As the title states, I would like to create a set of high resolution Landscape LODs. But there's more to it than that and the devil, as they say, is in the details.

As prelude to what follows please bear in mind that I am a total modding ignoramus. I've never even installed CS. The most I've ever done to modify an existing mod is open its esp in TES4edit and switch horses to not perform corpse checks (and also slow down an overly fast horse). But that's TES4edit and nothing to do with CS.

I currently use http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=18497 (converted into a BAIN package) as my LandscapeLODs of choice. http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn303/Decrepit_Waste/ESIV%20Oblivion/ImpIslePanorama1.jpg. Its 2048x2048 borderland LODs aren't shabby either. I've tried a variety of lower resolution LandscapeLOD packs. They're nice in their way, but I find myself returning to "4096X4096 Normal Map-2048X2048 Border Regions-LOD_OMOD" every time.

Here's the rub. A great many individual "4096X4096 Normal Map-2048X2048 Border Regions-LOD_OMOD" files need to be overwritten by other mods. Elsweyr-Anequina, Kvatch Watch Towers, Fort Akatosh Redux, and at least one Unique Landscape (Gold Coast/Cliff of Anvil) come to mind, though there might well be others. These mod-provided LODs are invariably standard resolution. Their lack of detail is even more apparent when one sits right next to a highly detailed "4096X4096 Normal Map-2048X2048 Border Regions-LOD_OMOD" LOD.

Additionally, nice as "4096X4096 Normal Map-2048X2048 Border Regions-LOD_OMOD" is, its LODs do not take into account a great many mod-created landscape alterations. These discrepancies can be mildly off-putting, and sometimes downright nasty.

What I want to do is create a set of LandscapeLODs that equal those provided by "4096X4096 Normal Map-2048X2048 Border Regions-LOD_OMOD" in every way, while taking advantage of any and all mod alterations. I'd like to start out with a set of higher resolution Elsweyr-Anequina LODs, that also takes into account all other mod landscape alterations for Anequina LODs that spill over into Cyrodiil. After that I'd redo stuff like Fort Akatosh and Watch Towers. Eventually I might redo every LandscapeLOD in existence, but that's a big “if” depending on how all else goes.

Googling unearthed http://cs.elderscrolls.com/constwiki/index.php/Landscape_LOD_Tutorial. Besides being largely Greek to me, it seems geared toward somehow who wants to create LODs for a particular self-made mod, and not for those who simply want to create better quality LODs taking into account existing mods. Nor does it address, so far as I can tell, high resolution LOD files. Is a better tutorial available?

Nexus contains http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=27220 that, on the surface, looks far more appealing. For one thing, it is authored by someone who himself made a set of high resolution LODs. Instructions are more understandable too, though as a newb I still find them somewhat confusing.

Surely what I want to do is feasible. Otherwise how did mods like Elsweyr-Anequina get their landscapeLODs in the first place? But how to go about it? Will a combination of CS and the Nexus utility give my everything I want at the same quality as the LOD mod I currently use? Or is there more to it than that? Also, is it better to save LODs at the highest resolution (which I assume is 4096x4096 since I've seen no higher at Nexus) and if need be reduce them via some third-party program (and which)?

(I ask this because I'm thinking to leave Elsweyr at 2048x2048 if the result at that resolution is acceptable.)

How does one even know which LOD file goes with a particular plot of land? The files themselves are just a series of numbers that mean nothing to me. I Googled “Oblivion Landscape LOD map”. It found nothing.

There are probably a host of questions I don't know to ask yet. In any case I figure this is enough to give everyone a basic idea of where I'm coming from and what I want to do.

Any and all input on this matter is much appreciated.

Thanks in advance!
-Decrepit-