HELP - graphical mods & LOD

[SgtPow3rs]

Hi,

Recently I installed Skyrim SE for the first time on pc, ofcourse because of the mods. I tried some but I i'm not really satisfied with the results.

I'm happy with the ENB (Cinematic Film Looks), but I need a nice combination of trees, grass, terrain etc. textures. One of the problems I now have is that especially terrain is not really detailed in the distance.

Is there an easy setup to get nice results? Nice trees, grass, terrain, textures for roads, buildings etc, and not an distracting bad LOD.

My pc specs are Ryzen 5 3600 - GTX 1070, I can't go crazy as you see.

[SgtPow3rs]

Is there anything I could tweak for better performance? Different tree/grass/texture mods? Then I can add DynDOLOD again.

[Vlad 254]

Originally posted by SgtPow3rs:

Is there anything I could tweak for better performance? Different tree/grass/texture mods? Then I can add DynDOLOD again.

First thing you should do is read everything T4gtr34um3r took the time to write in his read me text regarding Majestic Mountains and how to get the best results with landscape, snow, and DyndoLOD. He's also the creator of Blended Roads. You'll learn alot and your game will look great.

Edit, this includes the "DOCS" tab on the mod page and his PINNED notes in the comment section.

He's currently working on the mod diligently to achieve his vision for it. He's not with Cathedral anymore so he's back to developing the mod as he always intended. This means in the long run it will require less attention. But the mod is by far the best Mountain mod out there imho so for now, until he's finished & released this current update he gave us many tweaks to implement.

[SgtPow3rs]

I have read it, but Majestic Mountains works fine, had no problems with it. What I'll have to do now is find nice but lightweight textures mods, grass, trees, etc, to hold stable fps, and then I can add DynDOLOD.

[SgtPow3rs]

So any advice according to my list? Is the Skyrim 2020 texture pack maybe too heavy? Someone suggested "Enhanced Landscapes" but when I read the performance part; "is not a performance friendly mod". Lol im too scared to use it or do changes.

[Misuune]

Skyrim 2020 isn't heavy at all. You can freely play on 4-2k pack with little problems to no problems. The mods that tank framerate are the ones that add objects like trees and other things around the world.

Enhanced Landscapes does affect the performance, but I wouldn't use it myself.

[StreamWhenGuy]

Originally posted by SgtPow3rs:

So any advice according to my list? Is the Skyrim 2020 texture pack maybe too heavy? Someone suggested "Enhanced Landscapes" but when I read the performance part; "is not a performance friendly mod". Lol im too scared to use it or do changes.

I can only suggest what I use and how I tweaked it. Scratch Skyrim 3D Trees and Plants as well as Veydosebrom. Install EVT - Enhanced Vanilla Trees and its billboards. Install some lightweight grass mod, I personally like Northern Grass. In the Skyrim.ini file I'd suggest to tweak iMinGrassSize no lower than 60 or 70. Now I'm not sure about all those LOD mods, I'm happy with only HD LOD Textures - Performance Friendly. You're gonna generate your own terrain and distant LODs anyway. Also grab Landscape Fixes For Grass Mods and its patch for JK's Skyrim. Grab and use BethINI to organize your *.ini files. It's awesome.

Install SSELODGen and DynDOLOD (DynDOLOD comes with TexGen). Don't forget about DynDOLOD Resources. Find and open DynDOLOD_SSE.ini and change TreeLOD=1 to TreeLOD=0. This is my SSELODGen, TexGen and DynDOLOD settings:
https://imgur.com/a/YeVsiCK
Click on Medium preset in DynDOLOD. High is rather heavy. You can raise LOD texture size in both SSELODGen and TexGen, but I decided to leave it at 256.

Run SSELODGen, generate terrain LOD, pack and install the archive, or just install it, or activate it, or however it works in Vortex. Generated files must be installed and activated before proceeding to the next step.
Run TexGen, generate the files, install them.
Run DynDOLOD. You know the drill. Might take some time.
You can disable Enhanced Vanilla Trees Billboards now if you want, but do not disable DynDOLOD Resources. If installed correctly, there should be a message "DynDOLOD Successfully Initialized" in the left top corner, but only if SkyUI is installed if I'm not mistaken.

Keep in mind that the more NPCs you add to the game, the more resources it takes to process their AI. Same goes for everything that adds more polygons to the scene, so everything 3D and high poly will eat up performance. And ofc ENB, even with a few features activated it might cost you some FPS. With a good weather and lighting mod you can scratch ENB entirely if you want stable framerate.
Seems like a lot of scary words and steps, but it really isn't. Have fun modding.

