xLODGen beta (47 or newer) and DynDOLOD (2.70 or newer) can be used to update or generate TVDT Occlusion culling data on cell records, which is famously wrong for some cells in Tamriel causing rectangular holes in the distant LOD.
Please read the included documentation Skyrim-Occlusion-Readme.txt in the xLODGen archive and the TVDT - Occlusion Data section in Docs/DynDOLOD_Manual.html to learn about TVDT data, how to generate it and the settings.
Mod users / complete load orders
For Skyrim, Skyrim VR and Skyim Special Edition I generally suggest to use xLODGen to create an Occlusion.esp for the entire load order. Generating the Occlusion.esp is fairly quick with quality 2 and it means not having additional plugins as master in DynDOLOD. The Occlusion.esp is automatically ESL flagged for Skyrim Special Edition.
For Enderal it seems more convenient to have DynDOLOD generate it, so in DynDOLOD it is enabled by default for Enderal only. There are also additional optimizations in DynDOLOD for Enderal that help improve performance in certain locations.
In xLODGen the Occlusion generation is an additional option below the Terrain LOD options. See the included documentation for information about the settings. Once generation is complete, Occlusion.esp is saved to the data folder (or MO mod folder / MO Overwrite folder accordingly). To make sure its updated TVDT data is used, ensure the Occlusion.esp is loaded last so it overwrites any other plugin.
Generate the Occlusion.esp last. So the order would be:
- Finalize load order
- use xLODGen to generate terrain LOD meshes [and textures]
- use TexGen/DynDOLOD to generate drastically improved object and tree LOD (uses terrain LOD meshes for object LOD optimization)
- use xLODGen to create Occlusion.esp (uses object LOD meshes to determine max height samples)
If the load order changes afterwards and a plugin makes changes to WRLD/CELL records, the entire worldspace should be updated in the Occlusion.esp (unless the new plugin loads after Occlusion.esp of course).
Worldspaces in Occlusion.esp can be updated by simply starting xLODGen with the current Occlusion.esp being last in the load order. Select the desired worldspaces only and generate Occlusion for it. The selected worldspace is removed from Occlusion.esp and then generated completely anew for the new load order. Other worldspaces in the Occlsuion.esp will not be changed.
Mod authors
It is possible to update the TVDT data on CELLs in a single plugin by starting the tool in edit mode.
Generate/Update object LOD first so the object LOD meshes match the current state of the worldspace.
As suggested in the included documentation, generate max height data for all cells with CK beforehand. You are welcome to test the included MHDT generation as well.
Consider defining/updating the Border Region for the worldspace so the +Border filter option can be used.
Either start xLODGen.exe in edit mode with the -edit command line or rename xLODGen.exe to [Gamemode]Edit.exe e.g. TES5Edit.exe
Select loading of plugins as usual. Right click desired plugin in the left tree view, click Other, Generate LOD.
Check Occlusion and verify the text next to it mentions the desired plugin to be updated. Adjust other settings as desired and explained in the included documentation.
For large / multi people projects it is probably better to generate an Occlusion.esp the usual way and merge the TVDT data. Stick to the usual workflow.
As always, mod authors are welcome to direct message me here or on discord for help with their projects.
Read the provided information and in case of questions about occlusion generation, post them in this thread regardless of using xLODGen or DynDOLOD.
Edited by sheson, 05 January 2020 - 03:36 PM.
Skyrim, Occlusion, Culling, TVDT
