So i am creating a mod that basically adds a city to the game, much like solitude and whiterun. It also has a castle for the player to call home and by the time i am done i want to also include quests and interaction with the townfolk. i am putting alot of attention to detail with this game. The castle has a courtyard with waterfalls and flora....

The contemplation i am having with how far I have come is whether or not to create this city, in its own separate world space, and if i do could it be possible with how the town is set up? the player is allowed to walk along the castle walls which allows him to look over on the outside. if it was a separate worldspace could i set up LOD to display on the outside of the wall? or would i have to go through the effort to make the outside of the worldspace look exactly as it is in Tamriel?

Also, would it even improve on performance if i put it in a seperate world space versus keeping it free roam with the tamriel worldspace?

I have been messing with how to do LOD and it is to my understanding that the height mapping feature (generating LOD) is broken and needs work in the creation kit so I have used Oscape 2 to do that which is no issue.

I have also used this link to help me understand creating new world spaces: Creating New Worldspaces... how to get around the broke CK features

now the other questions i have with this is... height map: what do i need to do for this and do i need it for what i am trying to do? as far as it goes i dont know what i need to height map. the world im creating or tamriel? the description for what it is sounds like i really do not need it other than for the LOD generator which is broken. Worldspace .LOD file: what do i do with it once i have it? how do i get the LOD to display for the world i create?

Maegfaer, on 09 February 2012 - 03:00 PM, said: LOD display is controlled by *.lod files inside the Data/lodsettings folder. Look in the Meshes BSA for the ones for vanilla worldspaces. Simply copying Tamriel.lod and renaming it to your worldspace will show up LOD.

is it really that simple?

an update on this: i tried using the heightmap editer and tried importing the raw file created by oscape 2 and the damn thing keeps crashing.... how do you create height maps for individual cells? and can these height maps be used to create landscape editing instead of having to do it manually?

Are you just creating a new city in Skyrim, in the Tamriel worldspace? If so, you can inherit LOD from that worldspace by http://www.creationkit.com/Worldspace. I've never done it, but that's how the vanilla worldspaces are set up. Look in the CK and see how they're set up.

y
es i have done that buit there seems more to it then that. also what tells my new worldspace what LOD to load? how does it tell where this new worldspace is in tamriel so that it loads the right LOD view? I could be on the throat of the world and then it gives me an LOD for solitude.

You also need to flag that it inherits the terrain LOD, merely setting it as Parent is not enough. Just make sure that your cities' coordinates matches the coordinates where it would be in the Tamriel worldspace, then it will show up correctly.

Join this thread to learn more about custom worldspaces and LOD in Skyrim: http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1345519-creating-new-worldspaceshow-to-get-around-the-broken-ck-features/

Well, you set up all the data for your worldspace in the Worldspaces dialog and then just make sure your coordinates match the Skyrim coordinates. It will use the LOD for those coordinates, I assume. If you compare the coordinates for child worldspaces like Solitude and Windhelm you'll see that they match the exterior cells identified in the parent Tamriel worldspace.

Edit: Ninja'd.

yes i am tracking and using that thread to help me with the LOD and world space.. but i am still confused on some parts.... mostly the height mapping and designation of exact coordinates for LOD.... This town I am building rest on the top of a mountainside so i have to get not only the LOD right but the terrain from the tamriel worldspace correct in order for it to look right.

Actually, if you're going to make a city and not a new world, I recommend to make it an open city rather than one with it's own worldspace. PC's can easily handle that in Skyrim, and it will look and feel a lot better.

okay that is what i was wondering if it would be worth it to create a new world space for this city. And it wouldnt matter in game even if there is a cell or two that has ALOT going on? IE my courtyard thats an exterior of the castle within the castle? its quite intense as far as how much is there graphically.

Skyrim is very well optimized since the 1.4 patch, I'm sure it'll be fine.

ha! not to mention i am a [censored]. I went to those coordinates in the new world i built and the EXACT landscape textures were already there for me. bvoy i feel stupid now. that was like 3 days worth of work wasted haha! but hey thanks. i might just go with a new world space anyways just to get some experience with it..... now the question still stands how do i flag it to show the right LOD? i generated my LOD with oscape 2 and i have the files. do i need to import them or just run boundaries and generate max height data for world?

okay so please tell me if i am doing this right i think i did it all but just cant get in game right now because i got done downloading the DLC and now theirs an update for skyrim... stupid STEAM
anyways here is what i did:

1. created worldspace (parent is tamriel and clicked everything to inherit)
2. opened up worldspace and went to exact coordinates of where the city is in game COPIED and PASTED it all into the worldspace and perfectly matched up ONLY what was needed to wall off city.
3. opened Oscape 2 clicked everything that was needed and included the ESM and my mod's ESP (does it create LOD for the castle I added on the mountain or does it just create LOD for the vanilla textures?) installed the meshes and textures into the data folder
4. opened BSAopt and extracted tamriel.lod (just in case i need it but i think it will only be vanilla LOD anyway)
5. ran the Region editor and established region borders along with navmeshing. finalized borders BUT did not finalize navmesh as i want to work with that more later
6. Ran "Generate Max Height Data for World" on my new worldspace clicked yes and then i got a message about either starting from scratch or using existing data... so i went with using existing data...
7. waited patiently..... done.


Now according to the http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1345519-creating-new-worldspaceshow-to-get-around-the-broken-ck-features/ you gave me this should be all i need to do and i wont know for sure until I go into the game... stupid steam. Did i do all this right?

okay so i dont know where to go witht his. I thought i did everything right. i was finally able to get in game after many damn downloads and anytime i get near the cells i may been in the CK, it crashes. ive tried every approach around that damn mountain. same thing everytime. what am i doing wrong and whats causing the crash? there is no error popping up its just straight up crash. HELP!!

EDIT: also, on the map, the area where my city is at is allblacked out instead of the actual texture colors it should be....