Hi all, after days of trouble shooting, asking Sheson for help, and digging through posts, I got No grass in objects, Seasonal Landscape, and Dyndolod to work in harmony with each other. In order to save some of you the headache, here is the more or less step by step instruction on how to do so. I am open to feedback as I am by no means an expert on all these tools. 1. Install all mods and utilities (Seasons of Skyrim, Seasonal Landscapes, xLodgen, Dyndolod, No Grass in Objects [NGIO], SSEEdit, and all their requirements). You can find an overview of this process here (without using NGIO): https://www.reddit.com/r/skyrimmods/comments/xg1g30/simple_guide_for_installing_seasons_of_skyrim/ 1.1 If using complex grass, do not use complex grass textures for lod generating/grass caching, or you are going to have blue foliage in the far distant (just uncheck any complex grass patch mods before starting generating lod textures or grass cache). 2. IMPORTANT: Use SSEEdit and the Construction Kit to create a new mod containing Grass Object ONLY from Season Landscapes and recalculate boundaries for these, otherwise NO grass LODs will be created by TexGen. Here are some useful links on how to do this and on making this new mod containing the grass reconds an ESL so it doens't take up space on your load order: https://github.com/LivelyDismay/Learn-To-Mod/blob/main/lessons/DynDOLOD%203.0%20and%20Grass%20Cache.md; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFMfVtZAjnU; https://www.reddit.com/r/skyrimmods/comments/coici7/flag_your_small_plugins_as_esl_to_avoid_reaching/; https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/67785 3. Generate grass caches x5 (4, one for each season, plus a "default" one). To do so, open "po3_SeasonsOfSkyrim.ini", in MO2 located in the Overwrite folder under /skse/plugins. There you can force each season, or disable them (this is for the "default" cache, so that you can generate grass caches using NGIO). Instructions here, https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/42161 4. Make sure you rename all .cgid generate by NGIO for each seasons as described here, https://dyndolod.info/Help/Seasons, under "Grass and Grass LOD". You may use the powershell command "$sum = '.SUM' Dir | Rename-Item -NewName { $_.basename+$sum+$_.extension}" Without quotes, where "$sum = '.SUM' must be changed for each season accordingly, i.e. "$sum = '.WIN' "$sum = '.AUT' "$sum = '.SPR' As described here: https://www.reddit.com/r/skyrimmods/comments/uwxg7d/comment/ib31w1y/ 5. Run xLodgen as usual to create terrain LODs for all seasons. 6. Run TexGen to generate grass LODs (I had to set HD Grass Direct to 0 and Ambience to 55 to otherwise my grass LODs were way too bright, as I am using ENB and complex grass). 7. Run Dyndolod as usual, making sure to select all seasons. 8. Disable grass cache files from your load order (no longer needed as we have already made the LODs) and, in the NGIO .ini, set both OnlyLoadFromCache and UseGrassCache to "False", and DynDOLODGrassMode to 1. 9. Thats that, enjoy! Make sure to load the game from an indoor area for changes to take effect.
A while back a guy was uploading grass caches for different grass mods, something like that for this mod would be pretty cool, obviously lods wouldn't be perfect for everybody since we don't all have the same landscape mods but it'd still be a lot better than nothing
Thanks for the detailed instructions. Very excited to see this in action. Couple of dumb questions on the steps above
- When renaming all the .cgid generated am assuming this only has to be done for winter, spring, summer and autmun and not for the "default" cache. Is this correct or do we need to give the default files a new name as well and if so what name to use? - To generate the default cache what is the value we need to enter for "Season Type" in "po3_SeasonsOfSkyrim.ini". For example it says 0=disabled and 5=seasonal. So am assuming "Season Type=0" is what we need to set to generate the default cache. Is that correct?
Hi DragonRise88, no dumb questions, this stuff is confusing. - Yes, renaming the .cgid files has to be done only for winter, spring, summer and autumn, not for the "default" cache. - To generate the default cache, you must use 0 (disabled), for "Season Type" in "po3_SeasonsOfSkyrim.ini" (i.e. "Season Type=0").
Seasonal Landscapes - Solstheim.esp still has grass records with missing boundries. Not sure if they were intended for lod generation or not.
On a similar note, quite a few of the grass meshes (nifs) have the wrong root node block according to DynDOLOD: https://dyndolod.info/Messages/Root-Block
They should be BSFadeNode but are set to NiNode. This causes DynDOLOD to ignore them. They can be easily fixed with Nifskope:
The root node block type can be converted or changed with NifSkope. Right click the [0] NiNode, select Block, Convert, Bethesda, BSFadeNode, then save the updates NIF.
