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Dynamic Distant Objects LOD - pre 2.xx

sheson

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sheson Akatosh

sheson

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Dynamic Distant Objects LOD - DynDOLOD

 

Finally I can see my house from here

 

You know the price for my mods: blood, sweat and tears. Oh, and your first born.

If you want to help other authors of quality mods then donate to them directly.

For latest information and instructions see the DynDOLOD 2.18 UPDATE POST

What is this?

DynDOLOD is a set of tools based on TES5Edit and TES5LODGen to automatically create a Skyrim mod based on the load order which adds distant LOD for objects to Skyrim. By combining DynDOLOD with TES5LODGen users can create drastically enhanced traditional static LOD plus tree LOD and the new, optional dynamic distant object LOD in a few 'simple' steps.

DynDOLOD is meant for enthusiast modders who are familiar with using TES5Edit. Enthusiast modders have a general knowledge of computers, folders and files, especially Skyrims 'Data' folders and how to install mods safely with a manager or manually.

To fully expand the visual experience and use the additional features offered by TES5LODGen the DynDOLOD package comes with over 1000 new or updated LOD models for objects that were badly missing from the original game like the Skyhaven Temple or landscape features like roads, smaller rocks and dirt cliffs that simply make the distant landscape look much more natural and alive.

What does it do?

It makes Skyrim look like this

59721-1-1427159829.jpg59721-2-1427159829.jpg59721-1-1427289504.jpg59721-4-1427159830.jpg

59721-1-1427419467.jpg59721-2-1427419467.jpg59721-3-1427419468.jpg59721-4-1427419468.jpg

59721-1-1427465578.jpg59721-2-1427465579.jpg59721-3-1427465579.jpg59721-4-1427465579.jpg

59721-1-1427470182.jpg59721-2-1427470183.jpg59721-3-1427470183.jpg59721-4-1427470183.jpg

59721-1-1427470235.jpg59721-2-1427470235.jpg59721-3-1427470235.jpg59721-4-1427470236.jpg

 

Requirements

SKSE

PapyrusUtil 2.8 or higher

DynDOLOD Resources - Make sure to use DynDOLOD Resources version only with matching or higher DynDOLOD Standalone versions but never with older versions.

Vanilla Skyrim LOD Billboards from TES5LODGen or Indistinguishable Vanilla Tree Billboards. If using tree mods that do not include billboards, check TES5LODGen for ready-to-use tree LOD billboards for some tree mods. For STEP users all billboards are included in STEP Texture Compilation.

Download

Download standalone and resources from Nexus or use Mega links from the update post

There are quickstart instruction in the main folder. Also check the folder called 'docs' for additional information. See the update post for latest installation information and guides.

CC BY-NC-SA

=======================================================================

Updating DynDOLOD

=======================================================================

Read the update posts for each new version for version specific information and update instructions.

Also read the manual how to update an existing save game, watch the video or check DynDOLOD SkyUI MCM.

[spoiler=DynDOLOD-Changelog.txt]

=======================================================================

DynDOLOD - Dynamic Distant Objects LOD - Sheson

=======================================================================

  Reveal hidden contents

 

 

 

Credits

 

TES5Edit Team in general

 

Ehamloptiran and Zilav for TES5LODGen and LODGen for trees

 

Bethesda for the game, models and textures

 

NifTools

 

DynDOLOD includes LOD assets based on models and/or textures from:

 

Holy Cow I fixed Skyrim - Sheson

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sheson
sheson

Dynamic Distant Objects LOD - DynDOLOD   Finally I can see my house from here   You know the price for my mods: blood, sweat and tears. Oh, and your first born. If you want to

sheson
sheson

fBlockLevel0Distance - the distance when LOD8 starts, so everything before that is LOD4 fBlockLevel1Distance - the distance when LOD16 starts everything before that is LOD8 fBlockMaximumDistance - the

MontyMM
MontyMM

Yes, I think you probably did.   I just wanted to say thanks for the great work on the memory patch, and this mod also looks like another major improvment.   I shall make a blood sacrifice of a troll

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some_random_guy Noble

some_random_guy

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Posted (edited)
  On 3/12/2016 at 2:46 PM, sheson said:

It is not possible that after the installation of this mod there are random fps drops.

