Total War: WARHAMMER III

Total War: WARHAMMER III

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How to change the Unit LOD Range for Warhammer 3
By Merwanor
Greetings fellow Total War players!

For some reason CA decided to make the LOD ranges for Warhammer 3 much shorter than in their previous titles. This means that lower quality unit models are loaded at a much shorter distance than before. To actually see the original high quality models, you need to zoom in just a couple of meters from the unit.

This results in a fairly ugly game in my opinion and har made it apparant how ugly some of the LODs really are. Because when you zoom out in a normal strategic view, you will see the worst possible unit models instead of the mid level ones or even the high level one when you zoom in. Warhammer has 4 sets of LODs. The first is LOD0 and it is the main model at the best quality. Then you have the midrange model at LOD1, then the long range model at LOD2 and the far away model at LOD3. Some units also has some extra low poly models, but not all of them.

Now the fourth LOD is often only loaded when you have zoomed so far out that you would not really notice many flaws anyways. As long as the unit has the shape it should and a few correct colours you are fine. But it becomes a problem when those models is clearly visible.

But thankfully there is a simple fix for this and it is fairly customizable too.

And what we have to do is make a simple mod, but unfortunatly, this mod is not able to be uploaded to the workshop due to its category.

So here is a guide on how to to install the tool needed for you to make this mod for yourself.
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Part 1: Rusted Packfile Manager
The first tool we need is the Rusted Packfile Manager, so we can open and excract the files needed to make our mod.

Download Link: Rusted Packfile Manager [github.com]

Download the rpfm zip file


Open the zip file and extract it to your computer.


Open the folder you extracted and start rpfm


When you start rpfm for the first time you may get a few pop-up windows
Just click update on these if they show up and close them when they say it is good to go.


You may also get this image up


If you did not, click on PackFile in the upper left corner and then click on preferences.
Next you need to add the Warhammer 3 directory to the Warhammer 3 tab and then click save.


Next, let us make sure the Warhammer 3 is selected as our game. So click on Game Selected at the top middle of the windows.


Now Rusted Packfile Manager is ready to be used.
Part 2: Creating the mod
Click on PackFile and then select the Open from Data


Find the Data.pack file and click it.
Next, click on the data.pack you just loaded and scroll down to you find the Tweakers folder
expand it and you will find a file named art.xml
Right click and extract this to a new folder somewhere on your computer.


Now that you have extracted the files you need, you click on PackFile and create new packfile


Next you rightclick the new pack and click Add, then Add Folder


It should look like this now.


Next you click PackFile and the Change PackFile Type and change it to Movie.


Next, click PackFile and save the mod into your Warhammer 3 Data folder.


Now the mod is created!
Part 3: Changing the LODs
Now in your newly created mod, click the art.xml file within the Tweakers folder.
It should look something like this.


The point of interest is the second section that looks like this


As you can see there are 5 rows, and each row is connected to the Unit Details graphics option in the game. But since there is no Extreme graphics option, the last row should not have any effect on your game.

So based on what option you are using, that is where you should change the value.
Decreasing the value will increase the LOD range.

Now I am not exactly sure how this works, I think it is based on percentages. Like the last LOD3 level is the largest, about 50% or something, and the most detailed LOD has the smallest range like 15%, and the two others take up the rest. I am not sure.

So when you type a smaller number, you can think of it like a baloon that expands and the points where these LOD level change expand with it. I think setting the value to 0 actually even removes LODs and only loads the first level. But I would not recommend that.

You will have to play with these values to fit your system as increasing the LOD range will also decrease performance in some way. So you need to find a good balance here. My settings are as follow.


I also want to note a few things about this mod you just made.

Because this mod is a movie type packfile, it will always load when you start the game as long as you have it in your data folder. I also recommend changing the name of the packfile you made into something unique for youself.

I also want to mention that there are other things you can tweak in this file, such as Tree LODs and buildings. So there is potential to make the game look much better if you play around with this. I have noticed that the one for Grass LODs do nothing, but the one for Trees worked for me.


Again I want to stress that performance will be affected by changing these value.

I hope this guide helped you make your own mod to fix the short LOD range.
I will rework this guide and make it simpler when I have the time or I understand more about how this all works.

Please leave a comment if you have any questions and I will try to answer them as best I can. Have fun!
21 Comments
Kman124 30 Jan @ 7:29pm 
nice guide
Pedemendigo 2 Jul, 2024 @ 12:17pm 
Is it possible to do the same to the grass drawing distance? Its horrendous in WH3
kyle 27 Apr, 2024 @ 3:23pm 
I dont see the open from data option. My dropdown menu under Packfiles just doesn't include it. "load all packfiles" is the only available option in that section. Why is this, and how do i fix it?
Dizzy Ioeuy 3 Mar, 2024 @ 2:19pm 
It's- when there are this many pixels per triangle of the polygon render it switches to that level.
DaciaJC 19 Sep, 2023 @ 6:33pm 
Thank you bunches for this guide, it worked like a treat for me. I have a high-end rig so I just set everything to 0 and immediately noticed the improvement upon loading a battle.

@DatDeafDude: if you changed the packfile type to movie and placed your mod into the data folder with the rest of the packfiles, then it won't show in the mod manager upon launching the game, it will simply load and take effect on its own automatically.
DatDeafDude 8 Sep, 2023 @ 4:56am 
How do I open the mod I created afterwards In the workshop menu?
Karsk 26 May, 2023 @ 4:05pm 
Is this still relevant or did they add in options I'm order to allow this to be done ingame?
Feels 22 Mar, 2023 @ 12:25am 
Can i do the same for the campaign map? Make the higher res models and terrain textures stay at the longer distance?
Merwanor  [author] 7 Sep, 2022 @ 12:05pm 
@bigsofty It is true at least, as I don't know exactly how it works on a technical level as I did not develop the engine or how things works behind the scenes. But decreasing the values does affect the LOD distance range, that I am sure off. If anyone can enlighten me, then by all means let me know.
bigsofty 7 Sep, 2022 @ 10:33am 
Got all the way till "Now I am not exactly sure how this works", LMAO!!