How do you scale 3D tree Lods?

[AiElias]

I haven't seen any mention of this on the forum or google but sorry if I missed it.

What is the process getting DynDOLOD generation to register upscaled trees? I've upscaled 3D Tree pines by 25% and applied the changes to the main and child nodes. I've also done the process of upscaling the collision meshes by extracting and merging through NifUtilSuite. Lastly, I've scaled the 3D tree lod nifs that come with 3D trees. Still, the scale of the lods in-game post generation is only 100% the original size not 125% like I am expecting. Am I missing something?

Thanks in advance for any help or leads!

[sheson]

Generate LOD after changing LOD assets.

Make sure the updated LOD assets are actually used for generating LOD. Check the log.

Make sure the new output completely replaces the old output.

[AiElias]

Generate LOD after changing LOD assets.

Make sure the updated LOD assets are actually used for generating LOD. Check the log.

Make sure the new output completely replaces the old output.

Yes on both one and three. No issue there. Nothing I see in the logs to suggest any error occurred or that any other 3D Tree Lod nif is being used. I know that they lods are getting updated because I've been color correcting the textures as I've been doing this and they've been changing. There is nothing in MO2 overwriting the nif assets.

 

I've also copied and pasted the 3D Lod nifs nodes into the actual tree nifs to double check scale and they line up perfectly so nothing going on there.

 

How does DynDOLOD find the nif files to use? I did make a backup copy of the originals and put it in a different directory... but that couldn't be it could it? I'll check.

Edited January 9, 2021 by AiElias

[AiElias]

That was in fact the issue. If someone is having this issue in the future, make sure you don't have a duplicate Lod Nif in a different directory.

[sheson]

From docs/DynDOLOD_Mod_Authors.html

 

It is important to understand - by Bethesda's own basic file naming conventions - that each file name is unique and there never exist two different versions of an asset with the same file name twice or more in different folders. If variants - even if only changing textures - of the same mesh are created, they need to have different filenames. It is not enough to keep files in separate folders. Again, this is based on the principles how Bethesda names files and helps greatly with compatibility.

 

Consequently if the scanning for files finds a file with the same name again in a different folder, that file will be used instead of the file found before it. The folders are scanned in a specific order defined in 'DynDOLOD\Edit Scripts\DynDOLOD\DynDOLOD_[GAMEMODE].ini' Folder1=meshes, Folder2=meshes\dlc01\lod, Folder3=meshes\dlc02\lod, Folder4=meshes\lod, Folder5=meshes\dyndolod. This ensures that files from DynDOLOD Resources always overwrite vanilla LOD files.

 

From docs/trees.ultra/tools/DynDOLOD_CreateStaticTree.html

 

If a 3D static model is created for a mod, take note of the DynDOLOD.exe output to the Messages window (..\TES5Edit\TES5Edit_log.txt). Look for lines like 'Tree replaced, looking for 3D LOD treepineforest01_8E204123 using full model instead'. Unlike crude replacer mods overwriting existing meshes, DynDOLOD.exe creates a CRC32 checksum from the full model to identify if the vanilla model has been replaced.

 

With both the filename and the CRC32 checksum shared archives of 3D static LOD models for trees can be created without the need to worry about load order and overwriting as each version will have a unique LOD filename. Consequently the file name for a full model tree with the file name treepineforest01.nif and a CRC32 checksum of 8E204123 becomes treepineforest01_8E204123passthru_lod.nif.

 

[...]

 

As a last ditch effort before using the billboard as fallback, DynDOLOD checks if there is an object model with the typical filename convention of full model filename_LOD_[0|1|2].nif.

 

The last ditch effort is the xLODGen way, which is probably what your modification is based upon.