DynDOLOD 3.00 Alpha 180

[sheson]

4 hours ago, tooandrew said:

im stumped. all the grass has object bounds via ck now, texgen has configuration files, all the billboards are showing up in texgen preview and it's still not displaying in game. some kinds of grass goes out as far as the eye can see, others pop up as i approach.  i tried disabling ignorelargebillboards, i tried halving the MinGrassModelHeight and  MinGrassModelVolume

i wanted to add GRAS to basesignatures but dyndolod errors out when i do that.

also at one point it made a dyndolod.esm that had ai-overhaul.esp as a master, so that's weird.

when i recal'd bounds with ck it said some of them did not have normal maps https://pastebin.com/u7CPVTS2 - could this be why?  does anyone have any more ideas or am i just crap out of luck on this one?

Go through the No Grass LOD Check List from https://dyndolod.info/Help/Grass-LOD instead of doing all these weird things.

If "some kinds of grass goes out as far as the eye can see, others pop up as i approach", that either means those grasses that pop-up have no grass LOD billboards or they are not part of the grass cache.

I would assume you should have no problem to identify which grass models/base records/form IDs are missing from the grass LOD to see if their grass LOD billboards exist in the load order and if they show up in the files the No Grass LOD Check List suggests to check etc.

[sheson]

On 7/26/2022 at 2:52 PM, Mousetick said:

Hi sheson,

Whenever it's convenient for you, could you please update the waterfall lod meshes in DynDOLOD Resources SE for the latest version (2.0) of Water Effects Brightness and Reflection Fix - Realistic Water Two Patch. The fxwaterfallbody*.nif models were updated and their CRC32 have changed.

Thanks in advance.

Added in DynDOLOD Resources SE 3.00 Alpha-28

[Mousetick]

1 hour ago, sheson said:

A TexGen config for Beyond Reach overwrites the TexGen config for Majestic Mountains. For now sort MajesticMountains_Landscape.esm to load after arnima.esm so that the TexGen config for Majestic Mountains takes precedence, too.

Oh I see... Now sorted, and solved. Thanks for the quick response! Should I expect that Beyond Reach is going to have mismatched mountain/rocks lod textures then, as it seems the same mountainslablod.dds filename is used for 2 completely different source textures, whether Majestic Mountains or Beyond Reach? I have no idea how Beyond Reach lods are supposed to look, as I've never been "there" yet, so to speak.

1 hour ago, sheson said:

The DynDOLOD documentation https://dyndolod.info/Mods/Majestic-Mountains answers your two questions about the DynDOLOD V3.0 LOD Pack I created:
Download and install the DynDOLOD V3.0 LOD Pack from the mods file section overwriting all of DynDOLOD Resources SE.

Ugh, I swear I looked at https://dyndolod.info/Mods, but I stopped at https://dyndolod.info/Mods/Useful-3rd-Party-Mods and didn't find anything, instead of scrolling down. I'm silly, sorry. Thanks for the confirmation.

That being said, I'm a bit perplexed by the notable quality differences between DynDOLOD Resources and MM LOD Pack. Looking at several lod meshes available in both packs, those in DynDOLOD Resources look much better to me at first glance than the MM LOD Pack ones - they use higher resolution, full model textures, seemingly exhibit better UV mapping, and in some cases, they have more vertices/are more detailed.

A few examples: DynDOLOD Resources > MM LOD Pack

Putting aside the texture differences, it seems to me that the MM LOD Pack is a "downgrade" overall compared to DynDOLOD Resources. What am I missing here? I'd like to hear your take as you're familiar and involved with both.

Thank you much for your attention and help, as always.

[sheson]

54 minutes ago, Mousetick said:

Oh I see... Now sorted, and solved. Thanks for the quick response! Should I expect that Beyond Reach is going to have mismatched mountain/rocks lod textures then, as it seems the same mountainslablod.dds filename is used for 2 completely different source textures, whether Majestic Mountains or Beyond Reach? I have no idea how Beyond Reach lods are supposed to look, as I've never been "there" yet, so to speak.

