Very sad, making people that want to downgrade need to use less legal methods for it... Make sure to grab & backup the 2017/debug versions while you can!
NOTE: it's been found that the 2021 update was meant to update the DLC packages too, but due to depot issues Steam overwrites the DLC with the older 2017 versions.
If you want to use the latest 2021 files, take a look at my "Automata Downgrade/Upgrade guide", it's not that difficult to update to the newer files :)
I'll try adding some comparison pics here soon, if anyone else wants to make any too it'd be really appreciated!
E: I've also made a small guide explaining how to downgrade to the 2017 build (which seems to run better than the 2021 update), you can find that here: https://www.nexusmods.com/nierautomata/articles/7
Whats with Nier mods having extremely long walls of text??? It makes everything daunting just looking at it. Same thing with the FAR mod. A video would be best at this point instead of long walls of texts.
True, a lot of it was old info I wanted to share but probably wasn't that useful to most people, trimmed down the page a bit, hopefully it's easier to read through now.
For people reporting issues such as the amusement park assets showing in flooded city or whatnot, that's a result of the DisableManualCulling function within LodMod. I don't believe this mod is actually currently maintained so they probably won't be fixed by the mod creator, they're an active modder for various games so I can't blame them. Definitely don't flame them for it, but I do wish I could at least get in contact with them to make this process easier. On the bright side, I'm currently working on adding the models that need to be removed to LodMod's culling list in the INI, I'll try and leave info for how I'm going about it below.
Sadly, there's just barely not enough documentation left over for LodMod for me to fix the Flooded City assets, as I know roughlywhat models need to be added to the list but not how Emoose derived the Area ID's or Player Area ID's I'd need to add them to the culling list. That being said, even if I do at some point figure out how to derive the Area ID hex values, I may still not go through with adding the entries to the culling list myself. Because of some automated optimization to keep the model vertices below 65,535, the unsigned 2 byte int limit, the models you see are VERY frequently split up seemingly nonsensically into 60+ sub-objects that would each need their own entry(if the meshGroup name changes but I'll cover that later), so it's potentially a fair bit of work to do worst case scenario. Emoose makes reference to some hex addresses where they apparently derived the Area ID's from here, under "Technical Notes" at the bottom,but I have no clue where or how to access them myself. (Thanks to HungryDoodles#0448 in the NieR:Modding discord for the info regarding Automata's render calls, explaining why the models are so split up!!!)
There are three areas to my immediate memory that need entries added to the culling list; Flooded City showing Amusement Park assets and a couple City ruins assets, Shopping Mall has some desert assets clipping through the terrain during certain chapters, and The Abandoned Factory has some misplaced low LOD buildings from the City Ruins visibly clipping into the high quality buildings visible along the shore from certain angles.
To add objects to the culling lists manually, you need a few things: 1. You need to know the name of the object for LodMod to pass to the game's culling function. 2. An object area ID for LodMod to pass to the game's culling function. 3. If you're doing hard culling you'll also need the area ID of the player's location.
To get object names, the only method I currently know is by unpacking the game's CPK files (found in the game directory 'data' folder) and using Nier2Blender2Nier to import the map files and view the individual objects making up the area. Using this map and the Nier Modding Resources page, you can attempt to figure out which CPK stores what location/models. You then unpack the CPK using your preferred utility, and import the unpacked file into blender. From there you must find the structure you wish to add to the culling list and view the objects composing it on the top right list in blender. The objects displayed by blender aren't necessarily the true object ID names, as they're composed of the meshArrayIndex, meshGroup, and VertexGroupIndex like so: (meshArrayIndex-meshGroup-VertexGroupIndex). We want the meshGroup ONLY, this will be your object ID. E.G. "160-gake_B-0" becomes "gake_B". (Thanks to RaiderB#7028 again from the NieR:Modding discord for the breakdown of the object names!!!!)
I'm currently unable to derive Area ID's nor do I know how Emoose did it, but can maybe use some of the Area ID's provided in the ini's existing culling list entries. Going with the above example, 0x1117 would be the area ID of the above object. LodMod's culling list would pass the object ID to the game's culling function from there and act as though, for that object only, DisableManualCulling was set to false. The area ID being very similar to the unpacked .dtt source file name there isn't entirely coincidence but its also not always that simple, though I have had some success utilizing that similarity on some assets.
