Dynamic Distant Objects LOD - DynDOLOD v2.16

[sheson]

DynDOLOD 2.16 condensed update post - See Full update post

 

Slightly changed update instructions:

 

Remove DynDOLOD Resources Core Files Textures (or simply all files) if updating Core Files from an older version to a newer DynDOLOD Resources.

All other update instructions are still the same, so please refer to the full update post if updating from older versions.

 

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Changes in generation instructions

 

Whenever running TexGen.exe it is now recommended to first remove earlier generated LOD textures for best results. TexGen.exe will prompt a self-explanatory message if it finds older files so you I do not accidentally forget.

 

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More Ultra Trees available

 

There are now additional ultra trees included in DynDOLOD Resources Core Files for Realistic Aspen Trees and Enhanced Landscapes Oaks installation option and Enhanced Landscapes Oaks Standalone courtesy of kojak747. Also check out Enhanced Vanilla Trees from Some_Random_Guy_83  which now has ultra tree support. At lot of work goes into creating ultra trees, but as ultra tree users know, they are totally worth it. So please endorse and let authors know your appreciation if you use their ultra trees.

 

Refer to ..\DynDOLOD\Docs\trees.ultra\DynDOLOD-Trees.html for more information

 

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Enderal

 

Check out some boring screenshots for HQ terrain, low, medium and high settings. The total conversion has much nicer views to offer, but I do not want to spoil your discoveries.

 

It is highly advised to have installed and successfully used DynDOLOD with Skyrim first, so below instructions can be applied to Enderal without confusion.

 

While Enderal has its own launcher, it is suggested to use a mod manager with a different profile to be able to setup, generate and use DynDOLOD safely just like you would with Skyrim. As always, instructions are general and the user is expected to apply them to the mod manager of their choice.

 

Enderal ships with SKSE and PapyrusUtil 2.8. DynDOLOD Papyrus scripts now work with any PapyrusUtil version >= 2.8, so there is no need to update PapyrusUtil.

 

Generating LOD with low preset could gain some FPS because a good number of Neverfades is converted to static LOD.

 

See ../DynDOLOD/Docs/DynDOLOD_Manual.html#13c Enderal section for more detailed instruction and a little bit more information.

 

 

The quick run down for experienced users:

• Install the DynDOLOD Resources 2.16 Core Files. If desired install Low-Res LOD Textures, Desync Birds of Prey or Giantfires Low from the optionals. Obviously do not install any of the other options intended for Skyrim.
• install the Enderal LOD tree billboards from TES5LODGen overwriting the vanilla LOD tree billboards of your choice.
• Install the optional HQ terrain LOD from DynDOLOD Patches. It is not required. It's performance impact should be minimal / non-existent on modern hardware. You should do this before generating LOD with DynDOLOD.
• Run TexGen.exe and install output as normal.
• Run DynDOLOD.exe and install output as normal.

Ich rauch' jetzt erstmal eine schöne Pfeife Friedenskraut. Wenn das Zeug nur nicht so teuer wäre.

 

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See Full update post for full changelog, fully detailed update instructions and updated compatibility information for Skyrim mods.

[sheson]

Good morning,

 

It seems i'm missing something very simple. I am attempting to generate new LOD's for a seperate mod profile (MO). I believe I've deleted all traces of the previous TexGene + DynDOLOD, but everytime I run the processes I receive this notification.

 

 

What is the correct method of completely purging the old textures? Thank you.

 

The answer to this question depends on the mod manager you are using, but generally uninstall the mod you created when installing the TexGen output from earlier generation.

Edited August 11, 2016 by sheson

[sheson]

Thanks for the answer. I've read the manual about 3D trees, but did not find helpful info.

 

Do you mean by "correct alpha" the alpha of the branch textures in my Landscape/Trees folder, a new alpha or none?

 

I now know that the file that needs manually created Textures is in Textures/DynDoLOD/... and called something like Dyndolodtreelod, it's the great atlas. Could you please tell me where to find a list of textures apart from Billboard of which this Atlas is composed if that exists or if not

give me the list?

I am not entirely clear what it is you want to do.

