DynDOLOD 3.00 Alpha 180

[narphous]

I'm  having a bit of a problem with alpha 180 that I can't figure out. I (re)generated my grass cache but I'm not able to enable the option to generate grass lods and I'm not seeing what I'm missing. I verified the settings in grasscontrol, but can't locate the settings on the dyndolod side from DynDOLOD-Grass-Mode, I suppose since I'm not able to enable the setting for grass lods. The only thing odd I've noticed, and it's probably just the print, is that the error is "..cgid not found" and "[00:12] [ResourcesChecks] <Debug: Found 0 ..cgid grass cache files>" from the debug log seem to indicate dyndolod is looking for something like *..cgid" and not "*.cgid". There's ~21k .cgid files in \data\grass, so the files are definitely there. Any pointers towards what I'm missing will be appreciated. Debug log is here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PwnTGDSRu2FuZsx0XKBFO9GbWNg2V62u/view?usp=drive_link

Edited September 10 by narphous

[sheson]

1 hour ago, narphous said:

I'm  having a bit of a problem with alpha 180 that I can't figure out. I (re)generated my grass cache but I'm not able to enable the option to generate grass lods and I'm not seeing what I'm missing. I verified the settings in grasscontrol, but can't locate the settings on the dyndolod side from DynDOLOD-Grass-Mode, I suppose since I'm not able to enable the setting for grass lods. The only thing odd I've noticed, and it's probably just the print, is that the error is "..cgid not found" and "[00:12] [ResourcesChecks] <Debug: Found 0 ..cgid grass cache files>" from the debug log seem to indicate dyndolod is looking for something like *..cgid" and not "*.cgid". There's ~21k .cgid files in \data\grass, so the files are definitely there. Any pointers towards what I'm missing will be appreciated. Debug log is here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PwnTGDSRu2FuZsx0XKBFO9GbWNg2V62u/view?usp=drive_link

You changed the GrassGID=cgid setting in the C:\apps\DynDOLOD\Edit Scripts\DynDOLOD\DynDOLOD_SSE.ini to GrassGID=.cgid
Restore the default INI setting so it looks for *.cgid files instead of *..cgid.

https://dyndolod.info/Help/Grass-LOD#Settings
With No Grass In Objects full grass can be rendered past the active cells, so grass LOD can either start right beyond the active exterior cells (uGridsToLoad), which has better for performance - or beyond the large reference distance (uLargeRefLODGridSize). The DynDOLODGrassMode/DynDOLOD-Grass-Mode 1 or 2 setting controls the distance of full grass respectively to make sure it renders to the edge where the grass LOD starts.
Set the same desired Mode in the advanced mode of DynDOLOD under the Grass LOD checkbox and for DynDOLODGrassMode/DynDOLOD-Grass-Mode in the settings file. While the DynDOLODGrassMode/DynDOLOD-Grass-Mode setting can be changed at any time, the Mode used to generate grass LOD is baked into the object LOD meshes. See Updating below how to update the object LOD meshes.

[narphous]

3 hours ago, sheson said:

You changed the GrassGID=cgid setting in the C:\apps\DynDOLOD\Edit Scripts\DynDOLOD\DynDOLOD_SSE.ini to GrassGID=.cgid
Restore the default INI setting so it looks for *.cgid files instead of *..cgid.

https://dyndolod.info/Help/Grass-LOD#Settings
With No Grass In Objects full grass can be rendered past the active cells, so grass LOD can either start right beyond the active exterior cells (uGridsToLoad), which has better for performance - or beyond the large reference distance (uLargeRefLODGridSize). The DynDOLODGrassMode/DynDOLOD-Grass-Mode 1 or 2 setting controls the distance of full grass respectively to make sure it renders to the edge where the grass LOD starts.
Set the same desired Mode in the advanced mode of DynDOLOD under the Grass LOD checkbox and for DynDOLODGrassMode/DynDOLOD-Grass-Mode in the settings file. While the DynDOLODGrassMode/DynDOLOD-Grass-Mode setting can be changed at any time, the Mode used to generate grass LOD is baked into the object LOD meshes. See Updating below how to update the object LOD meshes.

