Replacing Glacier LOD with AdditionalDynDOLOD Resources & Icy Mesh Remaster - Ice Glaciers - LOD at the same time?

[Bushranger]

Reading the thread for Just Ice (by SparrowPrince) when it has been removed from Nexus I saw that RIM - Real Ice reMastered (by RokHel) will be replacing it and thought that looks like a good mod to use so I've added it to my list.  I also saw that RokHel makes Icy Mesh Remaster - Ice Glaciers - LOD - other fixes which looks interesting because I'll be using the Base Object Swapper and would like to see how that will deal with the icicles in Windhelm so I thought to replace Glacier LOD Meshes (by Phlunder).  Then I read the thread about Glacier LOD Meshes and saw that Additional DynDOLOD Resources (by Phlunder) will be replacing it... so now I've got two mods to replace one, it's how these lists grow bigger!

I think I've got things how they should be in order from what I've read in the threads:

 

04-Foundation
.
Additional DynDOLOD Resources
DynDOLOD Resources SE
DynDOLOD DLL NG
Far Object LOD Improvement Project SSE
.

06-Models and Textures
.
Icy Mesh Remaster - Ice Glaciers - LOD - other fixes
RIM - Real Ice reMastered
.

 

For Additional DynDOLOD Resources it's above everything else to be overwritten when it comes up. I'm not sure what ADR.esp is for so I've hidden that to just use the meshes and textures.  For Icy Mesh Remaster - Ice Glaciers - LOD - other fixes it I placed where Glacier LOD Meshes would be.  It does have a lot more as well than Glacier so will be interesting to see. If anyone has any recommendations or advice let me know what I should do or what I should watch out for when I try to use this  

 

Edited November 6 by Bushranger
spelling

[z929669]

9 hours ago, Bushranger said:

Reading the thread for Just Ice (by SparrowPrince) when it has been removed from Nexus I saw that RIM - Real Ice reMastered (by RokHel) will be replacing it and thought that looks like a good mod to use so I've added it to my list.  I also saw that RokHel makes Icy Mesh Remaster - Ice Glaciers - LOD - other fixes which looks interesting because I'll be using the Base Object Swapper and would like to see how that will deal with the icicles in Windhelm so I thought to replace Glacier LOD Meshes (by Phlunder).  Then I read the thread about Glacier LOD Meshes and saw that Additional DynDOLOD Resources (by Phlunder) will be replacing it... so now I've got two mods to replace one, it's how these lists grow bigger!

I think I've got things how they should be in order from what I've read in the threads:

 

04-Foundation
.
Additional DynDOLOD Resources
DynDOLOD Resources SE
DynDOLOD DLL NG
Far Object LOD Improvement Project SSE
.

06-Models and Textures
.
Icy Mesh Remaster - Ice Glaciers - LOD - other fixes
RIM - Real Ice reMastered
.

 

For Additional DynDOLOD Resources it's above everything else to be overwritten when it comes up. I'm not sure what ADR.esp is for so I've hidden that to just use the meshes and textures.  For Icy Mesh Remaster - Ice Glaciers - LOD - other fixes it I placed where Glacier LOD Meshes would be.  It does have a lot more as well than Glacier so will be interesting to see. If anyone has any recommendations or advice let me know what I should do or what I should watch out for when I try to use this  

 

That looks correct. It looks like the plugin is just adding the LOD flag to three winter aspen records. Hiding the plugin is probably best, since DynDOLOD probably won't work properly unless the plugin is converted. We will likely include these flags in the Step Patch if it matters for these records in SSE.

---

On reviewing a second time, you will also need Icy Mesh Remaster ...I haven't tested IMR-Glaciers-LOD yet, but it's most likely the best choice for use with IMR.

[Bushranger]

Having finally gotten around to running DynDOLOD 3 with that load order I did end up with a so many mismatched texture warnings that I was confused. (Though to be fair I'm usually confused).  Here is an example but there were a lot and it was showing up everywhere from MajesticMountains.esp to Skyrim Extended Cut - Saints and Seducers.esp

Spoiler

[00:13] <Warning: Textures do not match for "RockCliff03:1": textures\landscape\mountains\mountainslab01.dds in rockcliff03.nif -> textures\landscape\mountains\mountainslab02.dds in rockcliff03_lod_0.nif for MajesticMountains.esp RockCliff03Snow [STAT:00024BAD]>

With that and several other types of warnings I got some help from sheson on the DynDOLOD 3.00 Alpha 196 forum discussion so I disabled Additional DynDOLOD Resources (by Phlunder) and ran DynDOLOD again to find all of those warnings no longer appear. I haven't checked in game one way or the other (mostly because I screwed up and deleted the files from the first time running DynDOLOD and the second time did not generate plugins). Have to see about fixing that now to get DynDOLOD.esm and DynDOLOD.esp

