Creating Different LOD Levels for 3D Tree LODs

[goodysoup16]

How do you set up 3D tree LODs so that they use simpler meshes at higher LOD levels? It appears to be controlled with a TriShape naming convention but there's no apparent documentation on it. For example in enhanced vanilla trees there is a root detail TriShape in a 3D tree LOD named "L1_ReachCliffTree01:1 - L2_ReachCliffTree01:1 Crown". However I've failed to reverse engineer how it works, I just get all the TriShapes in my LOD nif copied to my tile regardless of what I do.  I intend to just use the fallback standard object naming convention but thought I would ask.

Edited December 15, 2023 by goodysoup16

[sheson]

LOD models with different complexity have different filenames.

https://dyndolod.info/Mod-Authors#How-to-add-your-own-object-LOD-models
The automatic matching assigns the different distant LOD meshes levels based on _[0|1|2|3] part of the filename . An object LOD model with the filename house_lod.nif will have distant LOD meshes in level 0, 1 and 2. To assign models to specific distant LOD meshes levels, use house_lod_0.nif for level 0, house_lod_1.nif for level 1, and house_lod_2.nif for level 2 and house_lod_3.nif for level 3.
If filenames with a lower number are not present, filenames with higher numbers are automatically used for lower levels. So if only house_lod_1.nif is found, it will be used for distant LOD meshes level 0 and 1 etc. In case there is a house_lod_4.nif, it will be assigned to level 3 only and not fill any of the lower levels.

3D tree LOD models without a LOD level number identifier are used for all LOD levels. 

https://dyndolod.info/Help/Mesh-Mask-Reference-Rules#Static-Object-LOD-Options

https://dyndolod.info/Help/3D-Tree-LOD-Model#Shape-Names
LOD levels in NIFs with BSLODMeshTriShape are used for full model detail fade and are not relevant for object or tree LOD.

If far away LOD is just a few pixels on screen, the Billboard4 with HD tree LOD billboards should typically be fine with considerably less resource requirements.

[goodysoup16]

My apologies, I missed the Mod Authors page. I should have checked the installation docs folder I see. Thanks for straightening me out. And thanks for the suggestion about billboards, I expect to use them for level 16 which I set back pretty far in the distance fog.