FO4LODGen

[Oynlen]

Is it possible to create LOD for any static object and have its mesh generated into the BTO nif files? I know all the esp steps to take to assign a static its LOD nifs on each 4 levels (or less) I took the vines from Fallout 4 and made low poly, low texture versions of those meshes for lod files. But on generating the texture atlas, no small vine texture is applied. I choose 8K by 8K and there is still a lot of room.. It seems to generate an atlas of 8K by 2K  only. 

Then looking through the BTO files, none of the vine meshes are present. Final test was to approach an area with vines using TCL from the sky. The vines had no LOD then appeared as I got closer. 

I've used this program a lot but maybe not this version. I had also made a new small LOD texture for some Large mushrooms and that was applied to the atlas and the mushrooms were seen in the BTO files, so I know the generation was successful at least partially. 

Any idea why vines didn't work? Is there some kinda cap or limit... because the esp I am trying it for has a lot of vines placed on pretty much every structure heavily in a lot of locations. 

One theory is to do with some nif properties of the vines themselvesbeing BSMeshLODTriShape and named as if they represent Two or 3 levels of LOD.. But Far Harbor pines were like that too and I was able to generate those into my LOD BTO's

[sheson]

Look in the BTO if the mesh for the object is in there.

If a source texture is greater than the Max texture size it won't be put on the atlas texture. The shape/shader in the BTO will use the source texture directly.

The atlas will try to have the smallest possible size to fit all the textures that can be put on the atlas.

There is no cap.

the BSMeshLODTriShape should not matter, it should use the full version of the shape.

 

You are telling a story. Providing example files/screenshots etc. would be better.

Edited November 11, 2020 by sheson

[Oynlen]

Hey, I figured it out. I had unpacked everything and deleted all original Terrain BTO meshes and Terrain texture Atlas from loos files but the BA2 archives still had them of course.. once I moved the BA2 files to another location it all worked. 

Now another question, Iget a flickering light on the lods some angles it shows worse than others. it seems to do with Bloom. ENB with minimal setting that wont impact performance will fix it. but is there something I might have done wrong? Here is a video of the issue

And here is settings used. https://imgur.com/EZa82Ep

It said on one elm alternate branch texture I made it was missing Normal and Specular so used some default texture. 
It was an alternate tree and quite rare, these shimmers seem to be clustered far more densely than that tree was placed. 
On that alternate Elm LOD nif, I had assigned the regular elm LOD branches Normal and spec since its the same, just diffuse was different colour, but seems I need to create specific each layer for each texture not to get that error. 

But as I say, idk if thats the case. I assume its to do with selecting the starting settings. 

I dont want to experiment too much regenerating LOD  because my friend over and over coz it runs my PC quite hot during the process. So, I'll as here first for advice. 

[sheson]

Hey, I figured it out. I had unpacked everything and deleted all original Terrain BTO meshes and Terrain texture Atlas from loos files but the BA2 archives still had them of course.. once I moved the BA2 files to another location it all worked. 

 

Now another question, Iget a flickering light on the lods some angles it shows worse than others. it seems to do with Bloom. ENB with minimal setting that wont impact performance will fix it. but is there something I might have done wrong? Here is a video of the issue

 

 

And here is settings used. https://imgur.com/EZa82Ep

 

It said on one elm alternate branch texture I made it was missing Normal and Specular so used some default texture. 

It was an alternate tree and quite rare, these shimmers seem to be clustered far more densely than that tree was placed. 

On that alternate Elm LOD nif, I had assigned the regular elm LOD branches Normal and spec since its the same, just diffuse was different colour, but seems I need to create specific each layer for each texture not to get that error. 

 

But as I say, idk if thats the case. I assume its to do with selecting the starting settings. 

 

I dont want to experiment too much regenerating LOD  because my friend over and over coz it runs my PC quite hot during the process. So, I'll as here first for advice. 

Never assume.

 

If LOD models create problems, the obvious first troubleshooting step is to identify by elimination what LOD models are causing it. Do not make assumption.

Missing textures is an issue that should be fixed, obviously.

Double check the shader settings, textures or material files settings.

Then find the LOD model in the created BTOs and what shader settings remained, because LOD only supports a small subset and typically all unsupported setting are removed.

 

Use the Specific chunk option to only generate specific BTO files.

 

A properly build and setup computer should have no problems when it is being used.

[Oynlen]

Thanks for the reply. There is a lot to learn for people. Mostly, I learn from reverse engineering things or community help. To run this program using vanilla assets or maybe vanilla LOD assets with increased texture size is easy. But I'm making my own LOD meshes and using billboard creator to get the diffuse textures. Creating the normal and specular is possibly where I am making an error. Assume was the wrong word to use. Apologies.

What I guess I had hoped for was for you to recognize this visually and say "Ah yes, I have seen that before, its caused from "insert" that you didn't do correctly"

Again, Yes process of elimination is the obvious step. But as for the obvious "first step" For me, it's usually to ask if the problem is recognized by someone more knowledgeable. Sometimes you get an answer and it can save time. 

 

I understand you probably have to deal with a lot of question all the time. Thanks for your time. Now to begin the needle in the haystack hunt. 

