From the GTS Black Book by Hexanode, under the GNU GPL 3.0, shown as he wrote it for GTS 117 (September 2026). Checked against GTS 118: the plugins it names that GTS ships are still there (ccbgssse001-Fish.esm, ccbgssse025-advdsgs.esm, ccbgssse037-curios.esl, ccqdrsse001-survivalmode.esl). Everything else is as he wrote it and hasn't been re-checked.
Terrain LOD generation ensures that the terrain shape and texture remain consistent when the player is far away. If far away terrain does not match close up terrain, there are terrain seams in the distance, or terrain textures change with distance, then terrain LOD must be regenerted.
Terrain LOD is generated with xLODGen - Terrain.
Install xLODGen to a dedicated directory, and do not mix it with xEdit.
xEdit comes packaged with it's own, older LOD generator, which should not be used.
SSE Terrain Tamriel Extend is also needed, but only for generating terrain LOD. It should be disabled after.
You can run xLODGen from Vortex just fine, but be sure to set the following arguments: -sse and -o:"". You should, of course, replace '' with the path to wherever you want the output to be generated.
The output path should preferably be set to a directory that's directly on a drive, to avoid permission issues.
Example: -o:"C:\xLODGen_output\". Be sure to actually create the directory, and make sure it's empty.
Before Generation
Disable GTS' xLOD Terrain file.
Temporarily remove any and all content from the AE Upgrade. Only Fishing, Rare Curios, Survival Mode, and Saints & Seducers are to stay.
The file names for the creations that should stay are:
- ccbgssse001-Fish.esm
- ccbgssse037-curios.esl
- ccbgssse025-advdsgs.esm
- ccqdrsse001-survivalmode.esl
All GTS AE content should also be disabled. You can easily find it by searching "Anniversary Edition Upgrade".
xLODGen Settings
The following settings should be used for terrain LOD generation for GTS. Unless you have a reason to do so, you should replicate these exactly.
- Objects LOD
- Trees LOD
- Terrain LOD
- Occlusion
---
- Height Maps
- Bake normal-maps
- Bake specular
- Vertex Color Intensity: 1.00
- Default size Diffuse: 16
- Normal: 16
- Seasons: Default, WIN
Be sure to set the settings for all LOD distances.
LOD 4 Settings
LOD 4 Settings
Meshes:
- Quality: 4
- Max Vertices: 32767
- Optimize Unseen
- Protect Borders
- Hide Quads
Diffuse:
- Size: 512
- Format: DXT1
- MipMap
- Brightness: 0
- Contrast: 0
- Gamma: 1.15
Normal:
- Size: 512
- Format: DXT1
- MipMap
- Raise steepness
LOD 8 Settings
LOD 8 Settings
Meshes:
- Quality: 8
- Max Vertices: 32767
- Optimize Unseen: 550
Diffuse:
- Size: 256
- Format: DXT1
- MipMap
- Brightness: 0
- Contrast: 0
- Gamma: 1.15
Normal:
- Size: 256
- Format: DXT1
- MipMap
- Raise steepness
LOD 16 Settings
LOD 16 Settings
Meshes:
- [x] Quality: 8 - [x] Max Vertices: 32767 - [x] Optimize Unseen: 550
Diffuse:
- [x] Size: 256 - [x] Format: DXT1 - [ ] MipMap - [x] Brightness: 0 - [x] Contrast: 0 - [x] Gamma: 1.15
Normal:
- [x] Size: 256 - [x] Format: DXT1 - [ ] MipMap - [ ] Raise steepness
LOD 32 Settings
LOD 32 Settings
Meshes:
- Quality: 4
- Max Vertices: 32767
- Optimize Unseen: 550
Diffuse:
- Size: 256
- Format: DXT1
- MipMap
- rightness: 0
- Contrast: 0
- Gamma: 1.15
Normal:
- Size: 256
- Format: DXT1
- MipMap
- Raise steepness
After Generation
After xLODGen is done, go to your output folder and package it like a regular mod.
Remember to disable SSE Terrain Tamriel Extend and re-enable GTS' xLOD Terrain file once you're done. Your mod should be overriding GTS LODs.
Un-remove the AE content, unless you're also generating Object LOD.