Better Dynamic Snow (BDS) leverages a custom mesh and new materials to properly utilize the installed snow texture for the dynamic snow applied to objects. This is in contrast to Bethesda's dynamic snow that uses vertex painting, which looks suspiciously like high gloss latex paint. It will specifically use the following textures:

• textures\landscape\Snow01.dds
• textures\landscape\Snow01_n.dds
  

Features

• Converts 1200+ objects to use the new dynamic snow
• Flexible installation options provided via the installer
• Mesh edits to allow for the dynamic snow to be applied to additional objects
• Custom snowy farmhouse meshes to fix the long-standing alpha blending issue along the edges
• BDS is performance-free
  

The normal map can drastically alter the look of the dynamic snow (stronger maps tend to look better). This is especially true for the new Snowy Farmhouses option. The normal map will alter the look of the farmhouse edits. It can be anything from patchy chunks from the snow sliding off to fully covered. To give users a visual of this effect, screenshots are provided with HQ Snow Texture and Real Snow. These two mods have wonderfully different snow textures and the look of the dynamic snow changes accordingly for each mod's style.




Better Dynamic Snow is compatible with the following:

• Any mod that does not conflict with the included meshes
• All snow re-texture mods
• SMIM (users should use SMIM option and overwrite SMIM)
• No Snow Under the Roof with the provided patch
• Majestic Mountains with the provided patch
  

Meshes
All BDS meshes use SMIM as a based, where the two conflict. BDS should win all mesh conflicts, else the meshes will not display the new dynamic snow as desired.

Textures
BDS is compatible with all snow texture mods, but that doesn't mean all these mods will look good with BDS. If one doesn't look great, try another. See the provided screenshots to see just how different various mods can change the look.

No Snow Under the Roof
This mod is compatible with the provided patch found in the installer. Users should use this patch over the one provided on the NSUTR page, as it's more up to date.

Majestic Mountains
This mod is compatible with the provided patch found in the installer. The patch simply removes the conflicts from the BDS plugin, where the two mods conflicted before. This mean users will get BDS's changes for all object besides rocks and mountains, in which case Majestic Mountains will be providing it's own shader and materials for those objects.




Installing BDS is very simple:

• Using your mod manager, download the file and run the installer
• Install the mod selecting the options desired
• Sort with LOOT
• Users will have to generate LOD using xLODGen or DynDOLOD, when using the Snowy Farmhouses option.
• Though not required, it's highly recommended to install an alternative snow texture vs vanilla.
  

Known Issues

Shader Stretching
This is seen as dynamic snow that is stretched on objects and often creates lines on vertical surfaces. This issue may be reported and we will attempt to address it as best we can for the object in question. However, be aware it may not be able to eliminate the stretching completely.




BDS featured by Lakebit: Article

If you'd like your media approved when submitting to this mod, please ensure the media actually covers the mod!
Media that does not showcase the mod in any form (e.g. 'lets plays' that briefly show a snowy area, but 90% of the video is not) will not be approved. Media submitted should feature the mod to some a larger extent in the media whether the mod is the focal point or is in the background.