Ugh, I swear I looked at https://dyndolod.info/Mods, but I stopped at https://dyndolod.info/Mods/Useful-3rd-Party-Mods and didn't find anything, instead of scrolling down. I'm silly, sorry. Thanks for the confirmation.

That being said, I'm a bit perplexed by the notable quality differences between DynDOLOD Resources and MM LOD Pack. Looking at several lod meshes available in both packs, those in DynDOLOD Resources look much better to me at first glance than the MM LOD Pack ones - they use higher resolution, full model textures, seemingly exhibit better UV mapping, and in some cases, they have more vertices/are more detailed.

A few examples: DynDOLOD Resources > MM LOD Pack

Putting aside the texture differences, it seems to me that the MM LOD Pack is a "downgrade" overall compared to DynDOLOD Resources. What am I missing here? I'd like to hear your take as you're familiar and involved with both.

Thank you much for your attention and help, as always.

Beyond Reach is using that different texture with one LOD model presumably. I haven't checked which worldspace / how often and if the stitched LOD texture is actually used or if it sticks to the full texture for LOD level 4 anyways. Next version the TexGen config for arnima will generate to a different filename and there won't be no filename collision anymore, e.g. load order of plugins will not matter.

LOD models defining full textures is often not what will be used in the object LOD meshes in the end, because they might be replaced by the stitched object LOD textures added to the object LOD atlas in the end, in particular for the higher LOD levels.

Majestic Mountains changes full meshes and their UV.  The corresponding LOD models in the LOD pack reflect those changes and visual compatibility. The LOD models in DynDOLOD Resources SE 3 for the vanilla full models/textures are not matching those changes.

[Mousetick]

47 minutes ago, sheson said:

Majestic Mountains changes full meshes and their UV.  The corresponding LOD models in the LOD pack reflect those changes and visual compatibility. The LOD models in DynDOLOD Resources SE 3 for the vanilla full models/textures are not matching those changes.

I understand the need for visual compatibility with Majestic Mountains, aptly provided by the MM LOD Pack, there's no denying that. It's just that, each taken on their own, irrespective of their visual compatibility with MM or vanilla, respectively, many DynDOLOD Resources LOD models look better to me quality-wise than their MM LOD Pack counterpart.

I'm wondering if using a higher resolution mountainslablod.dds texture would help reduce the fuzziness/stretching observed on some MM LOD Pack models? If so, is it possible to instruct TexGen to generate, say, a 1K mountainslablod.dds texture instead of 512x512? If so, could you tell me how to do it for testing purpose?

I'm probably thinking about this wrongly and this is a matter of UV mapping more than resolution, but asking just in case.

Thanks for your input.

[sheson]

33 minutes ago, Mousetick said:

I understand the need for visual compatibility with Majestic Mountains, aptly provided by the MM LOD Pack, there's no denying that. It's just that, each taken on their own, irrespective of their visual compatibility with MM or vanilla, respectively, many DynDOLOD Resources LOD models look better to me quality-wise than their MM LOD Pack counterpart.

I'm wondering if using a higher resolution mountainslablod.dds texture would help reduce the fuzziness/stretching observed on some MM LOD Pack models? If so, is it possible to instruct TexGen to generate, say, a 1K mountainslablod.dds texture instead of 512x512? If so, could you tell me how to do it for testing purpose?

I'm probably thinking about this wrongly and this is a matter of UV mapping more than resolution, but asking just in case.

Thanks for your input.

The question is not how anything looks in NifSkope but how the generated LOD looks and matches the full models in the game at their usual distances.

As explained at https://dyndolod.info/Help/TexGen, the Base size drop down together with the config files is already supposed to generated LOD textures that have sufficient resolution for the advertised game resolution at default FOV.

Read the linked https://dyndolod.info/Help/Texture-Resolution, which explains this in more detail. Use the MipMapTests INI setting to verify live in the game if any of the generated LOD textures would benefit from a larger resolution. Make sure to not be confused by LOD in the distance that uses LOD textures that TexGen does not update.

[Guest]

do i need to disable xlodgen generated terrain lod file when running texgen/dyndolod?

do i need to regenerate dyndolod if i use bethini?