This is the entry from C:\apps\DynDOLOD\Edit Scripts\DynDOLOD\DynDOLOD_SSE.ini:

; set to gid in case cgid grass cache files have been renamed or copied
; instead of renaming consider using https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/101095
; vanilla gid files will not work
GrassGID=cgid

So it doesn't seem to be that. And I don't have any recollection of ever changing that setting. Really, I stick to the GUI because I've learned that messing about in ini files I don't understand is the path to madness. But just in case, here's my ini..

DynDOLOD_SSE.ini

Edited September 10 by narphous

[sheson]

1 hour ago, narphous said:

This is the entry from C:\apps\DynDOLOD\Edit Scripts\DynDOLOD\DynDOLOD_SSE.ini:

; set to gid in case cgid grass cache files have been renamed or copied
; instead of renaming consider using https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/101095
; vanilla gid files will not work
GrassGID=cgid

So it doesn't seem to be that. And I don't have any recollection of ever changing that setting. Really, I stick to the GUI because I've learned that messing about in ini files I don't understand is the path to madness. But just in case, here's my ini..

DynDOLOD_SSE.ini 22.49 kB · 0 downloads

Uh...actually the log says Warning: File not found C:\apps\DynDOLOD\Edit Scripts\DynDOLOD\DynDOLOD_SSE.ini was not found, so it uses a wrong default (that will be fixed in the next version). Sorry, I missed that earlier.

The OS is reporting to the tool that the file does not exist. Could be UAC or Antivirus related. A reboot might clear file access issues.
Consider adding and starting DynDOLOD from the mod manager.

[narphous]

57 minutes ago, sheson said:

Uh...actually the log says Warning: File not found C:\apps\DynDOLOD\Edit Scripts\DynDOLOD\DynDOLOD_SSE.ini was not found, so it uses a wrong default (that will be fixed in the next version). Sorry, I missed that earlier.

The OS is reporting to the tool that the file does not exist. Could be UAC or Antivirus related. A reboot might clear file access issues.
Consider adding and starting DynDOLOD from the mod manager.

OK, I did load profile > DynDOLOD_SSE.ini and now I get a message that dyndoload found  20720  grass .cgid files and 0 grass billboards. Let me try rebuilding from texgen as well and see what results I get.

Update: I knew I'd did a stupid... I forgot to check the HD grass and HD trees in texgen. All working now.

Edited September 10 by narphous

[TEC769]

Hello!

I finally got NGIO NG working with texgen and dyndolod and my LODs have never looked better! The last thing I want to fix is what can be seen in the images below. After the loaded grass ends, there is a gap with no grass before the LOD grass begins, and when it does, it's a good bit darker than the near grass. I am using ENB with complex grass, so I recognize that there will always be a gap there, but I feel like I should be able to tweak the Direct/Ambient settings in TexGen or some ini settings in DyndoLOD to improve the brightness matching. I'm also not sure why that gap is there--some kind of incorrectly set GridsToLoad setting?

I appreciate any advice on this. Thanks to the team for such a great tool. Here's a link to the two images in case the embedded ones don't work for some reason: https://imgur.com/a/nEpi7OR

 

[leostevano]

Sheson, i have an issue with texgen output causing buggy glow.

 

full logs : https://ufile.io/uthes8n3 

the texture : wrwindows01_g.rar

[sheson]

2 hours ago, TEC769 said:

Hello!

I finally got NGIO NG working with texgen and dyndolod and my LODs have never looked better! The last thing I want to fix is what can be seen in the images below. After the loaded grass ends, there is a gap with no grass before the LOD grass begins, and when it does, it's a good bit darker than the near grass. I am using ENB with complex grass, so I recognize that there will always be a gap there, but I feel like I should be able to tweak the Direct/Ambient settings in TexGen or some ini settings in DyndoLOD to improve the brightness matching. I'm also not sure why that gap is there--some kind of incorrectly set GridsToLoad setting?

I appreciate any advice on this. Thanks to the team for such a great tool. Here's a link to the two images in case the embedded ones don't work for some reason: https://imgur.com/a/nEpi7OR

 

Moved to the DynDOLOD 3 Alpha thread. See the first post and/or https://dyndolod.info/Official-DynDOLOD-Support-Forum#Post-Logs which DynDOLOD log and debug log to upload when making posts.