 

The snow shaders use the normal map _n.dds. The HD LOD snow shader also uses the vertex color alpha channel for something.

In nifkope you will notice the shapes are named objSnow and objSnowHD. The name containing "snow" activates the snow shader, while the Shader Flag 2 "SLSF2_LOD_Objects" / "SLSF2_HD_LOD_Objects" defines if it is the LOD shader or the HD LOD shader.

 

Which LOD mesh gets the HD flag is a little bit twisted and an essay in itself. You may notice the Is HD LOD flag on base records, with a combination of  "h.nif' in the filename, and the LOD model using a full textures. The export file defines a couple mesh mask in that regard.

You are a hero Sheson, made an .esp to remove the is HD Lod flag from every mountain, removed the IsHDMeshMask=_lod_ from the export files, re_generated the .bto files and they all had IsSnow instead of isSnowHD and the snow shader is now being applied correctly to all my lod_1 meshes which are posing as lod_0 meshes! From preliminary testing, from switching nearly all mountain lod_1's to lod_0's I gained about 5% GPU usage and as far as I can see, the visual difference is unnoticeable when using HD textures on lod_1's vs lod_0's.    

 

As soon as I finish testing this and create the non snow mountain versions, i'll make comparison screenshots, do some performance testing and i'll upload the .esps and meshes and textures and possibly a set of vanilla .bto files with my updated mountain meshes and texture lods for everyone to use.  

 

Huge Thanks man, DynDoLod FTW!

Edited by some_random_guy
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some_random_guy Noble

some_random_guy

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P.S 

Performance wise you can of course achieve the same effect by adding a mesh rule \mountains\    Lod4=Lod8 Lod8=Lod16 Lod16=Lod16 when running DynDoLod, but LOD8's used as LOD4 in this fashion will look pretty poor, as they use tiny LOD textures.

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aaltair Guard

aaltair

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Alright, I have an issue the same as a couple others have posted within this topic which is I have too-bright trees popping in at the mid-close distance which are very bright and do not match the color of the rest of the trees. As I move even closer to the trees, they darken. From what I have gathered out of this topic there may be two possible solutions to this issue:

 

1. Use the optional ultra trees guide: after reading the text file about this I am uncertain whether my system could handle the performance impact, and besides that, I am intimidated and confused by this:

 

"WARNING: this can create HUGE static LOD files depending on the size and complexity of the full model version. It is advised to create optimized 3D static LOD versions. Because source shader settings of the full models are copied, this can potentially create invalid *.bto files causing the game to CTD."

 

So I also would need to create optimized 3D static LOD versions? How?

2. Adjust the brightness in the advanced tab: This seems like the easiest way however considering only some of my trees do this and only at the point they pop in, wouldn't this setting lower the overall brightness values for all trees all the time? Essentially that would make the dark trees darker and the bright trees less bright but still brighter than the dark trees?

 

So I'm not sure which option I should attempt for this specific issue.

 

Here is a picture of the brightness difference when they pop-in, noticeable on the trees to the right vs the left:

iVIMomih.jpg

 

And here you'll notice those same trees on the right, once I move closer to them become dark again:

5zCnLV0h.jpg

 

And here is the video from the person who posted 30 pages or so ago with the same issue I have:

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sheson Akatosh

sheson

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Posted (edited)
  On 3/12/2016 at 9:38 PM, aaltair said:

Alright, I have an issue the same as a couple others have posted within this topic which is I have too-bright trees popping in at the mid-close distance which are very bright and do not match the color of the rest of the trees. As I move even closer to the trees, they darken. From what I have gathered out of this topic there may be two possible solutions to this issue:

 

1. Use the optional ultra trees guide: after reading the text file about this I am uncertain whether my system could handle the performance impact, and besides that, I am intimidated and confused by this:

 

"WARNING: this can create HUGE static LOD files depending on the size and complexity of the full model version. It is advised to create optimized 3D static LOD versions. Because source shader settings of the full models are copied, this can potentially create invalid *.bto files causing the game to CTD."

