LoD Research Thread

[berserker66666]

i'm thinking you guys should check this thread out regarding texture. The modder is doing awsm work so far creating high res textures for a few objects.

http://forums.cdprojektred.com/threads/56935-HD-Textures-we-surely-need-a-mod-with-them!?p=1910095#post1910095

 

[marvelmaster]

As far as i can see he is only replaycing textures if single models... but our problem migh be that buldings consist of many different textures thrown together ...

 

[CarolKarine]

i'm thinking you guys should check this thread out regarding texture. The modder is doing awsm work so far creating high res textures for a few objects.

http://forums.cdprojektred.com/threads/56935-HD-Textures-we-surely-need-a-mod-with-them!?p=1910095#post1910095

Our problem is not that we need new textures, it's that we need to stitch existing textures into one.

 

[berserker66666]

I see. Well maybe these articles and video can be of help?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KyKl7_K_tg

http://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/32677/how-to-combine-two-different-textures-into-one

http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?304503-Merging-multiple-UV-Texture-maps-into-one-image

http://www.tombraiderforums.com/showthread.php?t=188902

http://www.c4dcafe.com/ipb/forums/topic/39115-combining-several-textured-meshes-into-one-polygon-mesh/

 

[CarolKarine]

I see. Well maybe these articles and video can be of help?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KyKl7_K_tg

http://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/32677/how-to-combine-two-different-textures-into-one

http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?304503-Merging-multiple-UV-Texture-maps-into-one-image

My goal is to avoid mesh edits. And I think I can. 200m is actually really far, and that's the standard HQ mesh max value. I don't think we need to edit proxy meshes, because (with the testing I just did this should work) we can edit LOD pop in to be the max rendering distance.

The problem stems from meshes that have a max render distance less than 200. These meshes are also those which lack a proxy mesh, which is an issue, because these are the meshes which pop in from nothing.

I'll work on the problem.

 

[Wintermist]

DX12 is way overrated...A bit better performance and thats all. Witcher 3 runs smooth enough.
They can do the same with some more performance optimizations with patches.

Maybe they can, and maybe they can't. Can't say it's overrated though, it allows for more stuff to be drawn at the same time which would be especially useful for what this mod is trying to do. I'm not going to go on about it though since it was only a rumour and it's probably not coming.

 

[marvelmaster]

My goal is to avoid mesh edits. And I think I can. 200m is actually really far, and that's the standard HQ mesh max value. I don't think we need to edit proxy meshes, because (with the testing I just did this should work) we can edit LOD pop in to be the max rendering distance.

The problem stems from meshes that have a max render distance less than 200. These meshes are also those which lack a proxy mesh, which is an issue, because these are the meshes which pop in from nothing.

I'll work on the problem.

if you go the proxyway you could just replace the nonproxybuildings with buildings that have proxy^^
novigrad might look different then but who cares xD

 

[CarolKarine]

if you go the proxyway you could just replace the nonproxybuildings with buildings that have proxy^^
novigrad might look different then but who cares xD

welp, I've realized that proxy_entity=true just doesn't work. shame. I reeeaalllllly wanted it to work.

Anyways, I'll start looking into merging textures and meshes so we can make HQ proxies.

WANTED: Someone who knows what the fuck they're doing in a modeling tool, cause I don't.

 

[CarolKarine]

So I got a response over on the autodesk forums that makes me think that this won't be a terribly difficult process.

It does make me think it will be a LONG process. So I expect that I'll get a version of the mod out that eliminates switching to a lower LOD while within the HQ mesh's render range.

And then, later (after I finish the work in maya) I'll release an "expansion" to the mod with the baked proxy meshes.

 

[thibaudv]

So I got a response over on the autodesk forums that makes me think that this won't be a terribly difficult process.

It does make me think it will be a LONG process. So I expect that I'll get a version of the mod out that eliminates switching to a lower LOD while within the HQ mesh's render range.

And then, later (after I finish the work in maya) I'll release an "expansion" to the mod with the baked proxy meshes.

What kind of performance impact do you think th emod will have?

 

[CarolKarine]

What kind of performance impact do you think th emod will have?

the first version will hit performance, yes, but it should still be reasonably playable.

the second "expansion" bit... it will probably have a huge impact. I don't have an estimate right now. I just don't know how bad it'll be.

