DynDOLOD 3.00 Alpha 182

[sheson]

38 minutes ago, Mousetick said:

Success with Resources SE α23 and the newly added waterfall lod meshes. Thanks as always for your help and kudos for your dedication and quick turnaround.

I haven't checked the results in game yet. Will report back if I find any that could be traced back to DynDOLOD [Resources].

Out of curiosity, would you mind shedding some light on what exactly caused DynDOLOD to become schizophrenic and not to find a texture that was right under its nose, so to speak? It's fine if you don't want to elaborate, no grudges will be held against you 

I'm probably going off assumptions that are completely wrong, so for the sake of understanding, is the CRC-less waterfall lod model (e.g. fxwaterfallbodytall_passthru_lod.nif) a fallback to vanilla lod when no matching CRC is available for the full model? Or is it something else?

If it's not designed as a fallback mechanism, and waterfall lods are only designed to work by CRC-matching them with their full models counterparts, I'd like to offer a suggestion for possible improvement that you didn't ask for and may not care about. Here it is anyway:

If a waterfall lod model (or other similar object lod model if applicable) cannot be found by matching the CRC32 of the full model, DynDOLOD should fail and issue an error message reporting the reason, such as: "Unsupported mod or unsupported version of mod for <insert full model name here>. Requires matching lod from DynDOLOD Resources. Refer to https://dyndolod.info/Mods/Waterfalls".

Thanks.

If no CRC32 match is found, the process always falls back to the default/vanilla static object LOD model, for example fxwaterfallbodytall_passthru_lod.nif in this case.
As is typical, it uses a diffuse and a normal map texture.

The full model has different diffuse texture assigned compared to the vanilla full model, either directly in the NIF or via texture sets.
Because of that, the process tries to automatically switch the object LOD textures to the different texture as well.
Since the new stitched object LOD texture does not exist, it tries to generate it on the fly.
Since the replaced full model NIF has no normal map texture defined, the first file not found with nothing was shown, the filename is empty.
Then it tries to assume the filename as [diffuse filename]_n.dds, which is then also not found.

It is an edge case that a full model has the shader changed for a shape that also has object LOD. I would say it only ever happens with the 3 main waterfalls anyways.

Anyways, now with dedicated LOD models none of this happens anymore.

[NephilimOokami]

I am having a bug that some parts of the terrain(in some locations) has no textures at all(can walk in the air)

Attached is one of the cells that this happen.

Edited March 23, 2022 by NephilimOokami

[sheson]

24 minutes ago, NephilimOokami said:

I am having a bug that some parts of the terrain(in some locations) has no textures at all(can walk in the air)

Attached is one of the cells that this happen.

https://dyndolod.info

"Dynamic Distant Objects LOD (DynDOLOD) is the advanced and easier version of xLODGen to generate a comprehensive LOD mod for the entire load order of the different Skyrim and Enderal game versions for drastically enhanced and better matching tree LOD and object LOD plus optional dynamic LOD, glow LOD, grass LOD, occlusion data and terrain underside in a few simple steps."

DynDOLOD does not generate or affects terrain LOD in any way.

Wherever the player walks, is active cells. They do not show any LOD. DynDOLOD does not affect terrain in loaded cells.

The DynDOLOD SkyUI MCM - You Are Here page shows the current player position and calculates the cell coordinates and LOD filenames based on that.
What is the purpose of posting that screenshot?

Why do you believe the problem has something to do with the DynDOLOD output?

[Mousetick]

1 hour ago, sheson said:

It is an edge case that a full model has the shader changed for a shape that also has object LOD. I would say it only ever happens with the 3 main waterfalls anyways.

Thanks for the detailed and clear explanation. I understand it's a corner case that's not worth worrying too much about or working too hard to resolve.

1 hour ago, sheson said:

Anyways, now with dedicated LOD models none of this happens anymore.

Right. But I'm still a bit worried, perhaps overly so, about the following scenario.

Let's say you're on vacation or unavailable for whatever reason for a couple of weeks (sometimes I wonder if you ever sleep or take a break off DynDOLOD). It happens that some new mod with the latest and greatest waterfalls has been released and users are trying it out with DynDOLOD 3. These users will be faced with the missing CRC-matched lods and the weird DynDOLOD behavior. They probably won't notice the 'file not found' error message but they may see the missing texture warning in the Summary report, and become utterly confused as to what's going on and what could be the root cause. They may also wonder why the waterfall lods are missing in game.

So, what can users do in this case where you're not available for support?

This is why I think a clearer diagnostic from DynDOLOD in this particular case could be helpful.

[sheson]

1 hour ago, Mousetick said:

Thanks for the detailed and clear explanation. I understand it's a corner case that's not worth worrying too much about or working too hard to resolve.

Right. But I'm still a bit worried, perhaps overly so, about the following scenario.

Let's say you're on vacation or unavailable for whatever reason for a couple of weeks (sometimes I wonder if you ever sleep or take a break off DynDOLOD). It happens that some new mod with the latest and greatest waterfalls has been released and users are trying it out with DynDOLOD 3. These users will be faced with the missing CRC-matched lods and the weird DynDOLOD behavior. They probably won't notice the 'file not found' error message but they may see the missing texture warning in the Summary report, and become utterly confused as to what's going on and what could be the root cause. They may also wonder why the waterfall lods are missing in game.

So, what can users do in this case where you're not available for support?

This is why I think a clearer diagnostic from DynDOLOD in this particular case could be helpful.

There won't be missing LOD in the game. If there is no CRC32 match it will fall back to the default file convention.

Obviously the code will be updated to handle the edge case and just create the missing stitched texture with the default_n.dds.

Users and mod authors could read the documentation and create their own LOD models and textures in case there are mismatches.

Lots of these things are already explained at https://dyndolod.info/Mod-Authors for example.

 

[NephilimOokami]

5 hours ago, sheson said:

https://dyndolod.info

"Dynamic Distant Objects LOD (DynDOLOD) is the advanced and easier version of xLODGen to generate a comprehensive LOD mod for the entire load order of the different Skyrim and Enderal game versions for drastically enhanced and better matching tree LOD and object LOD plus optional dynamic LOD, glow LOD, grass LOD, occlusion data and terrain underside in a few simple steps."

DynDOLOD does not generate or affects terrain LOD in any way.

Wherever the player walks, is active cells. They do not show any LOD. DynDOLOD does not affect terrain in loaded cells.

The DynDOLOD SkyUI MCM - You Are Here page shows the current player position and calculates the cell coordinates and LOD filenames based on that.
What is the purpose of posting that screenshot?

Why do you believe the problem has something to do with the DynDOLOD output?

I did'nt believe it's a DynDOLOD related bug, but I've searched for the same "bug", and found that one person with the same problem has comented here. Sorry if this it's not the right place to find solutions to my problem now, btw, any clue on what may be causing this bug? Or any redirections at all?

Edited March 23, 2022 by NephilimOokami

[sheson]

8 hours ago, NephilimOokami said:

I did'nt believe it's a DynDOLOD related bug, but I've searched for the same "bug", and found that one person with the same problem has comented here. Sorry if this it's not the right place to find solutions to my problem now, btw, any clue on what may be causing this bug? Or any redirections at all?

Check with xEdit which plugins modify the LAND records in the affected CELLs.

[Phlunder]

Hey sheson, I'm trying to work on LOD meshes for some more Enderal objects. I just have a small question regarding the UV range of 0.0-1.0 so the textures can be added to the atlas. How can I see this UV range in NifSkope? Its probably not a good thing to show screenshots here, but does the 1.0 range refer to the original texture shown in the blue square in the middle, or the 8 tiled squares outside, I marked in red here? Would it suffice to bring the UVs into that range? I marked those ranges after the fact, of course, just to show what I mean.

The goal is to keep the full texture assigned, like you did for many LOD assets, so DynDOLOD can automatically create downscaled textures from the full ones, and add them to the atlas. It worked before for other assets I worked on, but I'm not sure how to interpret the UV range. Sorry in advance if its off topic.

Edited March 24, 2022 by Phlunder

[NephilimOokami]

4 hours ago, sheson said:

Check with xEdit which plugins modify the LAND records in the affected CELLs.

Thanks for the guidance

[sheson]

2 hours ago, Phlunder said:

Hey sheson, I'm trying to work on LOD meshes for some more Enderal objects. I just have a small question regarding the UV range of 0.0-1.0 so the textures can be added to the atlas. How can I see this UV range in NifSkope? Its probably not a good thing to show screenshots here, but does the 1.0 range refer to the original texture shown in the blue square in the middle, or the 8 tiled squares outside, I marked in red here? Would it suffice to bring the UVs into that range? I marked those ranges after the fact, of course, just to show what I mean.

The goal is to keep the full texture assigned, like you did for many LOD assets, so DynDOLOD can automatically create downscaled textures from the full ones, and add them to the atlas. It worked before for other assets I worked on, but I'm not sure how to interpret the UV range. Sorry in advance if its off topic.

