Unknown grass data file format error

[MarcDwonn]

I'm was doing the Dyndolod generation, and it stopped with the error in image#1. "unknown grass data file format"

But trying to find that GID file, i noticed that it's not there. See image#2.

Am i looking for the wrong file?

 

[MarcDwonn]

I just tried generating the corrupt/missing cell in-game with the command cow tamriel -47 38. (changed the pre-cache setting in NGIO prior to this)

I spawned in the water between the north coast and the vampire castle. Looked around, did a TCL and rised above the water, then quit.

Still, in the freshly generated CGIDs there is no cell with the coordinates -47 38. Am i missing something here?

[EDIT] Ha! Could this maybe related to Depths Of Skyrim? After all, there is no grass around Volkihar... I'm gonna try disabling the mod for the Grass PreCache.

Edited July 12, 2023 by MarcDwonn

[MarcDwonn]

Unfortunately Depths Of Skyrim is not the culprit. Still can't get the game to generate -47 38. Hope someone could help.

[Mousetick]

Explanation of the issue:

NGIO doesn't generate grass cache in cells that don't contain texture layers. In vanilla, cell -47,38 only contains water and the bottom of the sea is colored with flat tints without textures. So NGIO skips it entirely.

DynDOLOD is told to generate grass LODs from .gid files. Since Tamrielx-047y0038.gid was not generated by NGIO, DynDOLOD uses whatever Tamrielx-047y0038.gid file it can find: the vanilla .gid contained in the vanilla BSA files, which is bogus. All vanilla grass files are invalid.

Pointers to resolution:

1. Clicking the provided link on the DynDOLOD error box and taking 5 minutes to read would have given the solution:

Quote

Click on this link for additional explanations and help for this message

2. A simple Google search and taking 15 minutes to browse and read would have given the solution.

Google search link: https://www.google.com/search?q=skyrim+dyndolod+unknown+grass+data+format

Top result, from this very site:

[Mousetick]

The guide you mentioned you're following (in another post) - https://github.com/The-Animonculory/Modding-Resources/blob/main/Grass Lods.md - is pretty well done, but it has one fundamental flaw: at no point does it instruct to enable the Grass Cache Fixes mod and its plugin.

Quote

Required mods in 1.6.xx version
[...]
Grass Cache Fixes <- DO NOT ACTIVATE YET

[...]

Converting the CGID files
Before activating the GCF mod, [...]

And then it goes on to perform a long list of operations without even mentioning GCF ever again. It's omitting an essential component and step in the process.

The end result is that GCF is never activated... This will cause the issue you're experiencing.

At the point where you switch back to your 1.6.x profile, probably at the beginning of the Configuring the cached data section, you must enable GCF and its plugin in your load order, which will be used for running DynDOLOD and for playing the game.

As stated on the GCF mod page, it can also be enabled in the 1.5.97 profile. This simplifies switching between profiles and allows for rendering grass in the immediate periphery outside Whiterun (when viewed from inside the walls).

[z929669]

Additionally, I'm not sure about the advice "DO NOT ACTIVATE YET".

@DoubleYou may correct me here, but I keep that mod enabled in both 1.5.97 and 1.6.xxx flavors of the game when generating the grass cache. Even the GCF ini file is identical in my instances.

Per our Grass LOD Guide:

NOTE:

Grass Cache Fixes can be installed anywhere, but to ensure that grass cached files are created for WhiterunWorld (grass visible just outside the walls when in Whiterun), consider moving the GCF plugin to highest priority in the right pane.

[MarcDwonn]

7 hours ago, Mousetick said:

The guide you mentioned you're following (in another post) - https://github.com/The-Animonculory/Modding-Resources/blob/main/Grass Lods.md - is pretty well done, but it has one fundamental flaw: at no point does it instruct to enable the Grass Cache Fixes mod and its plugin.

And then it goes on to perform a long list of operations without even mentioning GCF ever again. It's omitting an essential component and step in the process.

The end result is that GCF is never activated... This will cause the issue you're experiencing.

At the point where you switch back to your 1.6.x profile, probably at the beginning of the Configuring the cached data section, you must enable GCF and its plugin in your load order, which will be used for running DynDOLOD and for playing the game.

As stated on the GCF mod page, it can also be enabled in the 1.5.97 profile. This simplifies switching between profiles and allows for rendering grass in the immediate periphery outside Whiterun (when viewed from inside the walls).

