bEnableProjecteUVDiffuseNormals causing/exacerbating stretched snow on vertical surfaces?

[MisterMorden]

So, I have been going through every mod in my order tying to remove or reduce the visible lines in snow shaders applied to vertical surfaces (such as Windhelm).  I go down to pure vanilla except for ussep and as:lal and was still getting the stretched snow...UNTIL I turned off bEnableProjecteUVDiffuseNormals. 

https://imgur.com/a/U5wcPuU

This obviously didn't look great either, but I was excited to see the lines gone (or perhaps the snow is just to blindingly white to see them).  Is there any way to mitigate this or do I just need to live with it?  Someone on reddit quoted another as saying it was possible to remove the snow shader flag from some of the problematic areas so that they are just uncovered, but I can't see how this might be done with only a novice's experience.  Any advice or insight would be greatly appreciated by me.  

Edit - the first 2 pics are from my modded setup...the others are vanilla + ussep & as:lal 

Edited December 9, 2021 by tnicko

[TechAngel85]

It's a well known issue with the snow shader. The only way to fix it is to reduce the angle the snow is applied to the object, or removed it as you mention. You have to do that via plugin. It's fairly simple to do once you know what the objects are. First find the object, then just lower the angle until the issue is resolve. Else remove the material, but it won't be snow covered. Here you can see USSEP doing just this to part of the Gray Quarter, but they are increasing the angle and changing the material to a different one:

[MisterMorden]

8 minutes ago, TechAngel85 said:

It's a well known issue with the snow shader. The only way to fix it is to reduce the angle the snow is applied to the object, or removed it as you mention. You have to do that via plugin. It's fairly simple to do once you know what the objects are. First find the object, then just lower the angle until the issue is resolve. Else remove the material, but it won't be snow covered. Here you can see USSEP doing just this to part of the Gray Quarter, but they are increasing the angle and changing the material to a different one:

Tech, you rule...to remove the material do I just right click it and edit (I know it's not your job to give xedit lessons...sorry)? 

[TechAngel85]

18 minutes ago, MisterMorden said:

Tech, you rule...to remove the material do I just right click it and edit (I know it's not your job to give xedit lessons...sorry)? 

Right-click > Remove

But you really should forward the record into a new plugin to make changes.

1. In the left pane, right-click on the record and select "Copy as Override into...".
2. A window will show. Select a new ESP/ESL.
3. Name it.
4. Now make your changes to remove the material.

[MisterMorden]

18 minutes ago, TechAngel85 said:

Right-click > Remove

But you really should forward the record into a new plugin to make changes.

1. In the left pane, right-click on the record and select "Copy as Override into...".
2. A window will show. Select a new ESP/ESL.
3. Name it.
4. Now make your changes to remove the material.

You are my savior, I am so appreciative of your help!

[z929669]

1 hour ago, TechAngel85 said:

Right-click > Remove

But you really should forward the record into a new plugin to make changes.

1. In the left pane, right-click on the record and select "Copy as Override into...".
2. A window will show. Select a new ESP/ESL.
3. Name it.
4. Now make your changes to remove the material.

I always use "Deep copy as *". I read somewhere that certain things don't happen otherwise. Maybe this applies only when conflicts exist between > 2 plugins? Maybe it grabs all records from lower-priority plugins rather than just the one plugin?

[TechAngel85]

9 minutes ago, z929669 said:

I always use "Deep copy as *". I read somewhere that certain things don't happen otherwise. Maybe this applies only when conflicts exist between > 2 plugins? Maybe it grabs all records from lower-priority plugins rather than just the one plugin?

That's for when you are copying at higher levels vs a single record, as it copies "deeper" than the level your at. For example, you can use that to copy the entire Sub-block of a worldspace vs one cell at a time.

[z929669]

8 minutes ago, TechAngel85 said:

That's for when you are copying at higher levels vs a single record, as it copies "deeper" than the level your at. For example, you can use that to copy the entire Sub-block of a worldspace vs one cell at a time.

Got it. Then I was using it correctly I think. For single records, I just drag & drop, so that may be why I never use it.

[MisterMorden]

Working like a charm!  Gonna make one patch with no shader and hunt down the worst offenders then I'll play with applied angle values and make another patch with those values...thanks again!!!