DynDOLOD 3.00 Alpha 182

[sheson]

8 hours ago, Anorf said:

I started reverting to my settings because I made a lot of changes and was worried I wouldn't be able to get everything properly back when I would find my problem.
This might be the exact reason I have problems, I make lots of backups but with vortex, sometimes things just get messed. For example, during all my generation before my 1st post, I forgot once to launch xlodgen from vortex, and the output started to overwrite default textures and meshes folder.
Had a backup so I compared 2 folders and reverted it, but then the backup was with dyndolod output enabled, leading to potential errors. Plus vortex doesn't at all like manual addons, edits and deletion. I do a lot of these, wether it is for textures, meshes or other mods.

My test were always from an interior cell, and I was going outside. I also tested new games but the result was still ILS.
 

You're saying a recorded gets forwarded or a mesh texture asset used/by lod may be the reason, and you're probably right.

I won't be able to find out which file(s) are the culprit by following your instructions, since my game is now loading normally.
I reran texgen with higher resolution, and dyndolod maxed out with quality 3d lods, 55 grass density and had no issue.

The only thing now is I have 55-60 fps capped, and I can't remember what settings I enabled to limit my fps that much. Had around 120 before, and Dyndolod is not taking that much, I'm pretty sure I could still run the game around 100 fps. If anyone knows what settings in enb and skyrim.ini I need to reverse to uncap completely fps, I'd gladly take it.

Edit : found out, enblocal.ini, skyrimprefs.ini and ssedisplaytweaks.ini. Forgot about the last. 115 fps average with dyndolod settings ultra. All good !

I wish I had find this fix earlier, but it can be usefull for other people maybe, if you get Infinite Load Screens (ILS) on every dyndolod_output no matter how you reduce quality, try to launch an earlier save directly in exteriors. If it loads, save where you are. Exit completely the game, load the save indoors that didn't work earlier, go outside, load normally, save.

Delete the dirty save in which you loaded directly from outside. Might just work without saving the first time, but this is the whole process I did.

I saw some other people having this problem, but no solution was found, so this might be a good try. I also enabled the memory fixes from enginesfixes.toml aswell, might have helped, or not.

 

@sheson
thanks for the help provided and the time you spent on this matter. I hope this will help people if they run into the same issue as mine.
Cya

I suggest to use a proper Mod Manager like MO2 and follow proper modding practice. Manually modifying  the content of the physical data folder can easily lead to confusion and loosing track of what is active and not.

If the game has ILS startig a new game, then the load order has issues. Loading an earlier save as a workaround to start the game does not fix the issue. If the load order starts a new game now without ILS now, then something else changed that addressed the issue.

So it could either be because of left over files in the data folder, using different memory allocation etc. or something else altogether. When following proper modding practice and troubleshooting by elimination it can usually be found out, without workarounds.

[sheson]

3 hours ago, Coffee2a said:

Hi Sheson, I'm having trouble generating tree lod for winter with the mod Whiterun Forest Borealis and Bigger Borealis Ulvenwald. When in winter most of the tree lod added by those mods is not showing up, and I'm having issue with tree pop up when near them, but for other season, sping - autumn, the lod is working fine.

Here are my log

 My other lod for winter is working fine, just those trees added by 2 mods mentioned is having trouble, I tried to open the LOD file in Nifskope to see and there is a big different in Spring and Winter

  This is Spring lod mesh

 

 This is Winter lod mesh

taken from the same place 

Make a useful screenshot a full model that does not have LOD with more informative console as explained in https://dyndolod.info/Official-DynDOLOD-Support-Forum#In-Game-Screenshots or provide the reference and tree base record form IDs.

https://dyndolod.info/FAQ#Something-does-not-have-LOD

[Coffee2a]

6 minutes ago, sheson said:

Make a useful screenshot a full model that does not have LOD with more informative console as explained in https://dyndolod.info/Official-DynDOLOD-Support-Forum#In-Game-Screenshots or provide the reference and tree base record form IDs.

https://dyndolod.info/FAQ#Something-does-not-have-LOD

Hi Sheson, here is the tree model and id. I also use Ulvenwald 3D LOD but it is currently not supported for season, I just change the swap ini to use treepineforestsnow instead of treepineforest_winter and rerun Dyndolod and it is working now.

