missing lod and non optimal lod ranges

[213]

many of the ordinances do not have a lower low models

 

furthermore, many of them have an excessively long lod switch range. an agm-88 missile for example has "1000000" range, equaling a million meters, by my estimation of the lod switch values.

 

many ground vehicles, such as bt80 do not have lower lods, and also have a million meter render value.

 

please review these models and adjust ranges and/or add lower lod stages.

 

thank you.

Edited May 8, 2012 by 213

[Mustang]

edit: New place for download of .lods package http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=91742

Edited July 18, 2012 by Mustang

[213]

ok. thanks.

[213]

performance is much better. less sluggish, but stuttering still there. i experiment with numbers.

 

do you know what the numbers represent? i suspect meters. how many zeroes after the period are really needed?

 

also, i think there is error in 9a33.lod the bracket is not closed

[Mustang]

performance is much better. less sluggish, but stuttering still there. i experiment with numbers.

 

Yes performance is improved for me also with no image degredation, but as for the stuttering well, the CPU still has to calculate the positions/actions/movements etc of the AI so theres still going to be some workload there.

 

do you know what the numbers represent? i suspect meters. how many zeroes after the period are really needed?

 

yes it's all in metric, and i usually only add a single .0 to the parameters

 

also, i think there is error in 9a33.lod the bracket is not closed

 

oh ok, thanks for pointing the typo out :)

[MagnumHB]

It's funny you make this post, in the past few days i've been labouring over all the .lods files editing them for just this reason :)

Can you take a look at this?

[Mustang]

Can you take a look at this?

 

Hi MagnumHB, could you provide me with a trackfile with that loadout showing please? thanks.

[213]

i experimented further the lod ranges. for ground vehicles, depending on complexity, i use 1000-1500 meters for original model, and 5000 meters for the last lod.

 

using this, there is almost no slowdown. and you cannot tell difference between lod switch. many of the end lod values have 100000+, i don't think that's necessary.

[Mustang]

i experimented further the lod ranges. for ground vehicles, depending on complexity, i use 1000-1500 meters for original model, and 5000 meters for the last lod.

 

using this, there is almost no slowdown. and you cannot tell difference between lod switch. many of the end lod values have 100000+, i don't think that's necessary.

 

I reckon that 5000 is a little too low personally, you'll have great difficulty finding ground units if they only have a draw distance of 5km!

 

Try something a little higher, maybe a value of 10000-20000 or so wouldn't hurt.

Edited May 9, 2012 by Mustang

[213]

yes, you're right. i looked again through cockpit. 10000 is more possible.

 

for original model, maybe 2000

[MagnumHB]

Hi MagnumHB, could you provide me with a trackfile with that loadout showing please? thanks.

Here you are. Made in World 1.1.2.1.

LAU-131_BadLOD.trk

LOD_test.miz

[Mustang]

Here you are. Made in World 1.1.2.1.

 

Thanks, i'll check this out this evening.

[ALDEGA]

How about the LOD's for the new IL-76/78 & A-50 models? There aren't any yet.

Quite troublesome considering the new models have a relatively high polygon count (around 200K, depending on the model). Moreover, the IL-76 model is used as a static object on some airports ...

 

Same thing for the new train models. Other models don't have LOD's either.

Edited May 9, 2012 by ALDEGA

[Mustang]

ALDEGA check post #2 in this thread, i've included optimised LODs for the new il-76/78 and a-50 models.

 

edit: these models will receive full .lods treatment in next DCS update, but for now use the rar i uploaded in post #2.

Edited May 9, 2012 by Mustang

[ALDEGA]

I must be blind, the .rar file you posted doesn't seem to include il-76md.lods, il-78m.lods or a50.lods ...

You'd need geometry files as well for the other LOD's (use the old model?)

[Mustang]

Ah my bad, i could of swore i included the .lods for those models, please check the attached rar.

[ALDEGA]

I know the proper LOD's are not available yet for IL-76/78 & A-50 but 15 km is too far for a 200K model. At 15 km distance an aircraft is no more than a few pixels.

Even at a relatively small distance much of the detail is barely noticeable. It's best to switch LOD's quickly and adjust if the LOD switch is too noticeable.

 

I've also noticed that around airbases there is a ground object (PRW-11.edm) which consumes 200K+ polygons (see attached screenshots). Even at a signficant distance, about 700K triangles are rendered for a seemingly flat airport due to this model ...

It needs a generic LOD ASAP ;)

 

PS: I wonder why ED put in so many LOD's that go up to 1 million km ... why not clip after 20 KM or so?

[Mustang]

I've also noticed that around airbases there is a ground object (PRW-11.edm) which consumes 200K+ polygons (see attached screenshots). Even at a signficant distance, about 700K triangles are rendered for a seemingly flat airport due to this model ...

It needs a generic LOD ASAP ;)

 

Here, i have created a prw-11.lods, check attachment.

[Nate--IRL--]

Here, i have created a prw-11.lods, check attachment.

 

This one is worth flagging to Rik I think.

 

Nate

[Mustang]

Yes Nate i'll report right away.

Edited May 9, 2012 by Mustang

[ALDEGA]

Here, i have created a prw-11.lods, check attachment.

10 km for the primary LOD is still very far (about 33.000 FT). I've reduced it to 1 km for the primary LOD and 3 km for the dummy LOD. Works quite well. After all, it's a relatively small object which is not that visible to begin with.

 

Still, the PRW-11 model needs real LOD models so more "agressive" LOD distances can be configured while maintaining visual quality. Same goes for many other models.

[71st_Mastiff]

well those are not the only ones, I'm seeing trucks and cars behind other trucks and cars all ready visable appear like ghost and become solid as I get closer.

[ALDEGA]

Many .edm files contain multiple LOD's.

Is it possible to control the LOD distance for these LOD's? The .lods files only seem to allow setting LOD distances for LOD's stored in discrete files, not embedded in a single file.

 

In the case of prw-11.edm, ModelViewer indicates the same number of triangles for all but the generic model (=box shape), odd.

[213]

i have a question about those edm models that don't have an associated .lod

 

do they just render on forever at unlimited range

 

@ aldeda, how do you know they contain multiple lods within the edm?

Edited May 12, 2012 by 213

[ALDEGA]

You can view the different LOD's in ModelViewer by changing the LOD multiplier/"adder" sliders.

In game, the scenes setting will affect the LOD multiplier/"adder" (cfr. .\DCS World\Config\graphics.cfg --> lodMult and lodAdd).

 

If you use a .lods file for an .edm file which has embedded LOD's then the embedded LOD's are still used, but you cannot control the distance for each embedded LOD individually. If only we could control the embedded LOD's using a .lods file ...