[z929669]

8 hours ago, Bushranger said:

Having finally gotten around to running DynDOLOD 3 with that load order I did end up with a so many mismatched texture warnings that I was confused. (Though to be fair I'm usually confused).  Here is an example but there were a lot and it was showing up everywhere from MajesticMountains.esp to Skyrim Extended Cut - Saints and Seducers.esp

  Reveal hidden contents

[00:13] <Warning: Textures do not match for "RockCliff03:1": textures\landscape\mountains\mountainslab01.dds in rockcliff03.nif -> textures\landscape\mountains\mountainslab02.dds in rockcliff03_lod_0.nif for MajesticMountains.esp RockCliff03Snow [STAT:00024BAD]>

With that and several other types of warnings I got some help from sheson on the DynDOLOD 3.00 Alpha 196 forum discussion so I disabled Additional DynDOLOD Resources (by Phlunder) and ran DynDOLOD again to find all of those warnings no longer appear. I haven't checked in game one way or the other (mostly because I screwed up and deleted the files from the first time running DynDOLOD and the second time did not generate plugins). Have to see about fixing that now to get DynDOLOD.esm and DynDOLOD.esp

Thanks. We'll look into this, but these errors are only FYI in case there is an issue you notice with the LOD in the game. They can often be ignored. The conflicting MM LOD nifs use a different texture than vanilla, so that's probably why you are seeing the texture match warnings.

[Bushranger]

I've had quite a look at RIS - Real Ice and Snow Icy Mesh Remaster - Ice Glaciers - LOD - other fixes and RIM - Real Ice reMastered now (and it's given me a lot of migraine).

The load order I had in 06-Models and Textures

• Fixed Mesh Lighting
• ... Mods
• RIS - Real Ice and Snow
• RIS - Blended Roads Patch
• Icy Mesh Remaster - Ice Glaciers - LOD - other fixes (Where Glacier LOD Meshes would be)
• Icy Mesh Remaster - Meshes
• Icy Mesh Remaster - Vale cracks
• RIM - Real Ice reMastered
• Icy Cave Remaster

 

I don't recall ticking the Real Ice and Snow selection in Fixed Mesh Lighting when it was first installed but that was in November and my memory is terrible. I do know that even if I had the load order would still make that useless. This is being mentioned for what has happened the last couple of days. I will also mention that in November I was not planning to use ENB and I did not know that RIM - Real Ice reMastered is an alternative to the optional Icy Mesh Remaster - Complex Parallax Addon

I do remember when Step 6 Perfermance Tuning came about (the first time in November) I tested a little to see which worked best and /textures/effects/projecteddiffuse.dds was hidden for Cathedral Landscapes.  I took notes about unfortunately I did not record what I did with /textures/effects/projectednoise.dds so I'm not sure if it should be Better Dynamic Snow SE that wins, Cathedral Landscapes or RIS - Real Ice and Snow?

I do not have screenshots of this. Not much attention was paid just some look at the snow on the rocks and the mountains nearby and in the distance.

What has caused this to come up is when I took everything down and started from scratch because of my repeated CTDs I read through everything again and I tried to fix the load order and get the patch correct:

• RIS - Real Ice and Snow
• RIS - Blended Roads Patch
• Fixed Mesh Lighting (Ticked the Real Ice and Snow box)
• Icy Mesh Remaster - Ice Glaciers - LOD - other fixes
• Icy Mesh Remaster - Meshes
• Icy Mesh Remaster - Vale cracks
• RIM - Real Ice reMastered
• Icy Cave Remaster

I think this is what I had but I might have had it different, it is what I have now. Unfortunately I have yet to find something that I'm happy with but it's because I'm easily confused... The RIM - Real Ice reMastered is very good looking ice, better than the Icy Mesh Remaster - Complex Parallax Addon

Now I can't remember which was first but I've tried both ways with /textures/effects/projecteddiffuse.dds Cathedral Landscapes vs RIS - Real Ice and Snow

  

Then there is the ACMoS that I somehow ended up almost nothing when I was trying to get the correct /texture/effects/ with the correct mods instead of the bright RIS - Real Ice and Snow.

  

I won't mention Majestic Mountains because that comes up too often. Really it's just that I've done this so many times now and I really like how RIM - Real Ice reMastered looks I'm trying to get it sorted so it's not to bland and not to bright, need to find the Goldilocks snow... somehow. Maybe hide both Cathedral Landscapes and RIS - Real Ice and Snow?

Hopefully I'll get it, and anything else that might crop up before I can start playing, sorted out before Elder Scrolls VI is released.

[z929669]

We haven't finalized testing all this yet, so I cannot give you solid advice other than projectedduffuse.dds should be provided from whatever mod handles snow so that projected snow is consistent with the snow mod. BDS will use whatever wins. I also am suspicious of overriding meshes with FML versions before testing myself. 