See https://dyndolod.info/Help/Grass-LOD#Settings
With No Grass In Objects full grass can be rendered past the active cells, so grass LOD can either start right beyond the active exterior cells (uGridsToLoad), which has better for performance - or beyond the large reference distance (uLargeRefLODGridSize). The DynDOLODGrassMode/DynDOLOD-Grass-Mode 1 or 2 setting controls the distance of full grass respectively to make sure it renders to the edge where the grass LOD starts.
Set the same desired Mode in the advanced mode of DynDOLOD under the Grass LOD checkbox and for DynDOLODGrassMode/DynDOLOD-Grass-Mode in the settings file. While the DynDOLODGrassMode/DynDOLOD-Grass-Mode setting can be changed at any time, the Mode used to generate grass LOD is baked into the object LOD meshes. See Updating below how to update the object LOD meshes.

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*/ComplexGrassBrightnessTop* and GrassBrightnessBottom*/ComplexGrassBrightnessBottom* 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. Additional complex grass lighting and time of day settings will obviously not apply to object LOD, as they are separate meshes and shaders. Do not use them so full grass and grass LOD match better for all weathers/times.
When using complex grass and the side facing away from the light direction is too dark it can be brightened with the backlightmask. In the ..\DynDOLOD\Edit Scripts\DynDOLOD\DynDOLOD_SSE.ini set ComplexGrassBillboard=5 and set ComplexGrassBacklightMask to a value like 25, which means 25% of the light is applied to the side facing away from the light source. If the result is too dark, raise the value. If the result is too bright, lower the value.

[sheson]

2 hours ago, leostevano said:

Sheson, i have an issue with texgen output causing buggy glow.

 

full logs : https://ufile.io/uthes8n3 

the texture : wrwindows01_g.rar

Provide a useful screenshots of the full model with more informative console as explained in https://dyndolod.info/Official-DynDOLOD-Support-Forum#In-Game-Screenshots
A screenshot alone does not substitute describing the issue with text. "This" is not a problem description. Do not waste time making videos of things that can be explained in a couple sentences or to provide information that a screenshot provides more easily as explained below. Nobody has time to watch minutes of shaky videos with bad lighting just to find the couple frames that have the required information.

How else do you expect the glow to look? Post a screenshot without TexGen output to show the difference.

[z929669]

2 hours ago, TEC769 said:

Hello!

I finally got NGIO NG working with texgen and dyndolod and my LODs have never looked better! The last thing I want to fix is what can be seen in the images below. After the loaded grass ends, there is a gap with no grass before the LOD grass begins, and when it does, it's a good bit darker than the near grass. I am using ENB with complex grass, so I recognize that there will always be a gap there, but I feel like I should be able to tweak the Direct/Ambient settings in TexGen or some ini settings in DyndoLOD to improve the brightness matching. I'm also not sure why that gap is there--some kind of incorrectly set GridsToLoad setting?

I appreciate any advice on this. Thanks to the team for such a great tool. Here's a link to the two images in case the embedded ones don't work for some reason: https://imgur.com/a/nEpi7OR

 

In addition to what sheson posted, I recommend first to use BethINI to get good baselines for [Terrainmanager] LOD distances and fGrassStartFadeDistance and fGrassFadeRange distances (use BethINI High or Ultra preset). Set Overwrite-grass-distance = -1 and Overwrite-grass-fade-range = -1 in NGIO GrassControl.ini for now so that BethINI changes will control these. I assume you are using DynDOLOD-Grass-Mode = 1 in NGIO GrassControl.ini (recommended). If so, then DynDOLOD doesn't need to be regenerated. Check the gap width again. If you still have it, try increasing fGrassStartFadeDistance by 1000 to see if it closes. Then find the best fGrassStartFadeDistance and fGrassFadeRange for your grass setup.

For color matching non-vanilla grass with LOD, I recommend reading this post for some hints on how I do it (no color bias from DynDOLOD). For color matching with ENB-CG, see this sticky post for some hints. The Step 2.3 guide incorporates these methods with final settings that work nicely for Cathedral Landscapes CG, but your grass will likely have different sweet spots. For this stuff, you will need to regen DynDOLOD. Probably several times to test.

Test at noon on the tundra to find the initial settings, and then at dawn/dusk for the grass billboard/backlight stuff.

