Starac

That's a bit harsh, let them use whatever they want, even if it's in poor taste. Freedom of choice and all that. Can i force you not to use it.  It is my opinion. Idea is definitely good, but the rest is horrible. I have tried to improve it, but cannot achieve soft edges.

Just looking at the screen-shots i knew that this is bad. But now i have tried it, and it's horrible! How can people use this i don't understand? And endorse it? People with this kind of taste will one day decide to make their own compilation and release it publicly! I guess this is ok, but don't use my mod.

Langley will not fix Windhelm. He doesn't have tolls neither knowledge for this.Â

Maybe he will? He did asked me for permission. But i have suggested to first improve Windhelm meshes.

It is not improvement if footprints don't look natural. To me this looks so bad.

I would not call it stunning. Some textures are good, some horrible, and some don't really fit.

I don't understand why he recommends "Better Rocks and Mountains" when both mods cover the same meshes? And i like better meshes from this mod. It cover more of them also.Â

So it is playable. How much VRAM it takes? You can check this with MSI Afterburner. Measuring with GPU-Z running around outside and inside Whiterun I use around 1.55. Biggest difference from many people's setup is probably that I currently only use Vurts plant textures, using the full pack with what the STEP (or TPC) guide currently recommends will probably add on quite a bit. Edit: The 2 gb card is a quite recent purchase, I did actually use the mixed resolution package Starac recommends when I had a 560 ti 1 gb card and in ran ok although I had to be careful with what I added to it. You use 4096k mountains? No, I didn't have them installed at that time. But I did do a new test just now, running around on the plains outside Whiterun (and being attacked by a dragon) I peaked at 1,75 gb with 4k mountains installed. So 2gb is more then enough. Thanks. Well i have tried at least a little bit to explain on my average english :) Also here is optimized HD DLC mod: https://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/9080 I couldn't download it because of Nexus errors. Maybe you can? And this mesh mod is great. I like SMIM, but this is more important to me.

So it is playable. How much VRAM it takes? You can check this with MSI Afterburner. Measuring with GPU-Z running around outside and inside Whiterun I use around 1.55. Biggest difference from many people's setup is probably that I currently only use Vurts plant textures, using the full pack with what the STEP (or TPC) guide currently recommends will probably add on quite a bit. Edit: The 2 gb card is a quite recent purchase, I did actually use the mixed resolution package Starac recommends when I had a 560 ti 1 gb card and in ran ok although I had to be careful with what I added to it. You use 4096k mountains?

I operate using only 1 GB VRAM (mirrored via CrossfireX), so I'd like to determine 'stretched' versus 'un-stretched'. Then I want to construct a custom hybrid of SRO and compare only the following + HRDLC over a virgin vanilla installation without any post processing or other 'noise': SRO 1024 fullSRO hybrid full (need details on your recommendations for combining HI & LO - If I construct, I will share with you for upload to your mod)SRO 2048 fullI will likely also experiment with 4096 mountains.It easy to determine. Landscape, Dungeons and Towns are stretched in many places. But with Landscape and Towns you must be careful because they cover huge areas, and this will eat VRAM easily.Dungeons and interiors operate like individual cells, which means when you enter some house or cave only this cell is loaded. In this case you can use even 4096 textures. Clutter is tricky. Many clutter textures are placed outside, and high-res is not a good idea. I can't use all high-res clutter. Also with 1gb of VRAM forget about 4096k mountains. What you need to do is find and save places where textures are stretched or not and determine which res is the best. First install all high-res textures and then throw inside low-res version, Clutter file for example. Then enter the game and load those places with Clutter textures and look. And do not overwrite high-res files with low-res, just rename them like in attachment. Here you see Clutter which is mixed file that i use in game, and ClutterM which is high-res file. After deciding what to use you can delete high-res version file. This is how i do when testing and mixing textures. Also i have to mention that i use only parts of HD DLC; armor, weapons, clothes and some clutter. Armor, weapons and clothes textures are resized to 1024 res. I think there is mod which also did this? You also know which other mods i recommend and use, and this is included in my combination except Vurts textures. They look great but i can't use them cause game stutter to much. And to be honest those vanilla plants look pretty good. They are not stretched. Many SRO textures look very good even in 1024 resolution because i have made them to be very detailed and clear in 2048 res. So resizing wont make them look worse to much. And mods like this are very helpful: https://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/26126/ Â

So it is playable. How much VRAM it takes? You can check this with MSI Afterburner.

