DynDOLOD 3.00 Alpha 182

[sheson]

8 hours ago, Anorf said:

Ok then, it explains the buildings invisible from the walls. Learned a new setting I didn't understand. Too soon to try this in my current situation though.

For the entire lod missing, the screenshot was without dyndolod active, so I can't increase distances. Which means I have no tree lods in my meshes I guess, which is rather weird.
Distances are set on ultra, from the official FAQ if I recall correctly.

Here are my logs from the last output I did, which was no LOD32, default settings.
Edit : the dyndolod_sse.ini is this one, but with level32=0. Just reversed the value before uploading, but it was the right one for the generation

https://ufile.io/f/vk3ek


Edit2 : Ils with  tree lods, kept grass lod, no ultra tree lods.
https://ufile.io/f/ebfh9

 

Edit3 : what happens if you load dyndolod from an outside cell ? Because, loading a previous save, where I was in the outside on top of a mountain, I was able to load without any ILS... I got into a room and out, and just loaded without any issue again.
This save probably had a dyndolod running. I'm aware of instructions to update dyndolod, but if I can bypass safely, maybe that's just the fix.

 

Edit4 : Well I maybed found out why I have such problems, but not how. Somehow it looks like my game is keeping a "memory" of what it had.
After loading in the outside cell in a previous game sucessfully, I saved, left the game. Restarted the game, launched the save I was in a cell, and..
it just loaded normally. Before that, I made several attempts with this specific output, and nothing ever worked. But after the game managed to launch it once, it just was able to launch it again.
If anyone has a clue on what could cause this... Might not be even related to dyndolod after all, although I could always load without dyndolod active.
 

When doing these test do not enable things again before doing the next test.  Best to continuously remove tings until there is a difference. For example, the last test from Edit2 has LOD level 32 enabled again. The texture atlas is 16 x 8k in both tests. Set MaxTextureSize=8192 etc.

When testing, load a clean save made in an interior and if that does not work use coc riverwood or coc whiterun from main menu console to start into a new test game.

Since you are using Vortex, make extra sure that old output is properly removed and new output properly deployed.

If size alone is not the issue, then a record that get forwarded or a mesh or texture asset used for/by LOD may be the reason for the problems.

With whatever load order and output you have right now, do these tests with the DynDOLOD output to see if there is any difference:
Remove the texture folder.
If no change, remove the meshes folder.
If no change, remove Occlusion.esp
If no change, remove DynDOLOD.esp
If no change, remove the SKSE folder.
Now only DynDOLOD.esm would remain.
Report result.

[sheson]

9 hours ago, tigeruppercut said:

Very strange issue in Skyrim VR, running with latest Dyndolod release, Resources, and DLL: https://imgur.com/a/LCdxOmF

Occasionally my game would show big flashing light and a black box the size of Skyrim VR in the middle of the screen. 

1）Restoring mod order/plugin order usually fixes this.  Even when I disable/enable mods I can not reproduce this.  It shows up on its own.
2) Disabling Dyndolod fixes this

This issue has been around for a while, I think ever since I started using Dyndolod NG.  

It almost feels like some kind of debug mode showing occlusion.  I expect out of sync LOD or even crashes, I feel like something in my load order is doing this.  

Read 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.

Test of it goes away with tll in console or when deactivating dynamic LOD in the SkyUI MCM. See https://dyndolod.info/Official-DynDOLOD-Support-Forum#Rudimentary-Troubleshooting

If it remained visible after tll, install more informative console and see if you can select the object with console open and get information about it as explained in https://dyndolod.info/Official-DynDOLOD-Support-Forum#In-Game-Screenshots

The rectangle reminds me of the background of a message box.

[sheson]

4 hours ago, OneAutumnLeaf said:

Hello, just came to clarify something regarding output file size.