[TEC769]

1 hour ago, z929669 said:

In addition to what sheson posted, I recommend first to use BethINI to get good baselines for [Terrainmanager] LOD distances and fGrassStartFadeDistance and fGrassFadeRange distances (use BethINI High or Ultra preset). Set Overwrite-grass-distance = -1 and Overwrite-grass-fade-range = -1 in NGIO GrassControl.ini for now so that BethINI changes will control these. I assume you are using DynDOLOD-Grass-Mode = 1 in NGIO GrassControl.ini (recommended). If so, then DynDOLOD doesn't need to be regenerated. Check the gap width again. If you still have it, try increasing fGrassStartFadeDistance by 1000 to see if it closes. Then find the best fGrassStartFadeDistance and fGrassFadeRange for your grass setup.

For color matching non-vanilla grass with LOD, I recommend reading this post for some hints on how I do it (no color bias from DynDOLOD). For color matching with ENB-CG, see this sticky post for some hints. The Step 2.3 guide incorporates these methods with final settings that work nicely for Cathedral Landscapes CG, but your grass will likely have different sweet spots. For this stuff, you will need to regen DynDOLOD. Probably several times to test.

Test at noon on the tundra to find the initial settings, and then at dawn/dusk for the grass billboard/backlight stuff.

Thanks to both of you! I was able to close the gap quite nicely. I'll have to tinker with the grass colors a good bit.

[leostevano]

6 hours ago, sheson said:

Provide a useful screenshots of the full model with more informative console as explained in https://dyndolod.info/Official-DynDOLOD-Support-Forum#In-Game-Screenshots
A screenshot alone does not substitute describing the issue with text. "This" is not a problem description. Do not waste time making videos of things that can be explained in a couple sentences or to provide information that a screenshot provides more easily as explained below. Nobody has time to watch minutes of shaky videos with bad lighting just to find the couple frames that have the required information.

How else do you expect the glow to look? Post a screenshot without TexGen output to show the difference.

Unfortunately i don't know why but my windows snippet doesn't work for me to take a screen shot with more informative console, and I still cant figure out how to fix this.

With texgen output :

https://postimg.cc/xq7wb3XR

Without texgen output : 

https://postimg.cc/qz39c6nd

[Asphaleia]

I've been trying to run Dyndolod since yesterday (last complete Dyndolod Output was on 10 Sep). For some reason, Dyndolod started to crash during 'Processing Tamriel Textures [22K+]', about 2 minutes into the generation. 

I don't see any debug reports in Logs, only Object Report, Reverse List, Tree Export, Tree LOD, Three Report, Dynamic LOD and Object LOD.

The only mods I've added since 10 Sept was Lanterns of Skyrim II, Sepolcri - a complete Burial Sites Overhaul, WizKid's Hunter Camp Overhaual, WizKid's Carriages and Signs, and Cities of the North - Morthal, Dawnstar, Falkreath and COTN - Half-Moon Mill Add-On. As well as SSE Parallax Shader Fix and Terrain Parallax Blending Fix.

TexGen runs without issue.

I have 32GB of RAM on my computer, so I don't think that it's a memory issue. My Dyndolod is up to date, so is my resources, I am using SKSE/Papyrus instead of Dyndolod NG.

Please help?

[sheson]

2 hours ago, leostevano said:

Unfortunately i don't know why but my windows snippet doesn't work for me to take a screen shot with more informative console, and I still cant figure out how to fix this.

With texgen output :

https://postimg.cc/xq7wb3XR

Without texgen output : 

https://postimg.cc/qz39c6nd

There is no need or reason to use a tool to take screenshots.

https://dyndolod.info/Official-DynDOLOD-Support-Forum#In-Game-Screenshots
How to take a screenshot in Skyrim.

What mod/plugin overwrites the reference and/or base record? What mod replaces the used model or glow textures?
Is this the only building that is affected?

[leostevano]

2 minutes ago, sheson said:

There is no need or reason to use a tool to take screenshots.

https://dyndolod.info/Official-DynDOLOD-Support-Forum#In-Game-Screenshots
How to take a screenshot in Skyrim.

What mod/plugin overwrites the reference and/or base record? What mod replaces the used model or glow textures?
Is this the only building that is affected?

So far I've only noticed it on this glow map. Also when previewed on MO2, strangely the texgen output is brighter on the dark part compared to the original (Rustic Windows).