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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

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

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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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primem0ver Noble

primem0ver

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Posted
  On 5/8/2016 at 10:33 AM, sheson said:

You are one of 3 people to have reported this problem in a year. For the onet it was only the first load and then it was fine. For the other it was Immersive Citizens - AI Overhaul. Try default inis. In any case, it is because of the load order or the setup.

 

I don't have immersive citizens.  I will try the first suggestion but I have my doubts on it working.  My combined mod size is 9 MB, not counting meshes and textures (see below).  Is that normal?  The reason I have doubts is because it doesn't just affect saves.  It also affects the time between the main menu background appearing and the appearance of the menu (before entering the game when mods initialize). That interval is about 5-10 times as long than it normally is.  This kind of thing is usually an indicator that the load will take 2-3 minutes (every time I die and enter a city etc...) and happens with large (DLC sized), resource heavy mods which are designated esps.  (For example, summersetisle.esp caused this before I converted it to an esm).  Would creating a BSA out of the files in the mod directory help?  (I use MO).  FYI the output directory was over 3.3 GB

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sheson Akatosh

sheson

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Posted (edited)
  On 5/8/2016 at 3:04 PM, primem0ver said:

I don't have immersive citizens.  I will try the first suggestion but I have my doubts on it working.  My combined mod size is 9 MB, not counting meshes and textures (see below).  Is that normal?  The reason I have doubts is because it doesn't just affect saves.  It also affects the time between the main menu background appearing and the appearance of the menu (before entering the game when mods initialize). That interval is about 5-10 times as long than it normally is.  This kind of thing is usually an indicator that the load will take 2-3 minutes (every time I die and enter a city etc...) and happens with large (DLC sized), resource heavy mods which are designated esps.  (For example, summersetisle.esp caused this before I converted it to an esm).  Would creating a BSA out of the files in the mod directory help?  (I use MO).  FYI the output directory was over 3.3 GB

The only time I ever had problems with loading times is when using coc from main menu instead of starting a game normally with interesting NPC or AI overhaul. I only do this for testing of course. It always clears itself after the first save. I remember an user that had trouble reaching main menu because of a birds mod. I can only assume ini settings or bad interaction between mods.

 

In addition to verifying the memory patch with memory blocks log and setting default heap high enough, you might want to try safetytoload (with EnableOnlyLoading=true) which can reduce overall default heap memory usage while loading data, which potentially can help with loading times if *lots* of heap memory is needed for the load order.

Edited by sheson
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Arizona_Steve Watcher

Arizona_Steve

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Posted

Running into one issue with DynDOLOD (fantastic mod BTW, thanks for all your hard work) - some of the trees around the Reach appear to generate LOD that places them around 20 feet off the ground, mostly the bare trees without any leaves on them. Probably something messed up in my game, but has anyone seen anything similar and figured out a fix?

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sheson Akatosh

sheson

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Posted (edited)
  On 5/8/2016 at 7:41 PM, Arizona_Steve said:

Running into one issue with DynDOLOD (fantastic mod BTW, thanks for all your hard work) - some of the trees around the Reach appear to generate LOD that places them around 20 feet off the ground, mostly the bare trees without any leaves on them. Probably something messed up in my game, but has anyone seen anything similar and figured out a fix?

Either something going on with the billboards or this

Edited by sheson
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Jasagna Watcher

Jasagna

Posted
Posted (edited)

While this is IMMENSELY better than Vanilla, I am unsure how to fix this (and other similar popins)
It looks like the LOD is different than the correct 3d model?
You can see how near the end of video (specifically at 0:17) the tall Tree LOD in the center pops.
 

https://www.youtube.com/edit?o=U&feature=vm&video_id=XUIaCBV3xyM
 

I'm using DynoLOD High settings.

The People of Skyrim
JK's Skyrim Complete
Verdant Grass
Not using SFO
Ultra settings
Mod Organizer.

Any suggestions? Thanks very much in advance.

Edited by Jasagna
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sheson Akatosh

sheson

Posted
  • Author
Posted (edited)
  On 5/9/2016 at 12:08 AM, Jasagna said:

While this is IMMENSELY better than Vanilla, I am unsure how to fix this (and other similar popins)

It looks like the LOD is different than the correct 3d model?

https://www.youtube.com/edit?o=U&feature=vm&video_id=XUIaCBV3xyM

 

I'm using DynoLOD High settings.

The People of Skyrim

JK's Skyrim Complete

Verdant Grass

Not using SFO

Ultra settings

Mod Organizer.

 

Any suggestions? Thanks very much in advance.

Install the correct tree LOD billboards for the tree mods you are using as explained in the manual/video. Manual/Nexus description page has lots of links to billboards from 3rd party sources. Also check the TES5LODGen page/posts

If no tree mod is used check ..\Options\trees.ultra\DynDOLOD-Trees.txt in the download archive for a visually stunning alternative which obviously comes at a performance cost.