TexGen's \textures\terrain\lodgen\TexGen_SSE_Grass_Billboards.txt and TexGen_SSE_Tree_Billboards.txt are useful in determining which billboards are being generated. False at the end indicates they are being ignored. Here's my grass for example: https://paste.ee/p/avYxF As you can see TexGen is ignoring most of the *_Solstheim grasses due to the need for a boundries recalc in CK.
I completely forgot the Solstheim module! I am fixing that for the next update. Also I did not know you had to set the meshes to BSFadeNode for them to show up. Good to know, I will look into that as well. Thanks for the helpful comment.
In case anyone isn't familiar with powershell- After caching the grass, open your Overwrite folder in MO2. Select open in Explorer. Click on the grass folder. Right click anywhere and select Open in Terminal. The code is two lines, so after the first line, use shift+enter to enter the second line. Then hit return. Double check the .cgid files in Overwrite>grass to make sure the correct season was applied. Exit the explorer, and in Overwrite drag the grass folder to your grass cache mod folder in MO2.
I switched from SE (1.5) to AE (1.6) my grass switched to green in any season. Disabling grass cache just switch OFF ALL grass. I'm regenerate LODs again but there is no effect, even changing INIs doesn't do anything and only completely disable grass. Any advice where i should look?
The only thing I knew after spending 3 days on my life without any result - all these guides are dogshit before they don't explain EVERY detail since a litte detaile missing ruins the whole process. I wish guides like this one never existed at all tbh.
Someone please make a FULL video of what you actually do without cuts it's important for community, more than infinite tit mods.
Unfortunately, these instructions seem to have made my overgrown grass worse, not better.
But clearly your instructions were clear and detailed enough to have changed something, even if it went the opposite way from intended. So, thank you for posting them! I didn't know how to do grass caches before this.
For step 8- when I disable grass cache then grass doesn't show up in snowy areas in the summer. I tried re-enabling it and the grass shows up again but I'm getting a massive FPS drop which I think is from the grass LODs that were generated from DynDOLOD! Anyone else not having grass show up in snowy areas in non winter months?
Edit: NVM the FPS drop was from fBlockLevel0Distance. Regarding step 8, I still need to keep my grass cache enabled though for grass to show up..strange
what specifically are you changing in po3_seasonsofskyrim.ini, because there is a value for season type =(0,1,2,3,4,5), and a value for each month, e.g. morning star = (0,1,2,3,4). what are the values to set for each of the 5 iterations?
for posterity, the necessary iterations are season type = (0,1,2,3,4)
1) I don't understand step 8 of the guide. Are You suggesting to use the seasonal grass caches only for their LODS (with Dyndolod) but then disable them to generate grass NOT via cache? Isn't that perforamance unfriendly? I am asking this based on this: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/articles/6920
2) My grass is always green far-away but "season-color-specific" up close. What did I do wrong?
First a comment. This turned out to be a guide for using xLodGen/TexGen/DynDOLOD in combination with Seasons of Skyrim/Seasonal landscapes. So one part that is missing here are the recommended settings in all of those. As a basis I used the settings of the Step Modifications Guide Step 7. Important: These settings are not for seasons. So here is what I did, starting with a reply on the comment above: ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I think you are right. I also followed that guide and left them enabled but disabled NGIO because of:
With grass precache generation now complete, there are only a couple of steps required to restore normal seasonal functionality to the game and ensure the cache files are loaded.
Update your 'po3_SeasonsOfSkyrim.ini' file, and Set Season Type = 5 (seasonal).
Enable all of your seasonal grass cache 'mods' created earlier – Do NOT enable the default (non-seasonal) cache files if you created them.
Re-enable any/all mods which you had to disable prior to generating grass cache.
Ensure Grass Cache Helper NG is enabled (it should have been this whole time) – This mod will load the seasonal *.[WIN|SPR|SUM|AUT].cgid cache files.
Disable No Grass in Objects – This must be done otherwise it will prevent Grass Cache Helper NG from loading seasonal grass files by overriding Grass Cache Helper NG's hooks – Don't worry, the functionality NGIO provides for your grass (i.e., preventing grass from loading in objects) has been "baked into" your cache files.
Vortex users, 'Deploy Mods' again after performing the above.
Edit 1: @Murzley: with the lod, I think you have to do it the same way like when generating the cache, but in a more manual fashion. That means update your ' po3_SeasonsOfSkyrim.ini' file and Set Season Type = 0 (disabled) for the default season. Then start the game, so that the correct season is loaded. Close the game, run xlodgen/dyndolod for that specific season. After that repeat the process for the other seasons. And at the end don't forget to set it back to 5 for seasonal.
