[RELz]The Unique Landscapes Project : IV - Oblivion

» Sat May 28, 2011 5:11 am

Yeah how is the river strid coming along? That one is really looking sweet. And have you tried it out with Elsweyr at all?

» Sat May 28, 2011 5:04 am

Now if you make a far_nif of that new form it will reference the modified object and not the originals. I have done this several times in the river Strid and it appears to work fine.

You'd still have to create a proper _far.nif for the rock, and the new clone you make in the ESP has to reference a different model name from the vanilla mesh name. TES4LodGen does not care how it's defined in the ESP, it only looks for _far.nif files to go with the normal ones.

Your method sounds like it would fool the CS, but you'd have to generate your own LOD files and make sure you never lost them in order for that to work. That's a process that hardly anyone bothers with now that we have things like tes4lodgen to do all the grunt work of generating them for us

» Sat May 28, 2011 5:12 am

I have a workaround for this. Make a new form id of the offending article,i.e. making a new but otherwise identical object (usually I add vwd to the name to remind me why I did it), the object will be identical, then you can use the search and replace function to change it over, so that close up it looks no different. Now if you make a far_nif of that new form it will reference the modified object and not the originals. I have done this several times in the river Strid and it appears to work fine.

That's how I said to do it. Nice and easy, quick to do (as long as you have the NIF). Though I'd use TES4Edit rather than the CS' search & replace.

You'd still have to create a proper _far.nif for the rock, and the new clone you make in the ESP has to reference a different model name from the vanilla mesh name. TES4LodGen does not care how it's defined in the ESP, it only looks for _far.nif files to go with the normal ones.

Your method sounds like it would fool the CS, but you'd have to generate your own LOD files and make sure you never lost them in order for that to work. That's a process that hardly anyone bothers with now that we have things like tes4lodgen to do all the grunt work of generating them for us

:blink: Huh? Just run TES4LODGen. It's identical to the way any other new mesh which has a _far NIF gets handled.

» Sat May 28, 2011 7:09 am

Hi folks,

I was wondering: how compatible are these landscapes with overhauls like FCOM? I've completely lost track of which mods add/edit what after I stopped playing some time ago... I'm currently carefully planning which mods to use afetr I've reinstalled the game. FCOM is more or less a must, but I'd love to include these works of art as well!

» Sat May 28, 2011 11:20 am

100% compatible with FCOM

» Sat May 28, 2011 7:07 am

100% compatible with FCOM

Well, there are somewhere a couple of patches between UL mods and MMM, to move new MMM spawn points around a bit in order to prevent creatures from spawning in the air or in the ground. This may be a problem with new ULs as well, but at worst, it'll mean that some creatures may be stuck in the terrain. But otherwise 100% compatibility as far as I know.

» Sat May 28, 2011 8:01 am

Well, there are somewhere a couple of patches between UL mods and MMM, to move new MMM spawn points around a bit in order to prevent creatures from spawning in the air or in the ground. This may be a problem with new ULs as well, but at worst, it'll mean that some creatures may be stuck in the terrain. But otherwise 100% compatibility as far as I know.

The patches for MMM MWL were to remove spawn points, not to reposition them. The spawns were adding violent creatures to certain ULs where the UL design wanted no monsters, the spawns were spoiling the tranquillity. As far as I recall, NPCs and creatures (hand-placed or spawn-placed) will always appear above the ground if their Editor Location happens to be beneath the land.

» Sat May 28, 2011 5:17 am

The patches for MMM MWL were to remove spawn points, not to reposition them. The spawns were adding violent creatures to certain ULs where the UL design wanted no monsters, the spawns were spoiling the tranquillity. As far as I recall, NPCs and creatures (hand-placed or spawn-placed) will always appear above the ground if their Editor Location happens to be beneath the land.

Thanks for the info. I learn something every day

» Sat May 28, 2011 8:50 pm

That's how I said to do it. Nice and easy, quick to do (as long as you have the NIF). Though I'd use TES4Edit rather than the CS' search & replace.

:blink: Huh? Just run TES4LODGen. It's identical to the way any other new mesh which has a _far NIF gets handled.

This is what I do, I make my own far_nif low poly models in blender and let teslod4gen put them in the game, as I am only doing this for models that need to be seen from a distance, (a favourite of mine is rock westweald 01,) I duplicate the original rock, rename it rock westweald 01vwd, create the far_nif, call that rock westweald01vwd far_nif, and the distant lod object only references the rocks that I want it to and not the thousands of others that are in every other way identical. I think it took about 20 minutes to set up.

