DynDOLOD 3.00 Alpha 169

[sheson]

17 minutes ago, RainingTacco said:

How there is no 8,-5 cell, when these are the coordinates that dyndolod tells me when i look it in dyndolod mcm ingame? So what the heck i have to put in dyndolod chunk settings to get that 8,-5 cell lod generated[it's the coc whiterun cell]? What is a lodsettings file and where it is located? Why can't cell coordinates of 8,-5 translate to lod files named 8,-5, but you tell me it's 8,-8?  

As explained at https://dyndolod.info/How-LOD-Works and https://dyndolod.info/Help/Object-LOD The nearest LOD level is 4, which means 4x4 cells are combined into a single (terrain, object, tree) LOD mesh. The LOD files use the WS cell for the filename for the area the LOD level covers.

Nobody said that there is no cell 8,-5. In Tamriel there is no LOD file with those coordinates. The LOD level 4 file that contains the LOD for the cell 8,-5 has the coordinates level = 4, W = 8, S = -8 -> Tamriel.4.8.-8.bto

The instructions and earlier replies explain what values to use for the drop downs and how to get them.

[RainingTacco]

Ahhh sweet, it's bethesda idiosyncrasies time. They just couldn't make it sane lol. 

Would it be possible for dyndolod to take cell reference like i said 8.-5 and then produce applicable LODs containing this cell, without the need for some crossreferencing with external program? That would make the life easier for end user. 

Edited March 25, 2023 by RainingTacco

[sheson]

48 minutes ago, RainingTacco said:

Ahhh sweet, it's bethesda idiosyncrasies time. They just couldn't make it sane lol. 

Would it be possible for dyndolod to take cell reference like i said 8.-5 and then produce applicable LODs containing this cell, without the need for some crossreferencing with external program? That would make the life easier for end user. 

If you know cell coordinates you should be able to do the simple math for the west/south cell of the LOD level 4 file that covers that cell. The coordinate steps of the LOD files are 4 in each direction. Cells 0,0 to 3,3 are in file 4.0.0, hence cell 4,0 is in file 4.4.0 etc.

https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/45057/ "LOD Meshes and exact localization on the map" look at the file "Tamriel.4.x.y.png"

[schmurftdurft]

On 3/24/2023 at 1:41 PM, sheson said:

Read the first p[osy which logs and debug logs to upload when making posts. Read https://dyndolod.info/Official-DynDOLOD-Support-Forum

https://dyndolod.info
Dynamic Distant Objects LOD (DynDOLOD) is the advanced and easier version of xLODGen to generate a comprehensive LOD mod for the entire load order of the different Skyrim and Enderal game versions for drastically enhanced and better matching tree LOD and object LOD plus optional dynamic LOD (hence the name), glow LOD, grass LOD, occlusion data and terrain underside in a few simple steps.

Read https://dyndolod.info/How-LOD-Works for a basic explanation of how standard LOD works in the game. DynDOLOD does not change how LOD works. E.g. there is always a switch between LOD and full model at some point.

See answers for Billboard tree LOD does not match close-up full model trees https://dyndolod.info/FAQ
If tree LOD does not match full trees, then you have no followed the generation instructions https://dyndolod.info/Generation-Instructions and may have still 3rd party billboards installed.

Consider generating HD tree LOD billboards and to use https://dyndolod.info/Help/Ultra-Tree-LOD with the HD Billboards and/or 3D tree LOD models. 3D tree LOD resources are often an extra download or mod for tree mods.

Hey,

I meticulously studied dyndolod.info for days and read all the pages you posted more than once. I couldnt get EVT or HLT to run smoothly unfortunatly. I have very satisfying results with just SBT though. The transition is almost not visible in a normal gaming session (not starring at the trees all the time).

I am pretty sure I have no third party billboards installed. I should see them in the lod folder in my MO2 data tab right?

The last thing i am fighting is visually distracting terrain and mountain lod popping. But thats another story. Anyways, thank you for this awesome piece of software and your seemingly neverending support for dummy users like me! Great job!