Yeah, this is what caused 2 days of pain for me. The guide explicitly said NOT to enable the mod, and i followed it very closely.

Regarding the Dyndolod error - mea culpa - i was already very tired and when i found the first part of the error message explained, i never assumed that the second part would be explained a way below that. But honestly, without the context of your forum reply it would not have helped me because i lack the technical knowledge.

Anyway, thank you very much for the help! I managed to generate grass LOD, and currently fine tuning brightness etc. I'm still having issues at precaching (precacher says "done" after 2 minutes, or it says "done" and after game closes it auto-starts it to cache the same cells again...), but maybe i'll open another topic for that. Gonna first try with another grass mod, maybe it will cache with less issues.

 

Edited July 13, 2023 by MarcDwonn

[MarcDwonn]

Sorry to interrupt, but may i ask why ExtendGrassCount is not recommended? Instead, is a smaller value of OverwriteMinGrassSize better if i have too many small patches with no grass in the landscape?

[DoubleYou]

9 hours ago, MarcDwonn said:

Sorry to interrupt, but may i ask why ExtendGrassCount is not recommended? Instead, is a smaller value of OverwriteMinGrassSize better if i have too many small patches with no grass in the landscape?

You have a very high density of grass with a grass mod that limits the slope angle for grass to grow on landscape in the grass records (I believe - could be wrong). Use the mod author's recommended density settings for OverwriteMinGrassSize to avoid this patchy appearance. Also avoid using SuperDenseGrass if you did so.

ExtendGrassCount is typically only necessary for use with SuperDenseGrass NGIO setting. It causes the grass generation to take exponentially longer (4 hours versus 30 minutes), so it is recommended to be off if at all possible. It will be super obvious if you need it, as there will be cells completely devoid of grass if the limit is reached.

[MarcDwonn]

DoubleYou, thanks for the information. I'm using the recommended iMinGrassSize=60 for QW's Patch#2 and only Landscape Fixes For Grass Mods + Complementary Grass Fixes. Don't use SuperDenseGrass, and used ExtendGrassCount only because i had the feeling that grass is not dense enough. PreCache Grass plugin only takes ~15min on my i5 13500, on a modlist that does include some new world quests. :shrug:

What i don't understand is, why iMinGrassSize=50 instead of 60 can't remove (according to z929669) those bald patches around the rocks with QW's Patch2,

if the same density with Folkvangr + Origins Of Forest looks like this:

As you can guess, i'm trying to remove the bald patches because they look unnatural to me. Grass has the tendency to conquer everything if left unchecked, in nature. If you know what setting to change in GrassControl.config.txt, i'm open to suggestions.

Edited July 15, 2023 by MarcDwonn

[DoubleYou]

1 hour ago, MarcDwonn said:

DoubleYou, thanks for the information. I'm using the recommended iMinGrassSize=60 for QW's Patch#2 and only Landscape Fixes For Grass Mods + Complementary Grass Fixes. Don't use SuperDenseGrass, and used ExtendGrassCount only because i had the feeling that grass is not dense enough. PreCache Grass plugin only takes ~15min on my i5 13500, on a modlist that does include some new world quests. :shrug:

What i don't understand is, why iMinGrassSize=50 instead of 60 can't remove (according to z929669) those bald patches around the rocks with QW's Patch2,

if the same density with Folkvangr + Origins Of Forest looks like this:

As you can guess, i'm trying to remove the bald patches because they look unnatural to me. Grass has the tendency to conquer everything if left unchecked, in nature. If you know what setting to change in GrassControl.config.txt, i'm open to suggestions.

ExtendGrassCount doesn't affect density. It corrects a bug with there being zero grass in a cell if the cell contains too much grass.

There are two possibilities. My expectation is that there is a slope restriction on the grass records preventing them from filling in the areas you mention. See here an example from Cathedral Landscapes:

This means that since the grass "Fits to slope" and the max slope angle is "20" this grass type will not grow on any landscape angled more steeply than that. Max is 90.

Now with the additional screenshot of a different grass mod, I think it is possible that the grass mod specifically didn't use grass on that particular landscape texture. Notice how it is all the same underlying landscape that is missing grass.

You can, of course, test removing RayCasting in NGIO to see if that is having any meaningful impact.