DynDOLOD and Interesting Roads mod

[HielkeSkyrim]

Heya! I'm relatively new to xLodGen and DynDOLOD so forgive me for not fully understanding the technical details. 

I'm using xLodGen (high settings) for my terrains and DynDOLOD (2k@high) for objects and trees. My LODs look very impressive yet I noticed that not all mods play well. Interesting Roads is one such mod. 

Here is a screenshot of what I'm talking about. The dolmen sticks out like a sore thumb because of it's low blocky textutes.

Please correct me if I'm wrong: In my understanding this mod does not come with high quality billboards to support DynDOLOD, thus DynDOLOD generates the LOD based on the texture of the Dolmen which in this case results in a very low res LOD.  

My question: Is there something I can do to improve this LOD or is it up to the mod author to fix this? 

 

 

[sheson]

I suggest to not use insane texture resolutions without testing they actually result in a visual improvement and not just waste VRAM because the game never uses the higher resolution mipmaps since they are never required.

From the DynDOLOD manual:
"Billboards are a simple 2D texture representation of trees and an optional text file defining width, height and other parameters used for tree LOD."

Object LOD uses 3D LOD models and object LOD textures. Object LOD models are simplified versions of the full model with less triangles and other optimizations.

DynDOLOD generates object and tree LOD with the assets found int the load order. In particular, object LOD uses the LOD models that are found/matched/defined for objects with the LOD object textures either already installed updated by TexGen from full textures.

Without a second screenshot that shows the full model (and its reference form id) for comparison it is hard to tell what is "wrong" with the LOD.

If higher quality LOD models are desired they need to be created or alternatively use the full model for LOD by adding rules as explained in the manual.

If better matching object LOD textures are required or the existing ones could use a higher resolution requires  more information.

[HielkeSkyrim]

Thank you for clearing that up in such a speedy mannor. 

Right, let me provide these details for you:

Screenshot LOD

Screenshot full model

Reference form id (I suppose these are the ones I see via the console?): fe01b835, fe01b836, fe01b837

 

Indeed, a higher quality LOD models are desired because there is a huge discrepancy between the LOD and the full model.

As I do not know how to create these I will try what you suggested about using the full model for LOD by adding rules for which I will use the manual. 

[sheson]

Ah, looks like  the mod utilizes texture set replacements, so atm the LOD is using the default object LOD texture as is typically defined by the full bade model.

The fact that the LOD model is more or less just boxes is of secondary concern.

It just so happens that I am working on an update to the automatic texture set replacement with DynDOLOD 3.x alpha.

If you have the patience to wait a few more days or a couple weeks and then could re-test with the next DynDOLOD alpha 34 it might just automatically create better matching LODs without having to do anything.

To add a mesh rule, switch to advanced option. It should look something like this

Mesh mask = part of the full model.nif path you get with more informative console 
LOD4 = Full
LOD8 = empty/none or Static LOD4/8/16 or Level0/1/2 (option names depends on DynDOLOD 2.x/3.x)
LOD16 = empty/none or Static LOD4/8/16 or Level0/1/2 (option names depends on DynDOLOD 2.x/3.x)
VWD=checked
Grid=Far Full
Reference=Unchanged

 

 

[HielkeSkyrim]

Thank you, that is really helpfull. I do have the patience to wait for that, I'll be playing this game forever. 

 

I appreciate the work you do for the community. 

 

 

[HielkeSkyrim]

So I'm about to create the new mesh rule.

The informative console told me that the model.nif of the two elements I'd like to change are 'NorRubblePiece01.nif' and 'NorRubblePiece03.nif'. Yet I suspect that's not all I need since the advanced tab tells me that I require 'PathTo' in additon to 'FileName.nif'. I suppose I now only have the 'FileName.nif'. I tried clicking the element in the informative console hoping it would expand into more information or perhaps a full path but nothing happened upon clicking it.

Do I just put in the .nif part's I have or do I need more information? 

 

So I'd rather not have bothered you with this question but I can't seem to find the manual. Do you just paste 'Docs\DynDOLOD_Manual.html' in your webbrowser to view it? I'm using Chrome and that does nothing for me. Or is there some other place I should be able to view it? Is there a direct link somewhere? 

This is how I've set the mesh rule now. Please inform me if I've made an error.

Edited June 26, 2021 by HielkeSkyrim

[sheson]

Looking at the other existing rules shows that the mesh mask just needs to be be a part of the path/to/filename.nif in order to match.

The rules should work as shown in the screenshot. Just generate LOD too see that it does.

To open a file HTML text file, double click it. The OS then opens the program associated with that file extension. In Windows that should be the default browser. This is rudimentary computer knowledge that can be googled.

[HielkeSkyrim]

Fantastic result, thank you 

I'll apply this to more cool world elements to make them stick out more. 

[z929669]

On 6/26/2021 at 6:32 AM, HielkeSkyrim said:

So I'd rather not have bothered you with this question but I can't seem to find the manual. Do you just paste 'Docs\DynDOLOD_Manual.html' in your webbrowser to view it? I'm using Chrome and that does nothing for me. Or is there some other place I should be able to view it? Is there a direct link somewhere?

Just to address this question: The manual is actually under the location you extracted the DynDOLOD archive content. So something like C:/Modding/DynDOLOD/Docs/.

Just go in there and open the manuals like any other file (some doc also exists in other areas I believe. Just search for *.htm* in your DynDOLOD dir). The links in the manuals work using rel paths where applicable, so should be fine.