Edit 2: Confirmed, I just tried it only for the winter terrain lod (so I just created that terrain lod) and kept the Set Season Type = 1 setting. then loaded the game and look how good it looks already even without texgen and dyndolod bein run :-) Winter xlodgen only
Edit 3: IMPORTANT: General Info. You always have to go inside and outside again or something similar for seasonal changes to show. When I went ingame again after generating the spring season, I was disappointed because the lod was still winter. So I quit the game, asked ChatGPT a bit (Yes ChatGPT, honestly, do it - it knows everything - I have the paid version, don't know about the free one) and it gave me replies like this:
3. Force the Game to Use Spring LODsThe game uses the active season's LOD files if they are available. To test the Spring LODs:
Start Skyrim.
Open the console and use the following command to force the game to reload LODs:
tll ; Toggles LODs off tll ; Toggles LODs back on
This ensures the game reloads the terrain LOD for the active season.
Navigate to an area where terrain LODs are clearly visible (e.g., a high vantage point like the Throat of the World).
I tried that ingame later with summer, because for spring I didn't have to. A second start of the whole game did the job on its own.
By the way: ChatGPT earlier explained to me also why the switching may not have happened, which was interesting in itself. One of the possibilities why I didn't see any change, it suggested was:
3. Update DynDOLOD_SSE.iniDynDOLOD manages LOD switching for seasons. If the DynDOLOD_SSE.ini file isn’t configured to recognize seasonal terrain LODs, the game may default to Winter or another season’s LOD.
Locate DynDOLOD_SSE.ini:
Typically found in: /Data/DynDOLOD/DynDOLOD_SSE.ini
Ensure Seasonal LODs Are Enabled: [Seasons] EnableSeasons=1
Ensure Seasonal Terrain LODs Are Recognized:
Check for entries like: Terrain=Season_Spring, Season_Summer, Season_Autumn, Season_Winter
If missing, manually add them.
I asked it then: do i just get the DynDOLOD_SSE.ini after it has been run once? Answer (in short): Yes, the DynDOLOD_SSE.ini file is generated after running DynDOLOD for the first time. Next question: ok but for NOW, as I just generated spring terrain lod and want to test that. Answer (full):
If you’ve just generated Spring terrain LODs and want to test them right now, you can temporarily bypass the need for DynDOLOD-specific configuration and directly test your Spring LOD setup. Here’s how to proceed: 1. Set the Game to Springpo3_SeasonsOfSkyrim.ini to set the active season to Spring if not already done so:
[Main] SeasonType=2 ; Spring
2. Ensure Spring Terrain LOD Files Are in PlaceVerify that your Spring terrain LOD files are located in the correct directory:
These files should have been created during the xLODGen process. If they are missing or not in the correct folders, the game may fallback to Default or Winter LODs. 3. Force the Game to Use Spring LODsThe game uses the active season's LOD files if they are available. To test the Spring LODs:
Start Skyrim.
Open the console and use the following command to force the game to reload LODs: tll ; Toggles LODs off tll ; Toggles LODs back on
This ensures the game reloads the terrain LOD for the active season.
Navigate to an area where terrain LODs are clearly visible (e.g., a high vantage point like the Throat of the World).
4. Verify In-Game
Look for:
Terrain colors matching Spring (e.g., greener tones, if applicable).
No snow on terrain that should reflect Spring textures.
5. What Happens If It Still Looks Like Winter?If the terrain still appears as Winter despite the Spring LOD files being generated:
Fallback Behavior:
The game might still be using Winter LOD files because DynDOLOD hasn’t been configured to handle seasonal transitions.
Manual Override:
Temporarily rename or remove the Winter LOD files (both meshes and textures) to prevent the game from loading them. This forces it to use the Default or Spring LODs.
Then started the game and suddenly I saw spring lod, which I told ChatGpt. And the answer I got was the best one :-D
That’s fantastic! 🎉 Sometimes Skyrim just needs a little extra nudge (or a restart) to properly load updated LODs, especially when dealing with mods like Seasons of Skyrim. What Happened?
The first launch might have still used cached LODs or assets from the previous session.
Restarting the game forced it to reload all LOD data, and now it’s correctly reflecting the Spring terrain LODs.
Information/Guide for TexGen Continuing from my first post
So I asked ChatGpt how to handle seasons with TexGen because obviously there is no seasons option and I didn't know the technical background exactly. In short, it told:
You're correct that TexGen itself does not include a Seasons option, as it is primarily focused on generating object LOD textures and billboards. However, TexGen outputs are used by DynDOLOD, which manages seasonal changes dynamically.
I asked it then: so but what about lets say trees that have no leafes in the winter? And the answer is very helpful for the understanding of the process:
Great question! Trees that lose their leaves in Winter (or show seasonal variations like blooming in Spring) are handled by DynDOLOD, not TexGen. TexGen generates the base tree and object textures, but seasonal changes such as leafless trees are dynamically applied by DynDOLOD using seasonal mesh swaps or texture overrides. Here’s how it works: Seasonal Tree Variations
TexGen’s Role:
TexGen generates the default billboards and textures for trees.
