LOD in SA

[Mister X]

Hello everyone!

 

While in City city could enter LOD through LOD mode,

 

in SA if you put in this way,LOD but are visible far and near ....

 

 

What's wrong?

[derty]

There is a very complete tutorial on this subject in the tutorial forum...

 

Very complete...

 

[Mister X]

.........

 

 

Ok, even if it is not very comprehensive, try ...

 

There are other methods?

[derty]

LOD is easier now, m8.

 

Don't use COL for lod*

Name them whatever you want (I name mine zDFFNAME)*

Properly write the IPL line.

 

Read the tut, anything you don't understand I'll clear up for you

 

 

*Note to III/VC vets: San Andreas uses a new LOD system what

eliminates the need for col or empty col files for LOD models. More

on that below the creation guide

 

 

Section One: Creation
I'm going to use this WIP firehouse model intended for Codenamed: The Grove in this tutorial. I suggest that, if you will be following along, you use something similar.     As you can see below, LOD modeling is pretty easy. I made this from a simple cube, adding a few extrusions and welds here and there. It consists of only 10 faces:     Once you have your model fitting it's full-definition counterpart, you'll need to have LOD textures for it. I take the UVW Mappers approach to this and I find it to be the best looking in-game. To create your texture map, Render the front, back, top, and sides of your model. I only needed to render one side, as both sides of this model are currently identical.   *Take note that I lit the model with single, low-intensity omni, moved to each side of the model upon each render in order to ensure that my texturing is not dark in-game. This can also be done by lighting the model, but I'm not too sure that lighting LOD models is worth it when the same effect at a distance can be achieved through the textures used.   Construct your texture map like such:     Now, just slap those textures onto your model to achieve something like this:     The LOD above is in itself far above and beyond what you see in the original LOD models used in San Andreas, and I am told by my good friend here locO_G that I can get away with far less detail. It's up to you to decide on your own standard for the quality of LOD models in your mod.   All that is left now is to name your model and export it. In previous games, you had to name them a certain way, this is no longer the case. Since my model is named firehs1, I opted to stick with my own standard of simply adding "lod" to the name of the file, resulting in a DFF named lodfirehs1. Also, take note that I had to manually set my objects pivot/gizmo to the correct area in space to match the coords of it's parent object precisely.   Section one is finished, have a cookie full of deliciousness.
Section Two: Implementation
Throughout this section I will show you how to place your new LOD model into San Andreas, what is a much simpler process than found in previous versions of GTA.   Let's take a look at the INST (instance) section of an Item Placement List and understand the "-1" flag at the end of each line.   Notice below that each of the lines has a -1 at the end:     inst18993, firehs1, 0, 100.0, -208.8, 13.524, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0, -11491, gen_doorint01, 0, 99.2715, -63.6692, 12.075, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0, -112040, locoLounge, 0, 100.0, -60.0, 12.075, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0, -112100, dertlot_0011, 0, -40.0, 220.0, 21.1248, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0, 0.0, -112240, dertmall_01, 0, -112.88, -90.0, 9.981, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0, -112230, dertysPL_main, 0, -97.1127, 181.148, 6.94771, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0, -118992, ziabuild, 0, 0.000366211, -131.588, 12.4329, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0, -118994, highriseIII, 0, 280.0, 79.9997, 43.9323, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0, -118995, highriseII, 0, 260.0, -80.0, 28.524, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0, -118996, derthotel, 0, 280.0, 0.0, 38.1409, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0, -118997, highrise, 0, 200.0, 0.0, 28.012, 0.0, 0.0, -0.707107, 0.707107, -118998, parklot_01, 0, -110.0, 160.5, 12.4511, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0, -118999, chesterscheese, 0, -110.0, 60.0, 11.5, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0, -1end     The "-1" is saying "I do not have an LOD model, at least not one of my very own".   