Name: AEVWD Fixes Version: 0.1 Date: 2008/07/06 Category: Models and Textures Required: Oblivion Patch 1.1.511 TES4LODGen Author(s): Silverglade Source: http://www.tesnexus.com Description =========== This mod contains various meshes that attempt to fix problems that exist in Iggey's Almost Everything Visibile When Distant (AEVWD) mod. Some these fixes can be used as is. However, to get the most out of this mod, you need to get and use TES4LODGen by ElminsterEU. Details ======= As I played through Oblivion with AEVWD, I noticed problems with a few of the the meshes Iggey provided. I also noticed a few cases where no VWD meshes were provided and this caused VWD objects to appear strangley. This mod contains various fixes that I have made for use in my own game to correct these issues. I have not made any attempt to optimize these fixes for people with low end computers, and I don't intend to. All meshes use the original Bethesda textures. For people that want fine control over what gets installed into their game, I have provided each fix as a standalone fix. I have also included a directory that contains all of the fixes in one place for people that want everything. Here is a list of everything that has been fixed or added. If the fix is labeled as "(TES4LODGen)", that means that you won't see this fix unless you also use TES4LODGen. See the Technical Details section for more on TES4LODGen, meshes, and VWD objects. * anvil_docks (TES4LODGen) - AEVWD only includes the very tip of each dock as a VWD object. This adds the docks to Anvil bay. * anvil_ships (TES4LODGen) - AEVWD doesn't include the ships in Anvil bay. This adds both ships to the bay. As a side effect, this also adds both ships to the Impericla City Waterfront. * battlethorn (TES4LODGen) - For some reason Bethesda didn't provide a VWD mesh for the Downloadable Content (DLC) Battlethron Castle. This adds Battlethorn Castle as a VWD object. * burned_island (TES4LODGen) - There is a bruned out island in the Niben Bay. It contains a burned out tower, house, and tree. AEVWD doesn't provide the tower or house. This fix adds them both. * cathedralakatosh - AEVWD provides a mesh for this cathederal. However, it has some problems with the windows. Depending on which angle you approached the catherderal from, you can see right through the building. This fixes that problem. * cathedralstendarr - AEVWD provides a mesh for this cathederal. However, it has some problems with the windows. Depending on which angle you approach the catherderal from, you can see right through the building. This fixes that problem. * foot_bridges - AEVWD provides a mesh for the various stone foot bridges you find out in the country. These bridges are often used for crossing small rivers and streams. Unfortunately, the meshes are see through. This fixes that problem and makes the bridges solid again. * frostcrag (TES4LODGen) - For some reason Bethesda didn't provide a VWD mesh for the DLC Frostcrag Spire. This adds the Spire as a VWD object. * wayshrines (TES4LODGen) - AEVWD doesn't proivide wayshrines as VWD objects. This fix adds them.. * wfall_bridges (TES4LODGen) - There is a location where two foot bridges are needed to span an expanse of water around the IC. The bridges have a rock between them to make up for the extra distance that the bridges don't span. Unfortunately, AEVWD doesn't provide that rock so it looks like the bridges go from the shore to no where. This fix provides the rock and the bridge ends to make the scene complete. * wood_bridge_stairs (TES4LODGen) - AEVWD provides a mesh for a wood bridge that crosses the lower Niben Bay. However, it doesn't provide the stairs on either side of the bridge. This makes the bridge look like it is floating in mid air above the water. This fix adds the stairs at both sides. Technical Details ================= This is a simple explanation of how Visible When Distant (VWD) objects work. Every object that you see in the game is represented by a .nif file on disk or in the original .BSA files from Bethesda. These are called meshes. If something needs to be VWD, it needs to have a corresponding _far.nif file. For example, if a chruch needs to be VWD, it would have two different meshes (.nif files): church.nif church_far.nif The church.nif file would be used to render the church when you were up close, and the church_far.nif would be used to render the church when you were far away. Bethesda only provided a few _far.nif files for things that they wanted us to see from far away. Mods like AEVWD went through and created many more _far.nif files. However, just having a _far.nif file is not enough to get things to show up when