These billboards are used for distant LODs, providing the base visual appearance.
DynDOLOD’s Role:
DynDOLOD 3.0 (or later) manages seasonal transitions for trees by:
Using tree models that dynamically switch based on the active season.
Applying appropriate LOD models or textures for each season (e.g., leafless models in Winter).
Seasonal Tree Data:
Mods like Seasons of Skyrim provide the necessary tree models and texture swaps for each season.
DynDOLOD ensures that these are loaded dynamically based on the current season.
What You Need to Do
Run TexGen Normally:
Generate the default textures and billboards for all trees. TexGen doesn’t handle seasons but ensures a consistent baseline for LODs.
Ensure Seasonal Tree Models are Installed:
Install tree mods or seasonal mods that provide the seasonal tree variations (e.g., bare trees for Winter).
Examples:
Seasons of Skyrim
Tree mods like Nature of the Wild Lands, Enhanced Vanilla Trees, or similar with seasonal support.
Run DynDOLOD with Seasons Enabled:
In DynDOLOD, ensure the Seasons option is enabled during the setup: [Seasons] EnableSeasons=1
DynDOLOD will use the seasonal data to generate tree LODs and manage dynamic transitions for trees based on the active season.
So I went back to ChatGPT and asked (a little bit stupid): so now for dyndolod. what about generating occlusion in regard to seasons? Only for the first season? or for all? Short answer
When generating occlusion with DynDOLOD for a seasonal setup, the occlusion should be generated for all seasons, not just the first one
My next question was:
ok got it. but in general now it will be the same process as with xlodgen, right? that means setting season to winter, starting the game, closing it, running dyndolod with season winter set and then switching the season, starting and closing the game and so on.
Good news: You don’t need to repeat the process for each season with DynDOLOD! DynDOLOD automatically handles all seasons in a single pass when the Seasons option is enabled, provided you’ve already set up everything else (like terrain LODs from xLODGen and base textures from TexGen). How DynDOLOD Handles Seasons in One Pass
Seasonal Transitions:
DynDOLOD dynamically switches between seasonal LODs (terrain, objects, grass, and trees) in-game based on the active season. You don’t need to run it separately for each season.
What DynDOLOD Generates:
One comprehensive set of LODs that includes data for all seasons (e.g., Winter, Spring, Summer, Autumn).
Steps for Running DynDOLOD with SeasonsHere’s the streamlined workflow for generating seasonal LODs with DynDOLOD:
Prepare Terrain LODs:
Use xLODGen to generate terrain LODs for all needed seasons (e.g., Default, Winter, Spring, etc.).
Prepare TexGen Output:
Run TexGen once to create the base textures and billboards.
Set Active Season (Optional):
You can set SeasonType in po3_SeasonsOfSkyrim.ini to any season, but this doesn’t affect DynDOLOD’s generation process. It uses data for all seasons.
Run DynDOLOD:
Open DynDOLOD.
Enable the Seasons option:
In the advanced settings, ensure EnableSeasons=1.
Select all relevant worldspaces.
Enable Generate Occlusion if desired.
Let DynDOLOD process all seasons in one run.
Save and Activate Output:
Install the DynDOLOD output as a mod in your mod manager.
Activate the mod.
When You Might Repeat DynDOLOD for a Specific SeasonYou only need to rerun DynDOLOD for specific seasons if:
You’ve made changes to seasonal mods (e.g., new Winter textures or tree meshes).
You notice issues with LODs for a particular season during gameplay.
In such cases, you can rerun DynDOLOD while focusing on the updated season's data.
So I started DynDOLOD and used the settings from the step modifications guide PLUS the seasons setting. but that led me to the next question: you know what i have done until now. In xlodgen i have created terrain lod for all seasons. i would like to run dyndolod now for all seasons. so should snow be ticked now or not? Or should I make a seperate dyndolod run for winter with snow ticked?
Given your setup, where you've created terrain LOD for all seasons and want to run DynDOLOD for all seasons, here’s how to handle the "Snow" option: Should "Snow" Be Ticked? You should tick "Snow" in your single DynDOLOD run for all seasons. Here’s why:
Seasons Support:
DynDOLOD dynamically handles snow coverage for Winter while leaving other seasons unaffected. Ticking "Snow" ensures that snow-covered LODs appear in Winter but are removed in other seasons like Spring, Summer, and Autumn.
Single Run for All Seasons:
DynDOLOD is designed to process all seasonal variations in one pass, including snow for Winter. You do not need a separate run for Winter.