 

The texture ..\Textures\DynDOLOD\lod\dyndolodtreelod.dds was already created manually and does not need to be created again. It is used by the vanilla 3D hybrid trees included in DynDOLOD.

 

If you need to create your own set of different LOD textures for custom trees, use whatever non conflicting filenames and folders you find appropriate for your assets.

Then update the texture paths in the LOD nif you made to use the LOD textures you created.

Edited August 11, 2016 by sheson

[David2408]

I am not entirely clear what it is you want to do.

 

The texture ..\Textures\DynDOLOD\lod\dyndolodtreelod.dds was already created manually and does not need to be created again. It is used by the vanilla 3D hybrid trees included in DynDOLOD.

 

If you need to create your own set of different LOD textures for custom trees, use whatever non conflicting filenames and folders you find appropriate for your assets.

Then update the texture paths in the LOD nif you made to use the LOD textures you created.

Well, I assumed that the Dyndolodtreelod will be created out of the billboards and lod files automatically. Given this is not the case, it's nearly impossible to use custom textures and have matching 3D LOD Tex, because that would require skills of creating custom LOD Texture Atlas and editing UV Maps which I do not have. 

Edited August 11, 2016 by David2408

[sheson]

Well, I assumed that the Dyndolodtreelod will be created out of the billboards and lod files automatically. Given this is not the case, it's nearly impossible to use custom textures and have matching 3D LOD Tex, because that would require skills of creating custom LOD Texture Atlas and editing UV Maps which I do not have. 

You do not need to worry about texture atlas creation. It happens automatically if technically possible from single textures. dyndolodtreelod.dds is from a time before that.

The UV of branches is usually within 0

 

However you often have to take care of creating a single LOD textures especially if the full texture has an alpha channel.

 

You are correct though, to create optimized and acceptable 3D static trees suitable for tree LOD requires texture and UV work.

[David2408]

You do not need to worry about texture atlas creation. It happens automatically if technically possible from single textures. dyndolodtreelod.dds is from a time before that.

The UV of branches is usually within 0 <= u,v <= 1 so they typically work. Trunks typically do not. Will be still used for LOD with a single texture, so not fully optimized.

 

However you often have to take care of creating a single LOD textures especially if the full texture has an alpha channel.

 

You are correct though, to create optimized and acceptable 3D static trees suitable for tree LOD requires texture and UV work.

Maybe in the aeon of Skyrim Special Edition, we will have the possibility to automatically create Dyndolodtreelod.dds from custom textures.

 

Nonetheless, thank you for your great tool. Until then I will use unoptimised 3D tree models and experiment with reducing their polygon density.

[Monobloc]

Sheson when I install ultra trees, When I want full model instead of hybrid, what do I have to select for lod 4 ? I should leave it as "billboard" right ?

[sheson]

Sheson when I install ultra trees, When I want full model instead of hybrid, what do I have to select for lod 4 ? I should leave it as "billboard" right ?

Set it to "Full Model" in LOD4.

 

This will make it always use the Full Model, even if it has a 3D LOD hybrid available.

I recommend to set it to Static LOD4 as it is usually for performance and memory consumption and change TreeFullFallBack=1 in ..\DynDOLOD\Edit Scripts\DynDOLOD\DynDOLOD_TES5.ini so it only uses full model when there is no 3D LOD hybrid available.

 

Billboard makes it use the tree LOD billboards and create the flat 2D X like traditional tree LOD, which is want you want for LOD8 and LOD16

Edited August 11, 2016 by sheson

[Monobloc]

Alright thanks a lot.

Edited August 11, 2016 by Monobloc

[thevortex137]

I'm having an issue when running TexGen, the error is "Error in unit 'userscript' on line 608 : Record, object or class type required"

 

the last few lines of TES5Edit_log are:

[00:00:31.465]	C:\Steam\steamapps\common\Skyrim\Data\DynDOLOD-temp\textures\clutter\beehive.dds not found!
[00:00:31.472]	C:\Steam\steamapps\common\Skyrim\Data\DynDOLOD-temp\textures\clutter\beehive_n.dds not found!
[00:00:31.489]	        Combining 1 textures into textures\architecture\winterhold\winterholdwindow02_em.dds
[00:00:31.774]	        Combining 1 textures into textures\lod\beehivelod.dds
[00:00:31.782]	
[00:00:31.782]	Exception in unit  line -1: Error in unit 'userscript' on line 608 : Record, object or class type required

I've tried running with no mods (except the DynDOLOD resources of course), reinstalling DynDOLOD, and running in admin mode for both MO and TexGen. I'm not sure if this is an error with TexGen on my end, or perhaps an issue with my Skyrim installation. Any ideas?

