How to create an LOD Object?

[jcdenton2012]

So, quick question. Um... let's suppose for a brief second that I built a massive space station and want to give it an LOD. Since the objects used to build it don't have LOD objects, how can I create one big ol' LOD object out of the static collection mesh for this space station? If this is a port into blender thingy... well probably not going to happen, but... if there is a practical solution to this then I could really use it.

[mindboggles]

What you need to do is make low poly versions of the objects and they become the meshes that get grouped together for your LODs. You need to make sure each one is UV mapped within the UV Tile and they have the same name as each object but with _LOD as the suffix, also put them in the same folder. Your LOD meshes also need to be pointed to use your LOD textures which again require you to make lower res versions of your textures which use _LOD and _LOD_n as suffix.

 

In the GECK your objects need to have "Visible When Distant" checked (on the base object). You should then be able to follower LOD generation proceedures either in the GECK (with tga textures) or through Zilav's tool where dds will work.

 

One problem you might have is if you have too many objects in a LOD quad (4 x 4 cell) as there is a limit to the amount that can get packed into a single LOD nif. I know if you use the GECK to generate and you have too many it will just drop some.