the current passthru meshes for the 3d lods obsolete.  I'll have a look at the manual and see if I have the technical ability for this but I have minimal experience editing meshes and textures.

 

Without the passthru I guess that means hybrid lods for these snow pines is not an option.. but full model it sounds like could work?

Edited November 14, 2020 by Soulmancer

[sheson]

Generally full models should not be used for LOD in a play-through.

 

Make sure to only include billboards for trees that are add/ or modified by the mod.