Problem LOD after Green Cities Update

[Miccrosshill 367]

Hi there,

 

i just loaded my last model into the editor and after that i did a test on a map .. when zooming out i am getting strange behavior.

First : it seems there are now 3 models -  when zooming out i am getting  : Model , LOD1, LOD2.

LOD1 has kind of a strange texture and LOD2 is the one we all know - but this one is now aligning to the area.

 

For my ships that mean - if you are zooming out - you have a sunken ship when getting to LOD2 - same for older models that runs fine before GreenCities. In the Editor i am not getting this behavior - just ingame.

 

Just the models :

Picture 1) here you see on the Water a LOD and sunken the same LOD (this happen at one specific zoom - one zoom more or less and one of the two disapears)

Picture 2)

 

here you see my sunken Yacht .. and also that what i call LOD1 (strange texture) for the big passengership (that has no Textures and no LOD)

 

i am really disapointed - each update they mess totaly the workshop up -

 

 

[Ronyx69 2,413]

Do these use the floating building shader? Maybe they changed something about it, or your lod doesn't have the floating building shader.

If not then I have no idea. 

Although weird texture on lod has usually something to do with incorrect/mismatched lod texture resolutions, but if it worked fine before, unlikely for that to only be a problem now.

[Miccrosshill 367]

Yeah they use the buildings shader .. and befor the update all was fine - now all my boats (done before the update also) have sunken lods ... and i can do nothing about it ...

 

The weird texture boat has no texture - it was just a modell imported without any texture - just to check mesurments ingame ...

 

so each update a big surprise for modders ...

[boformer 3,169]

I think I know why this happens. It seems like the game now includes props in the LOD2, which is great because it means they won't disappear when you zoom out.

LOD2 is a combined mesh, that means all props are combined in a single mesh, and individual shaders are ignored. There is a certain zoom level where both LODs are visible simultaneously.

Possible Fix: Somehow reduce the view distance so that the prop disappears before LOD2 kicks in.

[DaEgi 14]

you mean they sneaked in another LOD level and never told us ? XD

[Bad Peanut 826]

I've noticed the transition LOD at least since Natural Disasters. It would always be visible if you have the rotor shaders going from Model to LOD2 you'd see the quick little transition if you didn't have the maps with the correct alpha

[AmiPolizeiFunk 446]

this issue of boats sinking from distance is a big problem for me too! Have we come up with any possible solutions?

[Miccrosshill 367]

Hi Ho,

 

back into investigation the problem "LOD´S with floating Shader" i made some new Screenshots :

 

01. the fbx Model

02. the _lod.fbx appears after some zoom out

03. the _lod.fbx snapped to the ground when zooming more out

 

Thats the script i use to switch to the floating shader :

var asset = ToolsModifierControl.toolController.m_editPrefabInfo as BuildingInfo; 
if(asset == null) 
{ Debug.Log("Error: Not a building!"); return; } 
asset.m_requireHeightMap = true;
asset.m_requireWaterMap = true;
asset.m_placementMode.value__=2;
// asset.m_buildingAI = DummyBuildingAI;
var shader = Shader.Find("Custom/Buildings/Building/Floating");
if(asset.m_material != null) asset.m_material.shader = shader;
if(asset.m_lodMaterial != null) asset.m_lodMaterial.shader = shader; 
Debug.Log("Success!");

 

I tried different Templates to start with - all the same.

i tired some of the switches like LODhasanotherShader in ModTools - same

i looked for hints for a second lod in ModTools but found nothing (but i am also bad using the ModTools)

 

would appreciate any help/hint with this problem

 

happy easter @ all

 

[AmiPolizeiFunk 446]

it's interesting to note that the floating assets introduced with Green Cities do not suffer from this problem, like the "Floating garbage collector." Perhaps we could look at that template and find a solution?

[Avanya 2,605]

Make sure to post your new findings and the fact that it's still a problem over on the official forums. I think I remember a post on there about this, but there's lots so they miss some. Including stuff like it's something that happens without mods on as well is important to get them to look at it.

[Miccrosshill 367]

we will and here is the link to my post @ Paradox

 

 

[AmiPolizeiFunk 446]

MicCross, I see that your floating assets are in the "Transportation->Ship" category. Is it possible to make them props? Or is it possible to use the Monument category and the "Floating Gardens" template or the "Floating Cafe sub-building" template?

