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MSFS All LODs being rendered at once

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superspud

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I dunno if anyone's keeping track of sim update V insiders, but the gist I'm getting is that LODs will be mandatory afterwards. Your nice LOD 0 that has done the job at all distances will now vanish a very short distance away.

I've never bothered with LODs. No one's ever mentioned any performance problems.

After a long period of dicking around with separate exports and endless tweaking of settings in Blender2MSFS I've managed to get 3 levels and a xml that looks nominally correct for a quick junk version. But the sim is clearly rendering all 3 LODs at once. The model flickers and I can see details from the various levels all at once.

I haven't touched the xml as I assumed the sim or exporter should know what to do, but it doesn't.

Is there an obvious tweak I'm missing somewhere?

This is the file in question - https://www.mediafire.com/file/r1anzvb1k1dqvr8/LOD+Hell.zip/file

If the LOD thing is true, and maybe they'll make some tweaks before launch so who knows, more likely I'll just delete any project with 3d models and never bother again, but I thought I'd see if there was a smooth path to doing it right.
 

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Paavo

Paavo

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Issues like these is why I made a multi exporter plugin to extend Blender2MSFS:
www.fsdeveloper.com

MSFS - Blender2MSFS Multi Exporter

Hi all, I would like to bring your attention to Blender2MSFS Multi Exporter, which grew out of my personal frustration with an airport project that has many small assets. It builds upon Blender2MSFS plugin to add multi exporting capability, which makes airport projects much more managable...
www.fsdeveloper.com www.fsdeveloper.com

It includes two examples, one of which shows how to easily do LODs.
 
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superspud

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That looks promising, any complete instructions anywhere? I really don't know if I can take much more figuring out new stuff.

I also don't know if that sorts out the 3 LODs at once.
 
Paavo

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The Multi Exporter's ZIP contains this PDF that describes how to use it.

It's very simple, really. You just have to divide the model into collections: create parent collection, eg "zum". Under that, create collections "x01", "x02" etc for each LOD level and place relevant meshes under them. Then export from the Multi Exporter rollout (see usage instructions in the PDF).

It also supports exporting many separate objects from a single scene (with or without LODs), which is helpful when developing airports.
 

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superspud

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Ah. I didn't realise there was a pdf. Cool.

I've done collections. I've exported the three models. Three LODs are present in the XML.

The problem is all 3 are showing at the same time.
 
=rk=

=rk=

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Is the model uploaded to Mediafire your own creation?
 
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superspud

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No. It's a free one from Blenderartists originally if I remember rightly. I've added a fair bit more detail to it and retextured it.

That's another problem if LODs become mandatory.

Most of the models I use are paid ones and many have already had their poly counts reduced by me by 70-90% or more so they can't be taken much further without falling apart completely. I'd have to make completely new and simpler models for the higher LODs which I can't do.
 
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superspud

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Paavo said:
The Multi Exporter's ZIP contains this PDF that describes how to use it.
Click to expand...

With this tool I can export objects just fine. When I try it with collections nothing happens no matter what I select. What should I be doing differently?
 
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superspud

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Paavo said:
Send me your blender file, I'll have a look.
Click to expand...

It'll be the same file that's in the mediafire download posted here. I normally use Blender 2.83 so the same one was opened in 2.90 with your plugin. Maybe there's something slightly different about it, or I might have created the file incorrectly.

And as for the original subject of this thread, I forgot to hide each other LOD after having to individually export them with the normal plugin. What a moron. However the model is still flickering between transitions and stays flickering sometimes.
 
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Cygnific

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superspud said:
No. It's a free one from Blenderartists originally if I remember rightly. I've added a fair bit more detail to it and retextured it.

That's another problem if LODs become mandatory.

Most of the models I use are paid ones and many have already had their poly counts reduced by me by 70-90% or more so they can't be taken much further without falling apart completely. I'd have to make completely new and simpler models for the higher LODs which I can't do.
Click to expand...

And what happens if you just use the original model and copy them to lod1 lod2? No idea if this works.
 
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superspud

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Cygnific said:
And what happens if you just use the original model and copy them to lod1 lod2? No idea if this works.
Click to expand...

Someone else suggested that. It wouldn't have occurred to me. I presume that'll work just fine. What we don't know yet is whether the sim after update V will be smart enough to know I'm being naughty and punish accordingly.
 
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William Voros

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Am I reading the patch notes correctly that this is (at least temporarily) being undone for PC assets? Presumably, it will come back and the different LODs will be needed in the future?
 
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GaryGB

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William Voros said:
Am I reading the patch notes correctly that this is (at least temporarily) being undone for PC assets? Presumably, it will come back and the different LODs will be needed in the future?
Click to expand...

Asobo's response to this LOD 'pop-in' display rendering issue on the PC (current implementation of LOD's shall still be retained on XBOX ?):

https://forums.flightsimulator.com/t/excessive-lod-pop-in-after-su5/426861/73

"We have temporarily reverted the LOD selection mechanism to its previous state on PC. However, because it is important that you can check the state of your add-ons with the Xbox LOD selection mechanism, we have added an “Xbox LOD Selection Mode” option in the DevMode.”

GaryGB
 
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superspud

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William Voros said:
Am I reading the patch notes correctly that this is (at least temporarily) being undone for PC assets? Presumably, it will come back and the different LODs will be needed in the future?
Click to expand...

Yes. They dropped it at the very last minute due to a great deal of screaming from testers. I've asked on their developer forum what 'temporarily' means. They don't seem to know.
 
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