---------- Updated at 09:34 PM ----------

Hey guys, I made loads of progress today - but I think a video would do a better job of explaining. I'm sending the mod to @marvelmaster to make a quick video in the same manner as his previous ones.

 

[natty.dread.011]

So I got a response over on the autodesk forums that makes me think that this won't be a terribly difficult process.

It does make me think it will be a LONG process. So I expect that I'll get a version of the mod out that eliminates switching to a lower LOD while within the HQ mesh's render range.

And then, later (after I finish the work in maya) I'll release an "expansion" to the mod with the baked proxy meshes.

Maybe you can use batch baking for xNormal to speed things up a bit. I guess you still need to make a cage in Maya / Max but maybe it will work without one since you'll be using the same geometry for the "low" and highpoly.

I'm really interested in the progress of this mod but I'm sorry I can't help with the leg work since I don't have much free time lately.
I hope you pull it of. :unworthy:

 

[CarolKarine]

Maybe you can use batch baking for xNormal to speed things up a bit. I guess you still need to make a cage in Maya / Max but maybe it will work without one since you'll be using the same geometry for the "low" and highpoly.

I'm really interested in the progress of this mod but I'm sorry I can't help with the leg work since I don't have much free time lately.
I hope you pull it of. :unworthy:

Hey there! So I actually don't need to bake anything. The way this works is when you export the mesh as a .FBX, it maintains its materials. You literally list the materials present in the scene in Maya as the materials in the xml file.

I'll be more detailed later.

 

[natty.dread.011]

Hmmm, please do.
The way I figured it you need to bake the multi material / texture LOD0 object into a proxy that uses only a single material / texture but replace that proxy with a LOD0 mesh?

That's great if you don't need to bake.

 

[marvelmaster]

FBX contains materials?
But why the textures are gone when you delete the material definitions of the connected xml?

i realy wonder if xml "Material10" has to match material10 in blender or maya or whatever ?

 

[CarolKarine]

FBX contains materials?
But why the textures are gone when you delete the material definitions of the connected xml?

i realy wonder if xml "Material10" has to match material10 in blender or maya or whatever ?

EXACTLY.

In a couple hours I should be able to put together a walkthrough with pictures.

---------- Updated at 04:15 PM ----------

Okay so I've asked @marvelmaster to not upload a video yet because the example mod I sent him is still broken - and I know how to fix it. I'll fix it and document the process for here as I go, so you can see the process from start to finish. Once I have it finished, I actually won't be able to test it now, because I'm on a PC without a discrete GPU (I'm on a university computer. It's got an i7 3770 but no gpu) So I'll be able to test later tonight, but @marvelmaster will probably get a shot to do so before I can.

MAYA may not work well on this computer, I haven't tried before. So if it doesn't I'll still make the walkthrough, but I'll have to do so at home.

EDIT: what's broken is not broken for the reason I thought. The walkthrough will have to come later. I need to figure this out.

---------- Updated at 05:56 PM ----------

Maya is working alright, but I encountered issues. IE, I ended up with 50 materials. Let me play around with consolidating repeated materials, so that I only have ~10, instead of 50-70. I want to get the pipeline perfect before I start bothering with walkthroughs and stuff.

 

[marvelmaster]

Lil hint...you may not need to include the both lods of the main model...
(dunno if youve done so)
only LOD 0 might work better?

I'd like to look at your xml and model but uncooking our mods is not possible :O

 

[Arcanehorr0r]

This seems like the deeper you dig, the more horrifying it becomes.

 

[CarolKarine]

Lil hint...you may not need to include the both lods of the main model...
(dunno if youve done so)
only LOD 0 might work better?

I'd like to look at your xml and model but uncooking our mods is not possible :O

I'll send you a Google drive link to my modded but raw files.

This seems like the deeper you dig, the more horrifying it becomes.

It's actually surprisingly easy... Well, not really. If the engine supported MeshRenderingDistanceScale in user.settings we'd be so much better off.

But considering we have to dig into Maya, it could be so much worse. I don't actually have to bake anything, so that's nice

 

[marvelmaster]

thx dude,
but i have to say from friday till sunday i am afk