 

So I also would need to create optimized 3D static LOD versions? How?

 

2. Adjust the brightness in the advanced tab: This seems like the easiest way however considering only some of my trees do this and only at the point they pop in, wouldn't this setting lower the overall brightness values for all trees all the time? Essentially that would make the dark trees darker and the bright trees less bright but still brighter than the dark trees?

 

So I'm not sure which option I should attempt for this specific issue.

 

Here is a picture of the brightness difference when they pop-in, noticeable on the trees to the right vs the left:

 

 

 

And here you'll notice those same trees on the right, once I move closer to them become dark again:

 

 

And here is the video from the person who posted 30 pages or so ago with the same issue I have:

https://youtu.be/MRUabgewq_E

The LOD tree overall reaction to light depends on weather mods/ENB too. The LOD tree brightness settings will affect all LOD trees equally.

Instead, you could manually change the brightness of only a few specific trees with gimp/photoshop by editing the billboards dds files before generating tree LOD. Or you could always screenshot your own billboards

 

Are you using a tree mod? The ultra/tree CTD warning is just when you try to use full model trees for LOD. DynDOLOD covers vanilla trees, but if using a tree mod you can still test the billboards in static LOD option which is also save.

Using billboards in static object LOD allows use of normal textures and normals which with some knowledge and experimenting could result very nice 2D tree LOD too. It has literally the same performance as traditional tree LOD.

Doing 3D hybrids has a higher impact. Full models is totally experimental at this point.

Edited by sheson
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some_random_guy Noble

some_random_guy

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Posted
 
  On 3/12/2016 at 9:38 PM, aaltair said:

Alright, I have an issue the same as a couple others have posted within this topic which is I have too-bright trees popping in at the mid-close distance which are very bright and do not match the color of the rest of the trees. As I move even closer to the trees, they darken. From what I have gathered out of this topic there may be two possible solutions to this issue:

 

1. Use the optional ultra trees guide: after reading the text file about this I am uncertain whether my system could handle the performance impact, and besides that, I am intimidated and confused by this:

 

"WARNING: this can create HUGE static LOD files depending on the size and complexity of the full model version. It is advised to create optimized 3D static LOD versions. Because source shader settings of the full models are copied, this can potentially create invalid *.bto files causing the game to CTD."

 

So I also would need to create optimized 3D static LOD versions? How?

2. Adjust the brightness in the advanced tab: This seems like the easiest way however considering only some of my trees do this and only at the point they pop in, wouldn't this setting lower the overall brightness values for all trees all the time? Essentially that would make the dark trees darker and the bright trees less bright but still brighter than the dark trees?

 

So I'm not sure which option I should attempt for this specific issue.

 

Here is a picture of the brightness difference when they pop-in, noticeable on the trees to the right vs the left:

 

 

And here you'll notice those same trees on the right, once I move closer to them become dark again:

 

 

And here is the video from the person who posted 30 pages or so ago with the same issue I have:

 

In the above video, it's the real trees that are too bright, not the LODS.

 

But in your pictures it seems like you have a few lods that are too bright and a few that are too dark and then you have shadows applied to some tree models and not the others. Obviously a tree model that has a shadow applied to it, will look much different from the exact same tree model that doesn't have any shadows applied, so getting the right distance for the shadows and the switch to lods is the first thing you should look at, ideally you want your shadows to extend all the way to where the switch to lods is happening, only then you will know for sure whether your lods are too dark or too bright for a properly shadowed tree.

 

 

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aaltair Guard

aaltair

Posted
Posted
  On 3/12/2016 at 10:06 PM, sheson said:

The LOD tree overall reaction to light depends on weather mods/ENB too. The LOD tree brightness settings will affect all LOD trees equally.

Instead, you could manually change the brightness with gimp/photoshop by editing the billboards dds files of only a few specific trees before generating tree LOD.

