Better Cities Modularity

[Vorians]

1: I use all the cities merged.

 

2: I use modular BCIC because I have 300 Arcane University and Dirtier Waterfront, which I vastly prefer to the BC versions (sorry guys).

 

Hearing about OBC making a comeback is kinda cool; I used to use it, but the FPS hit/crashing problems made me give up and go to straight Better Cities. I've found that a short load time at the gates isn't that immersion-breaking, and it's definitely worth the stability.

 

300 Arcane University didn't appeal to either Ismelda or myself, we all have different tastes :) As for the Waterfront, it's going to be changing again soon, perhaps you'll like the next upgrade it receives.

 

@ Vorians: You are correct, the question is relevant. Tell you what....I am away from home right now, but when I return I on Monday will test it to find out. Using console cheats I will place my character on a section of wall and find out how well he can be seen from various points. I am already willing to concede the point that Ismelda and yourself may very well be right on the visibility issue.

 

I do have a habit of getting little ideas and running full steam ahead with them :tongue: . But testing the theory can't hurt. As previously stated I look forward to any additions you do choose to make. On another note it's sad to see the relatively low number of posts on here. Would have thought such a popular mod would receive many more responses.

 

It's votes in the poll we're more interested in than posts, and 101 votes so far is fairly good, although Ismelda did want 1000.

[Mortrix927]

Would it be possible to put it in like a omod package, with the whole thing and then the player could check off the parts they want to play with?

[GingerTom]

Regards response to your poll: Remember the rule of 200.

 

For every vote (for or against) there are two hundred people that agree but don't bother to click. (I voted--with the majority.)

[Vorians]

Would it be possible to put it in like a omod package, with the whole thing and then the player could check off the parts they want to play with?

 

It's already offered as OMOD-ready, complete with OMOD install scripts.

[a4nic8er]

While I predominantly use the Unified\Full Cities & IC (less .esps), I do very much like the option to use modular apects if and when working out compatiblity issues and fiddling around with other mods, especially quests.

 

While you cover a large number of these (including all the major ones) I do not expect full compatibility with all mods, so I like having the fall-back options that modularity offers.

[mhahn123]

@ Vorians: Regarding wall archers idea. After testing I must humbly submit that only a very few areas are easily visible. In a vanilla game the idea might still work (and even then visibility is limited), but who uses the IC in that form anyway? For all intents and purposes it is not a useful idea in conjunction with BCs elevated buildings, increased foliage, etc.

 

But hey, thanks for humoring me and listening to some of the more reasonable ideas. Look forward to the next update.

[onra]

installed and playtested the latest vesion of BBC last weekend and have to say I am impressed again by the many improvments that have been made..the draw bridge for example is a fantastic addition :-) ...however there are two things I really would like to see improved or added...

 

one thing is a better VWD system which could improve FPS rates a lot ...

 

instead of using the normal house statics and placing them in the tamriel worldspace, I would create unique lod statics ....

 

for example you place house xy (using the housexy nif) as a lod house in Anvil (Tamriel ws).... to have this house vwd you create a housexy_far nif ...running TES4LodGen creates lod data of this house now for all ws and locations where it is placed.... so you have house xy in the tamriel ws including lod data and as well in the anvil ws including lod data..further on lod data for all this houses placed by other mods in all kind of ws...end of the story is mostly a slowdown near such cities especially when used together with other mods...so what I would suggest is to create unique lod statics and place them in the cities (tamriel ws)..these can be simply renamed copies of the reduced _far nifs...back to our example this would mean you place housexylod and to make it vwd you create a _far nif called housexylod_far...both are reduced nifs...running now TES4Lodgen will only create data for the tamriel ws and only for this location...sounds a bit complicated but works perfectly and really improves FPS....

 

 

the other thing..and this is more a personal question of taste..(I prefer usually a more dark atmosphere)..so... :unsure: it would be cool if I could toggle some of the flowers on/off..especially the pink ones :nuke: :laugh:

 

cheers and thx again for the amazing work

 

.

[Vorians]

installed and playtested the latest vesion of BBC last weekend and have to say I am impressed again by the many improvments that have been made..the draw bridge for example is a fantastic addition :-) ...however there are two things I really would like to see improved or added...

 

one thing is a better VWD system which could improve FPS rates a lot ...

 

instead of using the normal house statics and placing them in the tamriel worldspace, I would create unique lod statics ....

 

for example you place house xy (using the housexy nif) as a lod house in Anvil (Tamriel ws).... to have this house vwd you create a housexy_far nif ...running TES4LodGen creates lod data of this house now for all ws and locations where it is placed.... so you have house xy in the tamriel ws including lod data and as well in the anvil ws including lod data..further on lod data for all this houses placed by other mods in all kind of ws...end of the story is mostly a slowdown near such cities especially when used together with other mods...so what I would suggest is to create unique lod statics and place them in the cities (tamriel ws)..these can be simply renamed copies of the reduced _far nifs...back to our example this would mean you place housexylod and to make it vwd you create a _far nif called housexylod_far...both are reduced nifs...running now TES4Lodgen will only create data for the tamriel ws and only for this location...sounds a bit complicated but works perfectly and really improves FPS....

 

 

the other thing..and this is more a personal question of taste..(I prefer usually a more dark atmosphere)..so... :unsure: it would be cool if I could toggle some of the flowers on/off..especially the pink ones :nuke: :laugh:

 

cheers and thx again for the amazing work

 

.

 

It's great that someone has found the Leyawiin harbour drawbridge!

 

As for your LOD suggestion, I have no idea what you just said. It seemed like you were suggesting we do what we're already doing instead of what we're doing now! Could you explain that again, but with more detail?

[onra]

for example ....

 

Better Cities places the BravilMagesGuild01 in cell wilderness 15,-9 (Bravil, Tamriel ws) as a lod building. To make this building vwd you provide a reduced _far nif ....

 

running tes4lodgen creates lod data for this building for the tamriel ws but also for the Bravil ws as this building is placed in both ws...

 

the point is now...the _far nif has been reduced (removed collision data etc ) but the building you have placed as a lod building in the tamriel ws uses a not reduced

 

mesh ....you could create and place instead a BravilMagesGuildLod building using a reduced mesh (BravilMagesGuildLod.nif) ...for vwd you would have to create of

 

course a BravilMagesGuildLod_far nif....

 

this would improve the performance in the tamriel worldspace especially close to the cities as all placed lod buildings within the city walls would use reduced

 

meshes...and I guess it would also improve performance in the city ws as lod data for this buildings would only be generated for the tamriel worldspace....

 

maybe have a look at Fort Akatosh Redux I created the VWD pack for it this way and it really helped a lot....

[Vorians]

Well due to OBC integration, the meshes in the Tamriel worldspace will need to remain unreduced. However if VWD of objects from the child worldspaces also appears in the parent worldspace, thus duplicating every VWD building in the Tamriel worldspace (something I was unaware of), then the meshes used in the Tamriel worldspace could be unreduced duplicates of the original buildings, but with no corresponding _far mesh.