Render Distance - Objects Popping Into View Close

[mooit]

Hi,

I'm running AE 1.6x

I've gone through every possible scenario, that I can think of for choices/options/fixes/adjustments, etc...

I've read the guide over several times.

Step Skyrim Special Edition Guide (stepmodifications.org)

Now, I'm trying to understand if what I am seeing, based off of the Guide Settings for SSE, if this is correct. 

I'd say, at around what appears to be 150-200ft away in the game's world of distance, at that far away distance, as I'm approaching objects, they pop into view.

I assume that even with the settings we are using in the Guide, nothing is rendered at a unlimited distance, that at some point, objects, as you approach, will appear.

So is this correct, at about 150-200ft away, I should be seeing objects/trees/grass appear?

150-200ft in the game's world still feels close, afterall, in life, we can see beyond this distance, so I was also assuming DynDOLOD did make the game immersion feel more real. 

Is something here still wrong, I should not be having objects popup into view so close?

I'm using EVT Lush Small and I've combined Cathedral Landscapes with Veydosebrom.

For xLODGen, I placed it on LOD16, the default settings in the guide, and I used the default settings for 1440p for TexGen. These are the default DynDOLOD settings I'm using from the guide.

 

I've attached my modlist from MO2 if it helps to see what I have installed.

 

THANKS

modlist.txt

Edited July 12, 2022 by mooit

[sheson]

LOD generators do not change how the engine works. They generate and improve LOD meshes and textures for the load order.

https://dyndolod.info/How-LOD-Works

[mooit]

I've read, but don't remember how, that there's Skyrim INI Game settings that can be changed, to make objects pop into viewe slower, more naturally. Is this true, and if so what settings can I try, to not have objects POP so fast into view?

THANKS

Edited July 12, 2022 by mooit

[sheson]

2 hours ago, mooit said:

I've read, but don't remember how, that there's Skyrim INI Game settings that can be changed, to make objects pop into viewe slower, more naturally. Is this true, and if so what settings can I try, to not have objects POP so fast into view?

THANKS

From https://dyndolod.info/How-LOD-Works
When new cells attach, the game first loads the ground and lowers the terrain LOD meshes by a fixed amount under the ground and disables water LOD for the cells, loads all trees and disables their tree LOD, loads all objects and their full models and then disables object LOD for the cells.

Full model loads. LOD is turned off once they are loaded. They need to load when the cells attach. It is not possible to load full models load slower.

You can shorten (e.g. make things in the active cells load later) inside the cells by changing the in game Settings/Display sliders for Actor/Item/Object/Grass Fade to the left.

DynDOLOD adds LOD for tens of thousands of objects that didn't have LOD before to lesson the amount of things popping into existence. If you have a particular case of something that should have LOD but doesn't, make a post about that specifically.

[mooit]

For now I'm just trying to understand, if what I'm seeing is correct or not, that is all.

That is why I'm describing it in laymen's terms for what I'm seeing, which as I mentioned, and I'm not sure you answered that.

So for objects, grass, trees, anything... At around 150-200ft away, will you seen them pop into view?

As I understand it, because of the engine, it's still normal to see objects rendering in the distance, but at what distance is what I'm trying to figure out.

And then, should they be 'Popping' into view, or slowly appearing more natural, like a slow fade in, not like a sudden snap.

I guess I assumed there was something either with xLODGen, TexGen, DynDOLOD, the settings we use, and the SSE Guide, Bethini, etc., all these things coming together, would make objects render more naturally in the game's landscape as we move around.

THANKS

Edited July 12, 2022 by mooit

[sheson]

8 hours ago, mooit said:

For now I'm just trying to understand, if what I'm seeing is correct or not, that is all.

That is why I'm describing it in laymen's terms for what I'm seeing, which as I mentioned, and I'm not sure you answered that.

So for objects, grass, trees, anything... At around 150-200ft away, will you seen them pop into view?

As I understand it, because of the engine, it's still normal to see objects rendering in the distance, but at what distance is what I'm trying to figure out.

And then, should they be 'Popping' into view, or slowly appearing more natural, like a slow fade in, not like a sudden snap.

I guess I assumed there was something either with xLODGen, TexGen, DynDOLOD, the settings we use, and the SSE Guide, Bethini, etc., all these things coming together, would make objects render more naturally in the game's landscape as we move around.

