3d Tree LODS. Billboards for LOD8 pop up in the distance how to fix without exceeding memory

[Abbot]

Preface: I'm using Skyrim LE and I do not intend to install Skyrim SE any time soon since I've spent (way) too much time building my current LE load order.

Second preface: I use ENBoost (but I DON'T use any ENB) and Crash Fixes since 2 years by now; they as well as SKSE are all correctly edited.

Third preface: Thank you SO much Sheson for all you did and do! I personally think that Skyrim would be simply and completely unplayable without your work.

Onto my problem:

I've tried the 3d tree LOD generation using the "High" preset.

The results have been excellent visually but there remains the distracting pop-up of the tree billboards in the LOD8 distance.

Said billboards appear in and out of existence all at once and change the skyline of the horizon rather abruptly, so they are very noticeable.

To get rid of this umpteenth pop up, I've tried to change the settings for the tree LOD generation to "Static LOD4", "Static LOD8" (instead of "Billboards"), "Billboards", and "Far LOD".

This way I've managed to get nice 3d mdels in the distance too, but while the fps loss hs been (very surprisingly) minimal, the game crashes after 2-3 minutes in the open with a warning from Crash fixes telling me that Skyrim "exceeded memory usage", or something like that.

So I'm currently at a loss. Is there some way that I could get rid of any tree pop-up without exceeding memory usage?

For all my LODs' generations I've used "Max tile size: 256".

Edited June 28, 2021 by Abbot

[z929669]

43 minutes ago, Abbot said:

Since I find my static 3d tree object LOD to be too light-colored though (the billboards and the full tree from Enhanced Vanilla Trees are way darker than the static 3D tree lods)

Depending on the EVT version you are running, this (and perhaps even the waterfall thing) could be due to the fact that EVT comes packaged with pregenerated LOD, and even some of the tree LOD models are redundant or wrong (e.g., unused models with invalid CRC, large/lush LOD with small/not-lush full trees). I would disable all of the billboards and pregen LOD from EVT and make sure that you have correct 3D LOD models for the version you are running.

Some of the EVT files have no incorrect LOD (main 'standard' file and maybe Lush), but some do (Alt Trees, Custom Trees), and all have the pregen LOD I think, which is always potentially problematic.

[sheson]

The only way to reduce memory usage would be lowering the LOD Level distances or create less demanding LOD (e.g. smaller BTO files).

The easiest solution to improve it would be better matching billboards like the HD billboards generated by DynDOLOD/TexGen 3 alpha with Billboard1 or Billboard4

[Abbot]

Thank you so much Sheson! May I ask where  I can find info on "Billboard1" and "Billboard4" and if I should disable the other billboard mods I have before running TexGen (I'm using Indistinguishable Vanilla Billboards and Enhanced Vanilla Trees)?

I have downloaded and installed Dyndolod v. 3.0 Alpha and I have opened the doc file on TexGen but I see no mentions of Billboard1 and 4...

Sorry if I'm being dumb...

EDIT: Regarding my second question: Sorry, I just saw "No need to install any billboard" on the Dyndolod 3 Alpha page, my bad...

Edited June 28, 2021 by Abbot

[sheson]

4 minutes ago, Abbot said:

Thank you so much Sheson! May I ask where  I can find info on "Billboard1" and "Billboard4" and if I should disable the other billboard mods I have before running TexGen (I'm using Indistinguishable Vanilla Billboards and Enhanced Vanilla Trees)?

I have downloaded and installed Dyndolod v. 3.0 Alpha and I have opened the doc file on TexGen but I see no mentions of Billboard1 and 4...

Sorry if I'm being dumb...

Do not install any billboards when participating in the DynDOLOD 3 alpha.

/Docs/trees.ultra/DynDOLOD-Trees.html mentions internal/external the billboard options.

Right now the only difference should be the default brightness.  Billboard4 should just be tiny bit brighter by default.

[Abbot]

Sheson,

Thank you very much again.

One last thing,

I've noticed that Dyndolod 3 ALPHA is incomplete as of now, for instance the last waterfall on the outskirts of Whiterun is invisible when looking at it from the city.

So I've decided to create the tree billboards with TexGen 3 Alpha and then run Dyndolod v2.96 on top of those billboards.

Since I find my static 3d tree object LOD to be too light-colored though (the billboards and the full tree from Enhanced Vanilla Trees are way darker than the static 3D tree lods) I would like to ask if you have any suggestions for the correct values of the settings FlatLODLightingEffect, FlatLODVertexColor, and FlatLODWithNormalMapVertexColor to make so that the static tree LODs' colors match those of the full tree and the generated billboards from Enhanced Vanilla Trees.

Thanks again.

Edited June 29, 2021 by Abbot

[Abbot]

Thanks,

So you're saying that I should disregard the part about EVT already containing 3D LODs and that I should re-generate them from scratch by myself instead?

[z929669]

6 hours ago, Abbot said:

Thanks,

So you're saying that I should disregard the part about EVT already containing 3D LODs and that I should re-generate them from scratch by myself instead?

Install EVT with billboards (which unintuitively installs the 3D LOD meshes) and hide/remove all under:

• textures/terrain/
• meshes/terrain/

Then regen with TexGen 3 using billboards 'tree' & 'HD tree' & 'Render' options and DynDOLOD 3 using whatever options. This should more correctly generate all needed billboards (if you use those in mesh rules) and 3D tree objects on the atlas (sheson will correct my language if needed). Maybe will resolve some issues.

[sheson]

If you discover problems while participating in the DynDOLOD 3 alpha test, report them on the DynDOLOD3 alpha thread.

You can only use the standard billboards from TexGen with older versions. The HD billboards will not center correctly.

The FlatLOD* settings as the tree LOD brightness settings apply to billboards only.

In DynDOLOD 3 are there INI settings to change the brightness of 3D tree LOD crowns and trunks.

 

[Abbot]

Thank you very much to both.

I didn't manage to solve the problem of less dark LODs than the full tree models per se, but I managed to make the transition between billboards and static lods much less apparent by increasing the rendering distance of level1 LODs.

Thank you again!

[Abbot]

CORRECTION: After some more testing, I DID manage to solve the above problem by setting the crown setting in Dyndolod_TES5.ini to 0.5 before generating Dyndolod 3 Alpha test. HOWEVER this last version of DynDOLOD, and only it, does not generate LODs for certain objects, Anise's Cabin being one example. I will report this on the Dyndolod Alpha thread.

Edited July 3, 2021 by Abbot