What IS causing this?!

[lco1138]

I've been having this problem for some months now, but I just can't seem to find what the cause is.

 

http://www.media.op1studios.co.uk/ScreenShot495.jpg

 

My distant LOD is messed up, as you can see by the way it draws over the path. Although this picture is taken using the Elsweyr mod, this happens all over Cyrodiil too.

 

Naturally, I've turned off all mods and just ran Oblivion in vanilla mode - it's still there...

I've clean saved in the testing hall then loaded the new save and returned to Cyrodiil - it's still there...

I deleted any landscape directories...

I've been running TES4LODGen numerous times...

I deleted my meshes and textures folders...

I uninstalled and reinstalled into a new directory - it's still there...

 

This made me think that maybe it isn't Oblivion at fault, but my graphics card (GeForce 8500 GT 256MB) so I uninstalled that and reinstalled with the latest drivers. Yup... you guessed right, it's still there...

 

I've pretty much gone to my wit's end over this, as frankly it makes Oblivion look dreadful, and I never used to have this problem.

 

So does anyone have any suggestions or has come across this before? I'm all out of ideas. :wallbash:

[bben46]

I have seen this happen using streamline. It trades visuals for FPS.

Check your options to see what the video settings for distant things are.

[lco1138]

On the options screen, my settings are -

 

1280 x 1024 resolution

full screen, no v-synch

High quality setting

no screen effects (2x AA forced by gfx card)

distant landscape, buildings, and trees all checked on.

 

In the Oblivion.ini file, some of the related settings are -

 

[DistantLOD]

iDistantLODGroupWidth=8

bUseLODLandData=0

fFadeDistance=12168.0000

. . . . .

iAutoViewMinDistance=2000

iAutoViewHiFrameRate=40

iAutoViewLowFrameRate=20

bAutoViewDistance=0

fDefaultFOV=75.0000

fNearDistance=10.0000

fNoLODFarDistancePct=1.0000

fNoLODFarDistanceMax=10240.0000

fNoLODFarDistanceMin=1700.0000

iDebugTextLeftRightOffset=10

iDebugTextTopBottomOffset=10

bShowMenuTextureUse=1

iDebugText=31

fGrassStartFadeDistance=3000.0

fGrassEndDistance=4000.0

bLODPopActors=0

bLODPopItems=0

bLODPopObjects=0

. . . . .

[LOD]

fObjectLODMax=15.0000

fObjectLODMin=1.0000

fObjectLODDefault=5.0000

fItemLODMax=15.0000

fItemLODMin=1.0000

fItemLODDefault=2.0000

fActorLODMax=15.0000

fActorLODMin=2.0000

fActorLODDefault=5.0000

fTreeLODMax=2.0000

fTreeLODMin=0.0200

fTreeLODDefault=1.2000

fTalkingDistance=2000.0000

fLodDistance=1090.0000

bUseFaceGenLOD=0

bLODUseCombinedLandNormalMaps=1

bForceHideLODLand=0

iLODTextureTiling=2

iLODTextureSizePow2=8

fLODQuadMinLoadDistance=65536.0000

bDisplayLODTrees=1

bDisplayLODBuildings=1

bLODPopTrees=0

bLODPopActors=0

bLODPopItems=0

bLODPopObjects=0

fLODFadeOutMultActors=15.0000

fLODFadeOutMultItems=15.0000

fLODFadeOutMultObjects=15.0000

fLODMultLandscape=1.0000

fLODMultTrees=1.0100

fLODMultActors=7.0000

fLODMultItems=7.0000

fLODMultObjects=7.0000

iFadeNodeMinNearDistance=400

fLODFadeOutPercent=0.9000

fLODBoundRadiusMult=3.0000

fLODFadeOutActorMultInterior=1.0000

fLODFadeOutItemMultInterior=1.0000

fLODFadeOutObjectMultInterior=1.0000

fLODFadeOutActorMultCity=1.0000

fLODFadeOutItemMultCity=1.0000

fLODFadeOutObjectMultCity=1.0000

fLODFadeOutActorMultComplex=1.0000

fLODFadeOutItemMultComplex=1.0000

fLODFadeOutObjectMultComplex=1.0000

bDisplayLODLand=1

fLODLandVerticalBias=0.0000

 

I've since deactivated Streamline 3.1 and removed all associated files, and the terrain still appears as pictured, although I haven't been inside yet to make a clean save to see if it will correct itself and I also haven't yet re-run TES4LODGen since removing Streamline to see if that makes a difference (tbh I don't expect these to rememdy it).

[Vagrant0]

What is your uGridsToLoad set to? If it's less than 5, things like this are more common. Setting it higher can greatly increase system demands and still not solve anything.

 

TES4LODgen doesn't do anything to the LOD meshes. That is something which is created in the CS with the mod active (requires much RAM and usually several attempts). As far as I know, there are no programs which create LOD meshes outside of the lower detail ones used in the CS.

