DynDOLOD 3.00 Alpha 190

[sheson]

  On 5/11/2021 at 7:26 AM, gmahadhika91 said:

Here are both of the files you requested. Thank you again.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1fPJVAtPFDeMOuTgJU-qyf9DI0doci26Z/view?usp=sharing

Expand  

Remove all patches for open cities as well when doing the first pass. E.g. notice board - open cities patch.esp

[gmahadhika91]

  On 5/11/2021 at 7:34 AM, sheson said:

Remove all patches for open cities as well when doing the first pass. E.g. notice board - open cities patch.esp

Expand  

Ooh OK, I'll get back to you. Thank you.

[z929669]

  On 5/11/2021 at 6:04 AM, sheson said:

The setting does what it says: It is loading distance for trees.  

See "How LOD works in Skyrim" in the DynDOLOD manual.

The Settings page  of the DynDOLOD Skyui MCM

Expand  

Yes, I read that section several times and looked elsewhere. Nothing explicitly mentions that this setting only has an impact when "Generate tree LOD" is ticked. Just confirming that it is implicit, given how LOD works with tree billboards and *.btt files.

When trees are all rendered as object LOD in LOD 4 zone, fTreeLoadDistance can be 0 or 500000 and there is no difference. Otherwise, it works as expected.

[sheson]

  On 5/11/2021 at 12:58 PM, z929669 said:

Yes, I read that section several times and looked elsewhere. Nothing explicitly mentions that this setting only has an impact when "Generate tree LOD" is ticked. Just confirming that it is implicit, given how LOD works with tree billboards and *.btt files.

When trees are all rendered as object LOD in LOD 4 zone, fTreeLoadDistance can be 0 or 500000 and there is no difference. Otherwise, it works as expected.

Expand  

From "How LOD works":
"Skyrim separates the LOD into 3 different types, the landscape and (large) bodies of water in the *.btr files, the objects in the *.bto files and trees in the *.btt files."
"The landscape *.btr and the object *.bto files are actually nif meshes. The tree *.btt files are an index of x, y, z positions and tree type index numbers. The tree type index numbers point to data in the *.lst file."
"The *.lst file contains the positions and dimensions of tree billboards on the tree LOD atlas texture. The tree LOD system uses this data to build 2 rectangular planes for the 2D billboard tree LOD."

From Terminology:
"Static object LOD generated by LODGen.exe are objects that do not change and are not animated, like buildings or landscape features like mountains and rocks."
"Tree LOD generated by xLODGen for Trees LOD (or CK) are so-called billboard trees that uses two simple 2-sided rectangular models using the gams engine to display traditional tree LOD."
"Tree LOD in static Object LOD is LOD trees done as static object LOD. This can be 3D static trees, billboards or a mixture of both - hybrid LOD trees."

From the ultra tree LOD manual:
"This will turn off traditional tree LOD generation in DynDOLOD.exe and create an empty OUTPUT PATH\Meshes\Terrain\Tamriel\Trees\Tamriel.lst file. This file causes the game to disable all tree traditional billboard tree LOD. Alternatively set fTreeLoadDistance=0 in SkyrimPrefs.ini or the DynDOLOD MCM Settings page."

Of course fTreeLoadDistance does not affect object LOD. The fBlock* settings affect object LOD.

[QuantumToaster]

  On 5/11/2021 at 5:58 AM, sheson said:

Fix (Resave in CK or xEdit with the Clamp FormID expert option checked) or permanently remove the broken plugin with all the HITME errors. I will need to elevate that to a stop error.

Check the load order for errors with xEdit. They should be fixed as much as possible.

If the error still  happens then, upload the new logs and bugreport,

Expand  

I removed the TNFVanillaHomes.esp which was the one causing the HITME errors and originally it didn't work after rebooting my computer and trying again in the morning DynDOLOD ran properly using the same settings. I had already checked  my modlist for errors but I decided to run DynDOLOD before going in and fixing the ones I knew how to fix and it worked without having to fix the errors, I'll test further and give any relevant updates.