[trancybrat]

Not sure if this is the right place for this but I can't seem to get DynDOLOD/occlusion.esp to keep the changed records from Unique Region Names SE. This results in kind of an inconsistent experience with that mod. (i,e some savegames/doors show the improper name, or just 'Skyrim' when it should say something else)

I've downloaded any other available patches for that mod so I'm reasonably sure this is one of the only major things left that could be affecting it, but not 100%, but just thought I'd ask anyway.

[sheson]

44 minutes ago, trancybrat said:

Not sure if this is the right place for this but I can't seem to get DynDOLOD/occlusion.esp to keep the changed records from Unique Region Names SE. This results in kind of an inconsistent experience with that mod. (i,e some savegames/doors show the improper name, or just 'Skyrim' when it should say something else)

I've downloaded any other available patches for that mod so I'm reasonably sure this is one of the only major things left that could be affecting it, but not 100%, but just thought I'd ask anyway.

Read the first post which log and debug log to upload when making posts.

https://dyndolod.info/Generation-Instructions
Finalize the load order. Install mods and their requirements. Sort and resolve conflicts.

https://dyndolod.info/Help/Load-Overwrite-Orders
When the plugins are generated, records from the last plugin that is the winning overwrite are copied to create the DynDOLOD plugins and Occlusion.esp. Sort and finalize the load order before generating the LOD patch. If any other plugins are added later consider to generate new output from scratch again.

As explained, the plugins are generated by copying records from the winning plugins. Records in the generated plugins do not change after generation unless you edit them or run other tools afterwards.

[sheson]

1 hour ago, schmurftdurft said:

Hey,

I meticulously studied dyndolod.info for days and read all the pages you posted more than once. I couldnt get EVT or HLT to run smoothly unfortunatly. I have very satisfying results with just SBT though. The transition is almost not visible in a normal gaming session (not starring at the trees all the time).

I am pretty sure I have no third party billboards installed. I should see them in the lod folder in my MO2 data tab right?

The last thing i am fighting is visually distracting terrain and mountain lod popping. But thats another story. Anyways, thank you for this awesome piece of software and your seemingly neverending support for dummy users like me! Great job!

I can not speak to the matching quality of 3rd party billboards or 3D tree LOD models to their full model counter parts, if that is what you mean by "to run smoothly". If you believe there is a problem, double check with the mod author of the 3rd party assets that you have the expected results and/or make a report if there is an issue with the billboards generated by TexGen https://dyndolod.info/Official-DynDOLOD-Support-Forum.

https://dyndolod.info/Help/Tree-Grass-LOD-Billboards#3rd-Party-LOD-Billboards
All LOD billboards files are in ..\Textures\Terrain\LODGen\*.*.
That folder can be checked in MO2 right window data tab.

https://dyndolod.info/Generation-Instructions#Prerequisites
Typically generate terrain LOD meshes and textures with xLODGen before generating the LOD mod with DynDOLOD, as the terrain LOD meshes are used to optimize object LOD meshes.
https://dyndolod.info/Help/xLODGen

[sheson]

@Blackread

The updates to DynDOLOD 3 Alpha-121 and DynDOLOD DLL NG and Scripts 3 Alpha-5 should hopefully fix all the problems you reported in the past week. In case there are still uses, upload new set of logs as usual.

[PRieST]

Thanks for the update, one small question (can't provide you logs, so will add them late if needed).

I made a new install of DynDOLOD and the corresponding resources. From the changelog you didn't changed anything TexGen related, but are there different ini settings with 121?
I'm asking because TexGen with 120 was running about 3 minutes untill it finished and with 121 it lasted over 10 minutes - without any other changes of any mods. TexGen Logs
As now DynDOLOD is running it also seems to be way slower, that's why I can't give you the logs right now.

From start to the message '[08:19] [Tamriel] Generating object LOD' as you can see it were over 8 minutes - this was way faster with my last run with 120.

Again, I am just asking because I think there is something different, maybe I'll have to change a ini setting which had I set before or was at a different value due to the standard installation.

