Is qarl's LOD normals what most people use?

Most people don't use any LOD mods, the default view has been good enough since the last patch came out.

I think I vaguely understand what LOD is (yeah, I've read the dev_akm site), but how is it related to noise? And is HTF's noise replacer currently the standard?

There are people more qualified to answer this, so I won't even try. :shakehead:

I will recommend some reading;

http://devnull.sweetdanger.net/totoworld.html

and point you to some mods I have used, though I haven't yet tested them up against each other for performance;

Really Almost Everything Viewable When Distant
http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=20053

Optimised Distant Land MAX
http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=15278

Further, if you want to learn the deep-magic of modding, read;
http://sites.google.com/site/oblivionpoinfo/index

I'm still learning about generating and optimizing lod files myself... I'm going to try not using anyone's lod mod, but instead generate and optimize lod files based on the mods I have installed, that way I can control what I see and what I don't and can be certain that I will have no conflicts (at least none that I didn't create myself). :unsure:

After that I still plan to look for better versions of lod files from the existing mods and use them if they are better than mine... or use the tricks that were used to make theirs better, if I can figure them out... :banghead:

I'll document my efforts when I do, mostly to amuse the people who already know how to do all this. :ahhh: