No Distant LOD for NPCs
Screenshots 1 screenshots
About this mod Machine translation
UPF patch for Skyrim and Skyrim Special Edition. Removed distant LODs from NPCs.
For some reason NPC has a separate system for distant LOD textures and models on top of normal LOD. Only dragons seem to use this system.
It's not a good idea to switch models of large objects, moving objects, and the main focus of the player... At a long distance, a low quality LOD may look fine or even indistinguishable from a normal LOD, but if you're fighting a dragon, you'll notice it jumps back and forth from low quality to high quality. In the case of Durnehviir it looked so bad it was even considered a bug and fixed in an unofficial patch. However, this mod solves the problem in a more fundamental way by removing distant LODs from all NPCs (even those added by other mods). The impact on performance is negligible because fundamentally there is never a situation where there are many dragons flying in the distance.
This mod is provided as a UPF patch. This means it leverages zEdit's Unified Patch Framework (UPF) and generates
Patch plugins that suit your load order.
There are already other mods that attempt to solve this problem, so what makes this mod different? Plugin-based mods such as the original No Dragon LOD conflict with other mods that edit dragons; my mod does not. Compared to other dynamic fixes, there are only a few technical details. My mod bluntly removes distant LODs from all NPCs, while other mods use overly complicated methods of identifying dragons that may fail in certain situations.
Installation
Install the latest version of zEdit.
Download this mod manually.
Open zEdit. Click the button that looks like three small cubes in the upper right corner. Click "Install Module" and select the downloaded file.
Restart zEdit.
Now you can build the patch plugin. These steps should be repeated each time a module is added, removed, or updated to the load order.
Open zEdit and load the entire load order.
Press Ctrl + Shift + P or click the button in the upper right corner that looks like a puzzle piece.
Make sure No Long Range LOD for NPCs is checked and click Build.
Exit zEdit and save the created patch plug-in zPatch.esp.
Make sure zPatch.esp is activated at the bottom of the load order.
compatibility
Compatible with anything.
Install & use Install: follow the bundled instructions
- Unzip the archive from playbuff and read the bundled readme / instructions first.
- There is no universal mod manager for this game: some mods replace game files directly, some go into a game-specific Mods folder, and some need a game-specific community loader or tool first — follow the bundled readme.
- Place the files exactly as the readme says; mods with listed dependencies need those installed too.
- Launch the game to confirm it loaded; some games require enabling mods in settings or an in-game mod menu.
Install locations vary a lot between games and mods — the bundled readme is the most reliable guide.