Terrain LOD Consistency:
Since you’ve generated terrain LOD for all seasons (including Winter), ticking "Snow" ensures LOD meshes and textures for Winter are snow-covered while maintaining non-snowy LODs for other seasons.
Why Not Separate Runs for Winter and Other Seasons?
Redundant Effort:
DynDOLOD automatically switches LODs based on the active season in-game. Running it separately for Winter adds unnecessary complexity without additional benefits.
Dynamic Seasonal Changes:
When "Snow" is ticked, DynDOLOD includes snow for Winter and excludes it for other seasons in a single run.
Steps for Running DynDOLOD
Enable "Snow":
In the DynDOLOD GUI, tick the "Snow" checkbox to ensure snow-covered objects and terrain appear for Winter.
Set Up Seasons:
Ensure the "Seasons" option is enabled in the DynDOLOD advanced settings.
Single Run for All Seasons:
Run DynDOLOD for all seasons in one pass. It will process snow-covered LODs for Winter and generate non-snowy LODs for other seasons dynamically.
Test In-Game:
Set SeasonType=1 (Winter) in po3_SeasonsOfSkyrim.ini and verify that snow-covered LODs appear correctly.
Switch to another season (e.g., Spring or Summer) and confirm that snow is no longer visible on LODs.
Key Takeaway
Tick "Snow" in DynDOLOD for a single run covering all seasons. This approach ensures consistent and dynamic snow behavior without requiring separate runs for Winter and other seasons.
hello, the stonebase texture in whiterun is vanilla despite the fact that i use recast textures for the city of whiterun such as Riton whiterun or others but that doesn't change anything the stonebase is horrible and that comes from your mod. yet my recast mod of the city such as Riton is placed after your mod that should yet crush your texture but no how to solve this problem thanks
I can't change the base walls that are in whiterun, the textures are really ugly. If I hide the textures in the whiterun architecture folder, the walls are purple, which means that textures are missing, even though I have a whiterun overhaul mod like illustrious or tomato's. I don't understand why people aren't talking about this.
if i hide all meshes and textures there is a hole instead of a void i don't understand why no one is talking about it isn't there anyone who has noticed this tell me how to fix it.
You need the esp from the original Cathedral 3D Mountain Flowers mod if you want the snow flowers in the northern regions. Just let Seasonal Landscapes overwrite its assets.
This is related to a question I just posted. The "Snow" versions of the Cathedral 3D Mountain Flowers don't change with the season I think because there are no corresponding "seasonized" meshes for those in your mod. Is this intentional? Are they supposed to be evergreen?
I'm fine if so but if not, I'm wondering if there's a fix.
I'm having so much fun with this amazing mod. Really adds to the feel of a real place with the season changes.
I have Cathedral - 3D Mountain flowers. That mod has two meshes for several of the flowers with one having "snow" right before the extension (e.g. floramountainflower01blueSnow.nif). I don't see a corresponding mesh in this mod, which I think explains why, although all the other mountain flowers have Autumn-appropriate leaves in Autumn, the mountain flowers named with "Snow.nif" don't change but stay bright green with little white specks (presumably the "snow").
Is this intended? I'm also wondering if I could create a patch with meshes from this mod for the mountain flowers, but with "Snow" in the name, like this - floramountainflower01blueSnowAUT.nif. Would these change with the seasons like the other mountain flowers?
great mod but for some reason, i need to restart my game for tree lods to get updated when the season changes
edit: fixed it by using ultra tree lod when generating dyndolod. it seems to be a seasons of skyrim or dyndolod issue rather than this mod, seasonal landscapes
So I've been having lots of fun getting this and unfrozen to work, it's amazing how much new life this breathes into the game.
One thing I've found to be confusing is what to do about trees. I've been using Ulvenwald, but I'm considering trying seasonal aspens since you recommend it - what I'm confused about is what to do for the rest of Skyrim's trees. I'm pretty sure seasonal aspens only covers the rift, so if I use your compatibility patch for it, what would you recommend I do for the rest of Skyrim's tree? Seasonal Happy Little trees?
When I use SMIM with this mod, the textures on the ground turn purple in some places. When you disable this mod, everything becomes fine. Should SMIM and Seasonal landscapes be in any particular order..?
i'm having the same problem, except it's only for trees. i think i might have a missing texture - just the pine trees. i'm going to move SMIM to the bottom of my LO and see if it works.
This is a great mod! If you are not generating grass cache it's much easier to install.
