Is this the only setting in Oblivion.ini that I can experiment with to regulate outside LOD viewing distance?
You also have a similar setting for trees, uGridDistantTreeRange. It makes sense to make the two the same - at least if hiding the terrain behind in Streamline fog.
And the smaller the value, the less far is the viewable distance, right?
Right, I believe this is simply a cell distance value.
See, I am currently not yet using RAEVWD but definitely thinking about it. I've read (and know from experience) that one can use Streamline to regulate the viewing distance via fog. I guess I have not fully understand how exactly that works in SL, though. There was this .html file provided that you could look up for max and min distance values (like min= 15'000 and max = 65'000 or whatever) and in relation to that you would have to change another value, I think it was that uGridDistantCount... I just didn't get the hang of it.
Check http://www.gamesas.com/bgsforums/index.php?s=&showtopic=1073686&view=findpost&p=15613557 post of mine. In short, that htm file just tells which min/max fog settings that make the fog take over at the distance where the distant objects become invisible.
But SL is not really necessary, right? Fiddling with the "uGridDistantCount" value, I can directly set my LOD view distance, right? Really just asking because I do not use SL at all anymore, and do not really want to re-install it if I can avoid it.
True. The downside of not using SL is that you can then clearly see the mountainside on the other side of the valley being devoid of any structures, but when getting a bit closer, they pop up. Just the same as what you experience now, just that they will pop up much further away, and therefore still be much more immersive.
Just to give you an example, http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d191/haegint/LOD_01.jpg. This is the view southwards to Cheydinhal from near Azura's shrine. Whatever my settings presently are (I would have to check), I feel like I can see too far. This is with viewing distance at 100 pct. from the in-game graphics settings. I am using Bomret textures plus all of Corepc Vibrant sets, including the LOD grain filter. They include some LOD textures as well if I'm not mistaken. So I do have them, too. But RAEVWD is something else still, or something in addition, right?
You say you feel you can see too far, do you by that mean that you don't want to be able to see the distant mountainside? If so, uGridDistantCount or RAEVWD will not change that. The only way (I know of) to hide the distant terrain is to hide it in (Streamline) fog.
What RAEVWD does, is to make distant forts, ruins, houses, shrines, etc. visible up to the range defined in uGridDistantCount. In your example, that would mean to see all such objects in the distant countryside. Without RAEVWD, such objects are only visible two cells away, instead of 15 (or 25 or whatever you set uGridDistantCount to). The objects added by RAEVWD are if course optimized, low-detail versions (which automatically get replaced by the full version when they get within 2 cell distance), but will still affect your framerate quite a bit.
So RAEVWD doesn't in any way affect the terrain (including trees), but make you see buildings and structures (including the biggest stone types) from a distance. If you want to hide the distant terrain, you must add Streamline. But you can easily disable the Streamsmooth feature, etc. Personally I have Streamline for the fog and for manual purge/save, but have disabled everything else.