0.0 to 1.0 is the blue square.

If you find you need to add (lots of) triangles to achieve that, reuse/create stitched object LOD textures with TexGen rules that tile the full texture to a 2x2 stitched object LOD texture for example, then the UV for shapes that reference full textures only needs to stay between 0.0 to 2.0 (to the right and bottom in NifSkope)

For example ..\Meshes\lod\dirtcliffs\dirtcliffs01_lod_0.nif from DynDOLOD Resources.
It defines the full textures textures\landscape\dirtcliffs\dirtcliffs01.dds and textures\landscape\fieldgrass02.dds and the UV stays between 0.0 and 2.0.
You will find TexGen rules for these textures in DynDOLOD_ENDERALSE_TexGen_noalpha_skyrimesm.txt for example that instruct how to create the 2x2 textures\lod\dirtcliffs01lod.dds or textures\lod\fieldgrass02lod.dds. https://dyndolod.info/Mod-Authors#How-to-add-LOD-textures-creation-rules-to-TexGen

[Arctic4161]

I agree with others here. Ram usage needs to be addressed. The program itself is awesome and we appreciate your work. On win 11 it basically uses all ram and kills off all other running programs. Used 100% virtual memory and 99.9% physical memory.

[sheson]

9 hours ago, Arctic4161 said:

I agree with others here. Ram usage needs to be addressed. The program itself is awesome and we appreciate your work. On win 11 it basically uses all ram and kills off all other running programs. Used 100% virtual memory and 99.9% physical memory.

Read the first post which log and debug log and bugreport.txt to upload when making posts.

Read the https://dyndolod.info/FAQ DynDOLOD/TexGen Questions High memory usage

The screenshot does not show any information about anything related to the LOD generation processes. Computers have memory so it can be used by programs. The OS controls how much memory programs can use. 

[Arctic4161]

8 hours ago, sheson said:

Read the first post which log and debug log and bugreport.txt to upload when making posts.

Read the https://dyndolod.info/FAQ DynDOLOD/TexGen Questions High memory usage

The screenshot does not show any information about anything related to the LOD generation processes. Computers have memory so it can be used by programs. The OS controls how much memory programs can use. 

It's not a bug it's how you multithread the CMD for the different seasons. I code myself, an easy fix would be to run each season sequentially instead of in parallel. Each process is vying for memory. Would also probably help to run 2 season in parallel then run the next 2. That's just my 2 cents. Would probably speed it up too as each process is stepping on each other for memory.

Edited March 26, 2022 by Arctic4161
Accidental post before finished writing

[sheson]

38 minutes ago, Arctic4161 said:

It's not a bug it's how you multithread the CMD for the different seasons. I code myself, an easy fix would be to run each season sequentially instead of in parallel. Each process is vying for memory. Would also probably help to run 2 season in parallel then run the next 2. That's just my 2 cents. Would probably speed it up too as each process is stepping on each other for memory.

As already suggested, read the https://dyndolod.info/FAQ DynDOLOD/TexGen Questions High memory usage, which for example says this:
If too many concurrent LODGen processes running at the same time consume all available memory, limit their number by changing the MaxLODGen setting in ..\DynDOLOD\Edit Scripts\DynDOLOD\DynDOLOD_[GAME MODE].INI.

It is also explained on the help page for seasons https://dyndolod.info/Help/Seasons#Out-of-Memory-errors:
In case this creates out of memory errors and/or high CPU usage, the number of simultaneously running LODGen process can be limited by setting MaxLODGen=x in ..\DynDOLOD\Edit Scripts\DynDOLOD\DynDOLOD_[GAME MODE].ini.

[Arctic4161]

31 minutes ago, sheson said:

As already suggested, read the https://dyndolod.info/FAQ DynDOLOD/TexGen Questions High memory usage, which for example says this:
If too many concurrent LODGen processes running at the same time consume all available memory, limit their number by changing the MaxLODGen setting in ..\DynDOLOD\Edit Scripts\DynDOLOD\DynDOLOD_[GAME MODE].INI.

It is also explained on the help page for seasons https://dyndolod.info/Help/Seasons#Out-of-Memory-errors:
In case this creates out of memory errors and/or high CPU usage, the number of simultaneously running LODGen process can be limited by setting MaxLODGen=x in ..\DynDOLOD\Edit Scripts\DynDOLOD\DynDOLOD_[GAME MODE].ini.

Ah okay, thank you! I was not aware that the thread count was open to be adjusted via the ini. That's smart