All you'll need to do to implement your new LOD is give it an IDE line and call upon it in it's special way:     inst18993, firehs1, 0, 100.0, -208.8, 13.524, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0, 118991, lodfirehs1, 0, 100.0, -208.8, 13.524, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0, -11491, gen_doorint01, 0, 99.2715, -63.6692, 12.075, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0, -112040, locoLounge, 0, 100.0, -60.0, 12.075, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0, -112100, dertlot_0011, 0, -40.0, 220.0, 21.1248, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0, 0.0, -112240, dertmall_01, 0, -112.88, -90.0, 9.981, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0, -112230, dertysPL_main, 0, -97.1127, 181.148, 6.94771, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0, -118992, ziabuild, 0, 0.000366211, -131.588, 12.4329, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0, -118994, highriseIII, 0, 280.0, 79.9997, 43.9323, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0, -118995, highriseII, 0, 260.0, -80.0, 28.524, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0, -118996, derthotel, 0, 280.0, 0.0, 38.1409, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0, -118997, highrise, 0, 200.0, 0.0, 28.012, 0.0, 0.0, -0.707107, 0.707107, -118998, parklot_01, 0, -110.0, 160.5, 12.4511, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0, -118999, chesterscheese, 0, -110.0, 60.0, 11.5, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0, -1end     Notice first that the "-" at the end of the first instance (18993, frhs1) has disappeared! That is because it now has an LOD! That does not mean that "1" is "true, I have an LOD". I will explain here:   The first instance, my firehouse, is counted as "Entry # Zero" in my IPL. The next line is One, and so on in succession. Since my LOD is on the second line, which is, of course, truly "Line # One"   This means that if I were to move my line to the bottom of my IPL, the following change would be made. Note that I added a commented note-to-self that this new position is where my LODs start in this IPL. Comments are not counted toward your final line sums:           inst(0)   18993, firehs1, 0, 100.0, -208.8, 13.524, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0, 13(1)   1491, gen_doorint01, 0, 99.2715, -63.6692, 12.075, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0, -1(2)   12040, locoLounge, 0, 100.0, -60.0, 12.075, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0, -1(3)   12100, dertlot_0011, 0, -40.0, 220.0, 21.1248, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0, 0.0, -1(4)   12240, dertmall_01, 0, -112.88, -90.0, 9.981, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0, -1(5)   12230, dertysPL_main, 0, -97.1127, 181.148, 6.94771, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0, -1(6)   18992, ziabuild, 0, 0.000366211, -131.588, 12.4329, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0, -1(7)   18994, highriseIII, 0, 280.0, 79.9997, 43.9323, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0, -1(8)   18995, highriseII, 0, 260.0, -80.0, 28.524, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0, -1(9)   18996, derthotel, 0, 280.0, 0.0, 38.1409, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0, -1(10)  18997, highrise, 0, 200.0, 0.0, 28.012, 0.0, 0.0, -0.707107, 0.707107, -1(11)  18998, parklot_01, 0, -110.0, 160.5, 12.4511, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0, -1(12)  18999, chesterscheese, 0, -110.0, 60.0, 11.5, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0, -1#LOD MODELS(13)  18991, lodfirehs1, 0, 100.0, -208.8, 13.524, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0, -1end     Note that since my LOD now resides on the 13th line of the Instance section, that change is reflected in the LOD flag at the end of line 0!   Finished! Grab youself a second cookie, they are in the cupboard to the left. There's 2% in the fridge.   No dunking! You have a bite of one, then a sip of the other      And, an In-Game shot from about 1000 units away. Sorry, Only the firehouse and roads have LOD models at this time:

As is usual with tutorials, please PM me and tell me if I have

accidentally left anything out, or if you have a better way of

doing things.

 

Cheers, and Happy Modding.

 

Thanks to:

 

Steve-M for his research, Deniska and Kam for their maxscript utilities

toolsets, and You for rating this topic/tut as you see fit <3

[Mister X]

I encountered ....

 

At the end of the string is the LOD......

 

But there another problem......

 

I added some trees to the top of Mount chiliad,but the village does not see LOD....I wonder, you can increase the "remoteness" of LOD to see lod trees from the village?

 

Tanks for the help,bye!

[waleed00031]

 

can i give you model & make for me lod

my model is emper state building but i need lod