ACCEPTED Major Cities Mesh Overhaul (by raiserfx)

[DoubleYou]

Discussion topic:
Major Cities Mesh Overhaul by raiserfx
Wiki Link

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Install in Foundation just after SRO

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raiserfx released this yesterday. I'm hoping it doesn't get lost in the shuffle, as it looks quite good from the screens. It looks like it covers all the major cities too.

[Mercury71]

Installed it last night (not the optional .esp) and placed it in Foundation just before "Assorted mesh fixes". Been running around in all three major citices for a bit and all looks good with my bad eyes. I kinda like what it does to the Whiterun scupper drains.

PS One day i hope there will be a community project to make one BIG mesh mod DS

[TechAngel85]

This should be placed in M&T in alphabetical order. Then move Whiterun Mesh Fixes up before it. It should fit perfectly there, but I don't have everything active in my list.

I've noticed many of these issues myself and was planning to tackle them one day. Glad to see someone has done it. Much of this is UV edits, but have been needed for a long time. The only one I'm not keen on is the grate change to the Skyforge. I'm not sure those are suppose to have embers in them. I always considered them places to sweep the ash, but the concept art has the eyes glowing from the embers so I guess it makes sense from that point of view.

[TechAngel85]

There will be a few files to hide from this one.

[z929669]

I think we should check the optional file as well. These changes sound fitting for Whiterun.

[z929669]

I have installed this mod into M&T in alphabetical order with WMF moved one priority lower than this mod (so this mod wins conflicts).

Whiterun compares only

Step  >  this mod

WMF is enabled in these compares, but it doesn't contribute anything.

Step wins over this mod IMO:

This mod wins IMO:

 

Step  >  this mod (optional plugin enabled)

I am not seeing moss in any but the second set of these images.

 

These need to be studied carefully to determine what's best. Both WMF and this mod are better than Step for these, but in some cases WMF may be best and in others, this mod may be best:

Step  >  WMF only  >  WMF + this mod

 

There is a ton more that can be checked in Whiterun and other cities. Overall, this mod is a huge improvement in Whiterun. I am inclined to leave WMF in alphabetical order so that it overwrites this mod, and we can hide any meshes from WMF that conflict with this where necessary.

The optional plugin from this mod doesn't conflict with any other mod plugins, so the supposed hanging moss is a mystery to me. As mentioned, only the second compares in the previous set showed what i would call English ivy inside the grate. More investigation/opinions needed.

Note that i have ENB enabled, but I don't have the Post-Processing ModGroup installed in these compares. I also haven't checked at night.

[DoubleYou]

Embers XD should win over the forge. Probably hide the mesh.

Your first compare set for the Step  >  WMF only  >  WMF + this mod group (I have pasted below) is altered by a change in your shadow settings, which I believe was caused by SSE FPS Stabilizer (I can see the block distances for the LOD was changed too, and this is typically a fps demanding view). You should retake the shot without the change so we can see the shadow changes more appropriately.

Other than that, this mod mostly wins here in Whiterun, except for the one roof type:

This is the compare from above. Notice how the roof on the right has the jagged ends versus the one on the left for the last one. This might be something to point out to raiserfx, since it appears he intends to maintain compatibility between these two.

That being said, there are still a bunch of other locations not shown yet.

[z929669]

3 minutes ago, DoubleYou said:

Embers XD should win over the forge. Probably hide the mesh.

Your first compare set for the Step  >  WMF only  >  WMF + this mod group (I have pasted below) is altered by a change in your shadow settings, which I believe was caused by SSE FPS Stabilizer (I can see the block distances for the LOD was changed too, and this is typically a fps demanding view). You should retake the shot without the change so we can see the shadow changes more appropriately.

Other than that, this mod mostly wins here in Whiterun, except for the one roof type:

This is the compare from above. Notice how the roof on the right has the jagged ends versus the one on the left for the last one. This might be something to point out to raiserfx, since it appears he intends to maintain compatibility between these two.

That being said, there are still a bunch of other locations not shown yet.

Yeah, The shadows are indeed off. I forgot about FPS Stabilizer.

I don't understand what you mean by "jagged ends". Maybe circle what you mean. This mod looks better than WMF in that compare, IMO. The roof beams are rounded for this mod but not for WMF (maybe that's what you mean). Also note the fascia on the left roof is made consistent with the others with this mod. The pattern is now on that left fascia in the last shot.

[DoubleYou]

This is what I'm talking about. By your comments, perhaps you have the compare backwards?

[Greg]

40 minutes ago, DoubleYou said:

This is what I'm talking about. By your comments, perhaps you have the compare backwards?

Look at the roof beams on the three houses. The house in the middle and the house on the right have a decorative pattern on the roof beams in all three compares. This decorative pattern is missing from the house on the left in the Step and Step+WMF shots. so this may need to be taken into consideration as well. I'm assuming this pattern was added for consistency with the other houses.

[DoubleYou]

13 minutes ago, Greg said:

Look at the roof beams on the three houses. The house in the middle and the house on the right have a decorative pattern on the roof beams in all three compares. This decorative pattern is missing from the house on the left in the Step and Step+WMF shots. so this may need to be taken into consideration as well. I'm assuming this pattern was added for consistency with the other houses.

Good eye. I missed that.

[z929669]

8 hours ago, DoubleYou said:

This is what I'm talking about. By your comments, perhaps you have the compare backwards?

Yes, I missed this ... the compares aren't backwards. This mod just doesn't correct that whereas WMF does.

7 hours ago, Greg said:

Look at the roof beams on the three houses. The house in the middle and the house on the right have a decorative pattern on the roof beams in all three compares. This decorative pattern is missing from the house on the left in the Step and Step+WMF shots. so this may need to be taken into consideration as well. I'm assuming this pattern was added for consistency with the other houses.

Correct. That's what I mentioned in the compares post. This mod fixes some things that WMF misses and the inverse is also true. That's what I mean ... sorting these out will be difficult, because I'm sure there is a mixed bag of fixes, and both mods are needed with some hiding of files. The question is which order we should be installing to result in the fewest files needing to be hidden. I was guessing that we should install this mod first and overwrite with WMF, but I haven't looked deeply enough to sort that out. Just verifying that what Tech was saying is true.

[DoubleYou]

I would suggest pointing it out to raiserfx, as he probably missed it and can update it. 

[z929669]

5 hours ago, DoubleYou said:

I would suggest pointing it out to raiserfx, as he probably missed it and can update it. 

I will definitely do that once I find the relevant assets. There could be others as well.

[TechAngel85]

There are a few conflicts with Unofficial Material Fix and could simply be incorporated. There are also some from Assorted Mesh Fixes and Flickering Mesh Fixes. These are mods they haven't mentioned so they may be unaware of them.