 

Even if you re-generate the LOD meshes, you probably won't notice any improvements as the LOD mesh doesn't normally preserve minor things like trenches (why most vanilla roads are above the sorrounding terrain).

[lco1138]

uGridsToLoad=5, so that's as it should be.

[lco1138]

I'm posting this as I've still not got to the bottom of this problem, and in fact a new one has arisen.

 

I recently downloaded the Bartholm mod and found that distant LOD is missing when on the isle of Slart. Buildings will appear (because of TES4LODGen generating them I guess) but the land won't display until it needs to draw the 'up close' terrain. I thought it might have been a fault with the mod, so left it alone for now (it is still installed).

 

Last night I decided to take my character to Sweetspring Island (a mod) and even though it was known to be working perfectly, it now suffers from the same problem as Slart island (distant land masses aren't drawn until I get close). I also noticed that a distant building was flashing pink, depending on the camera angle.

 

FWIW, I've tried loading games without Streamline working, vanilla Oblivion with no mods nor DLC, forcing a fresh .ini file, even renaming the Meshes folder to something else, but still this persistant problems remains. I'm thinking that nuking the directory and starting fresh might be the only option left.

 

I just can't for the life of me work out what is causing all these problems with distant terrain LOD, so am I better off spending an afternoon trying to completely uninstall Oblivion and making a fresh reinstall, and add my mods back in one by one? (I'd really rather not, but I'm beginning to think this is an unwanted necessity now).

 

Thanks.

[Vagrant0]

I'm posting this as I've still not got to the bottom of this problem, and in fact a new one has arisen.

 

I recently downloaded the Bartholm mod and found that distant LOD is missing when on the isle of Slart. Buildings will appear (because of TES4LODGen generating them I guess) but the land won't display until it needs to draw the 'up close' terrain. I thought it might have been a fault with the mod, so left it alone for now (it is still installed).

 

Last night I decided to take my character to Sweetspring Island (a mod) and even though it was known to be working perfectly, it now suffers from the same problem as Slart island (distant land masses aren't drawn until I get close). I also noticed that a distant building was flashing pink, depending on the camera angle.

 

FWIW, I've tried loading games without Streamline working, vanilla Oblivion with no mods nor DLC, forcing a fresh .ini file, even renaming the Meshes folder to something else, but still this persistant problems remains. I'm thinking that nuking the directory and starting fresh might be the only option left.

 

I just can't for the life of me work out what is causing all these problems with distant terrain LOD, so am I better off spending an afternoon trying to completely uninstall Oblivion and making a fresh reinstall, and add my mods back in one by one? (I'd really rather not, but I'm beginning to think this is an unwanted necessity now).

 

Thanks.

 

TES4LODgen doesn't do anything to the LOD meshes. That is something which is created in the CS with the mod active (requires much RAM and usually several attempts). As far as I know, there are no programs which create LOD meshes outside of the lower detail ones used in the CS.

 

Even if you re-generate the LOD meshes, you probably won't notice any improvements as the LOD mesh doesn't normally preserve minor things like trenches (why most vanilla roads are above the sorrounding terrain).

Bartholm might not have LOD meshes setup. Many earlier mods which add worldspaces don't due to how the game handles them in relation to the load order. If the worldspace wasn't "moved" into the 00 index using TES4Gecko, you won't be able to get LOD terrain models to work for that mod. You'd also probably have to generate these yourself.

[forli]

I have the same problem, but in the towns.

I have LOD of the houses and walls near my PG.

It happens when I come out from an interior.

 

 

 

After 1-2 minutes the LODs disappear

[Lolasho]

It happens something similar to me too. It loads in the distance, but when I walk to it, it disappears. I'm sure thats because the grid is modded, but I don't know why it happens to you with vanilla mode.

 

Maybe it's you have "See in the distance" activated. It didn't happen in my old computer because it couldn't load textures and meshes that are very far.

[lco1138]

Well I've backed up my \Data and \My Games\Oblivion folders, uninstalled Oblivion following Bben's guide he posted elsewhere, restarted the PC and used CCleaner to clean out Oblivion from the registry, reinstalled into an new directory (just disc 1 from the GotY edition, didn't bother installing KotN or Shivering Isles), setup the config and knocked up a quick toon, COC'd to Weye and waited for 8 hours when it became daylight, and I be buggered if I jumped into the Rumare and looked over to the IC, and the problem is STILL present, even from a clean game with a fresh .ini and no mods installed. The distant LOD is just horrendous and covers the lake's bottom in the distance.

 

*sigh*

 

So I started faffing around with my graphics card settings, but that's not doing jack either. No new hardware has been added, in fact the PC is the same as when the game was first installed. Oblivion worked well and looked great then, but something's gone amiss and it just looks terrible. Cyrodiil has this distant terrain issue, and some mods (like Slart on the Bartholm mod, and Sweetspring Island) no longer have the terrain drawn at the distance liked they used to before.

 

Think I'm just gonna have to give up with this, and move on to something else. I just don't have the patience anymore to spend more time fixing a game rather than playing it.

 

Thanks to everyone for your suggestions.