Ylikollikas has released a mod that masterfully adds animations to the Aspens Ablaze trees, and we're not talking about the simple leaf animation that the trees already had but the real one for branches so that they can sway in the wind. It's one major thing the trees were missing so I definitely recommend the mod for maximum immersion.
A blast from the past. New Version 2.0 is available, with following changes:
- More natural shape and form of the trees. - Improved shading that matches that of the vanilla trees very closely. - Baked-in ambient occlusion for added depth even when not using ENB. - Better optimization, the most complex tree is 8,500 tris and the rest less. - Compatible with standard bark texture replacers (vanilla naming).
CHANGELOG
Recent Releases
Version 2.37 * Removed a number of clipping trees at Treva's Watch.
Version 2.36 * Fixed leaf/branch normal map (thanks to awesome Fuzzlesz and their equally awesome anonymous friend!). * Fixed installer "Thickets" and "No Thickets" options so that what is actually installed is not the reverse.
Version 2.35 * Fixed object bounds (thanks to z929669).
Version 2.34 * Fixed a number of floating trees (feel free to report more). * Removed stray trees growing from the cliff near Sarethi Farm.
Past Releases
Spoiler:
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Version 2.33 * The plugin no longer contains interior cell modifications. * Added an option with no thickets to the installer. * Added big trees to the mix as an option. * Foliage no longer glows as much. * Leaves are not as slimy anymore. * Added a leaf pile replacer. * Improved foliage shading.
Version 2.32 * More dense distant (LOD) tree foliage. * More vibrant foliage colors of "Autumn Variety" option.
Version 2.31 * Improved LOD assets.
Version 2.30 * Added 3d LOD assets for users of xLODGen and the like. * Updated the plugin with fixes kindly provided by DuskyB. * Improved installer.
Version 2.21 * Improved summer option shading.
Version 2.20 * Added a summer option with green leaves. It's tricky to set the color since every preset is different and what works for one could look terrible for other. I made the leaves pretty vibrant since I assume that's what most users prefer but if they look too much like something taken from Mario please let me know. Version 2.10 * Added an installation option for more color variety.
Version 2.00 * A new start, scrapped pretty much everything.
Version 1.03 * Fixed billboards missing for two of the trees.
Version 1.02 * Added 3D LOD assets.
Version 1.01 * Fixed broken Dawnguard references in the plugin.
I would love to use the bigger trees with seasons as well. The bigger tree option turns the area around riften into a proper forest. The vanilla sized ones still look great, but it does kind of ruin the foresty atmosphere.
EDIT: Just doing some quick and dirty (mostly the latter) thinking here, but *if* the textures used for vanilla-sized trees and large-sized trees are the same, perhaps you can get away by replacing the season summer nifs with the larger-sized summer nifs from the base mod. For spring you could do the same, but you'd have to edit the nif to update the texture paths to the spring textures.
I would assume you could do the same for the DynDOLOD LOD nifs.
You'd just install the base autumnal variety package (large trees) and do what I described. That will give you big autumn trees since there is no seasonal config for autumn and it should give you the big trees in the other seasons. The winter trees would still be small, but they wouldn't look too out of place if you ask me.
EDIT: This is likely a conflict with Seasonal Landscapes. I don't like its Aspens Ablaze patch so I did not install it. The problem is that the Seasonal Landscapes ini (name starts with an "S") still makes edits to Aspen trees and overwrites the Aspens Seasons ini (name starts with an "A"). I'm going to remove the aspen entries from the Seasonal Landscapes ini and test again.
I'll let you know :)
---- Pre-EDIT text:
I seem to be getting the big autumn trees and small summer/spring trees. Let me go over my seasons config files and see if there's anything else sneakily touching the aspens.
It's hard to tell from just looking at the nif, but they are different at least (first = autumn variety large from base mod, second is summer from seasons):
And you are absolutely right. The seasons version contains the large variants.
If you use Turn of the Seasons, Seasons of Skyrim or both, you must remove the aspen entries from their season ini files OR you must rename the Aspens Ablaze seasons ini file so that they load after the ini files of those mods (e.g. "zzzAspens Ablaze Summer Variant_SPR.ini"). If you don't do this, you'll end up with the wrong Aspen trees. Alternatively you could also make some sort of late loading override seasons ini file that covers all of the changes you want to make. That'd be easier to manage and you don't have to worry about your changes getting removed if you update/reinstall the original mods.
I've been taking a few too many shortcuts to quickly throw this seasons stuff in my modlist :)
With the changes made, I'm now getting big trees in every season.
Winter:
Spring:
Summer:
Autumn:
Now to see if I can adapt NGIO with Tamrielic Grass to the seasons and fix some of the not so great looking grass :)
This mod is so gorgeous! I just wish there was an animation mod for the smaller/vanilla-sized trees. As far as I know, the animated branches mod only works on the large tree option unfortunately! :( I actually like the smaller trees because the sun shines through more.
Can I use your mod with enchanced vanilla trees and let your mod win any conflicts or load it after it? I really like your mod but it seems to only change the rift trees?
I'm still seeing low res ugly vanilla aspens even though in the console it says the reference and base are last changed by Aspens Ablaze. Only other tree mod I'm using is Happy Little Trees, no Aspen Addendum.
It sounds like the Aspens Ablaze models are somehow not enabled or some other mod is overwriting them (I know you said they shouldn't). The console only reveals which mod was the last to change the reference (like which tree appears where) but not from which mod the actual model is from.
