Vanilla Landscape Corrections (VLC) was born from a desire to have a companion mod to USSEP with the goal of correcting issues that are out of scope for USSEP. One of the main limitations of USSEP is it doesn't alter landscape; meaning it can't correct any issues related to terrain except by placing objects over them. Since Step Modifications couldn't find a mod that suited our needs while remaining within a narrow scope, we decided to create one.

VLC is meant to be utilized within landscape setups; the group of mods used for overhauling landscapes. The mods chosen to build the foundation of VLC were considered carefully. They should fit into nearly all landscape setups without issue:

• Majestic Mountains Landscape Plugin - This provides blended landscape around mountains and rocks. It will use installed landscape textures.
• Landscape Fixes for Grass Mods - Repaints landscape to remove grass from paths, objects, roads, and other areas to prevent clipping. It will use installed grass/landscape textures.
• USSEP - Provides a magnitude of corrections across the game. Though not a specific requirement to use VLC, it's edits are forwarded as desired.
  

With the above combination of mods, most vanilla landscape issues will be corrected. It's the remaining issues that VLC tackles, which include:

• Incorporates Snowy Landscape in Snowy Regions, which changes non-snowy landscape and objects in snowy regions to snowy versions
• Landscape vertex color correction
• Landscape mesh smoothing
• Landscape hole corrections
• Landscape texture blending
• Landscape object gaps
• Landscape protrusions
  

What VLC Corrects

Object Gaps
An object gap is created when there is space between an object and the terrain. USSEP can fix these by altering the object's position and we report any of these we find to their team. However, some objects would be hard to fix due to various reasons. For these types of gaps, an evaluation is completed. If the gap is determined to be only correctable by adding more objects or impossible to correct due to terrain design, then VLC corrects these gaps by altering the terrain. This course of action is best for optimization and performance while keeping minimal overlap between VLC and USSEP.

Terrain Creases
Terrain creases result from the use of the landscaping tools in the CK to alter the terrain shape without smoothing applied. This results in terrain with sharp corners, points, and shapes. VLC smooths these areas to provide a natural terrain design and improve immersion.

Terrain Holes
Landscape holes are areas along two cells borders where heights don't match. This means players can typically see through the landscape and into the void beyond the intended play area. VLC corrects these issues, directly, by adjusting the terrain heights to match. If USSEP has placed objects over any of these areas, an evaluation is made whether or not the additions from USSEP add value and would remain or be removed in favor of optimization.

Landscape Texture Issues
Landscape textures determine what the ground is covered with; dirt, grass, snow, etc. There is a limit of six textures that can be applied within each quadrant of a cell. As is often the case with limitations, they create a couple different issues in Skyrim. Since USSEP doesn't alter landscape it can't correct these issues other by placing objects over the them. VLC corrects all these issues by repainting the landscape with correct textures:

• Texure seams happen when the painted textures along cell borders don't match. Visually, players will see one ground type abruptly stop and another one start with a distinct line between them.
• Vertex colors can cause visual issues when painted incorrectly. The most prominent example of this are darkened areas/triangles overlayed on snowy ground, causing an out-of-place shadow.
• Incorrect textures used within an area, such as regular dirt being used within snowy regions are also corrected. Many roads and paths running through snowy regions are corrected in VLC.
  

Incorrect Landscape-based Objects
Technically, USSEP includes some of these types of fixes; however, since VLC is correcting landscape textures, this means we may also need to change some of these objects. Landscape-based objects are visual objects placed within the landscape such as flora, roads, rocks, etc. Most of these objects will be changed within the areas where landscape textures are corrected from non-snowy to snowy textures. As such, non-snowy objects are replaced with snowy versions.


Compatibility

VLC is designed to avoid large reference bugs. This means the mod is presented in an ESM/ESP combination.

Requirements

• Landscape Fixes For Grass Mods
• MajesticMountains_Landscape.esm
  The plugin can be obtained from by installing any variation of that mod. Allow VLC to overwrite MM's ESM. Users are free to use any "mountain/rock mod" they desire. If another mod besides MM will be used, install MM and remove all but this plugin.
• DynDOLOD and xLODGen
  

Compatible

• All grass and texture mods
• Better Dynamic Snow SE
• Blended Roads
• Capital Windhelm Expansion
• Cutting Room Floor (patch provided)
• Northern Roads (allow NR to overwrite VLC)
• Smooth Shores
• Stave Church of Skyrim (patches provided)
• Thanedom of Anga's Mill (patch provided)
  

Not Compatible

• Mods that expand/overhaul Anga's Mill or Fort Hraggstad may not be compatible (please report any issues)
• Skyrim Landscape and Water Fixes (VLC is doing some of the same things as SLaWF)
• Snowy Landscapes in Snowy Regions (this mod has been retired and fully incorporated into VLC)
• Snowy Roads for Snowy Regions (VLC does the same thing and much, much more)
  

Installation

• Install required mods
• Install VLC
• Install patches, if applicable
• Sort with LOOT
• Run xLODGen to update landscape LOD
• Run DynDOLOD to update object LOD
  

Failing to run xLODGen and DynDOLOD will result in mismatched LODs. The new terrain and references will "pop-in" when the cells are loaded.


FAQs

What is the difference between SLaWF and this mod?
It's true that SLaWF started out as a good companion mod to USSEP; however, as the mod developed it's become more and more outside of its original scope. In many cases, SLaWF and USSEP overlap; meaning many of the changes from SLaWF could be in USSEP, itself. The lines have been blurred over time between the two mods, and Step desires something akin to the original concept of SLaWF. Thus, VLC's scope is small in that it only addresses the types of issues USSEP doesn't around landscape design. This keeps the mod slim and streamlined in order to be a true companion mod to USSEP. This also means it should be more compatible with mods besides those that alter landscape.

Couldn't this be incorporated into Better Dynamic Snow? Aren't they doing the same thing?
While BDS does replace non-snowy object reference to snowy versions, the goals of the two mods are different. Editing landscape records is outside the scope of BDS; therefore, it could never fully accomplish the goal of VLC. Furthermore, BDS only operates within the vanilla snowy areas. Since VLC is making new or extended snowy areas than what exists in vanilla, VLC handles swapping out non-snowy objects to snowy version is these new or extended areas. There is no overlap between the two mods.

What is considered a large reference?
Object references that are included in a cell's "supermesh", thus have RNAM data. RNAM data is hidden in xEdit by default, but can be viewed by unticking "Hide never shown" in the settings. See the DynDOLOD documentation for more information about large references and what causes this bug.

Why hasn't the Unofficial Skyrim Special Edition Patch fixed this?
It's beyond the scope of their project to edit landscape records.

Why does this mod edit cells where nothing has changed?
It's frequently necessary to include adjacent cells to the cell where actual work is taking place. This is mainly due to texture or vertex seams along the border of these cells. The only way to correct these issues is to balance and blend their seams across their cell borders. Consequently, VLC may include adjacent cells to the actual cell being edited, which are simply getting some blending along their edges to remove texture or vertex seams.