uGridsToLoad Talk and Testing

[TheWilloughbian]

If one finds DynDOLOD confusing, seriously... just TES5Lodgen will help a lot. It's so easy. Download Vanilla Skyrim Boards at the same Nexus page for Lodgen, download Lodgen and unzip to a folder (call it "Bethesda Tools" or something) and just fire up the Lodgen executable. You literally don't have to do anything but press a series of "OK" buttons. DynDOLOD is tricker. Custom LODs are trickier. This isn't anything.

edit: Rather, since we're talking SE, get SELODGen. But you still use the same Vanilla boards from the original Lodgen page.

 

I'm still trying to get a grip on tweaking the settings for Landscape LOD with SSELODGen. Getting the textures the right shade and the land mesh to look right still elude me. Tree and Object LOD are a breeze with this utility, though. Took a bit of time to learn how to set up custom billboards though.

Edited May 28, 2018 by TheWilloughbian

[kthompsen]

 

That "better method" is pretty well known though: DynDOLOD. That's the only safe alternative to using uGrids hacks.

 

What people fail to consider is that uGrids doesn't just push LOD back further, it also causes everything in those cells to load into active memory. Which means AI is processing. Scenes are running. Quests have initiated. Scripts are processing events. All of which can be easily missed and all of which are capable of breaking a quest in an unfixable way because the game was not designed to run at anything other than uGrids=5. Nevermind the fact that expanding to a 7x7 grid (49 loaded cells) will more than double the resource load on the game in general. At some point, the game itself will choke even with 64 bit memory systems.

 

And I'd wager the reason people get irritated by all this is that it's information that's out there easily found if one spends 5 minutes to find it. Skyrim modders are people too - we get just as annoyed at having to repeat ourselves as anyone else.

 

I'm still trying to get a grip on tweaking the settings for Landscape LOD with SSELODGen. Getting the textures the right shade and the land mesh to look right still elude me. Tree and Object LOD are a breeze with this utility, though. Took a bit of time to learn how to set up custom billboards though.

 

 

 

You're learning a lot more than I ever did then. All I ever wanted out of it is less tree pop in. Nothing custom per se.

 

I'd like to take a crack at DynDoLOD though. As I mentioned, Arthmoor makes Open Cities which is awesome.. but takes some tweaking to work with DynDoLOD. One thing it does better than SSELodgen ever did is it's effect on cities (like city lights at night) and animations in the distance (waterfalls, etc). These things seem so cool it may be worth it.

[TheWilloughbian]

Oops. I meant to quote you for that post.

 

Yeah it would be nice to to have Glow shaders and Environment mapping work on object LOD.

[Arthmoor]

You know, misquoting people is also a source of irritation. Go back and read what I said was dumb and foolish before you try and spin what I said again.

[Rasikko]

I'll add that I wasn't encouraging raising it to 7, but just that it's the absolute lowest I've seen someone use. I've also stopped going into detail about things like(omg I'm reminded of that freaking FormID crap I've had to explain over and over again for the last 10 years), because I feel like it's going one ear out of the other. Let them break their game/save and be amused at them pointing fingers and others besides themselves. This observed behavior among mod users doesn't go away when they transition to a modder.

 

Basically: If it's a bad idea, then it must be a good idea.

 

/rant

[wp007]

ALSO: haven't tried with Skyrim SE, but on classic Skyrim you could revert ugrids to a lower level without hassle. You just had to load your game, alt+tab to Windows, open the .ini file, revert ugrids to 5, save the .ini file, go back to your game and save it. Done.

for me, definitely not working with SE. If I have ugrids at 7, do as you say and change to 5, exit SE, restart SE and load the sav with SE and ugrids = 5, I get a CTD.

The new sav is to load with ugrid=7 only.

[TheWilloughbian]

 

ALSO: haven't tried with Skyrim SE, but on classic Skyrim you could revert ugrids to a lower level without hassle. You just had to load your game, alt+tab to Windows, open the .ini file, revert ugrids to 5, save the .ini file, go back to your game and save it. Done.

for me, definitely not working with SE. If I have ugrids at 7, do as you say and change to 5, exit SE, restart SE and load the sav with SE and ugrids = 5, I get a CTD.