Which I did, using XLODGEN for the first time. I had a few results that really surprised me so I wanted to post it here in case I screwed up. First, I used LOTD (lazzyLOTD or something like that) suggested settings for XLODGEN. It took 12 hours! wow. I knew it would take a long time because 5 seasons settings and I had heard it takes longer than Dyndolod but danm. Second, I was really surprised that TEXGEN only took minutes! Prior to using XLODGEN, TEXGEN took me like 90 min because I was using Seasonal landscapes. I realized i was doing things wrong and then used XLODGEN first but seven minutes for TEXGEN LOD billboards?? I did it a couple times to be sure. Third, Dyndolod took half the time of XLODGEN (6 hours). Just putting that out there. Dyndolod allways takes a long time for me. But XLODGEN takes twice as long as Dyndolod really threw me for a loop.
Let me know if this stuff sounds wonky all. Thx
Also! I decided to install turn of the seasons with seasonal landscapes so I can enjoy the frozen rivers in the winter. One question, in my load order the main turn of the seasons esp loads AFTER seasonal landscapes esp. Does this mean seasonal landscapes is basically being overridden by turn of the seasons? That is not my intention. I just wanted the turn of the seasons icy waterways esp. Several seasonal landscapes unfrozen esp are after turn of the season. Several seasonal landscape patches are after turn of the seasons. DO i need to move my seasonal landscapes main esp to a larger load order number than the main turn of the seasons esp?
Thanks in advance. Sorry for so many questions. Im new to this mod
Pretty sure it should never take that long to generate in xLodGen. Did you also generate textures additionaly to meshes? For me, on a potato PC, it will take max. 2h to run xLodGen wiht textures and mesh generation, so that does sound quite wonky what you're describing. Do you maybe have a huge load order? As for Turn of the Seasons, if you're using Vortex, right click Seasonal Landscapes and go to "manage file conflicts", in there you can choose specifically which file you want to use for which change, if there are conflicting files. Pretty sure theres also a patch that gives you only the frozen rivers without any other changes from Turn of the Seasons.
The mod is giving an interesting problem that I have no idea how to solve. When I activate it, the entire screen has a dry appearance (dry grass, dry bushes). If I deactivate it, the vegetation appears normal, green.
Here is the image:
Follow images with the mod list: Link 1: https://imgur.com/qw0cNgj Link 2: https://imgur.com/6SbeTzy Link 3: https://imgur.com/3sRVLoI
If anyone has an idea how to solve this, I would greatly appreciate it.
Looks like the automn season vegetation to me. If it is one of the autumn months than thats the reason, otherwise I suggest manually changing the season in the seasons of skyrim ini file and see if that changes the vegetation. If it does then you have a porblem with your seasons of skyrim mod.
1080 comments
1. Install all mods and utilities (Seasons of Skyrim, Seasonal Landscapes, xLodgen, Dyndolod, No Grass in Objects [NGIO], SSEEdit, and all their requirements). You can find an overview of this process here (without using NGIO): https://www.reddit.com/r/skyrimmods/comments/xg1g30/simple_guide_for_installing_seasons_of_skyrim/
1.1 If using complex grass, do not use complex grass textures for lod generating/grass caching, or you are going to have blue foliage in the far distant (just uncheck any complex grass patch mods before starting generating lod textures or grass cache).
2. IMPORTANT: Use SSEEdit and the Construction Kit to create a new mod containing Grass Object ONLY from Season Landscapes and recalculate boundaries for these, otherwise NO grass LODs will be created by TexGen. Here are some useful links on how to do this and on making this new mod containing the grass reconds an ESL so it doens't take up space on your load order: https://github.com/LivelyDismay/Learn-To-Mod/blob/main/lessons/DynDOLOD%203.0%20and%20Grass%20Cache.md; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFMfVtZAjnU; https://www.reddit.com/r/skyrimmods/comments/coici7/flag_your_small_plugins_as_esl_to_avoid_reaching/; https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/67785
3. Generate grass caches x5 (4, one for each season, plus a "default" one). To do so, open "po3_SeasonsOfSkyrim.ini", in MO2 located in the Overwrite folder under /skse/plugins. There you can force each season, or disable them (this is for the "default" cache, so that you can generate grass caches using NGIO). Instructions here, https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/42161
4. Make sure you rename all .cgid generate by NGIO for each seasons as described here, https://dyndolod.info/Help/Seasons, under "Grass and Grass LOD". You may use the powershell command
"$sum = '.SUM'
Dir | Rename-Item -NewName { $_.basename+$sum+$_.extension}" Without quotes, where "$sum = '.SUM' must be changed for each season accordingly, i.e.
"$sum = '.WIN'
"$sum = '.AUT'
"$sum = '.SPR'
As described here: https://www.reddit.com/r/skyrimmods/comments/uwxg7d/comment/ib31w1y/
5. Run xLodgen as usual to create terrain LODs for all seasons.
6. Run TexGen to generate grass LODs (I had to set HD Grass Direct to 0 and Ambience to 55 to otherwise my grass LODs were way too bright, as I am using ENB and complex grass).