My output for lodgen folder is at 11gb in total size while my dyndolod has reached 85+ gb and was already past 8 hours of runtime and would've probably gotten higher if I had not stopped it. However my texgen folder is just at >300mb

I'm using all the latest releases of dyndolod, DLL, Grass cache, Happy Little Trees, Skoglendi grass, and a few Seasons of Skyrim mods. I did not use any values that went past 256 in any of the UI for lodgen, texgen, and Dyndolod because I'm using a Laptop that's only 1920x1080 and the only high settings I enabled are the following below:

- Occlusion set to quality 3
- All Seasons
- Grass Cache density set to 50
- Ultra

Also this latest attempt I made was with the help of biggie_boss' 3 part tutorial on this area as well.

I assume its not normal to get these big file sizes or was it just me underestimating Seasons and Grass Cache combined with the DLL?
 

Read the first post and/or https://dyndolod.info/Official-DynDOLOD-Support-Forum#Post-Logs which TexGen and DynDOLOD logs and debug logs to upload.

See https://dyndolod.info/FAQ#Long-running-time-or-output-several-GB-in-file-size

Running for hours like that means something is wrong. That something may be a bad combination of mods and settings. Seasons can means 5 times the size and time.
I suggest to first test and optimize the default season only.

I suggest to follow a proper modding guide with a proven, optimized and tested combination of tree mods, grass and seasons etc.

[sheson]

2 hours ago, johncwick said:

Random CTD with Occlusion.esp popping up a lot. Don't know what to do.

First log [crash-2024-09-08-16-39-57] reported some Hanged Prisoner npc from Civil War Battlefields so I deleted that. Deleted and reran Dyndolod.

Current crash log [crash-2024-09-08-23-37-45] now says a "Fox" is the issue. Both crash logs "Occlusion.esp" pops up everywhere.

https://ufile.io/f/wvbf9

(dyndcrashlog.7z is all the files in one archive)

Occlusion.esp is mentioned because it is the last plugin to overwrite cell records and whatever actor has a problem happens to be in such a cell.

Test without DynDOLOD output as explained in https://dyndolod.info/Official-DynDOLOD-Support-Forum#Rudimentary-Troubleshooting

crash-2024-09-08-16-39-57.log seems to indicate an issues related to skee64.dl (Racemenu) and an NPC, some hanged female.
crash-2024-09-08-23-37-45.log seems to indicate an issue related to ActorValueExtension.dll (Actor Value Generator) and a NPC, some fox.

[johncwick]

11 hours ago, sheson said:

Occlusion.esp is mentioned because it is the last plugin to overwrite cell records and whatever actor has a problem happens to be in such a cell.

Test without DynDOLOD output as explained in https://dyndolod.info/Official-DynDOLOD-Support-Forum#Rudimentary-Troubleshooting

crash-2024-09-08-16-39-57.log seems to indicate an issues related to skee64.dl (Racemenu) and an NPC, some hanged female.
crash-2024-09-08-23-37-45.log seems to indicate an issue related to ActorValueExtension.dll (Actor Value Generator) and a NPC, some fox.

Thank you for the clarity and support. I didn't totally believe it was your mod, but it was the only common denominator that stuck out to me, and I knew you'd be able to glean more from the logs than I did. I played again without dropping any mods to actually try some "rudimentary troubleshooting", and wherever it came from, the CTD didn't replicate; but thank you for helping me narrow down what it could be if it pops up again.

[Anorf]

15 hours ago, sheson said:

When doing these test do not enable things again before doing the next test.  Best to continuously remove tings until there is a difference. For example, the last test from Edit2 has LOD level 32 enabled again. The texture atlas is 16 x 8k in both tests. Set MaxTextureSize=8192 etc.

When testing, load a clean save made in an interior and if that does not work use coc riverwood or coc whiterun from main menu console to start into a new test game.

Since you are using Vortex, make extra sure that old output is properly removed and new output properly deployed.

If size alone is not the issue, then a record that get forwarded or a mesh or texture asset used for/by LOD may be the reason for the problems.

With whatever load order and output you have right now, do these tests with the DynDOLOD output to see if there is any difference:
Remove the texture folder.
If no change, remove the meshes folder.
If no change, remove Occlusion.esp
If no change, remove DynDOLOD.esp
If no change, remove the SKSE folder.
Now only DynDOLOD.esm would remain.
Report result.

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

 

Edited September 9 by Anorf

[Coffee2a]

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 

 

[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