Yes somehow i succeed to upload it. No errors this time. This is just 1024 resolution. The same like old file. Yes, i do recommend. How much VRAM do you have, btw? I presume that people with 2 gb of VRAM can use all high-res textures?

Thanks for the advice mate, I've been doing it wrong the whole time. :facepalm: Do your textures need DDSopt optimisation at all? No. Everything is already optimized. To create package is easy. But to upload it is a problem with my speed and with errors that Nexus is full. I have tried to re-upload 900mb file for 4-5 times. 1024k SRO version is in question. But every time some error pops up in the middle of the upload and cancel it. Now imagine a bigger file.Â

Majority of people have VRAM problems with high-res textures. I have combined 2048k and 1024k textures for my card. Landscape are high-res and Architecture is mixed. Dungeons, Caves, Mines are all high-res. Clutter is also mixed. What i did is this; textures that are stretched like Landscape or Dungeons use 2048k, some even 4096k. Textures that are not stretched like Clutter or Towns and Temples are mixed with 1024k. Shorter explanation; for textures that are stretched i use 2048/4096 res, and for those that are not - 1024 res. I have planned to release this performance/quality version of SRO. But file is very large and my upload speed slow. Almost all HD DLC textures already look great, so i don't see the point of downloading 50 mods? Especially when i consider the fact that many mods have a lot of bad textures. But people are strange? They want to see new textures and it doesn't matter if they look bad?

Actually 40 mods, excluding Parallax mods (which not everyone uses) and the "big three" (SRO, HD2K and SHD). Personally, I like your textures better than the other two, but I don't like the vanilla textures enough to not replace them with something else. Although it might be a good idea to just use SRO and exclude HD2K and SHD since they obviously aren't the same quality, but arguably, they are still an improvement over vanilla textures. HD2K and SHD textures have better quality, but not artistically. Textures are not designed. You can not simply download a photo and throw it into the game. That's not an improvement. Of course some people don't care about this. But if you want to be a moder, to create mods, this is essential. I agree with you, for the most part. I actually don't use SHD and only some textures from HD2K, but the TPC simpilified the compilation process for me and it's easier to just throw in all the smaller mods there and let it merge them into a simple archive. Much easier for me to see the conflicts too. I'll take your advice and remove most of the obsolete mods, see if I like the more vanilla-like game better. It should save some VRAM too, after optimising the HD-DLC. I think you'd find that most of the Optional Mods in TPC are still a huge improvement over vanilla game textures (even the HD-DLC pack), and therefore using TPC to combine them can still be a good idea. I have just presented you what i use and what makes the biggest visual difference. Besides with 1gb of VRAM i cannot just throw mods inside. I'm at peak, 980-990 VRAM usage. And i prefer frame-rate to be around 60. Minimum is around 45. And yes there are some very good mods in that list.

Actually 40 mods, excluding Parallax mods (which not everyone uses) and the "big three" (SRO, HD2K and SHD). Personally, I like your textures better than the other two, but I don't like the vanilla textures enough to not replace them with something else. Although it might be a good idea to just use SRO and exclude HD2K and SHD since they obviously aren't the same quality, but arguably, they are still an improvement over vanilla textures. HD2K and SHD textures have better quality, but not artistically. Textures are not designed. You can not simply download a photo and throw it into the game. That's not an improvement. Of course some people don't care about this. But if you want to be a moder, to create mods, this is essential. You can create very big file-compilation, or a batch file that will do the same; install textures in particular order. It is the same, especially if it involves my mod. About mods, you know them already. Though things have changed. Combination of SRO, Water and Vurts flora will make the biggest visual difference. One texture should be removed from Water (whroughgroundwet_n) cause this is normal map for vanilla color texture. Also i like vanilla tree barks more then Vurts. I use them in my mod; better versions from HD DLC but even more improved. While one would not make mistake with Vurts version, vanilla artistically looks better. Next is SMIM and some lightning mod. But lightning mods can create problems with textures like snow - to bright. I use Realistic Lighting with my own template. Those ENB over-saturated mods i can't stand. Like cartoons. People say that RCRN is good? And i have forget to mention Better Dynamic Snow. Of course HD DLC is must have. These are visual mods that i use. Only 6 mods but huge quality difference.   Â