How you enter these ID's into the culling list is left as a comment under [HardFilteredModels] within LodMod.ini and SoftFilteredModels can be deduced by comparison.
To fix the waterfall clipping near the shopping mall entrance enter the two lines below [SoftFilteredModels] within LodMod.ini!!!! ;desert terrain clipping through the ravine waterfalls near Mall entrance gake_B = 0x1117
I may make a video showing this info later depending on how busy I am. I have fixed the clipping asset near the Mall entrance and have moved onto working on other areas.
That's great news, glad you're carrying the torch for the mod. Yeah I know the mod creator works on many things but it's nice to see someone take on the role on fixing the remaining issues here and there.
Sorry for not being much help with this, as you mentioned I've got myself tangled up with a bunch of different things, makes it a bit harder to come back to things later on (especially with my awful memory...)
For finding the model names IIRC I'd used some code inside LodMod itself to print out the model names to debugger, likely the stuff at https://github.com/emoose/NieRAutomata-LodMod/blob/ccd78740e417c5b1d9e463b83b60c1edeefd473c/Automata-LodMod/Rebug.cpp#L197.
I think if you use VS to run debug build of LodMod with debugger, you can set a breakpoint a few lines before the "if(LogModels)" check there, then once game starts loading area it should pause on your breakpoint, then you can change "LogModels" value to true, and grab the "area_id" value too. Then you can remove the breakpoint and continue the app, and all the models that get loaded in (and aren't currently culled by us) will then get printed into the VS debugger window.
Then I think it was a case of copying the list that gets printed, and binary search (try half of them, see if that removes model, if not then try the other half, then keep halving your list till the actual model is found)
There's also some ModelsToSkip / ModelsToCull debug variables there which pretty act as SoftFilteredModels value, but can be changed during runtime with VS's variable inspector, those are just a big 16k-byte string that you can enter the model names into and that string will be checked like SoftFilteredModels is, so you can do that binary search stuff with it & once model name is found it can be added to the INI.
Really it's a little awkward though, wish I had a better way for it, the method you mentioned with blender would probably work better, maybe that + the ModelsToSkip / ModelsToCull stuff could come in useful.
Works by renaming xinput1_4.dll in this mod to dinput8.dll, then telling wine to load it. E.g. via Steam launch options:
WINEDLLOVERRIDES=dinput8=n,b %command%
I only tested with SkipIntroMovies and DebugLog set to true. The intro logos are skipped, and the log is written with no errors. I did not test all the graphical options.
Game version: Steam 2021 (Game of the YoRHa Edition) Proton Experimental (experimental-8.0-20231219) Not using FAR
Shouldn't LODMultiplier = 0 completely disable LODs? I can still see some low quality buildings here and there. Example: https://ibb.co/kKNST1G
Also, can anything be done with AO? It looks like s#*! and causes a lot of shimmering even after increasing the resolution with LodMod. I don't understand why it looks so bad and is so incredibly taxing in Automata. The game actually looks better after disabling it. Maybe if LodMod allowed it to be rendered at full screen res?
IIRC LODMultiplier = 0 disables LODs in the HQ cells nearest the player, but the game will still load low-quality lods for "distant" cells (unfortunately that distance is very small though...) The HQMapSlots tweak tries to allow more HQ cells to be loaded in at once so the distance it switches to LQ would be pushed back, but seems to cause a lot of things to break, never managed to get any further with that sadly.
Always wondered if maybe the LOD model for the LQ cell could be replaced entirely with the HQ cell data, but I don't really know enough about the games file formats to look into that, would guess it would probably hit some kind of poly/model limit somewhere.
Tried a lot of things with AO too but couldn't improve it that much, game does some kind of upscaling pass to it to try and make it higher res (but does a pretty bad job at it), unfortunately that pass stops us from increasing the res that much, couldn't find a way to disable that neither :(
One more curiosity: I think raising LODMultiplier also shows some objects which are not normally visible. The following object appears even with DisableManualCulling = false if the LOD is increased: https://ibb.co/TbS93N1
Btw, does ShadowDistanceMultiplier recognize decimals like 1.5?
