Object not visible when distant

[DarkSpyda04]

SOLVED

 

I will check "visible when distant" on the object in the CS and when I play the game I don't see it in the distance and have to get very close for it to appear. The object is a ginormous tower. How to I fix this?

Edited May 11, 2014 by DarkSpyda04

[mhahn123]

Yeah that check box you are referring to is virtually useless. Creating a distant LOD for a given object requires two parts. A _far.nif for the mesh in question which must be in the same game folder and a program to generate the LOD from that _far.nif, such as TES4LODGen.

 

So for example...the vanilla farmhouses, let's say "farmhouse01.nif" can not be seen in game from a distance by default. You need to create a "farmhouse01_far.nif" and install it in the same folder as it's corresponding mesh. Then run TES4LODGen to generate the LOD for distant view. Arthmoor's package RAEVWD contains _far.nifs for pretty much every piece of vanilla architecture. If your Ginormous Tower is not a vanilla mesh you would need to create a _far.nif from scratch.

 

There are some good tutorials out there on how to do this properly. A properly made _far.nif is a very, very stripped down version of the original model. And you want to do it properly to avoid weird visual glitches and keep from bogging your game down. Arthmoor has a great tutorial on the Igunadons web site which I can dig out from my files if you need a link. Requires use of a 3d modeling program called Milkshape which you can DL a free trial version of.

 

If you want a quick and dirty, super easy method while you learn how to do it right all you need is Nifskope. It's not ideal but works and if you PM me I can walk you through that fairly quickly.

Edited May 9, 2014 by mhahn123

[DarkSpyda04]

http://i897.photobucket.com/albums/ac172/DarkSpydaIV/ScreenShot225_zps3c1b397c.png

 

Got it, you optimize a mesh and add "_far" to the name before the file extension and then run TES4LODGen to redo Oblivion's LOD. Unfortunately I was a bit lazy and used the _far mesh from RAEVWD but at least I know the process if I ever need to make a custom mesh viewable in the distance. The only problem I'm having is the mesh flashing black but that's only because I'm running the game in "Bloom" and not "HDR" (do not have HD monitor).

 

Thanks for the help.

[mhahn123]

http://i897.photobucket.com/albums/ac172/DarkSpydaIV/ScreenShot225_zps3c1b397c.png

 

Got it, you optimize a mesh and add "_far" to the name before the file extension and then run TES4LODGen to redo Oblivion's LOD. Unfortunately I was a bit lazy and used the _far mesh from RAEVWD but at least I know the process if I ever need to make a custom mesh viewable in the distance. The only problem I'm having is the mesh flashing black but that's only because I'm running the game in "Bloom" and not "HDR" (do not have HD monitor).

 

Thanks for the help.

No problem. And yes that's the basic premise. Make sure the _far.nif has the same forename as the mesh you want it to work for, and it's in the same folder. There is a bit more needed than just optimizing though. You really want to strip out all unnecessary data including collision mesh which is useless since a far nif is only seen in the distance and will never be interacted with. Also if a mesh contains small pieces that aren't noticeable from a distance you can often remove some pieces entirely to save file size. But looks like you got it.