OK, so it always bugged me that the top of the Dawnstar Lighthouse wasn't visible at a distance - not a very useful lighthouse if you don't see it until you've collided with it. So I set out to do a simple plugin that gave the top full LOD. While I was at it, I decided to add a storey and make it seem a little more grand. So, I load up and see that 1) the base remains visible, and now the top is visible also. 2) My new middle is not visible until you get very close up, leaving the top mysteriously hovering. So, I go in, make sure that the middle parts, which are mostly identical to the base parts, have full LOD ticked on. I check again with a clean save, and discover that the middle is still not visible at a distance, and also not visible close up! I can still climb on it and bump into it, but it just won't appear.

I know there's some bugginess with LOD, but anyone have any advice on what to try to get the middle layer to appear?

I've noticed this problem as well for a custom house mod I've been working on. I haven't been able to actually assign LOD meshes for each of the levels, because I don't know how to find the game's original mesh files, but I check the High Detail LOD Texture box in the 'Static' dialog box. If you ever find a fix, please post it! Thanks!

My problem isn't just that the LOD meshes aren't showing up, the regular meshes aren't showing up either when you're right next it, as well.

are the objects visible in the creation kit before you save? if not try selecting the render window and pressing f5 before saving your esp. i read somewhere on here that it makes hidden object show up (it takes a few seconds so be patient).

ive been doing it before saving my mod since hearing about it, and my house hasnt disappeared once since.

it may not work, but its worth a try.

Everything's showing up fine in the CK. Since it's a simple mod, I tried building it again from scratch. Same issue.

CK = everything visible
pieces NOT ticked full LOD = invisible distant, visible close up
pieces ticked full LOD = invisible distant AND invisible close up

The original lighthouse top that did not have LOD in vanilla incidentally IS visible both distant and close up with full LOD ticked, both in its original position and raised one storey up to make room for the new pieces. It's the new exterior pieces that are causing issues - and these are the same types of pieces that make up the original lighthouse base that show up with LOD in vanilla even though those pieces aren't ticked! I'm so confused. I'm probably neglecting to do something, but I can't figure out what.

I've seen this, I tried to use DweFacades for my house (it should be visible outside Whiterun), without full LOD it would vanish 2 or 3 cells away. I see the quick fix in the wiki and use Full LOD, now they were just invisible. I could walk on them but not see them. I couldn't get to my door so I COC to the interior and exited. Once outside I could see my DweFacades again even 3 or more cells away. But that's not a fix, new users to my mod shouldn't do that to fix it so I'll just wait for a work around or true fix.

Edit: I noticed that the CliffRocks I placed worked just fine I didn't have to do anything to them it was just the facades.

I know in some cases, certain statics don't have an equivalent LOD mesh. I think this is true for many interior pieces. So, what's flabbergasting me is that I'm using pieces that plainly have LOD meshes because I see them in game. But somehow the copies of those pieces want to play by different rules. It's probably a bug, but I'd like to know if there's a work around.

May be the item doesnt have custom lods made?

a lot of the very far distance LOD's are actually built into the terrain. when you see a mountain in the distance several miles away, the model you are looking at is actually the world map itself, not an individual LOD mesh of the mountain static.

likewise, when you bring up the world map, you can physically see the landmarks on the surface (all major cities, large landmarks and towers etc)

Weird... I thought Full LOD was the "fix" for disappearing objects o_O.

Could it be that it's thinking this particular mesh is now an LOD mesh with no actual close up one? I guess you could try putting two of the same object in exactly the same space then setting one to Full LOD then the other to not. I'm curious as to whether that would mean they'd 'swap' over once you got within range.

Coming back to this mod after a couple months, and hoping a solution has been found. Without LOD checked, the new middle storey is only visible close up. With LOD checked, the middle storey is invisible distant AND close up. Really confusing. It's almost as if it's a "void space" in that part of the world, since the new storey occupies the same space as the top of the lighthouse that isn't visible in vanilla. And the original top, which is invisible distantly in the vanilla game, shows up fine when moved a storey up.

As far as I know, Full LOD shouldn't be used for buildings located on the Tamriel world space, because it's forcing the item to show and could cause hardware performance issues.

I read that there's a weird bug causing only the developer to see the building dissapear. After knowing about this, I emulated what an user would get: just the BSA and the ESP, so I moved scripts and other files created by the CK outside, and indeed the building showed correctly. Also, a couple CTDs reported (that I didn't experience) were also fixed.

Also, keep in mind that there's a far distance map, low quality, with low quality texture buildings (you can see all this buildings in the CK because they are just a duplicate of the normal building but adding "LOD" at the end of the name). In this map you should place your low quality building. The other one should be on the normal Tamriel world space with full LOD checkbox not marked.

Hope this helps.

When you change a building, you have to generate new object LOD meshes if you want the new shape and height to show up at a distance. The game just reads the existing meshes and textures and applies them as LOD. The game will not read if the object has it's own LOD meshes or not. Those LOD meshes are used by the object LOD generator to create new LOD meshes for the different cells, and those meshes are what the game looks for.

Your scenario makes sense. If the original LOD had no top showing, it will remain like that. You have put a new top higher up on the building and that's why it's floating. It's on top of the original 'invisible top' that is still invisible.

Actually, I moved the invisible top up, and that piece is now visible distant without having to check LOD. I added a new middle level which is essentially a copy of the already visible bottom (it's the archway pieces without the walls, so it's more open). It's this new level that is invisible. So it's not the piece, but the location, apparently. Not checking LOD makes it invisible distant, but visible close up. Checking LOD makes it invisible BOTH distant and close up, which is just wacky.

I other words, the old pieces that i MOVED are suddenly visible, but the new pieces that I place in that location are now invisible. It's as if the space is bugged rather than the pieces.

This particular mod at this point is only an esp, so I'm not sure how i would be able to test Katixa's hypothesis.

Here are some screens.

[img]http://static.skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/images/10205-1-1336508648.jpg[/img]

Note that the arch pieces are the SAME pieces that are used to make up the base which was distantly visible even in vanilla.