xLODGen - Terrain LOD beta 109 for FNV, FO3, FO4, FO4VR, TES5, SSE, TES5VR, ENDERAL, ENDERALSE

[thegrimblade]

I went to backspace, and there was indeed an invisible character there, probably from copy-pasting. I won't know if the process was a success or not for a few minutes, but it is at least running. If I do not post again, you can assume that this resolved my issues. Thanks.

[thegrimblade]

I ran xLODGen and ran into an error. I thought maybe it was my fault because I was doing other tasks, while it ran in the background. I ran it again, and ran into an error again.

 

After about 20 minutes, I get an error popup with error message:

"LODGen process error, exit code E0434352."

 

In the logger, I see a few issues:

Error optimizing unseen triangles for LOD level 32

Unhandled Exception: System.ObjectDisposedException: Cannot access a closed file.

 

I have included the full log in the following pastebin file(s):

Part 1: https://pastebin.com/KUF95nBE

Part 2: https://pastebin.com/6D6jvpVv

Part 3: https://pastebin.com/r8DtJVHQ

 

I am not sure how close to completion xLODGen was able to reach before running into this error, but it did seem to produce a majority of the expected files. I am not sure if this error will cause any significant issues, but I figured I should post the log since this software is in beta.

[sheson]

I ran xLODGen and ran into an error. I thought maybe it was my fault because I was doing other tasks, while it ran in the background. I ran it again, and ran into an error again.

 

After about 20 minutes, I get an error popup with error message:

"LODGen process error, exit code E0434352."

 

In the logger, I see a few issues:

Error optimizing unseen triangles for LOD level 32

Unhandled Exception: System.ObjectDisposedException: Cannot access a closed file.

 

I have included the full log in the following pastebin file(s):

Part 1: https://pastebin.com/KUF95nBE

Part 2: https://pastebin.com/6D6jvpVv

Part 3: https://pastebin.com/r8DtJVHQ

 

I am not sure how close to completion xLODGen was able to reach before running into this error, but it did seem to produce a majority of the expected files. I am not sure if this error will cause any significant issues, but I figured I should post the log since this software is in beta.

 

Error optimizing unseen triangles for LOD level 32

Set Optimize Unseen for LOD level 32 to off or use x64 version

 

Try what the message suggests. Use the x64 version. It needs more memory do the calculations. Things go wrong after that.

[Mitradis]

for what need LODGen_flat_lod.nif?

Edited January 16, 2019 by Mitradis

[sheson]

for what need LODGen_flat_lod.nif?

It's needed for trees in object LOD function.

[Mitradis]

Terrain normal maps (_N) have any effect? I dont see different between 256 and 2048...

[sheson]

Terrain normal maps (_N) have any effect? I dont see different between 256 and 2048...

From the readme:

 

Normal Size - texture resolution in pixels. See hints for native resolutions per LOD level. Higher resolutions are just a resize - see the hint message for the size that is native to the data (typically 256x256 for LOD4, 512x512 for LOD8 etc.), but can be useful because of compression and when baking normal-maps. Remember that each increase in resolution quadruples the resources and times needed to generate the textures. Higher than 1024 will start to take some serious time.

 

https://forum.step-project.com/topic/13451-xlodgen-terrain-lod-beta-for-fnv-fo3-fo4-fo4vr-tes5-sse-tes5vr/page-10?do=findComment&comment=221279

[El_Rizzo]

I ran into some weird issues while trying to create LOD for Fallout 4 using version 36. While xLODGenx64 was running and generating texture files, I noticed several warnings about an error reading a few normal maps, 5 different normals to be specific. After xLODGen had finished I checked the log and tracked down the mods that provided the 5 normal maps in question and temporarily removed those 5 files to see if xLODGen would then run without warnings. To my surprise however, I got a whole boatload of new warnings about normal map reading errors from files that I didn't get any warnings from before and the program grinded to a halt while throwing whole pages of errors, forcing me to kill it with the task manager.

 

Putting the 5 files that originally caused warnings back into their respective mods didn't reverse the situation though, when I ran xLODGen afterwards it still gave me tons of errors about the other normal maps that ran fine the first time... Since all my mods are packed into BA2 archives I also tried to extract the 5 normals in question to see if having them loaded as loose files would have any effect, but that didn't change the situation either.

Any idea why removing the 5 files that initially caused errors suddenly created a lot more and causes the program to hang up?

 

Also, where does xLODGen save its settings? I want to reset it to its default settings but simply deleting all the files and reinstalling it doesn't reset my manuall settings.

Edited January 18, 2019 by El_Rizzo

[Mitradis]

LodGen auto remove vertex color for 8+ size cells and far mountains brighten without vertex colors.

 

how fix this?

Edited January 18, 2019 by Mitradis

[El_Rizzo]

One additional observation to my previous report, it seems that only when I tick the box for backing normals that the warning messages appear, I've tested without that box being ticked and xLODGen finishes without any warnings, in case that might help.

[sheson]

I ran into some weird issues while trying to create LOD for Fallout 4 using version 36. While xLODGenx64 was running and generating texture files, I noticed several warnings about an error reading a few normal maps, 5 different normals to be specific. After xLODGen had finished I checked the log and tracked down the mods that provided the 5 normal maps in question and temporarily removed those 5 files to see if xLODGen would then run without warnings. To my surprise however, I got a whole boatload of new warnings about normal map reading errors from files that I didn't get any warnings from before and the program grinded to a halt while throwing whole pages of errors, forcing me to kill it with the task manager.

 

Putting the 5 files that originally caused warnings back into their respective mods didn't reverse the situation though, when I ran xLODGen afterwards it still gave me tons of errors about the other normal maps that ran fine the first time... Since all my mods are packed into BA2 archives I also tried to extract the 5 normals in question to see if having them loaded as loose files would have any effect, but that didn't change the situation either.

Any idea why removing the 5 files that initially caused errors suddenly created a lot more and causes the program to hang up?

 

Also, where does xLODGen save its settings? I want to reset it to its default settings but simply deleting all the files and reinstalling it doesn't reset my manuall settings.

One additional observation to my previous report, it seems that only when I tick the box for backing normals that the warning messages appear, I've tested without that box being ticked and xLODGen finishes without any warnings, in case that might help.Using 

Using MO? Or maybe Antivirus, OS preventing access. I take it, it also happened with vanilla textures that are valid?

 

xLODGen is a renamed version of xEdit. So the default settings are where xEdit saves them. c:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\Fallout4\Plugins.fo4viewsettings

 

It only needs to reads the normal map textures when baking them onto the terrain normal.

[sheson]

LodGen auto remove vertex color for 8+ size cells and far mountains brighten without vertex colors.

 

how fix this?

Unlike CK, xLODGen does not remove vertex colors from the LOD models for higher LOD levels by default.

 

The LODGen log should show a line like "Generate Vertex Colors: True, True, True, True"

A "true" for each for the 4 LOD levels.

 

The change between LOD levels is most likely because of a different LOD model, which uses a different LOD texture (that is too bright) and/or has no or all white vertex colors.

 

Use DynDOLOD. It will improve the empty vanilla distance LOD and allows assigning different LOD models for different LOD levels with simple mesh rules.

Edited January 19, 2019 by sheson

[Mitradis]

But version 3.1.2 dont do that. Does not delete vertex colors on moumtains in 8`+ cells

[sheson]

But version 3.1.2 dont do that. Does not delete vertex colors on moumtains in 8`+ cells

As I said, no version of xLODGen removes vertex colors from a LOD model unless No Vertex Colors is set in the options (dontGenerateVertexColors command line argument for LODGen.exe) or 

GenerateVertexColors=false or GenerateVertexColorsLOD[4|8|16|32]=false is set in the export file. The log from LODGen.exe says what the setting is. In case all of a LOD models vertex colors are white anyways they are removed for optimization.

 

Typically all the vanilla LOD models for LOD level are 8 are the ones ending with meshes\lod\mountains\*_lod_1.nif.

None of these vanilla LOD models have vertex colors other than all white. All of these vanilla LOD models use (mostly pre-rendered) LOD textures unlike the LOD 4 models (typically ending in *_lod_0[h|l].nif) which have vertex colors other than full white and use the same mountainslab texture as the full models.

[El_Rizzo]

 

Using MO? Or maybe Antivirus, OS preventing access.

Yes I'm using MO2, tried 2 different versions with the same result. OS preventing access does seem very unlikely since these textures are stored in archives and the rest of the archive's content is apparently accessible, or can Windows block individual files within archives? Aside from that, recent builds of MO2 are specifically checking all mod files for access when a 3rd party program is being run through it and fix any issues that arise. As for Antivirus, I'm only using the integrated Windows Defender and I specifically excluded my MO2 as well as my game and xLODGen directories.

 

 

I take it, it also happened with vanilla textures that are valid?

No, with purely vanilla textures it doesn't happen. My main issue isn't that there are 5 normal maps that apparently can't be read, but that when I remove the 5 files in question that suddenly a whole bunch of new errors appear that weren't there before, which strikes me as rather strange. I can provide you with the 5 initial files and from which mods they came from if you want to take a look at them.

 

 

It only needs to reads the normal map textures when baking them onto the terrain normal.

Yeah that explains why I don't get errors when de-selecting bake normals, makes sense.

 

 

xLODGen is a renamed version of xEdit. So the default settings are where xEdit saves them. c:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\Fallout4\Plugins.fo4viewsettings

Thx, good to know! :)