Terrain LOD textures not unloading quickly enough

[godescalcus]

I've tried to read as much as possible about "lod unloading bugs" and I don't think my problem fits into the categories I've found, so far. I don't have a problem with large reference lod MESHES not unloading (that I've noticed). I don't have a problem with lingering lod meshes, such as roads, snow, etc. I do think all MESHES are loading correctly.

What I see is that textures applied to terrain, and only terrain, often look blurry, like terrain lod, until even after I enter the cell. I can stand over terrain with those blurry textures, and when it happens, if I don't move, those textures are never replaced by the correct, full resolution terrain textures. If I keep walking/running, there's a point where, suddenly, the full res textures "kick in" and everything around me looks correct. I have no idea why this happens with this particular build I'm working on. I'm pretty sure I didn't have this problem on previous builds - at least, not in such a conspicuous way.

It's not a DynDOLOD problem, happens with both DynDOLOD active, or inactive, tested on new games every time. Could be something I did wrong in xLODGen?

This is a random problem. Doesn't happen continuously, but very frequently. I'd risk stating that every other cell, or every third cell shows this problem.

Edited March 23, 2023 by godescalcus

[DoubleYou]

Could be caused by bad INI edits, but typically the information here applies to any form of stuck LOD. If using A Clear Map of Skyrim and Other Worlds with the LOD32 option, failure to have LOD32 object LOD generated via DynDOLOD will cause various LOD bugs due to the missing object LOD.

[godescalcus]

1 hour ago, DoubleYou said:

Could be caused by bad INI edits, but typically the information here applies to any form of stuck LOD. If using A Clear Map of Skyrim and Other Worlds with the LOD32 option, failure to have LOD32 object LOD generated via DynDOLOD will cause various LOD bugs due to the missing object LOD.

Do you think I may have missed this step when running DynDOLOD:

I assumed my previous run configuration was always saved and I could just "click and run" if I was regenerating. Maybe I was wrong? Do I still need to pick a preset, then apply all custom rules on top of it, every time, to ensure they're used?

Edited March 24, 2023 by godescalcus

[DoubleYou]

Step 1 is the relevant step here.

Quote

1. Navigate to the \Edit Scripts\DynDOLOD\DynDOLOD_SSE.ini file in your DynDOLOD install and set Expert=1 and Level32=1.

 

[sheson]

9 hours ago, godescalcus said:

I've tried to read as much as possible about "lod unloading bugs" and I don't think my problem fits into the categories I've found, so far. I don't have a problem with large reference lod MESHES not unloading (that I've noticed). I don't have a problem with lingering lod meshes, such as roads, snow, etc. I do think all MESHES are loading correctly.

What I see is that textures applied to terrain, and only terrain, often look blurry, like terrain lod, until even after I enter the cell. I can stand over terrain with those blurry textures, and when it happens, if I don't move, those textures are never replaced by the correct, full resolution terrain textures. If I keep walking/running, there's a point where, suddenly, the full res textures "kick in" and everything around me looks correct. I have no idea why this happens with this particular build I'm working on. I'm pretty sure I didn't have this problem on previous builds - at least, not in such a conspicuous way.

It's not a DynDOLOD problem, happens with both DynDOLOD active, or inactive, tested on new games every time. Could be something I did wrong in xLODGen?

This is a random problem. Doesn't happen continuously, but very frequently. I'd risk stating that every other cell, or every third cell shows this problem.

You are describing how the Skyrim engine loads terrain textures around the center cell in a circle fading to terrain LOD textures since game release in 2011. The circle jumps from old center cell to new center cell when the player moves. The fade in the active cells does not use terrain LOD normal map textures. There are no known INI settings that can change the diameter for the circle or the fade.

[godescalcus]

7 hours ago, DoubleYou said:

Step 1 is the relevant step here.

 

That part I had right. I was betting on lod32 not having been generated with the correct rule, even though I knew the procedure - since I assumed rules were saved from one session to the next, I didn't go through the whole process the second and subsequent times I generated. Unfortunately, this doesn't seem to be the issue, but thanks for suggesting, at least I know what is not the problem, even if I still don't know what is.