Edited August 11, 2016 by thevortex137

[Monobloc]

Sorry for bothering, I believe SFO doesn't have 3D LODS and thus I have ctd in game, so basically I should use enhanced vanilla trees only right ?

[Monobloc]

Enhanced vanilla trees has hybrid but realistic aspen has full as well as enhanced landscape oak trees, so if I select full model it'll take hybrid ones from EVT right ?

 

sorry for double posting i'ts too late to edit

[Soularyem]

Greetings and salutations.

 

My issue with installing is when I get to "Generate LODs" step, nothing happens.  Here's an explanation:

 

 

 

1. Run DynDOLOD TexGen through MO from the drop-down menu.
2. The script will automatically run and you will receive the TexGen window. Keep the original path and click [start] to run TexGen. When it's finished, click [Exit].

The problem is the TexGen window does NOT pop up.  Meaning this pop up does not appear:

 

 

The script loads and finishes, but that's it.  What am I doing wrong?

[Monobloc]

Alright I managed to make it work.

 

Sheson know it, you're a freakin genius.

[sheson]

 

I'm having an issue when running TexGen, the error is "Error in unit 'userscript' on line 608 : Record, object or class type required"

 

the last few lines of TES5Edit_log are:

[00:00:31.465]	C:\Steam\steamapps\common\Skyrim\Data\DynDOLOD-temp\textures\clutter\beehive.dds not found!
[00:00:31.472]	C:\Steam\steamapps\common\Skyrim\Data\DynDOLOD-temp\textures\clutter\beehive_n.dds not found!
[00:00:31.489]	        Combining 1 textures into textures\architecture\winterhold\winterholdwindow02_em.dds
[00:00:31.774]	        Combining 1 textures into textures\lod\beehivelod.dds
[00:00:31.782]	
[00:00:31.782]	Exception in unit  line -1: Error in unit 'userscript' on line 608 : Record, object or class type required

I've tried running with no mods (except the DynDOLOD resources of course), reinstalling DynDOLOD, and running in admin mode for both MO and TexGen. I'm not sure if this is an error with TexGen on my end, or perhaps an issue with my Skyrim installation. Any ideas?

 

Fix the file not found errors.

 

Textures\clutter\beehive.dds is in "Skyrim - Textures.bsa"    Check at the top of the log that this BSA and any other containing textures are loaded.

 

Turn off MO archive management.

Sorry for bothering, I believe SFO doesn't have 3D LODS and thus I have ctd in game, so basically I should use enhanced vanilla trees only right ?

You can not have CTD because there are no 3D tree LODs available for a tree when generating LOD.

By default it uses the billboard as fallback, unless you instruct it to use the full model for LOD when doing ultra tree LODs as we discussed earlier.

Then there can be CTD and whatnot if using full model trees for LOD.

 

From the other post I gather you using the EVT trees now. They sure look nice with their 3D LOD. Let the mod author know, a lot of work went into it.

Greetings and salutations.

 

My issue with installing is when I get to "Generate LODs" step, nothing happens.  Here's an explanation:

 

The problem is the TexGen window does NOT pop up.  Meaning this pop up does not appear:

 

 

The script loads and finishes, but that's it.  What am I doing wrong?

The screenshot shows someone elses version 2.00!?

 

What is YOUR log showing?

Edited August 12, 2016 by sheson

[Soularyem]

I'm hoping this picture uploads, but what is shows is the initial run of TexGen running the background loader with the final line saying "[00:00:06.430] Background Loader: finished".  However, the generator doesn't automatically run (or run at all).

 

I apologize for this and I'm sure it's probably something simple on my end that I'm missing.  But this is racking my brain to figure out.

 

Thank you again in advance.

Edited August 12, 2016 by Soularyem