[AmiPolizeiFunk 446]

So I tried exporting my Spree Ferry boat as a "Floating Garbage Collector" and it worked! It's still floating at super far away. The problem is that this template is locked behind the Green Cities DLC. It also has other garbage related stuff that we don't want. But it may be a working temporary solution for me for my contest entry.

 

P.S. the template is called "WaterCleanerAI" if any modder is inclined enough to take a look at it. Would be cool if we could solve this problem w/o requiring GC.

 

P.P.S. stopgap 2xboats and 2xpiers by Mic CrossHill exported with that template: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1349311026

[Bad Peanut 826]

2 hours ago, AmiPolizeiFunk said:

So I tried exporting my Spree Ferry boat as a "Floating Garbage Collector" and it worked! It's still floating at super far away. The problem is that this template is locked behind the Green Cities DLC. It also has other garbage related stuff that we don't want. But it may be a working temporary solution for me for my contest entry.

 

P.S. the template is called "WaterCleanerAI" if any modder is inclined enough to take a look at it. Would be cool if we could solve this problem w/o requiring GC.

 

P.P.S. stopgap 2xboats and 2xpiers by Mic CrossHill exported with that template: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1349311026

have you tried copying the shader and lod shader from the floating garbage collector to your asset (the one where it wasn't working) with mod tools and see if it works then?

[AmiPolizeiFunk 446]

No, I have not! It's a nice idea, but I'm afraid I suck with modtools!

 

Maybe someone with some skillz could give it a shot?

[AmiPolizeiFunk 446]

Arrrrrughughherhhgehgjhgjhghghgghghgh!!! 

 

The plot thickens!

 

So I made these new assets that use the "WaterCleanerAI" ... I also added red lights to them (this is helping me tell them apart). I shared the new assets, then went to my save to replace the old assets with the new assets. I did the "2" first. Then I zoomed out, and what do I find.... TO MY HORROR...  ???

 

...that some of the new boats are sinking to the bottom as well! BUT ONLY SOME OF THEM!!! wtf? So this makes me think that some tiny variable is being maxed out or something. So to test my theory, I delete some boats from the zero, then add 3 new boats to the tail end of the "2"... and sure enough, they remain and don't sink.

 

 

what the heck is going on here? What variable or limit could this be? Could it have something to do with copying and pasting w MoveIt?

[Ocram's Razr 963]

It might be a roundoff error. Perhaps the small size and close positioning cause some variable to have a difference of zero, which causes a bug or glitch.

[AmiPolizeiFunk 446]

Yeah, maybe. Just a bit more info that I've discovered. There seems to be a hard cap limit. I've managed to get this far w/o the bug happening:

 

^^^^ all of the new boats here are working fine, fully zoomed out

 

then when I add just a few more boats to start on the "8", whole massive amounts of previous boats start to bug out and fall to the ocean floor when fully zoomed out:

Also, the lights don't ever sink... lol, just the models.

[AmiPolizeiFunk 446]

another discovery:

 

MoveIt has a big effect on this issue. If I drag a floating thing over other floating things, many of them will bug out! But also, if I drag bugged out things to other areas, they will STOP BUGGING OUT and come back to the surface. This opens up possible hacks for me by fudging stuff around w MoveIt. Also, Advanced Wind Turbines and Floating Gardens are effected similarly, so it's really anything that uses a floating mechanic... those things all have the potential to experience this bug.

 

I'm not sure how many floating things it requires for the bug to begin. For the way we make boats (with the script that Mic CrossHill posted), it begins right away. But with the CO template, it takes like 200-300 objects before the bug starts happening.

[AmiPolizeiFunk 446]

Just an update -- my workaround via WaterCleanerAI template + MoveIt was successful. Originally I thought that "MoveIt" might be making matters worse, as sometimes moving non-buggy assets will make them bug out, but I just discovered that MoveIt can actually solve my problem! I've found that with careful usage of MoveIt, I can make the WaterCleanerAI assets stop sinking. It must reset some kind of variable to something that fixes the buggy aspect of the assets -- I have no idea. But I'm very happy that my hundreds of "Floating Garbage Collectors" will work for the contest submission. Sadly, this fix is not possible for our modded ships and piers that use the floating shader, as they vanish 100% of the time when you zoom out. It only works for assets created with the template.