Edited by sheson
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primem0ver Noble

primem0ver

Posted
Posted (edited)
  On 5/8/2016 at 4:19 PM, sheson said:

The only time I ever had problems with loading times is when using coc from main menu instead of starting a game normally with interesting NPC or AI overhaul. I only do this for testing of course. It always clears itself after the first save. I remember an user that had trouble reaching main menu because of a birds mod. I can only assume ini settings or bad interaction between mods.

 

In addition to verifying the memory patch with memory blocks log and setting default heap high enough, you might want to try safetytoload (with EnableOnlyLoading=true) which can reduce overall default heap memory usage while loading data, which potentially can help with loading times if *lots* of heap memory is needed for the load order.

I tried all your suggestions.  I loaded the game and it took nearly 3 minutes the first time.  During the game transitions to world spaces seem to be fairly normal but when I loaded a save game made after getting in the first time, the save game still took over 125 seconds to load.  This will still be extremely annoying during difficult fights.  Without this mod loaded (along with enhanced landscapes) it loads in 33 seconds (almost 1/4 the time).

Edited by primem0ver
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zilav Knight

zilav

Posted
Posted
  On 5/9/2016 at 4:05 AM, primem0ver said:

I tried all your suggestions.  I loaded the game and it took nearly 3 minutes the first time.  During the game transitions to world spaces seem to be fairly normal but when I loaded a save game made after getting in the first time, the save game still took over 125 seconds to load.  This will still be extremely annoying during difficult fights.  Without this mod loaded (along with enhanced landscapes) it loads in 33 seconds (almost 1/4 the time).

Did you change any papyrus settings in ini? Uninstall DynDoLOD from MCM menu, save and disable it's plugin so only static LOD is left. If that will help, then something is wrong with your papyrus settings or other badly written mods that overload scripting engine. If not, then the problem is your hardware.

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primem0ver Noble

primem0ver

Posted
Posted (edited)
  On 5/9/2016 at 6:26 AM, zilav said:

Did you change any papyrus settings in ini? Uninstall DynDoLOD from MCM menu, save and disable it's plugin so only static LOD is left. If that will help, then something is wrong with your papyrus settings or other badly written mods that overload scripting engine. If not, then the problem is your hardware.

Ok...

 

1. One thing that should be noted is that my Skyrim is very heavily modded.  I have over 500 mods installed; several plain textures; probably close to 250 merged (most of these are little mods like morefarmanimals, getsnowy, apple trees, footprints, etc...).  I also have all 3 DLCS and 4 new land mods installed: frostfall, wyrmstooth, summerset isles, and beyond reach. These last two have been esm'ified because of the same issue your mod is causing.  Turning them into an esm changes the way resources are loaded.  I read this somewhere and it has worked (though some mods don't work at all/crash when this is done).

 

2. By itself, your mod has over 3GB of dynamically created resources which is nearly as much as these last two combined (mostly LOD's I assume).  Plus, for the last two,  the resources are in bsas.  Yours are all loose.  It takes far longer to read 3GB spread over thousands of files than those same resources in a single BSA (if they need to be loaded by the esp).  If you want to call that a hardware problem, so be it.

 

3. I don't have a lot of huge scripting mods anymore.  Mainly frostfall, campfires, RND, and possibly one or two others.  (I now use Immersive Horses rather than CH, partly because of the script difference).  But I am sure it adds up.  Give me an example of a mod that would make such a modification. 

 

4.  I DO have several SKSE plugins such as iHud, DCF, Fuz Ro Doh, FileAccess Interface, and those that accompiany mods like IH and Simply Knock.  I also had MemoryBlocksLog enabled so that might make a small difference when I try yours again.

 

Probably like you I am extremely computer literate.  I build my own computers, troubleshoot them, customize the OS, program them (for 20 years), and have professionally done tech support in the past, so I am very aware of hardware issues when they occur.  I can assure you that currently my hardware is fine.  I am sure I could get your mod to load as quickly as others if I could convert it to an ESM.  Unfortunately, its reliance on esp's as masters makes this impossible.

 

Your mod is currently not being used so uninstalling it isn't necessary.  I will go ahead and enable the LOD resources without the mod to see what happens.  I am fairly confident this will work since while we have been troubleshooting this I have been using LOD resources compiled by TES5LODGen (Your mod pointed me to this one) without issue.

 

Out of curiosity,  what features will not be enabled with the esp disabled?

Edited by primem0ver
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sheson Akatosh

sheson

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Posted (edited)
  On 5/10/2016 at 6:56 AM, primem0ver said:

Ok...