2 hours ago, sheson said:

You are describing how the Skyrim engine loads terrain textures around the center cell in a circle fading to terrain LOD textures since game release in 2011. The circle jumps from old center cell to new center cell when the player moves. The fade in the active cells does not use terrain LOD normal map textures. There are no known INI settings that can change the diameter for the circle or the fade.

Thanks. I understand that - my issue being, shouldn't that fading circle update soon enough that the player character never ended up standing over blurry textures? And then taking a few steps in some direction, and good textures suddenly kicking in.

I have regenerated DynDOLOD paying attention to the steps required by A Clear Map... to see if that averts the issue, currently testing on a new game. The issue is still present... Here's a before/after scene.

It's not DoF - sorry that I didn't turn it off in the enb but you can see in the first picture that the character is standing on blurry terrain, where only terrain is "out of focus" and not rocks, grass or the character itself. Second picture taken only a few steps downstream and terrain textures are now correctly loaded.

Edited March 24, 2023 by godescalcus

[godescalcus]

Here's a new example with ENB turned off.

In the first every object is loading textures correctly, but not terrain. The second picture was taken only a few steps down, and terrain has now loaded correctly.

 

[sheson]

1 hour ago, godescalcus said:

That part I had right. I was betting on lod32 not having been generated with the correct rule, even though I knew the procedure - since I assumed rules were saved from one session to the next, I didn't go through the whole process the second and subsequent times I generated. Unfortunately, this doesn't seem to be the issue, but thanks for suggesting, at least I know what is not the problem, even if I still don't know what is.

Thanks. I understand that - my issue being, shouldn't that fading circle update soon enough that the player character never ended up standing over blurry textures? And then taking a few steps in some direction, and good textures suddenly kicking in.

I have regenerated DynDOLOD paying attention to the steps required by A Clear Map... to see if that averts the issue, currently testing on a new game. The issue is still present... Here's a before/after scene.

It's not DoF - sorry that I didn't turn it off in the enb but you can see in the first picture that the character is standing on blurry terrain, where only terrain is "out of focus" and not rocks, grass or the character itself. Second picture taken only a few steps downstream and terrain textures are now correctly loaded.

The terrain fading circle should update to the cell the player is currently in.

DynDOLOD does not do anything with terrain LOD. DynDOLOD does not change how the game works. DynDOLOD does not change an INI settings. Generating new DynDOLOD output or terrain LOD meshes or textures with xLODGen is not going to change any of this.

This is probably because of messed up game INI settings, terrain shader changes or maybe DLL plugins etc.

[godescalcus]

1 hour ago, sheson said:

This is probably because of messed up game INI settings, terrain shader changes or maybe DLL plugins etc.

I do have a noise.dds texture from this mod

https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/29782

As for dlls - more than I can count. You know Lexy's guide, there's a lot of SKSE going on here, but I also have a "pure" version of her guide and the issue isn't present. So it's on my tweaking. It would help to know of any dlls that are known to cause issues. Could it be performance related?

Finally, my inis: compared to Lexy's, all I do is pick Bethini's Ultra preset instead of high (sucker for detail). Again, if performance were an issue, I could be going over the top, but fps wise things seem ok. Not smooth 60fps ok, but a stable 40+ in usually busy areas like Riverwood.

Edited March 24, 2023 by godescalcus

[sheson]

On 3/24/2023 at 12:41 PM, godescalcus said:

I do have a noise.dds texture from this mod

https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/29782

As for dlls - more than I can count. You know Lexy's guide, there's a lot of SKSE going on here, but I also have a "pure" version of her guide and the issue isn't present. So it's on my tweaking. It would help to know of any dlls that are known to cause issues. Could it be performance related?

Finally, my inis: compared to Lexy's, all I do is pick Bethini's Ultra preset instead of high (sucker for detail). Again, if performance were an issue, I could be going over the top, but fps wise things seem ok. Not smooth 60fps ok, but a stable 40+ in usually busy areas like Riverwood.

I suppose if the game lags and/or there is low memory the "move" to the new center cell can be delayed.

Troubleshooting with a new profile with default INIs, less mods etc. is pretty straight forward.

[AbR__]

Hi,

for anyone trying to fix this issue I was able to resolve it by setting BethINI to default vanilla settings.

Good luck