Talk:Creating a Custom Worldspace with LOD

Where is Source/TGATextures? Ub3rman123 03:18, 4 March 2012 (EST)

You have to create it yourself, along with converting all LOD textures to TGA. The Source/TGATextures folder should be outside of your Skyrim folder (for example, Steam/Steamapps/Common/Source/TGATextures). Then place the TGA textures in there with the correct folder structure.

--ElijahHouck 13:55, 4 March 2012 (EST)

Thanks! Next problem I'm having is converting the files to .TGA. I had the files unpacked already with FOMM's BSA unpacker, so I just copy-pasted them into TGATextures. I placed the nconvert.exe in the folder with the .dds files and made the notepad document, but it doesn't do anything and is still labeled as a .txt file rather than a .bat as I suspect it should be.

Also, as a side question: Is TESAnwynn necessary for LOD generation? I had already created the worldspace by hand prior to attempting to make the LOD. Ub3rman123 20:44, 4 March 2012 (EST)

Nope, TESAnwynn certainly isn't necessary. I can't answer your conversion question, I use a program called IrfanView for batch conversions.

I use Irfanview as well, but never noticed it had a batch conversion tool. I'll look into trying to use that in place of NConvert. Ub3rman123 08:15, 12 March 2012 (EDT)

The only problem I've found with Irfanview's batch conversion is that it doesn't preserve transparency when converting to .TGA. It may be an option I'm missing, but as it is I have to go back and manually reinsert the textures into the object LOD .dds, otherwise it ends up with large black portions where transparency once was.

Someone, somewhere must know how to create a NON-Custom worldspace using the LOD from the parent area. I can't find information anywhere on actually using the Creation Kit's worldspace functionality to make a worldspace based on a parent cell area. Every tutorial is based on making something completely new, not on taking an area in Skyrim and basing a worldspace on that (Like Whiterun is based on the parent terrain of it's surroundings and thus you can see the mountains and such when you look out over the walls) - At the very least, someone should write a tutorial on how to do this, maybe with a small keep that has it's own worldspace but uses the LOD of the parent area so you can look out over the walls and see what's around it. RedwoodElf 14:05, 18 March 2012 (EDT)

It's actually quite simple. After you set your worldspace, which we'll call ChildSpace, as the child of Tamriel, you simply pick where you want your area to be and go to work. Say you want your new keep to be partially situated in cell coordinates (2, 7) in Tamriel, you would simply load ChildSpace and type 2 and 7 into the coordinate boxes, then begin work building your city. LOD is handled automatically (it simply uses the existing Tamriel meshes/textures), and make sure you set your worldspace to be a "Small Worldspace" so that it loads more efficiently. When you set it as a small worldspace, Only the cells that have objects are loaded- the rest are loaded as LOD. This is very useful for cities and whatnot.

--ElijahHouck 13:51, 19 March 2012 (EDT)

Do the files created by Oscape go to the right area in Skyrim's Data directory once you hit Install as long as the Data folder is selected? Where are they? Ub3rman123 11:05, 15 April 2012 (EDT)

Next problem I'm having is that when I try to generate objects through the CK, I get this error on pressing 'Generate' (I already converted to TGA)

LOD diffuse texture '..\Source\TGATextures\lod\MtnPeak02LOD.tga' and normal texture '..\Source\TGATextures\lod\MtnPeak02LOD_n.tga' are not the same size (but should be).

I checked the files in my Source\TGATextures folder and they are the same size. Ub3rman123 12:25, 15 April 2012 (EDT)

That means you have to put your dds+tga texture files into ..\Source\TGATextures\lod\ folder and not into ..\Source\TGATextures\textures\lod\ or just ..\Source\TGATextures\

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== Terrain LOD ==

"I'm having trouble with LOD generation. When I try to generate terrain LOD with the CK, my terrain becomes totally flat and the LOD is purple. I tried with Oscape, but the program doesn't seem to find my Skyrim plug-ins. Any idea how to fix my problem?" (Unsigned)

FR dZastrXI read a lot of things about this purple problem ; you might try these 3 topics :

[1] [2] [3]

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== Tree LOD ==

...For 100% custom animated trees with animated colliders, LOD, scripts, etc... Have a look here : http://www.darkcreations.org/forums/topic/4249-100-custom-tree-pyandonean-islands-tuto02

"So if I just click generate for the trees then it should put everything where it belongs, right? Because I have done that but trees still won't appear beyond the current loaded cells either in game or in the CK. The CK confirms the creation of 1000s of LODs for the trees but they still don't show in the distance..." (Unsigned)

FR dZastrX 2013-05-17T09:09:47

1. You should unpack the .NIF files for the trees you are using in your new/modified WorldSpace :

Vanilla trees are stored in Data\meshes\Landscape\Trees The same way, you should unpack the needed textures : Vanilla ones will be in both : Data\textures\terrain\ and Data\textures\landscape\trees Note: You can use custom directories if you have your own custom trees.