THANKS

Read https://dyndolod.info/How-LOD-Works.

The engine works how the engine works. Full models and their LOD are separate meshes which are enabled/disabled/switched. There  are no hidden INI settings or features that can morph LOD to full models.
LOD generators generate LOD meshes and textures as the engine requires them. The improvements of xLODGen and especially DynDOLOD are to generate better matching/higher resolution and more LOD for objects that didn't have LOD before. 

If something pops into view out of thin air, then it has no LOD model, which can be addressed by creating LOD assets or using full models for LOD.

As explained, if something has LOD, then first the full models load, then LOD is disabled. There is no fade between the two. LOD for a cell is just turned off. As explained there is a brief moment when both full model and LOD model show. That time needs to be as short/fast as possible. There is a setting in Skyrim Special Edition that delays full terrain loading, terrain LOD unloading. This post shows why it is bad to keep high resolution terrain LOD meshes loaded longer loaded than absolutely needed.

[mooit]

You mentioned this;

'If something pops into view out of thin air, then it has no LOD model'

I'm using  Cathedral  Landscapes with the Cathedral Landscapes - LODGEN Textures and I have EVT Trees SE-Lush Trees small.

I'm also being specific about the grass/trees popping into view at a specific distance. I understand the limitation of the game's engine, but I'm trying to understand, simply by a distance in feet for now is all.

I'm assuming for Cathedral  Landscapes with the Cathedral Landscapes - LODGEN Textures, and EVT these are going to have LOD models.

So now, as I mentioned before, I'm only trying to have you tell me, if at around what appears like 150-200 feet away, I should be seeing the grass and trees popping into view, if this seems about right for the distance in the game?

For now, I'm sliding the sliders in the games settings all the way over to the right and see if it makes any difference.

THANKS

 

Edited July 13, 2022 by mooit

[sheson]

2 hours ago, mooit said:

You mentioned this;

'If something pops into view out of thin air, then it has no LOD model'

I'm using  Cathedral  Landscapes with the Cathedral Landscapes - LODGEN Textures and I have EVT Trees SE-Lush Trees small.

I'm also being specific about the grass/trees popping into view at a specific distance. I understand the limitation of the game's engine, but I'm trying to understand, simply by a distance in feet for now is all.

I'm assuming for Cathedral  Landscapes with the Cathedral Landscapes - LODGEN Textures, and EVT these are going to have LOD models.

So now, as I mentioned before, I'm only trying to have you tell me, if at around what appears like 150-200 feet away, I should be seeing the grass and trees popping into view, if this seems about right for the distance in the game?

For now, I'm sliding the sliders in the games settings all the way over to the right and see if it makes any difference.

THANKS

 

I suggest to really read the documentation. Most questions are directly answered, some are implied/inferred. Hover/click contextual links in the documentation for further information and explanations.

If you read https://dyndolod.info/How-LOD-Works, then you know that the engine renders full stuff in cells around the player and the LOD area starts beyond those active cells, their size in game units (with a contextual link to https://www.creationkit.com/index.php?title=Units to convert that to feet), that Skyrim has 3 types of LOD for terrain, object and trees (which as you will note does not include LOD for grass), how you can turn off LOD to easily see the active cells and full models to.

The game subdivides worldspaces into exterior cells. An exterior cell has 4096x4096 game units.

By default the game attaches (loads) 5x5 exterior cells around the player. This is the active exterior cells area where basically everything happens.

Beyond these attached cells is the distant LOD area. In this distant LOD area the game shows terrain LOD (includes LOD for cell sized water), object LOD and tree LOD.

For demonstration or debugging purposes the distant LOD can be toggled on/off by entering tll into console. When distant LOD is turned off, all that remains is the active exterior cells area, the neverfades and the large references. 

The requirements how to generate LOD for grass are explained at https://dyndolod.info/Help/Grass-LOD

LODGen textures meant for terrain LOD generation obviously do not do anything for object or tree LOD.

For additional LOD for objects, LOD models are required. For tree LOD, tree LOD billboards are required. For optional ultra tree LOD, optional 3D tree LOD models are required. https://dyndolod.info/Help/Ultra-Tree-LOD

[mooit]

Thanks