Curious what settings you would recommend for a more high end GPU. Running an RTX 4080. Would love an optional version with stuff more aimed at visual maximizing
Also curious if there is a way to increase the distance of Ambient occlusion? Seems to be cutoff for me well within vision especially up on high buildings etc
The last two are experimental and may (or may not) cause graphical issues. Reading from the comments below, DisableManualCulling can also cause some issues with objects showing/clipping where they shouldn't
The CGs in the forest area cannot be loaded but are stuck in the mosaic pictures, and it even keeps the screen loading the mosaic after the dialogue is finished. Delete them then normalize.
I cant get rid of this. :/ Sadly, at least for me it appears to not work, someone could please take a look in the same area at the same position and if it's working?
Hi ! I just want to let you know that there is some amusement park models visible from flooded city, just after teleporting to the first waypoint of the area, on the left : Here
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https://twitter.com/thexpaw/status/1441126290237509634
Very sad, making people that want to downgrade need to use less legal methods for it... Make sure to grab & backup the 2017/debug versions while you can!
2017 download guide: https://www.nexusmods.com/nierautomata/articles/7
Debug guide: https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Topic:Wdchm80b4b7lvx2o
---
If you have issues with MSAA causing foliage to look ugly take a look at this thread here for a fix: https://steamcommunity.com/app/524220/discussions/0/5197701062320602423/
---
NOTE: it's been found that the 2021 update was meant to update the DLC packages too, but due to depot issues Steam overwrites the DLC with the older 2017 versions.
If you want to use the latest 2021 files, take a look at my "Automata Downgrade/Upgrade guide", it's not that difficult to update to the newer files :)
---
More discussions can be found on the Steam thread: https://steamcommunity.com/app/524220/discussions/0/5197701062328187336/
I'll try adding some comparison pics here soon, if anyone else wants to make any too it'd be really appreciated!
E: I've also made a small guide explaining how to downgrade to the 2017 build (which seems to run better than the 2021 update), you can find that here: https://www.nexusmods.com/nierautomata/articles/7
Sadly, there's just barely not enough documentation left over for LodMod for me to fix the Flooded City assets, as I know roughlywhat models need to be added to the list but not how Emoose derived the Area ID's or Player Area ID's I'd need to add them to the culling list. That being said, even if I do at some point figure out how to derive the Area ID hex values, I may still not go through with adding the entries to the culling list myself. Because of some automated optimization to keep the model vertices below 65,535, the unsigned 2 byte int limit, the models you see are VERY frequently split up seemingly nonsensically into 60+ sub-objects that would each need their own entry(if the meshGroup name changes but I'll cover that later), so it's potentially a fair bit of work to do worst case scenario. Emoose makes reference to some hex addresses where they apparently derived the Area ID's from here, under "Technical Notes" at the bottom, but I have no clue where or how to access them myself. (Thanks to HungryDoodles#0448 in the NieR:Modding discord for the info regarding Automata's render calls, explaining why the models are so split up!!!)
There are three areas to my immediate memory that need entries added to the culling list; Flooded City showing Amusement Park assets and a couple City ruins assets, Shopping Mall has some desert assets clipping through the terrain during certain chapters, and The Abandoned Factory has some misplaced low LOD buildings from the City Ruins visibly clipping into the high quality buildings visible along the shore from certain angles.
To add objects to the culling lists manually, you need a few things:
1. You need to know the name of the object for LodMod to pass to the game's culling function.
2. An object area ID for LodMod to pass to the game's culling function.
3. If you're doing hard culling you'll also need the area ID of the player's location.
To get object names, the only method I currently know is by unpacking the game's CPK files (found in the game directory 'data' folder) and using Nier2Blender2Nier to import the map files and view the individual objects making up the area. Using this map and the Nier Modding Resources page, you can attempt to figure out which CPK stores what location/models. You then unpack the CPK using your preferred utility, and import the unpacked file into blender. From there you must find the structure you wish to add to the culling list and view the objects composing it on the top right list in blender. The objects displayed by blender aren't necessarily the true object ID names, as they're composed of the meshArrayIndex, meshGroup, and VertexGroupIndex like so: (meshArrayIndex-meshGroup-VertexGroupIndex). We want the meshGroup ONLY, this will be your object ID. E.G. "160-gake_B-0" becomes "gake_B". (Thanks to RaiderB#7028 again from the NieR:Modding discord for the breakdown of the object names!!!!)