 

Are you using a tree mod? The ultra/tree CTD warning is just when you try to use full model trees for LOD. DynDOLOD covers vanilla trees, but if using a tree mod you can still test the billboards in static LOD option which is also save.

Using billboards in static object LOD allows use of normal textures and normals which with some knowledge and experimenting could result very nice 2D tree LOD too. It has literally the same performance as traditional tree LOD.

Doing 3D hybrids has a higher impact. Full models is totally experimental at this point.

Do you know a way to easily identify which trees are the culprits that I would want to edit in Gimp, or would I just open up all the dds files and check them out?

 

I am using SFO 2.3 and its related billboards, as well as RAT and its billboards. If I wanted to use 2D static billboards as you suggest would I just skip the step where you Set TreeFullFallBack=1 ? 

 

  On 3/12/2016 at 10:08 PM, some_random_guy said:

 

 

 

In the above video, it's the real trees that are too bright, not the LODS.

 

But in your pictures it seems like you have a few lods that are too bright and a few that are too dark and then you have shadows applied to some tree models and not the others. Obviously a tree model that has a shadow applied to it, will look much different from the exact same tree model that doesn't have any shadows applied, so getting the right distance for the shadows and the switch to lods is the first thing you should look at, ideally you want your shadows to extend all the way to where the switch to lods is happening, only then you will know for sure whether your lods are too dark or too bright for a properly shadowed tree.

 

 

 

Actually yeah one of the first things I thought was that it looked like some of them didn't have shadows applied, especially because as I move closer they gradually get darker, like the shadow is blending in. Would you mind taking a look at my ini's and letting me know if the shadows are right? I'm not sure which would be the ones to apply here.

 

Skyrim.ini:

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

 

SkyrimPrefs.ini:

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

 

Thank you both

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sheson Akatosh

sheson

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Posted (edited)
  On 3/12/2016 at 10:26 PM, aaltair said:

Do you know a way to easily identify which trees are the culprits that I would want to edit in Gimp, or would I just open up all the dds files and check them out?

 

I am using SFO 2.3 and its related billboards, as well as RAT and its billboards. If I wanted to use 2D static billboards as you suggest would I just skip the step where you Set TreeFullFallBack=1 ? 

 

Open console and click a full model tree, type its form id into TES5Edit top left and bring up the reference. In the right reference window find the row "NAME - Base"  which looks like TreePineForestSnow03 [TREE:0005C070]

Note the the name number 0005C070 which make up the billboard filename textures\terrain\LODGen\Skyrim.esm\TreePineForestSnow03_0005C070.dds

 

Yes, for the 2D billboards for the SFO/RAT billboards in static LOD, all you have to do is set TreeLOD=0 and let TreeFullFallBack=0 alone and it should be fine.

 

One of the many problems with shadows in Skyrim is that they only work inside the loaded cells, so LOD never has shadows applied, so the trick is to bake a fixed generic shadowing into the billboards. It is a rabbit hole kind of thing. It is always wrong one way or the other :)

Edited by sheson
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aaltair Guard

aaltair

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Posted (edited)

I didn't realize there were only a handful of billboards for each type, so 5 TreePineForest in Vurt's, which makes the idea of editing the dds seem a lot simpler than generating the 2d or 3d ultra models. 

 

So let me get this straight, after I edit the offending dds files I re-run the lod but just for the trees, not the whole process, is that correct? Is this still applicable, from the Nexus Dyndolod site: To just update tree LOD select desired worlds top left, uncheck 'Generate static LOD', uncheck 'Create texture atlas', uncheck 'Generate DynDOLOD', then click OK.

 

Also, should I follow the whole update procedure when just doing these trees- disable the mod, new save, delete the cache, delete the contents of the output folder, generate a new esp, etc? Or is there a simpler way since I'm only doing trees?

Edited by aaltair
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zilav Knight

zilav

Posted
Posted (edited)

Your problem here has nothing to do with LOD since bright trees you see are full models already. You are using weather mod and/or ENB combo with makes everything bright, and custom mod provided meshes with wrong shader settings or lack of fine vertex coloring to emulate shading doesn't react well in game.

