Lush vanilla tree

A simple mod that makes vanilla trees lusher while retaining vanilla animations. Also includes optional textures and plugins

The location of the mod in the SE version.

“Good design requires as little as possible.

Less, but better because it focuses on the fundamentals,

And the product is free of unnecessary burdens.

Back to purity, back to simplicity. "

-Dieter Rams

Taking inspiration from this quote, I came up with a minimal tree mod: Lush Vanilla Tree

| Prelude |

Frustrated by all the options for a tree model, I made this model using the following design ideas:

Lightweight.

Less is more.

Simple and not complicated.

Keep the vanilla aesthetic; consistent styling

Okay, what's going on with vanilla?

All the pine trees are now relatively lush. In most cases, the number of branches has doubled. (Note: Lush is not bigger, the trees are the same size, just have more leaves)

The trees around Falkreath are now huge (optional addon).

The northernmost trees in Skyrim are completely covered in snow (optional add-on).

The new bark texture is similar to vanilla.

Adjust the branches: The dead branches look more dead (orange-brown) and actually match the color of the snow on the ground.

PineShurb01 has been replaced with a pine sapling. Also recolored the PineShrub branches to match the full pine tree.

If it sounds good, then I recommend giving it a try. If you like super high polygonal trees and not something vanilla style, this might not be for you.

| Installation |

Install using the Mod Manager of your choice. This module has a few options, so read every step in the installation carefully, everything is documented. Manual installation is not recommended.

If you want the correct LOD, you need to run DynDOLOD. Vanilla LOD technically works too, but there will be a visual mismatch that isn't very noticeable.

It's a good idea to follow the STEP guide's tree setup recommendations. Specifically in SkyrimPrefs.ini:

[show]

fMeshLODLevel1FadeTreeDistance = 6144

fMeshLODLevel2FadeTreeDistance = 4096

fTreesMidLODSwitchDist = 8192

[Tree]

bRenderSkinnedTrees = 1

uiMaxSkinnedTreesToRender = 200

| Compatibility |

This mod is just meshes and textures if you don't use any plugins, so it's compatible with almost everything since it's just a replacer.

Optional plugins affect the TREE and placement records of said tree, this may conflict with things, please use xEdit to check. Loading a plugin before or after a conflicting plugin can give this mod priority. All plugins are "clean" and all textures are "optimized"

LOD, works with DynDOLOD.

Compatible with:

Skyrim Flora Overhaul - Only when overridden.

Enhanced Landscape - Will take advantage of new models, but may not be 100% usable with plugins.

DynDOLOD - Use the download provided. (Yes, it can be used with 3D billboards)

Not compatible with:

Enhanced Vanilla Tree

| Performance |

In general, this mod is intended to be as lightweight as possible on low-end systems, and its impact on FPS should be minimal. Tested on both my HD 7970 and GTX 1070 and found no FPS drop. I've spent at least 20 hours in the game. Trees have an average polygon count of 500-1500 more than vanilla. Using large trees in the Falkreath option may reduce performance due to the larger shadows trees create. FPS drops may occur depending on your load order. Of course, performance and my experience are completely subjective and depend on my "light load" load order. Using this mod on top of many other visual mods may have a higher FPS impact.

| Know about problems and errors |

The new branch (the one I added) is not fully animated. Honestly, it's not very obvious, but I thought I'd mention it. This is an issue I've been struggling with for months and I can't seem to get it to work. I've even contacted the Nifskope developers and asked, but there doesn't seem to be a real way to completely rebuild the trees.

UV is still bad. Yes it's true, the UVs are so horrible even with the bark texture at 2048x8192. Again …