LE Worldspace size and LOD issues

[icecreamassassin]

So I have done LOD successfully in the past but it has been so long I am now having to relearn it and I'm getting stuck. I have the landscape LOD and textures working fine but I cannot for the life of me get tree LOD or object LOD to work. I've generated both in the CK (one at a time) and I get nothing, no tree or object folders in the terrain folder. In game the objects just pop in out of nowhere.

 

I read something that worldspaces must be square and in intervals of 16 or 32 but this worldspace which was started by another author, is like -32, -28 X 32, 28 or something along those lines, I'm not even sure of that.

 

How can I resize the worldspace? and is this most likely the cause of my tree and object LOD not working? I have all the LOD models and textures unpacked.

 

Also while I'm on the topic, I couldn't find any info about it anywhere, but how can I get LOD for my custom meshes? I assume there is more to it than simply adding a folder in the LOD meshes with a copy of the mesh with _LOD added to the end of the file name right?

 

And lastly, This land mass is an island and I'm uncertain about how to project the water out to the horizon. Someone recommended simply extending the worldspace to it's max -64, 64 size but is that the best way to do it?

 

Thanks a bunch

[Di0nysys]

LODgen is a lot faster if you do it in Xlodgen(Tes5LodGen). Just make sure any objects you're using have lod objects for them, and have billboards for any tree assets you might be using. Most tree resources on Nexus have tree billboard assets now.

Land size is not a factor when generating Object or Land LOD. It can look weird if it's sized abnormally (32x20 for eg), but it doesn't prevent it from being generated. To extend world size, open up the regions tab and create a region between -64, -64 and 64, 64. I also recommend you generate land LOD with Oscape as it offers a wider range of options (higher quality, mesh size/ fidelity, etc).

Creating LOD for custom objects requires a tool like 3DSmax or Blender. Personally i use Max.
In 3dsmax, import your custom nif, apply a ProOptimizer modifier to it.

It will look something like this:

 

Keep the object's original material when optimizing otherwise you'd have to rebuild UV.

Then scroll up and select the decimation level. I usually start at 70% and start dropping down till the object's shape starts to deteriorate beyond an acceptable level.


Finally export your model with the following settings.



After taking care of the mesh, you'll have to get the object's textures and resize them to 256x256. This can be done in anything from Paint.net to Photoshop. After re-saving the reduced dds's, go into your exported object LOD's and replace the HD textures with LOD textures you just made.

Once you're done with that, go into CK, go into the Static's base, and check "Has Distant LOD".
Then go into "Specify Distant LOD Meshes". Point it at your LOD's and propagate L0. Then uncheck level 2 and 3 (usually unnecessary unless you want to render a world landmark, or mountain).

Finally, go into TES5LODgen, after having generated the LODSettings file named after your worldspace, check your worldspace name in the dialogue. I usually uncheck Vertex Coloring and Tangents to save on processing, and due to it's negligible effect on visuals.


Once you're set, hit generate and you're done.

Lemme know if you need anything else.

[icecreamassassin]

Hey thanks a ton for your reply.

 

Had not noticed that TES5lodGen had been released, that is such a useful tool and simply running it solved my tree LOD issue, so thanks.

 

I've made literally thousands of static forms in my mod and never once noticed the LOD path option durrrrr, :P thanks again. Now I have the awful task having to set up models or point to vanilla ones for hundreds of static objects, fun fun.

 

Also I do use Oscape for land gen, and that part looks great, just the water is an issue as it falls off suddenly but I suspect that has to do with the region boarders?

 

The only thing in your reply I couldn't figure out was: "To extend world size, open up the regions tab and create a region between -64, -64 and 64, 64." I go to World->Regions but there is no area to set the size in any of the region entries. My map goes from -37, 19 to 37, -20 when you set the cursor in the far corners. I presume you are meaning that I have to have a region entry with the entire field bordered in? How do I get that field to the size of -64,-64 x 64, 64 ?

 

Thanks for all your help.

[agerweb]

I have several worldspaces that are definately square and have all the cells from -32,-32 to 32, 32 but Oscape reports -32,-32,28,28 so don't go by that. Check in the TesVEdit to see if you have all the cells in whatever the square should be.

 

I have never understood how to expand the worldspace size in the region editor either, because my map only goes up to the same as you found. Would like to know though.

[icecreamassassin]

ok, well the cell data where I actually have content showing in the region tab is all within 18 -18, and that's all that shows, everything outside that is black, but I assume I need to extend something in order for the water to LOD properly. As it is now, it drops off

 

http://imgur.com/7gZob8M

 

The coords are the top left green square

[icecreamassassin]

Ok, I think I'm seeing. I need to expand the red boarders out a bit and regenerate the distant land/water LOD. trying that now.

 

Only other issue would be how to expand the actual map. as it stands my map couldn't go to -64, 63. Not that it need it but would be nice to know how to resize it.

[Di0nysys]

Dunno if u've used the region editor before. But basically you have to create a new region.
Just go into your WorldspaceName from the drop down menu (in Regions), and then create a new region, name it something.

In the map, the way you create a region is simply by placing X's on it that connect to form shapes.
So go to point 64, 64 on the coordinate map, and create a point there, then move to the corresponding point (64, -64) and create a point there, then to -64, -64, then to -64, 64. This way you'll get a square world.

Hit apply and the CK will create those areas for u.

[icecreamassassin]

That's just the thing, the map region viewer doesn't show -64, 64 in the top left corner it shows -39, 20 so I'm just not sure how to open up the worldspace to have the extra space available. Do I need to perhaps go in CK and just move north to spawn more cells?

[agerweb]

That's also my question, how do you get up to 64 in the region editor.

 

You can do it manually in the CK but you have to be really careful as you can easliy end up with with extra cells on the edges then you have to snip em off with TesVEdit, it's a real pain.

[icecreamassassin]

Yeah if I could get like 4 more cells in all directions I'd be happy. I'm just trying to make sure that water renders far enough out that you don't see the edges of it.