 

These are the xEdit errors I found some of which I intended to fix if it still didn't work.

https://pastebin.com/6mFgXhkx

 

 

[sheson]

  On 5/11/2021 at 2:51 PM, QuantumToaster said:

I removed the TNFVanillaHomes.esp which was the one causing the HITME errors and originally it didn't work after rebooting my computer and trying again in the morning DynDOLOD ran properly using the same settings. I had already checked  my modlist for errors but I decided to run DynDOLOD before going in and fixing the ones I knew how to fix and it worked without having to fix the errors, I'll test further and give any relevant updates.

 

These are the xEdit errors I found some of which I intended to fix if it still didn't work.

https://pastebin.com/6mFgXhkx

 

 

Expand  

You want to fix the "Could not be resolved" and "Mesh -> Found a REFR reference, expected: NAVM" errors.

[gmahadhika91]

  On 5/11/2021 at 7:34 AM, sheson said:

Remove all patches for open cities as well when doing the first pass. E.g. notice board - open cities patch.esp

Expand  

This works. Thank you so much Sheson!

EDIT: Pretty unrelated, however I have to ask, the mod Notice Board - Open Cities doesn't work. I've converted it into SSE by loading and saving it in CK but it doesn't show at all in game. Can anyone points me which forum would be proper to consult about this (As the Notice Board mod is no longer supported by the author)? Thank you.

Edited May 11, 2021 by gmahadhika91

[z929669]

  On 5/11/2021 at 1:13 PM, sheson said:

snip/

From the ultra tree LOD manual:
"This will turn off traditional tree LOD generation in DynDOLOD.exe and create an empty OUTPUT PATH\Meshes\Terrain\Tamriel\Trees\Tamriel.lst file. This file causes the game to disable all tree traditional billboard tree LOD. Alternatively set fTreeLoadDistance=0 in SkyrimPrefs.ini or the DynDOLOD MCM Settings page."

Expand  

OK, so it is implied. I understand now how it would not be possible to 'render' a text *.btt file. I am trying to fully understand so that if/when I explain it to our readers, I don't misrepresent reality. So, the following statements must be true?:

• fTreeLoadDistance affects the distance from the PC that tree billboards are rendered on the atlas (as opposed to 'full' trees closer to the PC)
• fTreeLoadDistance affects traditional billboard tree LOD and NOT object tree LOD.
• Ticking "Ultra" in settings, OR setting fTreeLoadDistance=0 disables traditional billboard tree LOD.

[sheson]

  On 5/11/2021 at 3:49 PM, z929669 said:

OK, so it is implied. I understand now how it would not be possible to 'render' a text *.btt file. I am trying to fully understand so that if/when I explain it to our readers, I don't misrepresent reality. So, the following statements must be true?:

• fTreeLoadDistance affects the distance from the PC that tree billboards are rendered on the atlas (as opposed to 'full' trees closer to the PC)
• fTreeLoadDistance affects traditional billboard tree LOD and NOT object tree LOD.
• Ticking "Ultra" in settings, OR setting fTreeLoadDistance=0 disables traditional billboard tree LOD.

Expand  

Make the first one more like:
fTreeLoadDistance affects the distance from the center cell how far traditional billboard tree LOD is rendered (as opposed to 'full' trees closer to the PC)

Second one should not really say "object tree LOD".  Object LOD is a NIF with a list of combined shapes that share the same shader/textures that have no relation anymore to what they actually depict. To the engine its just triangles to render. Hence the phrase trees done in object LOD, just as mountains or structures are done in object LOD.