The new sav is to load with ugrid=7 only.

 

 

There's a trick to it. Let me see if I can find the link. Please stand by.

 

Edit: Here it is. https://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/topic/526550-how-to-reset-ugrids-to-load-to-lower-setting/

Edited June 30, 2018 by TheWilloughbian

[fuse2010]

There is a basic axiom of design: You want Quality, Performance and Cost. BUT you can only get 2 out of the 3 - you NEVER get all three, i.e., Performance & Quality but with increased Cost.

 

So... if anyone is telling you they have a magic fix and you get all three they are, shall we say, not being forthright. Every Mod ("MOD"ification or Hack) comes with a price, nothing is free, everything has consequences - a mix of both good and bad. Btw, Good and Bad are Qualitative not Quanitative. This means you have to decide what YOU want or whats best for YOUR specific system. Bethesda made trade-off's of performance and graphics quality, you will have to do the same with the Mods you choose to use and install.

 

I've tried all of the Mods and Hacks and their alternatives mentioned in this thread, and I've tried alot of tweaks and enchancements, some gave me the effect I wanted but others did not. ALL have some negative consequence wether it be reduced FPS, increased stuttering, increased flickering, decreased stability, etc.

 

For me, what I've found works best is: Go Slow; start with Ultra ini settings and slowly gradually increase only the least controversial values being methodical - change one thing and check (always good advice); ENB with boost and processing and some manually tweaking of the initial functions; nVidias recommendations on card settings; letting hardware and the OS make as many of the decisions as possible; PC is always set for High performance (you'll get all your cores); the SMIM and High Res Mods; no Grass Mods; be careful of script heavy Mods; be weary of leveled lists; be weary of Mods that have lots of requirements or exclusions.

 

What I find is annoying is the "here's a magic fix...but you have to do this magic fix too... and this magic fix too and..." and I end up at the same place basically just with different issues, lol. You go down the rabbit hole of robbing peter to pay paul getting pushed into more and more mods & hacks that are not well documented and that are not forthright in their negative consequences or costs. On top of that they got these ridiculous mod authors that havent done jack squat in reality being nasty litttle punks to perfectly reasonable people. *** If you want recognition make a real finished product that sells! ***

 

One last note, anyone that tells you "I can give you everything for free with no consequences" or what boils down to essentially "you have to use me and my pals stuff and our ideas ONLY 'cause everyone else including the people that made the game and the Mfg of the GPU's are idiots..." Well, I think you get my point.

[SirFoggy]

"What I find is annoying is the "here's a magic fix...but you have to do this magic fix too... and this magic fix too and..." and I end up at the same place basically just with different issues, lol. You go down the rabbit hole of robbing peter to pay paul getting pushed into more and more mods & hacks that are not well documented and that are not forthright in their negative consequences or costs."

 

Well it really all depends doesn't it?

If you simply MUST have the most whiz-bang stuff like FrostFall -BRRR!!!-

 

Or one of the various inventory sorting mods that have HOW MANY Compatibility Patches???

Than yeah it can be a headache, LOL

But what's wrong with good ole'Inventory Tetris yo?!

We never needed a mod for that before AFAIK :smile:

 

Hypothermia looks like a far less hasslesome alternative to FrostFall's maze of crap to get working so yeah...

 

ELFX get's the most hype, Yet you'll be hunting down patches AllOverTheNexus.

While also being a resource hog :sad:

 

So why not go for Realistic Lighting Overhaul instead?

RLO is a lot easier to get sorted with just a few built in patches :smile:

And doesn't rob your FPS like ELFX :D

 

It aint all THAT bad ^_^

[WFRJ]

I like your thinking SirFoggy. I myself have never used SKSE with SSE. Never wanted the hassle of updates. No ENB's or reshade.

 

According to steam I have 964 hr on SE, and because of my "type A" personally I keep track of things. I have 254 plugins and 419 mod and have not had a lockup or ctd since hr 714.

 

I feel my set up is just as fine as any other (detail wise) and I run 60fps inside (vsync) and around 47 outside with most ever thing 2k or 4k.

 

To many people worrying about their play lists and not enjoying the field.

 

{b.t.b., RLO is very good.}