Can someone please help? The trees don't really seem to be animated, I also downloaded the Animated Branches mod and it just doesn't seem to be working. Any thoughts? I've tried putting them both before and after each other, respectively. I have no other tree mods downloaded. I'm using Autumn Variety and Bigger Trees, Autumn Animations Add-On.
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Ylikollikas has released a mod that masterfully adds animations to the Aspens Ablaze trees, and we're not talking about the simple leaf animation that the trees already had but the real one for branches so that they can sway in the wind. It's one major thing the trees were missing so I definitely recommend the mod for maximum immersion.
Aspens Ablaze - Animated Branches
- More natural shape and form of the trees.
- Improved shading that matches that of the vanilla trees very closely.
- Baked-in ambient occlusion for added depth even when not using ENB.
- Better optimization, the most complex tree is 8,500 tris and the rest less.
- Compatible with standard bark texture replacers (vanilla naming).
CHANGELOG
Recent Releases
Version 2.37
* Removed a number of clipping trees at Treva's Watch.
Version 2.36
* Fixed leaf/branch normal map (thanks to awesome Fuzzlesz and their equally awesome anonymous friend!).
* Fixed installer "Thickets" and "No Thickets" options so that what is actually installed is not the reverse.
Version 2.35
* Fixed object bounds (thanks to z929669).
Version 2.34
* Fixed a number of floating trees (feel free to report more).
* Removed stray trees growing from the cliff near Sarethi Farm.
Past Releases
* The plugin no longer contains interior cell modifications.
* Added an option with no thickets to the installer.
* Added big trees to the mix as an option.
* Foliage no longer glows as much.
* Leaves are not as slimy anymore.
* Added a leaf pile replacer.
* Improved foliage shading.
Version 2.32
* More dense distant (LOD) tree foliage.
* More vibrant foliage colors of "Autumn Variety" option.
Version 2.31
* Improved LOD assets.
Version 2.30
* Added 3d LOD assets for users of xLODGen and the like.
* Updated the plugin with fixes kindly provided by DuskyB.
* Improved installer.
Version 2.21
* Improved summer option shading.
Version 2.20
* Added a summer option with green leaves. It's tricky to set the color since every preset is different and what works for one could look terrible for other. I made the leaves pretty vibrant since I assume that's what most users prefer but if they look too much like something taken from Mario please let me know.
Version 2.10
* Added an installation option for more color variety.
Version 2.00
* A new start, scrapped pretty much everything.
Version 1.03
* Fixed billboards missing for two of the trees.
Version 1.02
* Added 3D LOD assets.
Version 1.01
* Fixed broken Dawnguard references in the plugin.
EDIT: Just doing some quick and dirty (mostly the latter) thinking here, but *if* the textures used for vanilla-sized trees and large-sized trees are the same, perhaps you can get away by replacing the season summer nifs with the larger-sized summer nifs from the base mod. For spring you could do the same, but you'd have to edit the nif to update the texture paths to the spring textures.
I would assume you could do the same for the DynDOLOD LOD nifs.
You'd just install the base autumnal variety package (large trees) and do what I described. That will give you big autumn trees since there is no seasonal config for autumn and it should give you the big trees in the other seasons. The winter trees would still be small, but they wouldn't look too out of place if you ask me.
You're finding it otherwise, though?
I'll let you know :)
----
Pre-EDIT text:
I seem to be getting the big autumn trees and small summer/spring trees. Let me go over my seasons config files and see if there's anything else sneakily touching the aspens.
It's hard to tell from just looking at the nif, but they are different at least (first = autumn variety large from base mod, second is summer from seasons):
I don't have a seasons setup here but looking at the files, the treeaspen01 does seem to be the large variant.
If you use Turn of the Seasons, Seasons of Skyrim or both, you must remove the aspen entries from their season ini files OR you must rename the Aspens Ablaze seasons ini file so that they load after the ini files of those mods (e.g. "zzzAspens Ablaze Summer Variant_SPR.ini"). If you don't do this, you'll end up with the wrong Aspen trees. Alternatively you could also make some sort of late loading override seasons ini file that covers all of the changes you want to make. That'd be easier to manage and you don't have to worry about your changes getting removed if you update/reinstall the original mods.
I've been taking a few too many shortcuts to quickly throw this seasons stuff in my modlist :)
With the changes made, I'm now getting big trees in every season.
Winter:
Spring:
Summer:
Autumn:
Now to see if I can adapt NGIO with Tamrielic Grass to the seasons and fix some of the not so great looking grass :)
This should be either pinned as the top comment or included in the description. Very important stuff!
thanks for reading
Is Aspen Bark HQ Variants - Parallaxed compatible with Aspens Ablaze?
I only installed from the FOMOD in 4K treeaspenbarkcomp_p.dds
Maybe in time you could make parallax for Aspens Ablaze.
THANKS
P.S. Does the Autumnal Variety lower fps, or only use more ram?
I think it should be but you should really use the whole texture set and not just the _p texture, otherwise it will probably look wonky.
The Autumnal Variety option uses a little bit of more VRAM but it's so minor that I don't think you will notice anything (or run over because of it).
Actually I have eveything installed from Aspen Bark HQ Variants - Parallaxed.
📁 Data
📁 textures
📁 landscape
📁 trees
📄 treeaspenbarkcomp.dds (5.6 MB)
📄 treeaspenbarkcomp_n.dds (5.6 MB)
📄 treeaspenbarkcomp_p.dds (5.6 MB)
Do you think in the future you might be able to make Parallax for Aspens Ablaze?
THANKS