But as my understanding, if a tree hybrid model is not available then Dyndolod would fallback to using billboard lod, and I checked my texgen folder and that tree texture is in there, I also tried to open Dyndolod_tamriel_Win and also found that tree texture in there as well, so I don't know why it's not showing 

[sheson]

1 hour ago, Coffee2a said:

Hi Sheson, here is the tree model and id. I also use Ulvenwald 3D LOD but it is currently not supported for season, I just change the swap ini to use treepineforestsnow instead of treepineforest_winter and rerun Dyndolod and it is working now.

But as my understanding, if a tree hybrid model is not available then Dyndolod would fallback to using billboard lod, and I checked my texgen folder and that tree texture is in there, I also tried to open Dyndolod_tamriel_Win and also found that tree texture in there as well, so I don't know why it's not showing 

DynDOLOD_SSE_Object_Report.txt

TreePineForest02_winter [TREE:3200FD86] Meshes\landscape\trees\treepineforest02_winter.nif [CRC32:FFC3DD92] using textures\welshspruce\welshbark.dds, textures\welshspruce\welshbark_n.dds, textures\welshspruce\snow_c.dds, textures\welshspruce\spruce_n.dds, textures\welshspruce\fir\firbark3_c.dds, textures\welshspruce\fir\firbark3_n.dds
    New tree, Billboard DDS/TXT not found textures\terrain\lodgen\ulvenwald.esp\treepineforest02_winter_0000fd86.dds, 3D LOD model not found treepineforest02_winter_FFC3DD92

The TexGen_SSE_Debug_log.txt shows that the tree is being ignored for billboard generation because it is deemed too small.

[GetRequiredBillboards] <Debug: Ignoring Meshes\landscape\trees\treepineforest02_winter.nif bounds volume 335.630737304687, height 117 Ulvenwald.esp TreePineForest02_winter [TREE:3200FD86]>

See explanations about the objects bounds in  https://dyndolod.info/Help/TexGen-Configuration#Tree-Grass-LOD-Billboards, especially:
In case the object bounds are not set properly in a plugin for the currently installed models (for example a mod replaced the vanilla models with smaller or larger versions), the Creation Kit Object Window has a right click context menu entry 'Recalc Bounds' to update them.

 I suggest to recalc the object bounds for the tree(s) in Ulvenwald.esp with CK. Then run TexGen and either use Preview to see if the tree is now listed or just generate billboards and check the log for treepineforest02_winter_0000fd86 being creating. Once you ran DynDOLOD, you can double check in DynDOLOD_SSE_Object_Report.txt if it now found a billboard for the base record.

[Coffee2a]

1 hour ago, sheson said:

DynDOLOD_SSE_Object_Report.txt

TreePineForest02_winter [TREE:3200FD86] Meshes\landscape\trees\treepineforest02_winter.nif [CRC32:FFC3DD92] using textures\welshspruce\welshbark.dds, textures\welshspruce\welshbark_n.dds, textures\welshspruce\snow_c.dds, textures\welshspruce\spruce_n.dds, textures\welshspruce\fir\firbark3_c.dds, textures\welshspruce\fir\firbark3_n.dds
    New tree, Billboard DDS/TXT not found textures\terrain\lodgen\ulvenwald.esp\treepineforest02_winter_0000fd86.dds, 3D LOD model not found treepineforest02_winter_FFC3DD92

The TexGen_SSE_Debug_log.txt shows that the tree is being ignored for billboard generation because it is deemed too small.

[GetRequiredBillboards] <Debug: Ignoring Meshes\landscape\trees\treepineforest02_winter.nif bounds volume 335.630737304687, height 117 Ulvenwald.esp TreePineForest02_winter [TREE:3200FD86]>

See explanations about the objects bounds in  https://dyndolod.info/Help/TexGen-Configuration#Tree-Grass-LOD-Billboards, especially:
In case the object bounds are not set properly in a plugin for the currently installed models (for example a mod replaced the vanilla models with smaller or larger versions), the Creation Kit Object Window has a right click context menu entry 'Recalc Bounds' to update them.

 I suggest to recalc the object bounds for the tree(s) in Ulvenwald.esp with CK. Then run TexGen and either use Preview to see if the tree is now listed or just generate billboards and check the log for treepineforest02_winter_0000fd86 being creating. Once you ran DynDOLOD, you can double check in DynDOLOD_SSE_Object_Report.txt if it now found a billboard for the base record.

thank you for the help. I'll have a look, for now I think I will use treepineforestsnow instead of treepineforest_winter cause it has hybrid lod

[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.