distant. You need to tell the game that you want those objects to show up when distant. Once the _far.nif files were created, the mod author went into the Construction Set and turned on the VWD flag for the objects they wanted you to see. Once this was done, they regenrated the Distant Land Level of Datail (LOD) information for each cell in the game. You can think of Distant Land LOD as a list of information that tells the engine "at this location, you need to draw the following object". When it comes time to render that cell's VWD objects, the engine then checks to see if that object has a _far.nif file associated with it. If it does, then it renders the object. If it doesn't, then nothing is drawn. When you install something like AEVWD, you get the new _far meshes that the mod author created, as well as the Distant Land LOD information that they generated in the Construction Set. This mod replaces some of the _far.nif files that came with AEVWD. For these meshes, nothing needs to be done. The Distant Land LOD data that comes with AEVWD, calls things by name and I kept the meshes named the same as AEWVD. Therefore, the game will just pickup the new meshes and use them instead of the ones that came with AEVWD. However, several of these fixes are new _far.nif files. The Distant Land LOD data that came with AEVVD doesn't contain references to these new objects. In order to get these new objects to appear in the game, you need to use TES4LODGen by ElminsterEU. TES4LODGen takes a different approach to getting things to show up as VWD objects. Whereas the Construction Set generates Distant Land LOD information by checking which objects have their VWD flag set, TES4LODGen checks to see what _far.nif files exist and automatically generates a Distant Land LOD reference for every object that would use that _far.nif. TES4LODGen allows you to make even more things VWD. If Iggey forgot to turn on the VWD flag for a house, even though he provided a _far.nif, it wouldn't show up in your game. However, TES4LODGen would make that house show up since it doesn't rely on the VWD flag. Using TES4LODGen allows you to take a mod like AEVWD and add new things to it. I did not modify any of Iggey's _far.nif files in creating this mod. I used Bethesda's original meshes. I then ran wz_'s GenerateFar.exe on the meshes to reduce them and generate the _far.nif files. All runs of GenerateFar were done with the settings "1 0 1 0". I know that it has five parameters, but I only used the first four. There is no particular reason I used those settings. I saw an example somewhere, and those settings seemed to work out okay for me. There is a chance that better settings could have been used. Install ======= 1. Extract this archive to any folder EXCEPT your Oblivion Data folder. 2. Navigate to the folder where you extracted this mod. 3. Decide whether you want all of the fixes or only specific ones. 4. Go into the folder for a fix you want. Go into that folder's Data folder. 5. Copy that fix's 'meshes' folder into your Oblivion Data folder (usually C:\Program Files\Bethesda Softworks\Oblivion\Data). 6. Repeat steps 4 and 5 for each fix you want. If you want them all, you just need to copy the 'meshes' folder from the '_all' folder. 7. If you used any of the fixes that require TES4LODGen, go ahead and run TES4LODGen. Uninstall ========= In order to uninstall this mod, you will need to go into the meshes folder and delete and of the _far.nif files this mod added. You'll then need to reinstall AEVWD. If you ran TES4LODGen, you'll need to run it again. Incompatibilities ================= Any other mod that supplies VWD objects could be incompatible with this mod. When installing multiple VWD mods, you get the VWD objects from whichever mod is installed last. See the Technical Detials section. History ======= 0.1, 2008/07/06 - Initial release. Contact ======= You can send me a Personal Message (PM) on the official Elder Scrolls forums. Just PM 'Silverglade'. All updates to this mod will be posted on TESNexus (http://www.tesnexus.com). Credits ======= Thanks to Bethesda for creating such a beautiful world. Thanks to lhammonds for the Readme Generator that this file is based on. Thnaks to Iggey for creating Almost Everything Visible When Distant (AEVWD). Thanks to wz_ for GenerateFar and his work on Nifskope. Thanks to ElmisterEU for creating TES4LODGen. Tools Used ========== GenerateFar.exe by wz_ Nifskope by The Nifskope Team Readme Generator - http://lhammonds.game-host.org/obmm/tools_readme_generator1.asp Licensing/Legal =============== You can do whatever you want with this mod. No permission is required to use any of the resources.