Large References in Fallout 4

[DoubleYou]

I have been doing some tests involving Large References in Fallout 4. In Fallout 4, large references are disabled by default, but can be enabled via the following ini setting:

Fallout4.ini

[General]
bDisableLargeRefs=0

 

Now, in the vanilla game it is basically impossible to see these in action, but by chance, I came across a set of circumstances that allowed them to work. If I remove the Has Distant LOD flag from the base STAT of a REFR, if that reference is in the RNAM of the worldspace, it now will show if just outside of uGridsToLoad. It doesn't appear to stretch far outside uGridsToLoad, maybe just 1 cell beyond. I have not found any way to adjust it, as there is no uLargeRefLODGridSize ini setting, or an ini setting that in any way appears to control this.

Below is the vanilla Concord Museum (at center) with large references disabled vs enabled. Note you can see the higher details of the full model, and you can even click the reference in the console (even with precombines enabled). This only works if you remove the Has Distant LOD flag from the base STAT and use the ini tweak mentioned above.

Large Reference Disabled --> Enabled

 

Now another requirement appears to be related. The reference mush not have the Visible When Distant Flag. Below is a large reference highway section that is only shown if both the Has Distant LOD flag is removed from the base STAT and the Visible When Distant flag removed.

TLL Console command to disable LOD was used below

Large Reference Disabled --> Enabled --> Reference selected in console

Formid: 74853

 

One concern involves LOD Respects Enable State objects, such as the USS Constitution, which is an enable parented large reference, which also is flagged persistent. Toggling its enable parent successfully toggles the reference as expected. Being persistent, it may be subject to known large reference bugs involved with references marked persistent. I did a test where I copied the reference into a Test.esm file and added 10,000 units to its z-height. This also shows that at least with vanilla LOD, the large reference and the LOD model will show at the same time.

Large References Disabled --> Enabled --> Modified via Test.esm to z-height of 10,000 units.

 

I talked about this at length with Robert. He said that the LOD would need an "Extra Data block marking the TriShape as a Large Ref" to allow it to disable while the large ref was enabled.

Given that large references were disabled at launch, and this would likely be the earliest implementation of Large References by Bethesda, it may or may not have other issues. Here are the two plugins I made so I could test this, one to remove the Has Distant LOD flag, and the other to remove the Visible When Distant flag. https://mega.nz/file/xFoyCQTb#WyL0b2tBaKT2S43uqYXe1CyADkrrJcTwS245U_BrK5I

[sheson]

This is the one cell pre-loading of objects that have no LOD already existent in Skyrim LE. The precursor to the actual large reference system.

If it works the same as in LE, it requires an RNAM entry also for every adjacent cell it should preload (in addition to its own cell?). Only objects that have no LOD flags load one cell ahead to avoid showing both. Persistent large references typically never unload once they have been loaded.

AFAIK Fallout 4 does not have/support BSDistantObjectLargeRefExtraData in NIF/BTO. Custom, proof of concept NIFs can be created with NifSkope.

[DoubleYou]

I added the BSDistantObjectLargeRefExtraData to the BTO in Nifskope for a test for the USS Constitution. It indeed crashes the game consistently, specifically referencing it. I am inclined to leave the feature disabled. I already have LOD meshes for most large objects in the game.