» Sat May 28, 2011 4:02 pm

This is what I do, I make my own far_nif low poly models in blender and let teslod4gen put them in the game, as I am only doing this for models that need to be seen from a distance, (a favourite of mine is rock westweald 01,) I duplicate the original rock, rename it rock westweald 01vwd, create the far_nif, call that rock westweald01vwd far_nif, and the distant lod object only references the rocks that I want it to and not the thousands of others that are in every other way identical. I think it took about 20 minutes to set up.

Any chance of releasing them. I'm helpless with programs like Blender, but I know my way around TES4EDIT and the missing far_nifs for the rocks at the Gold Coast has always irked me...

» Sat May 28, 2011 8:41 pm

Yeah how is the river strid coming along? That one is really looking sweet. And have you tried it out with Elsweyr at all?

I'll put some more screenshots up soon, I,ve finished a nice area of farmland and moorland above Kirsengar.
concerning elswyr I cannot say, but I have taken care not extend my mod outside its original boundaries, it's too big as it is!

» Sat May 28, 2011 5:20 am

Any chance of releasing them. I'm helpless with programs like Blender, but I know my way around TES4EDIT and the missing far_nifs for the rocks at the Gold Coast has always irked me...

The problem here is as arthmoor pointed out, that if all the rocks were to show up, then there would be a real performance hit, I,ve done it this way so that I can restrict it to selected rocks, a sort of sleight of hand. If you need a simpler way of generating low poly models, wz created a far nif generator, in the early days of Oblivion modding, unfortunately I cannot find a link, but someone else might know

» Sat May 28, 2011 11:17 am

This is what I do, I make my own far_nif low poly models in blender and let teslod4gen put them in the game, as I am only doing this for models that need to be seen from a distance, (a favourite of mine is rock westweald 01,) I duplicate the original rock, rename it rock westweald 01vwd, create the far_nif, call that rock westweald01vwd far_nif, and the distant lod object only references the rocks that I want it to and not the thousands of others that are in every other way identical. I think it took about 20 minutes to set up.

Ok, guess I misunderstood what you were doing

Out of curiosity, does Blender do a better job of making reductions on these things? The process I use for making the ones in RAEVWD is a bit clunky but works. If it weren't for Milkshape 3D and the automatic dxtools menu it has, I'd have never bothered with it

Any chance of releasing them. I'm helpless with programs like Blender, but I know my way around TES4EDIT and the missing far_nifs for the rocks at the Gold Coast has always irked me...

Sounds like you should check out RAEVWD then - the Gold Coast rocks are all already done there and it does indeed http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/images/20053-1-1223203348.jpg with them.

BTW, it's selective. I didn't do it for every last rock, because that would kill the machine. Only the stuff from size 1125 on up.

» Sat May 28, 2011 11:31 am

Sounds like you should check out RAEVWD then - the Gold Coast rocks are all already done there and it does indeed http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/images/20053-1-1223203348.jpg with them.

BTW, it's selective. I didn't do it for every last rock, because that would kill the machine. Only the stuff from size 1125 on up.

Not sure we are talking about the same thing here. I was referring the rocks mentioned in http://www.gamesas.com/bgsforums/index.php?showtopic=1076009&view=findpost&p=15665132. I agree not everything should b VWD, but in this case it leads to objects seeming to float in thin air when viewed from afar.

» Sat May 28, 2011 4:40 pm

Ok, guess I misunderstood what you were doing

Out of curiosity, does Blender do a better job of making reductions on these things? The process I use for making the ones in RAEVWD is a bit clunky but works. If it weren't for Milkshape 3D and the automatic dxtools menu it has, I'd have never bothered with it

Unfortunately I cannot say as the only 3d programme I have ever used is blender, it has a poly reducer script that is very simple to use, but you have to exercise judgement so as not to overdo it, you still have to strip out the collision data and vertex shading seperately though.
I'll try and include an example in the next lot of screenshots, and I'll flag it up, I must say though, that I use RAEVWD and it looks really good. riverstrid would be much poorer without it, and TesLod4gen.

» Sat May 28, 2011 4:09 pm

Not sure we are talking about the same thing here. I was referring the rocks mentioned in http://www.gamesas.com/bgsforums/index.php?showtopic=1076009&view=findpost&p=15665132. I agree not everything should b VWD, but in this case it leads to objects seeming to float in thin air when viewed from afar.

