SkyrimVR Visual Noise Reduction 1.31 By Erare

https://ift.tt/3oBIGCX SkyrimVR Visual Noise Reduction 1.31 By Erare

THIS IS NOT MY MOD ! open posting permissions given at original listing by  Erare   and as such i cannot provide official support please see original listing for support options .

Reduces the number of far off mountain LOD objects drawn in the game
Uses a higher poly count terrain mesh to reduce Water Vs. Terrain Z fighting
Disables 3/4 of the skybox to reduce ocean/horizon visual anomaly                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Recommended settings with this mod:

--SkyrimPrefs.ini--
[MAIN]
fSkyCellRefFadeDistance=25000.0000

[TerrainManager]
fTreeLoadDistance=350000.0000
fBlockMaximumDistance=350000.0000
fBlockLevel1Distance=40000.0000
fBlockLevel0Distance=40000.0000
fSplitDistanceMult=1.0000

[Launcher]
bEnableFileSelection=1
--Skyrim.ini--

[Display]
fNearDistance=13 - You must add this line to Skyrim.ini
Increasing the fNearDistance value higher than the default 5 will reduce Z fighting flickering seen most noticeably in mountainsides, however all objects handheld or otherwise will disappear when brought near your face.

Installation:
Drop the textures and meshes folders into the Steam\steamapps\common\SkyrimVR\Data folder. Use the recommended settings for your ini files. 

Compatibility: 
This mod is a rework of the LOD4 / LOD8 / LOD16 / LOD32 terrain and object meshes. It is comprised of a few meshes, textures and some recommended ini changes. It should play well with most other mods, but full compatibility is unknown to me.

Tested on:
1080ti
i7 5820k (small overclock)
16gb ram
No AA, No TAA, No SteamVR Supersampling
Used a Vive Pro
Performance impact is minimal for myself.  There is a low quality performance friendly version of this mod at https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/16609?tab=files

Preface:
There are many visually distracting elements present in the SkyrimVR Tamriel Overworld.  Z fighting flickering seen in mountainsides, flickering water, triangle creep at the periphery and render distance limitation anomalies are the 4 main offenders.

VR Example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nrvjp2svBRs

Pancake Example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjHt-4Z6PwI

Triangle Creep:
At a distance of 40000+ units away, or around 250 yards+, there is creeping snow at the edges of my vision when I turn my head left and right. The snow gets higher than the trees at my periphery, and goes back down when I look back at said trees. It's as if snow is materializing in huge quantities out of thin air at the edges of my vision. The effect stays in my periphery moving along the mountainside as I turn my head. Everything in the center is normal. The effect is not just limited to snow, but snow and mountains are by far the worst offenders for this particular issue. Elevation and terrain steepness play a big role on how severe the triangle creep is.

Please see the VR example video https://youtu.be/Nrvjp2svBRs?t=10 to see triangle creep for yourself.

This Mod:
The goal of this mod is to increase VR immersion in the Tamriel Overworld by reducing visual noise caused by flickering mountainsides, flickering water, peripheral triangle creep and render distance limitations as much as possible.  It achieves this by:

1.) Massively reducing the number of far off mountain object static mesh LODs drawn in the game to eliminate peripheral triangle creep at 40000+ units away or around 250+ yards.
2.) Using a higher poly count terrain mesh to reduce Water Vs. Terrain Z fighting.
3.) Disabling 16 of the game's 36 LOD32 files, pulling back how far the ocean is drawn out to in an effort to combat the unnatural way the horizon and ocean follow your view.
4.) Reducing flickering seen in mountainsides and terrain with the fNearDistance=13 Skyrim.ini variable.

Using this mod, most mountain object static meshes at the triangle creep range (roughly 40000+ units away, or around 250+ yards) and beyond will no longer be drawn. This eliminates 90% of the triangle creep you will notice in the game. The result is mostly bald mountains at a very far distance with trees/landmarks/towers/buildings etc remaining intact. There will be complete detail out to 40000 units. A side effect is that many landmarks are much easier to see with high fblockmaximumdistance values because there aren't (literally) 1,000s of mountain statics in the way. The tradeoff here is triangle creep vs mountain static popin at 40000+ units away or around 250+ yards. The reduction in visual noise when looking and walking about is well worth the tradeoff for myself. The creep just tears me away from the game. I had to find a work around.

Increases immersion in the Tamriel Overworld by eliminating many sources of Z fighting flickering seen in mountainsides, water flickering, peripheral triangle creep and a strange visual anomaly that occurs at the ocean / horizon.

There is a Low Quality Performance Friendly Version of the mod available in the optional files section.                                                                                                                                                                                        Newly Generated Higher Poly Count Terrain:
There is a potential performance impact.  It is minimal for myself.  I tested several sets of terrain for visual quality and performance impact.