[sheson]

1 hour ago, Azratun002 said:

do i need to disable xlodgen generated terrain lod file when running texgen/dyndolod?

do i need to regenerate dyndolod if i use bethini?

https://dyndolod.info/Generation-Instructions
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.

If you read the rest of the instruction you will notice it does not say anything about the millions of things that should not be done, like there is no mentioned about disabling terrain LOD and no mention of jumping off a cliff etc. So do not do any of that.

As you will notice, there is no mention about changing INI settings requiring updating of LOD on the https://dyndolod.info/Updating page. It is all about plugins and assets.
However, pay attention to https://dyndolod.info/Mods/Skyrim-Special-Edition-Skyrim-Anniversary-Edition#Large-References:
For dynamic LOD to work correctly with the large reference system of Skyrim Special Edition or Skyrim VR, the Large References Fix setting in the DynDOLOD SkyUI MCM Main page needs to be checked or unchecked depending on the large reference distance setting. See DynDOLOD SkyUI MCM for details

[Akidson]

Hello.

When I try to run TexGen it gets stuck at Creating Billboards and the timer gets frozen. No files are being generated. I'm using the newest version.

I'm attaching the logs here:

https://ufile.io/f/097io

 

[tooandrew]

5 hours ago, sheson said:

Go through the No Grass LOD Check List from https://dyndolod.info/Help/Grass-LOD instead of doing all these weird things.

If "some kinds of grass goes out as far as the eye can see, others pop up as i approach", that either means those grasses that pop-up have no grass LOD billboards or they are not part of the grass cache.

I would assume you should have no problem to identify which grass models/base records/form IDs are missing from the grass LOD to see if their grass LOD billboards exist in the load order and if they show up in the files the No Grass LOD Check List suggests to check etc.

respectfully, ive read that document until my eyes feel like theyre bleeding, im doing weird things because it has not helped me.

to show that i read it i will address each point individually - maybe you can show me where i am going wrong.

Check in the mod manager that there are ..\Data\Grass\[Worldspace]*.CGID grass cache files for the worldspace in the load order.

they're in there. both cgid and gid forms

Make sure TexGen is generating grass LOD billboards for grasses by checking its log ..\DynDOLOD\Logs\TexGen_SSE_log.txt. Pay attention to error messages and fix them. Double-check the object bounds of the GRAS records in the plugins as explained abov

grep "folkvangr" TexGen_TES5VR_log.txt show 130 billboards generated of the 132 grass entries listed in my config file - more than two types are missing

grep "<Error:" shows one error for 

[00:57] <Error: File not found Meshes\landscape\grass\grass_fieldmisc_03.nif Folkvangr - Grass and Landscape Overhaul.esp Grass_FieldMisc_03 [GRAS:2002B50C]>

fine, didnt come with the mod, so it wouldnt show up in game either. again, more than one grass type missing

Check the grass LOD billboards textures in the TexGen output with an image viewer show grass and are not fully transparent.

the textures are weird. i have never viewed textures before but in windows texture viewer nothing appears at all, while in Basic DDS image viewer i get colorful noise like the attached image. all of the other billboards from skyrim.esm etc behave the same way in these programs, so i guess the programs i have just don't know how to display them correctly?  i found these in textures\terrain\lodgen\folkvangr - grass and landscape overhaul.esp is there an image viewer you reccommend? there are also four dds files for each entry 

Check the DynDOLOD debug log ..\DynDOLOD\Logs\DynDOLOD_SSE_Debug_log.txt contains <Notice: [Worldspace] Gathering grass data for object LOD>