Yeah, then what Carel is doing would solve it. I suppose at some point we should just go ahead and properly assess what needs to be faked and get it over with.

Unfortunately I cannot say as the only 3d programme I have ever used is blender, it has a poly reducer script that is very simple to use, but you have to exercise judgement so as not to overdo it, you still have to strip out the collision data and vertex shading seperately though.
I'll try and include an example in the next lot of screenshots, and I'll flag it up, I must say though, that I use RAEVWD and it looks really good. riverstrid would be much poorer without it, and TesLod4gen.

The advantage to the process I use with Milkshape 3D is that it exports the .OBJ file with none of the junk that normally needs to be stripped out later. The only thing I have to remember is to remove the collision block in Nifskope before exporting it. My whole process from start to finish on a mesh takes about 5 minutes or so because I've gotten to where I can pop them in, pull the slider, and know about where I'd start mangling the appearance of the mesh if I went further. That's including the time it takes to apply the new lowres texture files.

I'd still be curious to try this out in Blender though and see what sort of results it has. Also, PacificMorrowind is working on getting a process into PyFFI that will do the reduction, stripping, and lowres texture paths with a simple batch file command.

» Sat May 28, 2011 6:38 pm

Yeah, then what Carel is doing would solve it. I suppose at some point we should just go ahead and properly assess what needs to be faked and get it over with.

I too would really love to see this issue fixed. From a big picture standpoint it is quite trivial I know. However, once noticed, I find it impossible not to look for that damned floating tree and statue every time I visit the Anvil docks. :wacko:

» Sat May 28, 2011 2:54 pm

Ok here are some of the new screenshots, (though I haven't done one of the far_nif examples yet), this is south of Kirsengar and includes the highest land in the mod, I'm particularily pleased with these high meadows, somewhat reminiscent of dartmooor I think, as they are unlike anything in cyrodill, and with some tremendous views.
http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j190/Carel_de_Winter/ScreenShot117.jpg
http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j190/Carel_de_Winter/ScreenShot120.jpg
http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j190/Carel_de_Winter/ScreenShot144-1.jpg
http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j190/Carel_de_Winter/ScreenShot155-1.jpg
http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j190/Carel_de_Winter/ScreenShot157-1.jpg
http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j190/Carel_de_Winter/ScreenShot163.jpg
http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j190/Carel_de_Winter/ScreenShot164.jpg
http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j190/Carel_de_Winter/ScreenShot168.jpg
http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j190/Carel_de_Winter/ScreenShot169-1.jpg
http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j190/Carel_de_Winter/ScreenShot170.jpg
http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j190/Carel_de_Winter/ScreenShot174-1.jpg
http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j190/Carel_de_Winter/ScreenShot178.jpg

» Sat May 28, 2011 11:02 am

snip

Beautiful stuff there.

» Sat May 28, 2011 4:57 am

Ok here are some of the new screenshots, (though I haven't done one of the far_nif examples yet), this is south of Kirsengar and includes the highest land in the mod, I'm particularily pleased with these high meadows, somewhat reminiscent of dartmooor I think, as they are unlike anything in cyrodill, and with some tremendous views.
http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j190/Carel_de_Winter/ScreenShot117.jpg
http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j190/Carel_de_Winter/ScreenShot120.jpg
http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j190/Carel_de_Winter/ScreenShot144-1.jpg
http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j190/Carel_de_Winter/ScreenShot155-1.jpg
http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j190/Carel_de_Winter/ScreenShot157-1.jpg
http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j190/Carel_de_Winter/ScreenShot163.jpg
http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j190/Carel_de_Winter/ScreenShot164.jpg
http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j190/Carel_de_Winter/ScreenShot168.jpg
http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j190/Carel_de_Winter/ScreenShot169-1.jpg
http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j190/Carel_de_Winter/ScreenShot170.jpg
http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j190/Carel_de_Winter/ScreenShot174-1.jpg
http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j190/Carel_de_Winter/ScreenShot178.jpg

:goodjob: Those are some pretty nice shots, especially the "Oblivion sunsets"

» Sat May 28, 2011 8:29 pm

Carel, those are some great scenes! This is going to be such a great new UL...I can barely control myself!!!!!!!!!!!

I also noticed that the UL teaser video by Egger3rd has been removed. Are you guys going to make a brand spanking new vid with all the up to date releases?

» Sat May 28, 2011 5:53 am

Tremendous work Vorians on the compatibility patches. They're essential and I now use nearly a dozen myself.