The mod ships with these Terrain Generator Settings:

LOD4 - Quality 10 - Depth OFF
LOD8 - Quality 12 - Depth 200
LOD16 - Quality 14 - Depth 400
LOD32 - Quality 16 - Depth 800

LOD# -- The 4 sets of far off LOD terrain meshes that make up the game world you see
Quality -- 0 Highest - 30 Lowest
Depth -- Z fighting technique built into Sheson's xLODGenx64 tool that pulls terrain vertices down when they are completely underwater

*** There is an optional lower quality performance friendly version of this mod at https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/16609?tab=files ***

Visual Anomaly Where the Ocean and Horizon Meet:
Where the ocean meets the rendering distance limit, there is a visual anomaly that occurs.  It causes the ocean and horizon to follow your view in an unnatural way.  To combat this,  I've disabled about 3/4 of the skybox LOD32 files, most of which are excess ocean.  All playable space is retained and the issue is reduced.

To disable the rest of the skybox terrain LOD32s (Cyrodil), please see the included optional files.  To get the ocean and or skybox terrain back, you must delete the 2KB LOD32 files in Data\meshes\terrain\Tamriel.

Tree Shimmer:
Another source of visual noise in SkyrimVR is tree shimmering. The best way to address shimmering trees, grass, foliage and the like is to use 'fluffier' more filled in textures with less holes for light. I recommend the following 2 tree mods as they do a great job of reworking the 3 main types of tree in the game (yellow aspen, white pine, green pine):

1.) Reduce pine and snowy pine tree shimmer with the Optional HD Textures by Vurt (of SFO fame) at Simply Bigger Trees by fadingsignal (full use of the Simply Bigger Trees mod is not required, you can just use the Optional Textures) - https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/5281
2.) Reduce aspen tree shimmer and make them have variety in color (not all yellow) - Realistic Aspen Trees SE 4K (I use the 2k version) - https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/4423
The VR Example Video above demonstrates tree shimmer reduction at 02:27 ( https://youtu.be/Nrvjp2svBRs?t=147 )

The recommended tree mods do a pretty great job at eliminating tree shimmer (especially for snowy pines), but I am always looking for the best solution.  Let me know if you find better textures / solutions for eliminating tree shimmer 😄

This Mod TL;DR:
1.) Use recommended settings.
2.) Any "Static\Landscape\Mountains" object referenced 10 times or more in the Creation Kit will no longer draw an LOD01 or LOD02 model. This gets rid of most mountain meshes at a distance.
3.) Any "Static\Landscape\Mountains" object referenced 9 times or less in the Creation Kit with an LOD02 model will use the highest quality world space LOD. This leaves only named mountain objects (I.E. MountainCliff01_Blackreach, MountainCliff01_Falmer) and they will always use a high quality LOD at any distance.
4.) Higher poly count terrain meshes.
5.) Reduced the ocean/horizon visual anomaly by disabling 16 of the game's 36 LOD32 files.
6.) Download the 2 recommended tree mods to reduce tree shimmer.
7.) Optional: Get rid of giant holes in the ocean (this is a culling issue that is present in vanilla) http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/6314/? TVDT REMOVED.esp (potential performance impact but I haven't noticed it myself).

Thanks to Sheson for xLODGenx64 which I used for the terrain and object LOD generation
http://forum.step-project.com/topic/13175-xlodgen-terrain-lod-beta-for-fnv-fo3-fo4-fo4vr-tes5-sse-tes5vr/

CHANGELOG:
1.0 - Release
1.1 - Minor hand done rework of some troubled coastline at LOD32 and LOD16.
1.2 - Disabled 16 of 36 skybox LOD32 files to combat the ocean/horizon visual anomaly.  Reduced quality of mod for performance gain with no visual quality impact (1.1 was 6/8/10/12 quality.  1.2 is now 10/12/14/16 quality).  Uploaded optional version of mod with even lower quality as a performance friendly alternative (15/18/21/24 quality). https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/16609?tab=files
1.3 - Disabled all but the named mountain object static mesh LODs (I.E. MountainCliff01_Blackreach, MountainCliff01_Falmer).  Having even just a few mountain statics in a scene can cause very noticeable triangle creep, so now only a few named mountain statics remain (old 1.2 files/object configuration can be found on Nexus).  Minor hand done touchups to a few troubled LOD4 / LOD8 terrain areas near water.
1.31 - Regenerated LOD4 terrain with no depth protection for better water/terrain interaction at close ranges.  Touched up a few more LOD4 / LOD8 near water.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Devious Desires

Skyrim Special Edition 1.5.97 + Core Files + SKSE

Deviant Core