2. The .NIF file for the tree itself should always have a paired .NIF file with "_lod_flat.nif" suffix :

For example, treepineforest01.nif + treepineforest01_lod_flat.nif Opening this file with Nifscope you'll see a simple crossed Dual-Planes textured with a full feet-to-cap tree texture : For the treepineforest01_lod_flat.nif, the texture used is : textures\terrain\tamriel\trees\TamrielTreeLOD.dds Bethesda used a single texture for all their far away trees, and then different UVsets for the lod_flat NIF meshes itselves.

3. ( ONLY FOR CUSTOM TREES: ) Let's say you have a custom myCustomTree.nif file tree :

Copy the template treepineforest01_lod_flat.nif and rename it myCustomTree_lod_flat.nif ; place it in the same folder as myCustomTree.nif itself. Now, make a texture including a picture of your tree ( you might make a screenshot of the whole full tree and then crop it with an alpha map ) Name this texture : myWorldSpaceNameTreeLod.dds (DXT3, 1024x1024, 11 mipmaps) and place it in your directory : Data\textures\Terrain\myWorldSpaceName\Trees Create a normal map with the name : myWorldSpaceNameTreeLod_n.dds in this same directory. Now, in your myCustomTree_lod_flat.nif, with Nifskope, edit the texture path to point to your textures ; change the UVset if needed so it fit your texture. The way you prepare your myMeshName_lod_flat.nif does not change anything EXCEPT the UVsets. It means, you can't choose neither the 3D shape of the LOD, nor if it has Alpha, nor even the texture which MUST be one-only by worldspace ( with standard naming convention ). While generating the Tree-LODs of a worldspace, these files will only be useful by the CK for the NiTriShapeData UVsets. This means basically you should make a big Texture file with empty parts in case you would like to add some day new tree species - otherwise you'll have to change later these UV sets for each lod_flat file...

4. Finally, open the Creation Kit, and then WORLD > WORLD LOD > choose your worldspace > tick the "Tree" check > GENERATE

you should now have a .LST file and a .BTT files created for each found tree in : Data\meshes\Terrain\myWorldSpaceName\Trees If you have not placed the right meshes, and textures at the right places and with the right names as explained in 1. 2. & 3., these .BTT files will be unuseful : You'll still have a pop-in-and-out of your trees. Otherwise, you'll have the nice surprise to see your trees even very far of there ! :D

5. Big worldspaces ( 32x32 or more ) might be bugged ( "wall of trees lod bug" ) unless you do one of this two things :

- Generating the LODs from an .esm file instead of an .esp - Using TES5Edit last beta release to apply on your plugin the script "LOD tree patcher", once LODs generated.

6. You might consider also the possibility to tick the check "is full LOD" on a reference placed in your cell. This one will always be visible.

This way, I did a few very low-poly activators spawning trees at the very last moment thanks to Papyrus scripts : A little bit more heavy than the engine LOD, but it allows me to switch between different trees ( more or less animated according to the weather for example ) Ticking "Is Full LOD" on a reference only works if the base-object has a computed LOD for its kindness : If you generated trees LODS and tick the check for one of the tree, its "Full-LOD" will override its "standard flat LOD" ; if you tick "Is Full LOD" for statics, you'll have to generate Objects LOD - And, even if you ticked the "Has Tree LOD" on the static object, a Tree-LOD generation won't allow the "Is Full LOD" part...

7. You might also consider there is an “Has Tree LOD” check on base objects such as Statics or even Activators.

"Has Tree LOD" is really acting to allow any kind of object to have a tree LOD. It requests you to prepare the things the same way as you would with a real tree : You must join a myMeshName_lod_flat.nif file working the same way as the usual _lod_flat.nif other files.

--FR dZastrX (talk) 2013-05-17T12:15:20 (EDT)

TESAnnwyn and Integration

First off, forgive me if I break the style somewhere: I'm totally new to the wiki. This guide is somewhat broken to me, and it's a task I don't know how to perform. So, I'm looking for some help. How do I create the Heightmap that is "16 bit grayscale with no headers and IBM ordering?" I tried to create a heightmap and export it in CK (as suggested by the Heightmap page on this wiki), but that just made TESAnnwyn crash. In addition to that, once TESAnnwyn.esp is created how do I connect it to my mod? Again, I referenced the "merging mod" resources here and found little help.

I've attempted scouring Google, but found little to nothing, and few references to TESAnnwyn whatsoever. I would appreciate any help. I really want to get a worldspace working. -Sean D