[Oynlen]

If I read this correctly? I only need to place level 1 mesh lod in records for a static object and it will use the same record for all 4 levels? 

Linked References with MultiRefLOD KYWD
References linking to a reference marker with the keyword "MultiRefLOD" KYWD:00195411 are groups of objects that have some of their LOD levels replaced by the LOD level data of the base record of the marker.
Typically the LOD level 4 is based on the object LOD of each individual reference of the group, while higher LOD levels are replaced by a single LOD object representing the entire group.

I had placed the same file path to just one LOD nif 4 times previously, once for each level. Users have reported seeing LOD meshs while up close to objects. Another modder had a theory of adding too many Levels using the same mesh could cause this while someone else suggested it is a Vram issue and gave an ini edit to fix it. I have 6gb vram and didn't see the issue until I unpacked everything in loose files and had a very heavy green mod running in combination with my own (28gb or so) 

[sheson]

If I read this correctly? I only need to place level 1 mesh lod in records for a static object and it will use the same record for all 4 levels? 

 

Linked References with MultiRefLOD KYWD

References linking to a reference marker with the keyword "MultiRefLOD" KYWD:00195411 are groups of objects that have some of their LOD levels replaced by the LOD level data of the base record of the marker.

Typically the LOD level 4 is based on the object LOD of each individual reference of the group, while higher LOD levels are replaced by a single LOD object representing the entire group.

 

I had placed the same file path to just one LOD nif 4 times previously, once for each level. Users have reported seeing LOD meshs while up close to objects. Another modder had a theory of adding too many Levels using the same mesh could cause this while someone else suggested it is a Vram issue and gave an ini edit to fix it. I have 6gb vram and didn't see the issue until I unpacked everything in loose files and had a very heavy green mod running in combination with my own (28gb or so)

If no model is defined for a LOD level, nothing will show for this object for that LOD level. It does not matter if the same LOD model is used for different LOD levels.

 

The linked reference with the keyword is for a group of references that are part of a LOD model for the higher LOD levels.

 

For example, a group of buildings standing next to each other each have an individual LOD model in the first LOD level.

In the higher LOD levels, the entire group of buildings are depicted by the LOD models defined on the base record of the the linked reference.

[Oynlen]

I see thanks

[Laptoprocker]

Hi, I am trying to regenerated my LODs with FO4LodGen and I have the following questions:

 

In the initial post you list a bunch of supplementary .esp files improving LOD generation, however I wonder which ones should/can I use if I already have Tree LODs pregenerated? (I use Boston Natural Surroundings Trees Only with Pine Trees Redone pregenerated LOD).

 

Also there is now a whole new "Terrain LOD" section for FO4Lodgen which is missing from all the guides out there (back then there was only Objects LOD generation possible). How does this work? Are there any prerequisites? How does it work together with FAR - Faraway Area Reform and WET - Water Enhancement Textures?

 

I'd appreciate any help on these!

[sheson]

 

Hi, I am trying to regenerated my LODs with FO4LodGen and I have the following questions:

 

In the initial post you list a bunch of supplementary .esp files improving LOD generation, however I wonder which ones should/can I use if I already have Tree LODs pregenerated? (I use Boston Natural Surroundings Trees Only with Pine Trees Redone pregenerated LOD).

 

Also there is now a whole new "Terrain LOD" section for FO4Lodgen which is missing from all the guides out there (back then there was only Objects LOD generation possible). How does this work? Are there any prerequisites? How does it work together with FAR - Faraway Area Reform and WET - Water Enhancement Textures?

 

I'd appreciate any help on these!

 

See https://forum.step-project.com/topic/15333-fo4-fo4lodgen-help/

[Erenar]

Hi, I've been trying to generate LOD but every time I try there is no option to generate the Commonwealth LOD. I've had a look around but can't find a solution to the issue. Do you have any idea why this might happen? No doubt it is something to do with the interface between keyboard and chair!

[sheson]

18 minutes ago, Erenar said:

Hi, I've been trying to generate LOD but every time I try there is no option to generate the Commonwealth LOD. I've had a look around but can't find a solution to the issue. Do you have any idea why this might happen? No doubt it is something to do with the interface between keyboard and chair!

Read the text at the bottom of the options window. The vanilla BA2 (typically Fallout4 - Meshes.ba2) with the lodsettings file for commonwealth is not being loaded (because of missing default INI setting) or it has been modified.

Look at the log messages of xEdit/xLODGen. It lists all BA2 files that are being loaded.

[Erenar]

It seems there is a problem if my Complex Sorter patch was enabled. Disabling that allowed the commonwealth entry to appear. Bizarre but thanks for the tip on using my eyes. Maybe they need a fog removal mod installed....

[alphaniner]

I have only used xLODGen with the instruction of the Step SkyrimSE Guide so forgive me if this is a stupid question.

Should the FO4LODGen Resources used when generating remain enabled when actually playing the game?

Edited September 18, 2022 by alphaniner

[DoubleYou]

51 minutes ago, alphaniner said:

I have only used xLODGen with the instruction of the Step SkyrimSE Guide so forgive me if this is a stupid question.

Should the FO4LODGen Resources used when generating remain enabled when actually playing the game?

Yes.