[SgtPow3rs]

To be honest, I havent changed anything of that list I posted earlier. The 2020 Skyrim, Veydosebrom and Skyrdim 3D Trees and Plants go really good together. The LOD looks good to me, even without DynDOLOD or SSELODGen. I have a stable 55-60fps.

In Whiterun, with all these added npc's, everything remains stable, no fps drops or anything. I'm quite happy with this set up and it looks really good :)

I can't unfortunately share any photo links here, otherwise I could have shown some in-game shots. For the time being I wont change anything, for now I'm really happy with this set up. The only mods I would add are immersive mods to really create a new and realistic Skyrim like it should have been.

[Alstack]

You have reached Skyrim Nirvana. When we add mods, making Skyrim into what we envision and like "Presto Changeo" We play the game from our point of view and it needs to fit our vision.

Kudos to all the mad authors who do the heavy lifting.

Glad you have found a stable visual world you like. I know I have!

[Doom Sayer]

Originally posted by SgtPow3rs:

Originally posted by matt:

The STEP Guide[stepmodifications.org] can help with some of this stuff. It assumes you're using a specific set of recommended mods, most of which I'm not using. However, it was still helpful in figuring out a few things.

DynDOLOD is easier and more powerful than SSELODGEN, and they mostly do the same thing. However, DynDOLOD doesn't do terrain LOD. Most of what you see in the far distance is object LOD, though: mountains, windmills, towns, waterfalls -- all that stuff is object LOD.

In general, though, you need to read a lot of documentation. Trying to get past the jargon is frustrating, but this is actually the hardest part. Once you understand the difference between "terrain LOD" and "object LOD", you're already halfway done.

Thanks, matt. DynDOLOD worked, but I noticed some fps loss :( Maybe the combination of enb, texture and DynDOLOD together is too much for my 1070. I should use lightweight mods instead?

There are ways of managing it. Try editing Dynalod settings ingame for fps boost. There is also:
-Engines Fixes
-SSE Display Tweaks
-Bug Fixes SSE
-SSE Fps Stabilizer
-Lightened Skyrim
-Grass Control

Also try disabling enb ssao or turning off some of the ssao's quality settings. Some of these could have technical issues idk?

[SgtPow3rs]

Thanks for the advice, Doom Sayer, but everything works fine now. Although I have a problem now I would like to fix ;p

I installed and later removed Immersive Armors, some NPC's are now naked. Is there really no way to fix this? I didn't know ofcourse I couldnt do this because I saw no warning on the main page of this mod. Ulfberth War Bear and a mercenary in Whiterun are naked now :(

And my savegames before this mod are gone.

-nvm, fixed it with console > resurrect

[smr1957]

SgtPow3rs, your save is borked, I am sorry to say. You need to do one of two things - either reinstall immersive armors and roll back to the last save before you uninstalled it (when it was still installed), or, if you wish to keep it uninstalled, you need to roll back to a save made prior to installing it. If none is available, you will need to start a new game. Immersive armors adds custom assets to the game, as well as changing the leveled list and using some scripts - all this is baked into the save and CANNOT be removed. There are NO other options. For full information on this, see:
You CANNOT Remove Mods Mid-Playthrough - http://steamcommunity.com/app/489830/discussions/0/1520386297681801135/
(from PINNED TOPIC Helpful Links and References, Section 5, General Troubleshooting)

Also, the console should NOT be used, unless you are absolutely sure it is a safe command - and resurrect is not - though you probably lucked out in this instance since they were still alive. If they had not been, you would have borked your already borked save even further (not that it would have mattered, as uninstalling IA was enough to bork it completely). Read the following for more info regarding console commands:
Regarding Use of Console Commands
https://steamcommunity.com/app/489830/discussions/0/1741094390481488350/
(also from PINNED TOPIC Helpful Links and References, Section 5, General Troubleshooting)

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but that's just the way it is.

[SgtPow3rs]

Oh man, haha, I f*ked up then.

I have no save files anymore without or with the Immersive Armor mod, I can't go back. Second, I saw 2 NPC's, a merchanry and the armor sales man, in Whiterun without armor, so I 'fixed' this with console > resurrect. Both wear armor again. Even everything looks ok again, this isn't a proper fix? ... my only option now is a new game?

[smr1957]

Unfortunately, no, it it not - for the reasons I outlined and as described in the linked topic. I'm afraid you'll just have to put this down as a learning experience - and from now on, save frequently and make them manual saves - not auto or quick saves, as those are constantly replaced each time a new auto or quick save is made.

[SgtPow3rs]

Lessons learned... started a new game. No big deal, wasn't that far in.

[smr1957]

Good luck and enjoy!