Object disappears in LODs

[GRLap]

I have an object that disappears in-game (a roll cage). It's there in the main kn5 in-game, but it disappears in lod_b, lod_c, and lod_d.
The roll cage is visible in ks editor with the correct material and texture assignments in the main kn5 and in all of the LODs.
I checked the mesh names, object names, assigned materials and textures in blender and ks editor: all the same.
I checked the scale (1.0), dimensions and location in blender: all the same.
I opened the lod_b, lod_c, and lod_d with AC Content Manager in the CM Showroom and the roll cage is "there" in car for all the LODs, albeit without a texture, which I think is expected in an lod?
I've had LOD objects disappearing before and it was always a scale issue, but I've checked that.

Out of frustration I saved the offending rollcage from the main KN5 (where it is visible) into a separate FBX, reimported it into the LOD FBXs, resaved LOD KN5s. No change, rollcage disappears in-game in the LODs.

Any ideas out there?

 

[fughettaboutit]

Is it part of cockpit-node in hierarchy?
Then put rollcage one level higher, not under the cockpit-node, which gets eventually removed in lods...

 

[GRLap]

thank you for your reply. How would I know if something is in "cockpit node hierarchy"? I am new to this and learning.
I'd think that is not the issue only because the object in question is present in the three original LODs. Perhaps I don't understand, but if objects weren't going to be visible in an LOD wouldn't they simply be deleted from the LOD model? Here's a phot of the object and mesh in blender.

 

[fughettaboutit]

ah ok you dont have a cockpit-node...i have no idea wat else it could be.
With node i mean an "Empty" node:

 

[GRLap]

The only thing I can think of is I changed the material of the cage from that used in the "original" lod_0. The "original" material used "common_leather_spectral" as an image texture (leather roll cage?), which gave a white colour, and could not be modified within the skins folder. I changed the colour to a painted steel material I found in a different car, which can be modified by swapping an .png image texture in the skins folder.
In lod_0 I created this material and unwrapped the roll cage on a new image texture. As I said, the roll cage appears in-game in lod_0 with the correct colour, i.e. texture.
So there must be an issue with this new material/texture/UV map in lod_b-d? The game loads without errors and ks editor saves lod_0 and b-d without errors. Armed with this new information are you able to offer any guidance?
Something to do with UV maps in lod_b-d?
The lod_b-d are saved "without texture" whereas lod_0 is saved with texture, a distinction I really don't understand. Perhaps the issue is coincident with that difference in file save?

I do see one difference - in lod_b-d the roll cage is unwrapped, i.e. displays a UV map in UV editing. It's associated image texture is not in the .fbx. Other objects, say, e.g., the car body, don't have UV maps in lod_b-d. Is it the case that the UV maps from lod_0 are used for lod_b-d, and perhaps the presence of an object's UV map in lod_b-d is causing an issue?

So frustrating. Thanks for any help. I'm happy to upload files to google drive for an expert, cash reward

 

[fughettaboutit]

use the tool Lod-MaterialAssignmentor i have linked in this post maybe that solves it?

 

[GRLap]

Thanks. Lod-MaterialAssignmentor is crashing when I try to run it. :-(