[z929669]

  On 5/11/2021 at 4:06 PM, sheson said:

Make the first one more like:
fTreeLoadDistance affects the distance from the center cell how far traditional billboard tree LOD is rendered (as opposed to 'full' trees closer to the PC)

Second one should not really say "object tree LOD".  Object LOD is a NIF with a list of combined shapes that share the same shader/textures that have no relation anymore to what they actually depict. To the engine its just triangles to render. Hence the phrase trees done in object LOD, just as mountains or structures are done in object LOD.

Expand  

AWESOME. This is the advice for which I was fishing. I can get confused by phraseology, since I am a literal thinker (and pedantic to boot ... very annoying, I know).

[K4MI20L]

@sheson Problem solved

I unarchived meshes's BSA, to look for the textures used on the bugged buildings, and finally found what was wrong.

For the bandits towers it was TB's Towers 4k, the ridgedstone textures overwrited my ruins textures (Rudy's)

And i also think that changed load order for Majestic to be placed before BDS has did something too. (sounds more logic this way)

Anyway, thank your for your time and for pointing stuff that i was far to think about.

Keep up the good work.

Cheers !

[sheson]

  On 5/11/2021 at 9:23 PM, K4MI20L said:

@sheson Problem solved

I unarchived meshes's BSA, to look for the textures used on the bugged buildings, and finally found what was wrong.

For the bandits towers it was TB's Towers 4k, the ridgedstone textures overwrited my ruins textures (Rudy's)

And i also think that changed load order for Majestic to be placed before BDS has did something too. (sounds more logic this way)

Anyway, thank your for your time and for pointing stuff that i was far to think about.

Keep up the good work.

Cheers !

Expand  

Great. You can use xEdit Archive Browser that is started with CTRL+F3 to filter by filename to see a list of all containers (BSA, data folder for loose files) that contain a file etc.

[gmahadhika91]

Hi Sheson, I've yet again found a bugged mountain. It's just North East of Windhelm, and I can confirm this bug is present with only a handful of mods namely:
- USSEP
- Alternate Start
- Open Cities

Hence, I've made sure there are no .bto files installed. DynDOLOD generation doesn't solve this problem. Also, the mountain in question has no collision and it has no information when clicked. How do I fix this? Thank you again.

https://imgur.com/a/7dkmuYf

[sheson]

  On 5/12/2021 at 4:14 PM, gmahadhika91 said:

Hi Sheson, I've yet again found a bugged mountain. It's just North East of Windhelm, and I can confirm this bug is present with only a handful of mods namely:
- USSEP
- Alternate Start
- Open Cities

Hence, I've made sure there are no .bto files installed. DynDOLOD generation doesn't solve this problem. Also, the mountain in question has no collision and it has no information when clicked. How do I fix this? Thank you again.

https://imgur.com/a/7dkmuYf

Expand  

The last image does not show any mountain? It shows terrain LOD as far as I can tell.

Check with xEdit Asset Browser (CTRL+F3) if a Tamriel.4.92.-4.bto exists. If none exists you will need to double check the position. You are probably one quad (e.g. 4 cells) off. That far out is typically only vanilla LOD files as this area was cut from the vanilla plugins.

Make sure to update occlusion for this load order.

[gmahadhika91]

  On 5/12/2021 at 4:57 PM, sheson said:

The last image does not show any mountain? It shows terrain LOD as far as I can tell.

Expand  

I beg your pardon, I'm not really sure what qualifies as a "terrain" or a "mountain".

 

  On 5/12/2021 at 4:57 PM, sheson said:

Check with xEdit Asset Browser (CTRL+F3) if a Tamriel.4.92.-4.bto exists. If none exists you will need to double check the position. You are probably one quad (e.g. 4 cells) off. That far out is typically only vanilla LOD files as this area was cut from the vanilla plugins.

Expand  

Uumm...no. The .btr file does exist, but not the .bto one. It originates from vanilla mesh1.bsa.

 

  On 5/12/2021 at 4:57 PM, sheson said:

Make sure to update occlusion for this load order.

Expand  

You mean this is the solution to said problem?