I have a request for a patch. There's a mod I just stumbled across called http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=27500 that is very impressive. It causes less conflict than I would have expected, but there are a couple of land tears on the western edge of the Imperial Isle just north of Talos Bridge.

If this could be added to the UL patch queue that would be great. Thank you again!

» Sat May 28, 2011 10:36 am

Tremendous work Vorians on the compatibility patches. They're essential and I now use nearly a dozen myself.

I have a request for a patch. There's a mod I just stumbled across called http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=27500 that is very impressive. It causes less conflict than I would have expected, but there are a couple of land tears on the western edge of the Imperial Isle just north of Talos Bridge.

If this could be added to the UL patch queue that would be great. Thank you again!

That mod is already on my list of conflicts to consider patching

» Sat May 28, 2011 1:53 pm

Just today I was installing some mods from Unique Landscapes (Panther River, Entius Gorge, Aspenwood, Ancient Yews, Arrius Creek, Rolling Hills and Cheydinhal Falls).
I have installed also LOD Files for Arrius Creek + Cheydinhal Falls + Entius Gorge + Rolling Hills and the patch for Arrius Creek and Ancient Yews.
I found everything OK but travelling around Cheydinhall I found this problem: http://img691.imageshack.us/gal.php?g=oblivion201003071755455.jpg
I tried reinstalling everything and it looks the same.

This is my load order:

Active Mod Files:00  Oblivion.esm01  Francesco's Leveled Creatures-Items Mod.esm02  Francesco's Optional New Items Add-On.esm03  Oscuro's_Oblivion_Overhaul.esm  [Version 1.34]04  Mart's Monster Mod.esm  [Version 3.7b3p3]05  TamrielTravellers.esm  [Version 1.39c]06  FCOM_Convergence.esm  [Version 0.9.9MB3]07  Armamentarium.esm  [Version 1.35]08  Artifacts.esm  [Version 1.1]09  Better Cities Resources.esm0A  Unofficial Oblivion Patch.esp  [Version 3.2.4]0B  UOP Vampire Aging & Face Fix.esp  [Version 1.0.0]0C  Oblivion Citadel Door Fix.esp0D  DLCShiveringIsles.esp0E  Unofficial Shivering Isles Patch.esp  [Version 1.4.0]0F  Better Cities .esp10  Francesco's Optional Chance of Stronger Bosses.esp11  Francesco's Optional Chance of Stronger Enemies.esp12  Francesco's Optional Leveled Quests-SI only.esp13  Francesco's Dark Seducer Weapons Patch.esp14  FCOM_Francescos.esp  [Version 0.9.9]15  FCOM_FrancescosItemsAddOn.esp  [Version 0.9.9]16  FCOM_FrancescosNamedBosses.esp  [Version 0.9.9]17  Fran Armor Add-on.esp18  Fran_Lv30Item_Maltz.esp19  Enhanced Water v2.0 HDMI.esp1A  Symphony of Violence.esp1B  Enhanced Economy.esp  [Version 3.3.4]1C  Map Marker Overhaul.esp  [Version 3.3.1]1D  Map Marker Overhaul - SI additions.esp  [Version 3.0.2]1E  DLCOrrery.esp1F  DLCOrrery - Unofficial Patch.esp  [Version 1.0.3]20  DLCMehrunesRazor.esp21  DLCMehrunesRazor - Unofficial Patch.esp  [Version 1.0.4]22  DLCSpellTomes.esp23  DLCSpellTomes - Unofficial Patch.esp  [Version 1.0.1]24  MaleBodyReplacerV4.esp25  ArtifactsFemaleArmor.esp26  PersuasionOverhaul.esp  [Version 1.43]27  Armamentium female.esp28  Slof's Oblivion Robe Trader.esp29  Bob's Armory Oblivion.esp2A  FCOM_BobsArmory.esp  [Version 0.9.9]2B  Loth's Blunt Weapons for Npcs.esp2C  FCOM_LothsBluntWeapons.esp  [Version 0.9.9]2D  Oblivion WarCry EV.esp2E  FCOM_WarCry.esp  [Version 0.9.9MB3]2F  Oscuro's_Oblivion_Overhaul.esp  [Version 1.34]30  ArmamentariumLLVendors.esp  [Version 1.35]31  ArmamentariumArtifacts.esp  [Version 1.35]32  FCOM_Convergence.esp  [Version 0.9.9Mb3]33  FCOM_EntropicOrderRebalance.esp  [Version 0.9.9beta2]34  FCOM_RealSwords.esp  [Version 0.9.9]35  FCOM_DurabilityAndDamage.esp  [Version 0.9.9]36  FCOM_SpawnRatesSlightlyReduced.esp  [Version 0.9.9MB3]37  Mart's Monster Mod - More Wilderness Life.esp  [Version 3.7b3p3]38  FCOM_SaferRoads.esp  [Version 0.9.9]39  FCOM_LessReaversInGates.esp  [Version 0.9.9]3A  Mart's Monster Mod - Extra Wounding.esp  [Version 3.7b3p3]3B  Mart's Monster Mod - Looting NPCs & Creatures.esp  [Version 3.7b3p3]3C  Mart's Monster Mod - Dungeons of MMM.esp  [Version 3.7b3p3]3D  Mart's Monster Mod - Hunting & Crafting.esp  [Version 3.7b3p3]3E  Mart's Monster Mod - Slof Horses Complete.esp  [Version 3.7b3p3]3F  Mart's Monster Mod - Diverse Runeskulls Loot.esp  [Version 3.7b3p3]40  TamrielTravellers4OOO.esp  [Version 1.39c]41  TamrielTravellersItemsnpc.esp  [Version 1.39c]42  ShiveringIsleTravellers.esp  [Version 1.39c]43  ShiveringIsleTravellersFriendlyFactions4MMM.esp  [Version 1.39c]44  FCOM_TamrielTravelers.esp  [Version 0.9.9]45  FCOM_DiverseGuardUnity.esp  [Version 0.9.9]46  FCOM_BobsGuardUnity.esp  [Version 0.9.9]47  FCOM_HungersUnitySI.esp  [Version 0.9.9]48  FCOM_Archery.esp  [Version 0.9.9]49  FCOM_MoreRandomSpawns.esp  [Version 0.9.9]4A  FCOM_MoreRandomItems.esp  [Version 0.9.9]4B  Mart's Monster Mod - Shivering Isles.esp  [Version 3.7b3p3]4C  ArmamentariumLL4OOO.esp  [Version 2.01]4D  ArmamentariumLLMagicOOO.esp  [Version 1.35]4E  PersuasionOverhaul_OOO.esp  [Version 1.2]4F  PersuasionOverhaul_MMM.esp  [Version 1.2]50  Fransfemale.esp51  EVE_StockEquipmentReplacer4FCOM.esp52  Artifacts.esp  [Version 1.1]53  Artifacts - ArmaCompleteAddon.esp  [Version 1.0]54  DLCBattlehornCastle.esp55  DLCBattlehornCastle - Unofficial Patch.esp  [Version 1.0.4]56  Knights.esp57  Knights - Unofficial Patch.esp  [Version 1.0.9]58  EVE_KnightsoftheNine.esp59  FCOM_Knights.esp  [Version 0.9.9Mb3]5A  FCOM_SlofsRobeTrader.esp  [Version 0.9.9]5B  xuldarkforest.esp  [Version 1.0.4]5C  XulEntiusGorge.esp5D  xulBravilBarrowfields.esp  [Version 1.3.2]5E  xulAncientYews.esp  [Version 1.4.2]5F  xulArriusCreek.esp  [Version 1.1.3]60  xulPatch_AY_AC.esp  [Version 1.1]61  xulRollingHills_EV.esp  [Version 1.3.2]62  xulPantherRiver.esp63  xulImperialIsle.esp  [Version 1.6.3]64  xulCheydinhalFalls.esp  [Version 1.0.1]65  xulAspenWood.esp  [Version 1.0.1]66  Better Cities - House price patch.esp  [Version 1.0]67  FCOM_UnofficialFranArmorAddon.esp  [Version 0.9.9]68  Harvest [Flora].esp  [Version 3.0.0]69  Harvest [Flora] - Shivering Isles.esp  [Version 3.0.0]6A  EVE_ShiveringIslesEasterEggs.esp6B  Toggleable Quantity Prompt.esp  [Version 3.1.1]6C  RealisticLeveling.esp6D  Better Redguard v2.esp6E  EVE_KhajiitFix.esp6F  Better Cities - Full City Defences.esp70  Better Cities Full.esp71  Better Cities - No LEYAWIIN Flooding.esp72  Better Imperial City.esp73  Better Cities Full FPS Patch.esp74  Real Lava 1.3.esp75  Bashed Patch, 0.esp76  FormID Finder4.esp

» Sat May 28, 2011 7:27 pm

You're using Better Cities Full.esp but you're not using the compatibility patch for BC and UL Cheydinhal Falls.