[Bushranger]

Yes after a nights sleep and looking over it some more I think I've gone with notes I shouldn't have kept.

15 minutes ago, z929669 said:

We haven't finalized testing all this yet, so I cannot give you solid advice other than projectedduffuse.dds should be provided from whatever mod handles snow so that projected snow is consistent with the snow mod. BDS will use whatever wins. I also am suspicious of overriding meshes with FML versions before testing myself. 

There is a lot of bad advice on Nexus.

 TechAngel85 gives instructions with Better Dynamic Snow SE to use it's /textures/effects/projectednoise.dds and to use the snow mod of choice /textures/effects/projecteddiffuse.dds.  There is a lot of "debate" about snow that is too bright and different ways to fix it and when I found that using Cathedral Landscapes  projecteddiffuse.dds worked on quick inspection I made a note.  After good nights sleep I think what's really what I ended up doing was not that in the end.

I also think one of the problems I've done in the last few days is I have not made sure that Better Dynamic Snow SE keeps projectednoise.dds as the winning file. I'm running DynDOLOD now with the following load order:

 

• Better Dynamic Snow SE
• RIS - Real Ice and Snow :: Hide: /textures/effects/projectednoise.dds
• RIS - Real Ice and Snow - BDS Diffuse Patch :: I think I may have forgotten to include this patch when I rebuilt my whole mod list as it's a separate Nexus ID 
• RIS - Blended Roads Patch
• Fixed Mesh Lighting (Ticked the Real Ice and Snow box)
• Icy Mesh Remaster - Ice Glaciers - LOD - other fixes
• Icy Mesh Remaster - Meshes
• Icy Mesh Remaster - Vale cracks
• RIM - Real Ice reMastered
• Icy Cave Remaster

Hopefully making sure BDS keeping projectednoise and including the patch file is what's needed.

[Bushranger]

I thought it had come out with success. The Mountains had white snow peaks but the rocks matched the roads and wooden floor boards... or so I thought. I went to Winterhold and I saw that it was not the same because in the night time most of the area was dark but some rocks still had bright white snow on top, as did some of the floor boards or the top of the ruined farmhouse in Winterhold.  The next morning was the same in the cloudy weather, most of the snowy area was much duller but some areas that I suspect are what Better Dynamic Snow SE is putting snow on is still bright white like clear sunny weather.  I used ForceWeather to take a few screenshots with More Informative Console open to show how the snow changes in some locations but remains that same bright white in others only now I've opened the folder to put them up I find they didn't save.

I suspect I have been thinking that I made RIS - Real Ice and Snow work but that was a mistaken understanding and it was just thanks to nice sunny weather so I've removed it from my load order. BDS is a master for the Step CR patch and it does take me a long time to clean it 

 

As for Icy Mesh Remaster - Meshes their installation instructions are "This mod must overwrite most conflicting mods unless stated otherwise this includes... Fixed Mesh Lighting, Assorted Mesh Fixes...".  It has 113 conflicts with Fixed Mesh Lighting, 3 with Assorted Mesh Fixes and also 1 with Artic - Frost Effect Redux /textures/cubemaps/glacierice_e.dds. It only has 22 files that have no conflicts with anything in my mod list so I've been happy to use it and see if there would be any trouble.  The ice has been looking very good

[Bushranger]

After some more looking over this and trying to find snow to match the ice and mountains I've given more thought to your statement of overwriting Fixed Mesh Lighting. 

04 - Foundation

• Additional DynDOLOD Resources
• DynDOLOD Resources SE
• Icy Mesh Remaster - Ice Glaciers - LOD - other fixes - Just using the IcyFixes main files that is all LODs, no meshes and no conflicts with FML, so moved back here.

06 - Models and Textures

• Icy Cave Remaster - Only overwrites SMIM, Skyrim Realistic Overhaul and USSEP 
• Icy Mesh Remaster - Vale cracks - Only overwrites Skyrim Realistic Overhaul
• RIS - Ice Only - From the Miscellaneous Files in RIS - Real Ice and Snow.
• Fixed Mesh Lighting (Ticked the Real Ice and Snow box)

More look at at what grvulture, RokHel and others have said RIS and IMR are closely related and it's just pick whichever. Bringing up suspicion of overwriting FML just had to stick in my head so I've got this to work for Just Ice and Glacier LOD.

Edit: I should also mention there is one thing I'm unsure about. RIS - Ice Only has /textures/terrain/noise.dds That's well beyond my scope at the moment to know how it will change Cathedral Landscapes or Majestic Mountains.

Edited 9 hours ago by Bushranger
Added something I forgot to mention.

[z929669]

Don't forget to enable FOLIP after DynDOLOD Resources and before IMR glacier LOD. Other than that, I still have no updates until we test the "ice build".