 

1. One thing that should be noted is that my Skyrim is very heavily modded.  I have over 500 mods installed; several plain textures; probably close to 250 merged (most of these are little mods like morefarmanimals, getsnowy, apple trees, footprints, etc...).  I also have all 3 DLCS and 4 new land mods installed: frostfall, wyrmstooth, summerset isles, and beyond reach. These last two have been esm'ified because of the same issue your mod is causing.  Turning them into an esm changes the way resources are loaded.  I read this somewhere and it has worked (though some mods don't work at all/crash when this is done).

 

2. By itself, your mod has over 3GB of dynamically created resources which is nearly as much as these last two combined (mostly LOD's I assume).  Plus, for the last two,  the resources are in bsas.  Yours are all loose.  It takes far longer to read 3GB spread over thousands of files than those same resources in a single BSA (if they need to be loaded by the esp).  If you want to call that a hardware problem, so be it.

 

3. I don't have a lot of huge scripting mods anymore.  Mainly frostfall, campfires, RND, and possibly one or two others.  (I now use Immersive Horses rather than CH, partly because of the script difference).  But I am sure it adds up.  Give me an example of a mod that would make such a modification. 

 

4.  I DO have several SKSE plugins such as iHud, DCF, Fuz Ro Doh, FileAccess Interface, and those that accompiany mods like IH and Simply Knock.  I also had MemoryBlocksLog enabled so that might make a small difference when I try yours again.

 

Probably like you I am extremely computer literate.  I build my own computers, troubleshoot them, customize the OS, program them (for 20 years), and have professionally done tech support in the past, so I am very aware of hardware issues when they occur.  I can assure you that currently my hardware is fine.  I am sure I could get your mod to load as quickly as others if I could convert it to an ESM.  Unfortunately, its reliance on esp's as masters makes this impossible.

 

Your mod is currently not being used so uninstalling it isn't necessary.  I will go ahead and enable the LOD resources without the mod to see what happens.  I am fairly confident this will work since while we have been troubleshooting this I have been using LOD resources compiled by TES5LODGen (Your mod pointed me to this one) without issue.

 

Out of curiosity,  what features will not be enabled with the esp disabled?

 

You may simply be trying too high settings for your loadorder/setup, Try these things, maybe you can narrow something down:

 

Generate using the 'Low' preset

Only generate LOD for one or two worldspaces.

Lower atlas tile size on advanced options

 

coc from main menu into a worldspace that has LOD generated, then compare loading into a worldspace without LOD generated, then generate LOD the opposite way and compare again.

 

The esp ensures correct static LOD operation for new LOD assets and takes care of dynamic LOD

 

1. A combination of mods create a problem. To really investigate the cause, you would need to do troubleshoot from nothing to full load order in steps, with default ini and optimized loader to figure this one out I guess.

If you are proficient with xEdit, you could try moving the data which doesn't require a master into an esm, while keeping the rest in an esp to test your theory. It would be very interesting to see if it makes a difference.

 

2. There are no dynamically created resources in DynDOLOD in the game. Everything is pre-computed and just ready-to-use data when loading the game. The game usually only loads the resources it needs at the time.

If you have slow disk access and feel accessing some distinct files is a problem for the engine you should optimize the disk access. For example pack files into a BSA if you believe it helps, use a SSD, use file and folder compression.

 

3. Scripts usually only run once the game is loaded, but ini settings can affect the loading process. Normally forms have properties assigned to their scripts and other relationships exist. None of this exists in DynDOLOD.

 

4. check the skse logs for plugins loading co-save data / co-save size - may be a mute point if starting a new game saving/loading immediate new save

 

The DynDOLOD.esp contains only very simple data unlike new world mods or Interesting NPCs for example. There have only been a handful of people reporting similar problems and their solutions were unrelated to DynDOLOD.

This may be just a case of just adding one thing too many on top. Additional LOD requires additional resources, the trick is to fine tune for the loadorder and setup.

Edited by sheson
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primem0ver Noble

primem0ver

Posted
Posted (edited)
  On 5/10/2016 at 2:20 PM, sheson said:

You may simply be trying too high settings for your loadorder/setup, Try these things, maybe you can narrow something down:

 

Generate using the 'Low' preset

Only generate LOD for one or two worldspaces.

Lower atlas tile size on advanced options

 

coc from main menu into a worldspace that has LOD generated, then compare loading into a worldspace without LOD generated, then generate LOD the opposite way and compare again.

 

The esp ensures correct static LOD operation for new LOD assets and takes care of dynamic LOD

 

1. A combination of mods create a problem. To really investigate the cause, you would need to do troubleshoot from nothing to full load order in steps, with default ini and optimized loader to figure this one out I guess.

If you are proficient with xEdit, you could try moving the data which doesn't require a master into an esm, while keeping the rest in an esp to test your theory. It would be very interesting to see if it makes a difference.