grepping the log shows the following

[01:20] [DoObjectLOD] <Notice: [Tamriel] Gathering grass data for object LOD>
[02:40] [DoObjectLOD] <Notice: [DLC2SolstheimWorld] Gathering grass data for object LOD>
[03:05] [DoObjectLOD] <Notice: [MarkarthWorld] Gathering grass data for object LOD>
[03:16] [DoObjectLOD] <Notice: [DLC01SoulCairn] Gathering grass data for object LOD>
[03:27] [DoObjectLOD] <Notice: [DLC2ApocryphaWorld] Gathering grass data for object LOD>
[03:31] [DoObjectLOD] <Notice: [SkuldafnWorld] Gathering grass data for object LOD>
[03:38] [DoObjectLOD] <Notice: [Sovngarde] Gathering grass data for object LOD>
[03:47] [DoObjectLOD] <Notice: [DeepwoodRedoubtWorld] Gathering grass data for object LOD>
[03:51] [DoObjectLOD] <Notice: [DLC1HunterHQWorld] Gathering grass data for object LOD>
[03:57] [DoObjectLOD] <Notice: [DLC01FalmerValley] Gathering grass data for object LOD>
[04:04] [DoObjectLOD] <Notice: [JaphetsFollyWorld] Gathering grass data for object LOD>
[04:07] [DoObjectLOD] <Notice: [Blackreach] Gathering grass data for object LOD>
 

Check the DynDOLOD log ..\DynDOLOD\Logs\DynDOLOD_SSE_log.txt that there were no errors in the LODGen log and check the LODGen log ..\DynDOLOD\Logs\LODGen_SSE_[Worldspace]_log.txt directly that its last line is Code: 0.

there are no errors whatsoever in the dydndolod log

all of the lodgen logs end in Code: 0

Check the object LOD atlas ..\DynDOLOD_Output\Textures\DynDOLOD\LOD\DynDOLOD_[Worldspace].dds contains some of the grass LOD billboards generated by TexGen.

every texture i look at looks like some variation of the attached image. i can't tell if this particular mess of pixels is mixed in with the big mess of pixels in the dyndolod texture

Check the export file ..\DynDOLOD\Edit Scripts\Export\LODGen_SSE_Export_[Worldspace].txt contains a line like GrassMap=..\DynDOLOD\Edit Scripts\Export\LODGen_SSE_Grass_Map_[Worldspace].txt. Check that GrassDensity is not 0. If it is very low, grass LOD may be very thin to non-existent.

from LODGen_TES5VR_Export_Tamriel

GrassMap=C:\skyrimvr\dyndolod\Edit Scripts\Export\LODGen_TES5VR_Grass_Map_Tamriel.txt

GrassDensity=16 (same happened when it was set to 100)

Check that ..\DynDOLOD\Edit Scripts\Export\LODGen_SSE_Grass_Map_[Worldspace].txt contains lines with grass LOD billboard texture names and paths in it.

it does.

Open ..\DynDOLOD_Output\Meshes\Terrain\[Worldspace]\Objects\[Worldspace].4.x.y.bto and check visually if there is grass LOD in there. The many tiny X planes will be obvious.

every one i've looked at has the x planes, but there are too many to be looked at individually

To find a BTO that contains grass LOD, set expert=1 and verbose=1 in the ..\DynDOLOD\Edit Scripts\DynDOLOD\DynDOLOD_SSE.ini to start DynDOLOD in expert mode. Select the worldspace and click Execute LODGen. Once its done, check the LODGen log ..\DynDOLOD\Logs\LODGen_SSE_[Worldspace]_log.txt for lines like "Found z grass placements for LOD level 4 coord [x, y]". Check the BTO for the mentioned coordinates.

i set those settings. ill check that file after i regenerate texgen and dyndolod when this grass cache finishes generating - the ones ive made until now were configured to use the list from the xedit script that lists world areas with grass - im letting it cache the whole game this time, just in case

[tooandrew]

on closer inspection it seems like the grass lod is loaded in game just not in a specific area

- skyrimse

skyrim vr

is it possible there a conflict with the dyndolod 3 files provided with majestic mountains ?

[tooandrew]

nevermind. i just have grass draw up high. looking into the distance in clear weather i see only the green grass is out there so its not specific to that spot

 

[sheson]

7 hours ago, tooandrew said:

they're in there. both cgid and gid forms

The native game uses GID, no Gras in Object uses CGID files. DynDOLOD uses the ones set in its INI settings. Decide for one or the other. Do not mix.