7. Run Dyndolod as usual, making sure to select all seasons.
8. Disable grass cache files from your load order (no longer needed as we have already made the LODs) and, in the NGIO .ini, set both OnlyLoadFromCache and UseGrassCache to "False", and DynDOLODGrassMode to 1.
9. Thats that, enjoy! Make sure to load the game from an indoor area for changes to take effect.
- When renaming all the .cgid generated am assuming this only has to be done for winter, spring, summer and autmun and not for the "default" cache. Is this correct or do we need to give the default files a new name as well and if so what name to use?
- To generate the default cache what is the value we need to enter for "Season Type" in "po3_SeasonsOfSkyrim.ini". For example it says 0=disabled and 5=seasonal. So am assuming "Season Type=0" is what we need to set to generate the default cache. Is that correct?
- Yes, renaming the .cgid files has to be done only for winter, spring, summer and autumn, not for the "default" cache.
- To generate the default cache, you must use 0 (disabled), for "Season Type" in "po3_SeasonsOfSkyrim.ini" (i.e. "Season Type=0").
On a similar note, quite a few of the grass meshes (nifs) have the wrong root node block according to DynDOLOD:
https://dyndolod.info/Messages/Root-Block
They should be BSFadeNode but are set to NiNode. This causes DynDOLOD to ignore them. They can be easily fixed with Nifskope:
TexGen's \textures\terrain\lodgen\TexGen_SSE_Grass_Billboards.txt and TexGen_SSE_Tree_Billboards.txt are useful in determining which billboards are being generated. False at the end indicates they are being ignored. Here's my grass for example:
https://paste.ee/p/avYxF
As you can see TexGen is ignoring most of the *_Solstheim grasses due to the need for a boundries recalc in CK.
Also I did not know you had to set the meshes to BSFadeNode for them to show up. Good to know, I will look into that as well.
Thanks for the helpful comment.
Someone please make a FULL video of what you actually do without cuts it's important for community, more than infinite tit mods.
But clearly your instructions were clear and detailed enough to have changed something, even if it went the opposite way from intended. So, thank you for posting them! I didn't know how to do grass caches before this.
Edit: NVM the FPS drop was from fBlockLevel0Distance. Regarding step 8, I still need to keep my grass cache enabled though for grass to show up..strange
for posterity, the necessary iterations are season type = (0,1,2,3,4)
1) I don't understand step 8 of the guide.
Are You suggesting to use the seasonal grass caches only for their LODS (with Dyndolod) but then disable them to generate grass NOT via cache? Isn't that perforamance unfriendly?
I am asking this based on this: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/articles/6920
2) My grass is always green far-away but "season-color-specific" up close. What did I do wrong?
Thanks in advance to anyone willing to answer
Happy New Year!
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I think you are right. I also followed that guide and left them enabled but disabled NGIO because of:
from How to generate grass cache (with seasons) from infernalryan
Edit 1: @Murzley: with the lod, I think you have to do it the same way like when generating the cache, but in a more manual fashion. That means update your ' po3_SeasonsOfSkyrim.ini' file and Set Season Type = 0 (disabled) for the default season. Then start the game, so that the correct season is loaded. Close the game, run xlodgen/dyndolod for that specific season. After that repeat the process for the other seasons. And at the end don't forget to set it back to 5 for seasonal.
Edit 2: Confirmed, I just tried it only for the winter terrain lod (so I just created that terrain lod) and kept the Set Season Type = 1 setting. then loaded the game and look how good it looks already even without texgen and dyndolod bein run :-) Winter xlodgen only
Edit 3: IMPORTANT: General Info. You always have to go inside and outside again or something similar for seasonal changes to show.
When I went ingame again after generating the spring season, I was disappointed because the lod was still winter. So I quit the game, asked ChatGPT a bit (Yes ChatGPT, honestly, do it - it knows everything - I have the paid version, don't know about the free one) and it gave me replies like this:
I tried that ingame later with summer, because for spring I didn't have to. A second start of the whole game did the job on its own.By the way: ChatGPT earlier explained to me also why the switching may not have happened, which was interesting in itself. One of the possibilities why I didn't see any change, it suggested was:
I asked it then: do i just get the DynDOLOD_SSE.ini after it has been run once?
Answer (in short): Yes, the DynDOLOD_SSE.ini file is generated after running DynDOLOD for the first time.
Next question: ok but for NOW, as I just generated spring terrain lod and want to test that.
Answer (full):
Then started the game and suddenly I saw spring lod, which I told ChatGpt. And the answer I got was the best one :-D
By the way my mod order (left side) looks like this in MO2 by now: https://imgur.com/a/7474pW6
I will continue in my next post when I am done with the next steps which are now related to TexGen.
