Creating LOD with CAO

[BrotherShamus]

So... I'm having a slight issue with this mod here: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/7381. I'm only using the Markarth option and it looks amazing but only half of the LODs are showing up from outside Markarth. I was reading something last night about using CAO to create LODs and thought I had bookmarked the page but apparently I didn't. I've Googled and found nothing really useful. Also referencing the CAO page hasn't turned up what I'm looking for. I may have misread the original post (the one I thought I bookmarked) so my question is... is this possible to do? If so, is there a tutorial somewhere to walk me through the process?

 

Thanks.

[Algabar]

TBH, I don't know if CAO actually CAN create LOD. At least I've never heard of such an option.

 

If you make changes to the game's landscape (such as changing or adding buildings or other objects, landscape edits, trees etc.), the usual way to go is to use Xlodgen and Dyndolod. This way, you can create custom LOD, that fits your load order. If it's your first time, I'd strongly recommend reading the Dyndolod documentation.

[BrotherShamus]

I'm actually using Dyndolod and everything else is looking fantastic... it's just that one mod which adds Dwemer pipes above Markarth. Half the pipes are there but... suspended in midair. The article I read involved making copies of either the dds or nif files and then adding a 'lod' tag to them, placing them back in the folder and then repacking it. I can't seem to find this in the Dyndolod Manual either. Worst case scenerio (which isn't all that bad) is I swap out the mod for the new Markarth Entrance... which looks really cool but would conflict with this mod.

[Algabar]

Ah, now I understand the problem. Unfortunately, I'm kinda out of my wits here.

 

Maybe this article (from the Dyndolod documentation) is helpful:

https://dyndolod.info/Mod-Authors

 

The following quote from this text might be interesting:

"If no such optimized or dedicated object LOD model exists, use mesh mask rules to instruct to actually use the full model for the desired LOD levels."

 

"mesh mask rules" are the rules you can define in Dyndolod. Maybe you can look up the names of the dwemer pipe meshes in question and create custom rules for them (i.e. telling Dyndolod to always use the full model for them).

[BrotherShamus]

Thank you! I managed to do something similar with the Shrine of Azura ENB mod I'm using (with a lot of help from Sheson) but to be honest, I get lost in a lot of the terminology. I did get it to work... sort of. Luckily, he included it in the latest Dyndolod 3 build. This one would have been a bit trickier though as it was sections of pipe as opposed to a single object. I've decided to go with the new Markarth Outskirts mod instead (https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/70213?tab=description) which would conflict with the Dwemwerfication mod anyway as they both add objects outside the city walls. Thanks again though... if I find I'm not liking the new mod as much as the old, I'll definitely revisit this!