I'm currently unable to derive Area ID's nor do I know how Emoose did it, but can maybe use some of the Area ID's provided in the ini's existing culling list entries. Going with the above example, 0x1117 would be the area ID of the above object. LodMod's culling list would pass the object ID to the game's culling function from there and act as though, for that object only, DisableManualCulling was set to false. The area ID being very similar to the unpacked .dtt source file name there isn't entirely coincidence but its also not always that simple, though I have had some success utilizing that similarity on some assets.
How you enter these ID's into the culling list is left as a comment under [HardFilteredModels] within LodMod.ini and SoftFilteredModels can be deduced by comparison.
To fix the waterfall clipping near the shopping mall entrance enter the two lines below [SoftFilteredModels] within LodMod.ini!!!!
;desert terrain clipping through the ravine waterfalls near Mall entrance
gake_B = 0x1117
I may make a video showing this info later depending on how busy I am. I have fixed the clipping asset near the Mall entrance and have moved onto working on other areas.
For finding the model names IIRC I'd used some code inside LodMod itself to print out the model names to debugger, likely the stuff at https://github.com/emoose/NieRAutomata-LodMod/blob/ccd78740e417c5b1d9e463b83b60c1edeefd473c/Automata-LodMod/Rebug.cpp#L197.
I think if you use VS to run debug build of LodMod with debugger, you can set a breakpoint a few lines before the "if(LogModels)" check there, then once game starts loading area it should pause on your breakpoint, then you can change "LogModels" value to true, and grab the "area_id" value too.
Then you can remove the breakpoint and continue the app, and all the models that get loaded in (and aren't currently culled by us) will then get printed into the VS debugger window.
Then I think it was a case of copying the list that gets printed, and binary search (try half of them, see if that removes model, if not then try the other half, then keep halving your list till the actual model is found)
There's also some ModelsToSkip / ModelsToCull debug variables there which pretty act as SoftFilteredModels value, but can be changed during runtime with VS's variable inspector, those are just a big 16k-byte string that you can enter the model names into and that string will be checked like SoftFilteredModels is, so you can do that binary search stuff with it & once model name is found it can be added to the INI.
Really it's a little awkward though, wish I had a better way for it, the method you mentioned with blender would probably work better, maybe that + the ModelsToSkip / ModelsToCull stuff could come in useful.
Works by renaming xinput1_4.dll in this mod to dinput8.dll, then telling wine to load it. E.g. via Steam launch options:
WINEDLLOVERRIDES=dinput8=n,b %command%
I only tested with SkipIntroMovies and DebugLog set to true. The intro logos are skipped, and the log is written with no errors. I did not test all the graphical options.
Game version: Steam 2021 (Game of the YoRHa Edition)
Proton Experimental (experimental-8.0-20231219)
Not using FAR
Example: https://ibb.co/kKNST1G
Also, can anything be done with AO? It looks like s#*! and causes a lot of shimmering even after increasing the resolution with LodMod. I don't understand why it looks so bad and is so incredibly taxing in Automata. The game actually looks better after disabling it. Maybe if LodMod allowed it to be rendered at full screen res?
The HQMapSlots tweak tries to allow more HQ cells to be loaded in at once so the distance it switches to LQ would be pushed back, but seems to cause a lot of things to break, never managed to get any further with that sadly.
Always wondered if maybe the LOD model for the LQ cell could be replaced entirely with the HQ cell data, but I don't really know enough about the games file formats to look into that, would guess it would probably hit some kind of poly/model limit somewhere.
Tried a lot of things with AO too but couldn't improve it that much, game does some kind of upscaling pass to it to try and make it higher res (but does a pretty bad job at it), unfortunately that pass stops us from increasing the res that much, couldn't find a way to disable that neither :(
One more curiosity: I think raising LODMultiplier also shows some objects which are not normally visible. The following object appears even with DisableManualCulling = false if the LOD is increased: https://ibb.co/TbS93N1
Btw, does ShadowDistanceMultiplier recognize decimals like 1.5?
LODMultiplier = 0
AOMultiplierWidth = 2
AOMultiplierHeight = 2
ShadowResolution = 16384
DisableManualCulling = true
ShadowModelHQ = true
ShadowModelForceAll = true
The last two are experimental and may (or may not) cause graphical issues. Reading from the comments below, DisableManualCulling can also cause some issues with objects showing/clipping where they shouldn't
Error Text: [Hw::rof::fst] Failed to Create File Size Table.
Removing the LodMod files removes this error.
Sadly, at least for me it appears to not work, someone could please take a look in the same area at the same position and if it's working?