[RainingTacco]

20 hours ago, schmurftdurft said:

Hey,

I meticulously studied dyndolod.info for days and read all the pages you posted more than once. I couldnt get EVT or HLT to run smoothly unfortunatly. I have very satisfying results with just SBT though. The transition is almost not visible in a normal gaming session (not starring at the trees all the time).

I am pretty sure I have no third party billboards installed. I should see them in the lod folder in my MO2 data tab right?

The last thing i am fighting is visually distracting terrain and mountain lod popping. But thats another story. Anyways, thank you for this awesome piece of software and your seemingly neverending support for dummy users like me! Great job!

 

Lod "popping" by popping you mean changing of level of detail will always happen per definition. To lessen the effect, you need LODs that match the full model with geometry and polycount, but that degrade performance. The best course of action would be to have more tiers of LOD, instead of just lod4 and lod8, add more in between with mesh complexity growing the closer the lod to the viewer. 

As for popping, anyone know what's cause LOD/model popping? Like you move camera, and tree loads up. Im not running out of vram and not running out of gpu performance, so im wondering what can cause this? Large references?

Edited March 26, 2023 by RainingTacco

[sheson]

33 minutes ago, PRieST said:

Thanks for the update, one small question (can't provide you logs, so will add them late if needed).

I made a new install of DynDOLOD and the corresponding resources. From the changelog you didn't changed anything TexGen related, but are there different ini settings with 121?
I'm asking because TexGen with 120 was running about 3 minutes untill it finished and with 121 it lasted over 10 minutes - without any other changes of any mods. TexGen Logs
As now DynDOLOD is running it also seems to be way slower, that's why I can't give you the logs right now.

From start to the message '[08:19] [Tamriel] Generating object LOD' as you can see it were over 8 minutes - this was way faster with my last run with 120.

Again, I am just asking because I think there is something different, maybe I'll have to change a ini setting which had I set before or was at a different value due to the standard installation.

The changelog explains what changed between versions. https://dyndolod.info/Changelog. There are obviously no INI changes since the last version. Check the file dates.

https://dyndolod.info/FAQ "Long running time or output several GB in file size"

[sheson]

18 minutes ago, RainingTacco said:

As for popping, anyone know what's cause LOD/model popping? Like you move camera, and tree loads up. Im not running out of vram and not running out of gpu performance, so im wondering what can cause this? Large references?

As explained at https://dyndolod.info/How-LOD-Works, LOD is enabled/disabled when the character moves from cell to cell. Turning the camera does not do that.
If LOD or full models disappear when turning the camera it is because of occlusion planes/boxes or view frustum culling. Delayed loading of full models is typically because of resource usage.

There are many INI settings make the engine require more resources when raised. That also includes loading many more full models outside the active cells (large references).

[RainingTacco]

This is why i said i don't know if its active cell models or LODs, obviously i can't write TLL as the transition happens

Im not blaming dyndolod, i was just curious why it happens and how to fix it. 

[PRieST]

22 minutes ago, sheson said:

The changelog explains what changed between versions. https://dyndolod.info/Changelog. There are obviously no INI changes since the last version. Check the file dates.

https://dyndolod.info/FAQ "Long running time or output several GB in file size"

I know these information sites and if there are no ini changes made (it's ovious coresponding to the change log) averything is fine. I was just concerned because TexGen took 3 times longer to finish as with alpha 120.
DynDOLOD instead seemed to take longer, but in the end it was about the same time - so no issues with that.

As there is no bugreport and the run finished successful I don't think this should be looked at any further. Thank you again for the update.

[sheson]

6 minutes ago, RainingTacco said:

This is why i said i don't know if its active cell models or LODs, obviously i can't write TLL as the transition happens

Im not blaming dyndolod, i was just curious why it happens and how to fix it. 

As explained at https://dyndolod.info/How-LOD-Works, full models (inside the view frustum) are loaded and LOD is disabled when a cell attaches. There is no transition. Both things happen independently of each other, especially when it comes to object LOD.

You can type tll before or after. If you do it after you will see what loaded in was a full model in the active cells. LOD is always loaded, only parts of it are enabled/disabled. If you do it before, the loading of the full model should happen the exact same way.