Open those tree nifs in NifScope, select leave shape(s), expand BSLightingShaderProperty and try to lower Lighting Effect 1 value, this will decrease the overall brightness of leaves in game, but also make them darker when you get close and shadows kick in, so you'll need to find a balance value that would look fine enough both when close and afar in your game.

 

The other mentioned solution is to increase shadow distance, but Skyrim shadows are so bad that I don't recommend doing that.

 

And the last solution is to change weather mod and/or ENB to something darker, with more neutral ambient and sunlight colors to not make everything glowing.

Edited by zilav
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zilav Knight

zilav

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Posted
  On 3/13/2016 at 7:19 AM, aaltair said:

That's odd, because I don't use any weather mod, and my ENB is Grim and Somber Jyggalagg, not exactly a bright ENB at all. 

That's odd because from your screenshots the overall brightness is at least 2x of vanilla lighting. Maybe it's the effect of ENB only, don't know. Never used them.

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aaltair Guard

aaltair

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Possibly the bloom? I don't know, I'll swap out the ENB when I get back to my home computer and see what happens, that at least is a really easy thing to check!

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sheson Akatosh

sheson

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Posted (edited)
  On 3/13/2016 at 1:39 AM, aaltair said:

I didn't realize there were only a handful of billboards for each type, so 5 TreePineForest in Vurt's, which makes the idea of editing the dds seem a lot simpler than generating the 2d or 3d ultra models. 

 

So let me get this straight, after I edit the offending dds files I re-run the lod but just for the trees, not the whole process, is that correct? Is this still applicable, from the Nexus Dyndolod site: To just update tree LOD select desired worlds top left, uncheck 'Generate static LOD', uncheck 'Create texture atlas', uncheck 'Generate DynDOLOD', then click OK.

 

Also, should I follow the whole update procedure when just doing these trees- disable the mod, new save, delete the cache, delete the contents of the output folder, generate a new esp, etc? Or is there a simpler way since I'm only doing trees?

There is no need for the save game update routine when just updating the tree LOD which is only meshes/textures. The save game update only applies if the esp was generated from scratch.

Edited by sheson
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Tyler799 Citizen

Tyler799

Posted
Posted (edited)

I recently installed DynDOLOD using Gamerpoet's video: www(dot)youtube.com/watch?v=c3zVK8PD3Vg

In-game, I loaded a very recent save and went to look and see if it had worked.

DynDOLOD said it successfully initialized. The MCM confirmed that.

Yet, it looks like this in-game: (with medium DynDOLOD settings)

https://imgur.com/mD4V9Ue

Is that right? If not, where did I go wrong? I know the DynDOLOD video is a little old, but I don't think it's changed that much.

 

EDIT: Load order: https://www.modwat.ch/u/Tyler799

Edited by Tyler799
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some_random_guy Noble

some_random_guy

Posted
Posted (edited)
  On 3/14/2016 at 5:34 PM, Tyler799 said:

I recently installed DynDOLOD using Gamerpoet's video: www(dot)youtube.com/watch?v=c3zVK8PD3Vg

 

In-game, I loaded a very recent save and went to look and see if it had worked.

 

DynDOLOD said it successfully initialized. The MCM confirmed that.

 

Yet, it looks like this in-game: (with medium DynDOLOD settings)

 

https://imgur.com/mD4V9Ue

 

Is that right? If not, where did I go wrong? I know the DynDOLOD video is a little old, but I don't think it's changed that much.

Well, you can see DynDoLod is working because windmill sails are seen from the distance (unless you have Skyfalls and Skymills instead of course), but you seem to be missing static lods, which should be located inside your dynDolod generated folder (which should be inside your mods folder if you are installing DynDoLod with mod organizer), look for a folder called meshes\terrain\tamriel. You should see alot of .bto files inside that folder and the total size of Tamriel folder should be around 900mb depending on the options you chose.

Edited by some_random_guy
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