 

2. There are no dynamically created resources in DynDOLOD in the game. Everything is pre-computed and just ready-to-use data when loading the game. The game usually only loads the resources it needs at the time.

If you have slow disk access and feel accessing some distinct files is a problem for the engine you should optimize the disk access. For example pack files into a BSA if you believe it helps, use a SSD, use file and folder compression.

 

3. Scripts usually only run once the game is loaded, but ini settings can affect the loading process. Normally forms have properties assigned to their scripts and other relationships exist. None of this exists in DynDOLOD.

 

4. check the skse logs for plugins loading co-save data / co-save size - may be a mute point if starting a new game saving/loading immediate new save

 

The DynDOLOD.esp contains only very simple data unlike new world mods or Interesting NPCs for example. There have only been a handful of people reporting similar problems and their solutions were unrelated to DynDOLOD.

This may be just a case of just adding one thing too many on top. Additional LOD requires additional resources, the trick is to fine tune for the loadorder and setup.

 

FYI I recently changed my game drive to an SSD.  The only data that is not loaded from the SSD are the save games.

 

1. Which data?  I am not following... are you saying I should merge mods without masters and make them ESM's?  I am semi-proficient with xEdit.  I have never created mods with xEdit though (other than those using a merge script).

 

2. I was speaking of the files/resources created with your utility.

 

I do use Interesting NPC's.  Is that an issue?  I agree that this is probably adding "one thing too many" on top which is why I am still wondering what your ESP does exactly.  Important: Can I use Enhanced landscapes without the DynDOLOD.esp?  (Just the LODs?)

Edited by primem0ver
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sheson Akatosh

sheson

Posted
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Posted (edited)
  On 5/10/2016 at 5:36 PM, primem0ver said:

FYI I recently changed my game drive to an SSD.  The only data that is not loaded from the SSD are the save games.

 

1. Which data?  I am not following... are you saying I should merge mods without masters and make them ESM's?  I am semi-proficient with xEdit.  I have never created mods with xEdit though (other than those using a merge script).

 

2. I was speaking of the files/resources created with your utility.

 

I do use Interesting NPC's.  Is that an issue?  I agree that this is probably adding "one thing too many" on top which is why I am still wondering what your ESP does exactly.  Important: Can I use Enhanced landscapes without the DynDOLOD.esp?  (Just the LODs?)

1. Part of the data in DynDOLOD.esp could be moved into an esm to test your theory.

 

2. Yes, and to clarify one more time, nothing is done dynamically in the game. All the game has to do is to load the pre-computed data and use it. Just like before, only more.

 

Yes, for me Interesting NPCs is one of the mods that cause long load times when starting a new game the first time. Immersive Citizens - AI Overhaul is another. I wouldn't call this an issue, it is just a fact that happens for me even with vanilla and default inis.

 

Nothing will break if you do not use the esp, there will be just visual oddities. You will miss dynamic LOD and new static LOD assets sitting on cell borders will show together with full models causing texture flicker. You can generate without creating dynamic LOD at all: uncheck Generate DynDOLOD in advanced, remove waterfall rules to get the static waterfalls back.

Edited by sheson
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Saqer Watcher

Saqer

Posted
Posted

I'm using Dyndolod with NMM and it asks me to overwrite some mods while installing the data and the outputs..

some of the mods are kind of confusing to me to either overwrite or not ...like ELFX, fire and smoke HD and particle patches for some enb's...ect..

is it ok to overwrite them with Dyndolod data and outputs or not?

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sheson Akatosh

sheson

Posted
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Posted (edited)
  On 5/11/2016 at 8:32 AM, Saqer said:

I'm using Dyndolod with NMM and it asks me to overwrite some mods while installing the data and the outputs..

some of the mods are kind of confusing to me to either overwrite or not ...like ELFX, fire and smoke HD and particle patches for some enb's...ect..

is it ok to overwrite them with Dyndolod data and outputs or not?

Rule of thumb if the file from the DynDOLOD archive has "lod" in its filename or pathname then it needs to overwrite. If there is no "lod" in the filename or pathname, overwrite particle patches, but if you want to overwrite ELFX, that depends on your preference.

The generated output always needs to overwrite. See "Overwrite Orders" in the manual.

Edited by sheson
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CreeperLava Watcher

CreeperLava

Posted
Posted (edited)

Thank you so much for taking the time to write proper documentation. Very useful, as I wasn't understanding why SFO would need a special treatment with DynDoLOD. I have but one complaint : the html manual doesn't display correctly under Linux, as image paths use the wrong slash. ie "img\whatever.png" instead of "img/whatever.png". I'm not sure if using "/" instead of "\" would break windows, but it definitely fixed the missing images on my side.

Edited by CreeperLava
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