Do comparisons with a game that uses the same grass cache files to load full grass that DynDOLOD used to generation grass LOD, then each full grass should have a corresponding x plane if a billboard exists and density is 100%. It should make it easier to spot which type of grass does not have LOD.

7 hours ago, tooandrew said:

grep "folkvangr" TexGen_TES5VR_log.txt show 130 billboards generated of the 132 grass entries listed in my config file - more than two types are missing

grep "<Error:" shows one error for 

[00:57] <Error: File not found Meshes\landscape\grass\grass_fieldmisc_03.nif Folkvangr - Grass and Landscape Overhaul.esp Grass_FieldMisc_03 [GRAS:2002B50C]>

fine, didnt come with the mod, so it wouldnt show up in game either. again, more than one grass type missing

Double check that the 132 GRAS base records is about the expected amount from the loaded plugins.
Double check that there are 5 billboard files (*.txt, *_1.dds, *_1_n.dds, *_2.dds, *_2_n.dds)  for each (130 grass billboards * 5 = 650 files) - you can do that by only checking grass LOD billboard generation into an empty output folder.

7 hours ago, tooandrew said:

the textures are weird. i have never viewed textures before but in windows texture viewer nothing appears at all, while in Basic DDS image viewer i get colorful noise like the attached image. all of the other billboards from skyrim.esm etc behave the same way in these programs, so i guess the programs i have just don't know how to display them correctly?  i found these in textures\terrain\lodgen\folkvangr - grass and landscape overhaul.esp is there an image viewer you reccommend? there are also four dds files for each entry 

Use programs that supports BC7 like SageThumbs /Paint.NET or change the compression format to DXT5 for the 4 channel textures with alpha/specular and DXT1 for 3 channel.

7 hours ago, tooandrew said:

Check that ..\DynDOLOD\Edit Scripts\Export\LODGen_SSE_Grass_Map_[Worldspace].txt contains lines with grass LOD billboard texture names and paths in it.

it does.

How many lines/billboards are listed and is it about the expected amount of grasses that are above water and used in the worldspace.

7 hours ago, tooandrew said:

every one i've looked at has the x planes, but there are too many to be looked at individually

You only need to look at one from the area where you believe grass LOD is missing to check if there are more X planes that you actually see in the game.
That would mean the grass position and billboard file for it exists but is transparent.

7 hours ago, tooandrew said:

i set those settings. ill check that file after i regenerate texgen and dyndolod when this grass cache finishes generating

Also check the verbose LODGen log for message like File not found *.DDS. We expect it to only mention grasses that are underwater (often have "water" in the name), the ones that TexGen does not generate because they have missing assets or are too small, not so high ground cover.

2 hours ago, tooandrew said:

nevermind. i just have grass draw up high. looking into the distance in clear weather i see only the green grass is out there so its not specific to that spot

https://dyndolod.info/Help/Grass-LOD
In case the grass LOD brightness or color seems off (it might depend on weathers or ENB settings), try different Direct/Ambient settings for grass LOD billboards in TexGen. In addition or alternatively change the GrassBrightnessTop* and GrassBrightnessBottom* settings in ..\DynDOLOD\Edit Scripts\DynDOLOD\DynDOLOD_SSE.ini - those settings help if the color tone is off. Especially the image based lighting effect from ENB has a big impact on the brightness and color tone of the grass LOD.

[sheson]

11 hours ago, Akidson said:

Hello.

When I try to run TexGen it gets stuck at Creating Billboards and the timer gets frozen. No files are being generated. I'm using the newest version.

I'm attaching the logs here:

https://ufile.io/f/097io

Could be Texconv is being prevented from reading/writing to/from the Temp folder by the OS/antivir etc.

When TexGen seemingly does nothing, check task manager for a Texconv process and see what happens if you kill it.

[xytyyy]

Hello,

I suddenly run into a bug related to the LODGenx64Win.exe. It failed to generate Object LOD for all worldspaces available.

All LODGen logs are identical to this one https://paste.ee/p/JiLw3, of course except the worldspace naming.

I captured a screenshot of the running LODGen cmd, which run out in 1-2 second. I believe it failed before the generation started.

 

 

Edited August 6, 2022 by xytyyy