Continuing from my first post
So I asked ChatGpt how to handle seasons with TexGen because obviously there is no seasons option and I didn't know the technical background exactly. In short, it told:
I asked it then: so but what about lets say trees that have no leafes in the winter?
And the answer is very helpful for the understanding of the process:
Dyndolod instructions in my next post.
so now for dyndolod. what about generating occlusion in regard to seasons? Only for the first season? or for all?
Short answer
My next question was:
ok got it. but in general now it will be the same process as with xlodgen, right? that means setting season to winter, starting the game, closing it, running dyndolod with season winter set and then switching the season, starting and closing the game and so on.
So I started DynDOLOD and used the settings from the step modifications guide PLUS the seasons setting. but that led me to the next question:
you know what i have done until now. In xlodgen i have created terrain lod for all seasons. i would like to run dyndolod now for all seasons. so should snow be ticked now or not? Or should I make a seperate dyndolod run for winter with snow ticked?
I hope this small guide helps you. :-)
I can't change the base walls that are in whiterun, the textures are really ugly. If I hide the textures in the whiterun architecture folder, the walls are purple, which means that textures are missing, even though I have a whiterun overhaul mod like illustrious or tomato's. I don't understand why people aren't talking about this.
if i hide all meshes and textures there is a hole instead of a void i don't understand why no one is talking about it isn't there anyone who has noticed this tell me how to fix it.
I'm fine if so but if not, I'm wondering if there's a fix.
Thanks for a great mod!
I have Cathedral - 3D Mountain flowers. That mod has two meshes for several of the flowers with one having "snow" right before the extension (e.g. floramountainflower01blueSnow.nif). I don't see a corresponding mesh in this mod, which I think explains why, although all the other mountain flowers have Autumn-appropriate leaves in Autumn, the mountain flowers named with "Snow.nif" don't change but stay bright green with little white specks (presumably the "snow").
Is this intended? I'm also wondering if I could create a patch with meshes from this mod for the mountain flowers, but with "Snow" in the name, like this - floramountainflower01blueSnowAUT.nif. Would these change with the seasons like the other mountain flowers?
edit: fixed it by using ultra tree lod when generating dyndolod. it seems to be a seasons of skyrim or dyndolod issue rather than this mod, seasonal landscapes
One thing I've found to be confusing is what to do about trees. I've been using Ulvenwald, but I'm considering trying seasonal aspens since you recommend it - what I'm confused about is what to do for the rest of Skyrim's trees. I'm pretty sure seasonal aspens only covers the rift, so if I use your compatibility patch for it, what would you recommend I do for the rest of Skyrim's tree? Seasonal Happy Little trees?
This is a great mod! If you are not generating grass cache it's much easier to install.
Which I did, using XLODGEN for the first time. I had a few results that really surprised me so I wanted to post it here in case I screwed up. First, I used LOTD (lazzyLOTD or something like that) suggested settings for XLODGEN. It took 12 hours! wow. I knew it would take a long time because 5 seasons settings and I had heard it takes longer than Dyndolod but danm. Second, I was really surprised that TEXGEN only took minutes! Prior to using XLODGEN, TEXGEN took me like 90 min because I was using Seasonal landscapes. I realized i was doing things wrong and then used XLODGEN first but seven minutes for TEXGEN LOD billboards?? I did it a couple times to be sure. Third, Dyndolod took half the time of XLODGEN (6 hours). Just putting that out there. Dyndolod allways takes a long time for me. But XLODGEN takes twice as long as Dyndolod really threw me for a loop.
Let me know if this stuff sounds wonky all. Thx
Also! I decided to install turn of the seasons with seasonal landscapes so I can enjoy the frozen rivers in the winter. One question, in my load order the main turn of the seasons esp loads AFTER seasonal landscapes esp. Does this mean seasonal landscapes is basically being overridden by turn of the seasons? That is not my intention. I just wanted the turn of the seasons icy waterways esp. Several seasonal landscapes unfrozen esp are after turn of the season. Several seasonal landscape patches are after turn of the seasons. DO i need to move my seasonal landscapes main esp to a larger load order number than the main turn of the seasons esp?
Thanks in advance. Sorry for so many questions. Im new to this mod
BTW, looks awesome!
As for Turn of the Seasons, if you're using Vortex, right click Seasonal Landscapes and go to "manage file conflicts", in there you can choose specifically which file you want to use for which change, if there are conflicting files. Pretty sure theres also a patch that gives you only the frozen rivers without any other changes from Turn of the Seasons.
Here is the image:
Follow images with the mod list:
Link 1: https://imgur.com/qw0cNgj
Link 2: https://imgur.com/6SbeTzy
Link 3: https://imgur.com/3sRVLoI
If anyone has an idea how to solve this, I would greatly appreciate it.