I think he's looking for more than a "well look at them!" and personally this answer is a little lacking from someone boasting about their work so much.  More details and examples would help on two faces.  On one, your insights would provide another mind on the matter and help us determine the "best" textures, both through whatever empirical means we can and by allowing us to pick at a texture artist's brain.  On top of that, it will probably be good advice for other authors looking to improve their own work.  If you can write more, please do.  The more information there is, the more we can all understand about textures and develop better criteria for analyzing them.  As far as TPC, it compiles all the conflicting graphics mods to both make it easier for users to install and Cestral has put a ton of work into comparing the textures and selecting the best available.  Once again, your insights on his choices (beyond "mine are best") would be greatly appreciated here and will help both Cestral and the community "develop their tastes" as it were to make the whole process even better. TL;DR - Prove it. I don't want to prove anything. Simple, if you have gift for this kind of art, that's it. You will resonate with me within a second. If not, well that's a problem, and trying to explain will be a long time process. I don't have time for this. Kinda obvious. I'm gonna give you just some pieces (i already did actually), and the rest is your job. Your guidance should be vanilla textures cause they fit Skyrim perfectly. While quality is bad, artistically they are superb. Just follow this line. And yes i would help Cestral but to remove my mod completely from his compilation. This dude has never asked me for permission to use my mod. And i have stated this under the credits and permissions from the beginning. Actually i have asked him to remove it, but he refused. Btw, only one person has asked for permission, and thats Brumbek - SMIM creator. Things like this will piss me off and i'm gonna remove SRO completely from Nexus. I'm just waiting for one thing to see will it happen. You are confusing me z929669 :) And why do you think that this Cestral dude knows better then you, i mean which textures to use? It is vice versa actually! I know that his batch file automatically install textures. What you simply need to do is to ask him to create another batch file which will install textures that you picked, by your order. You need only 5 mods and HD DLC to have HUGE graphical difference. This means simplicity and quality. TPC requires about 50-60. Â

All textures? No way i'm gonna do this. This is not easy to do, especially how i do it, and it's time consuming. And i don't have any benefit from this. Btw, i did not say to you that you should not use other mods. But this Cestral guy knows nothing about moding. And people expect his analysis!? I "accept" his analysis indeed, especially since he has qualified his methodology (i.e., comparing textures in-game). Ultimately, his methodology is an aesthetic that I agree with philosophically. And I was just kidding about you fixing all textures ... I know that is not possible unless you were earning a salary ;) I am certain that we can agree that Bethesda artists did not give all of the Skyrim textures the same level of care (else why would Starac bother?). you should take a look at the final result of TPC yourself in-game and critique his choices. I'd appreciate an analysis from a texture artist Looks like i was wrong about you? I told you once that Skyrim is primarily a console game. So textures, meshes and UV-mapping cannot be better. All i need is to see these 2 pics from TPC: Could you post screens of the same with vanilla and your personal preference (i.e., PC version), noting the offending details? My cup is not yet full ... Could you be more specific? An you know how my textures look. I just want to know what you specifically don't like about the above images (this is not a challenge, I just want your insights). I appreciate your work over any texture that directly conflicts, and that is why I suggested copying your textures into the Data directory last. What I am looking for is your opinion on some of Cestral's picks that do not conflict with your textures and why you think that his picks are not better than vanilla in-game. Just saying that if you disagree with TPC, I'd like more specifics as to why you don't like this solution --not in comparison to your work, but rather in comparison to other options, including other mods as well as vanilla. Just a few examples to help me understand your comment, "remove this nonsense completely" ... are there no benefits at all to Cestral's mod in your opinion? I suspect that you may be generalizing just a bit I know what you want, and i have already told you that you just need to look at my textures. TPC combines Skyrim HD and Serious HD with my mod. And earlier i have explained you that these 2 mods are amateur work. They use photos and make simple seamless textures from it. 20 minutes job to create one texture. Also 90% of these textures lack details, they look plastic and blurry, they don't blend good... Normal maps are very bad because in many cases you must create them from more then one layer. Etc. I can write much more about this but i'm not sure do you understand this? TPC is personal compilation. It includes other peoples work, so some textures are normally good, aka SMIM, Water, Flora overhaul... But this is already included in STEP compilation which did a better job. I also don't like all that is included in STEP, but it is better then TPC. So why do you even bother with it?

Very good advice! I see that you learned a lot  I also have a very good advice; remove this TPC nonsense completely. Just as soon as you create textures for all of Skyrim Actually, TPC is a fairly comprehensive compendium of Skyrim textures from the modding community (although I have not personally evaluated each of Cestral's choices compared to vanilla). If you read Cestral's description, it sounds like a lot of effort was spent on picking these, so I defer to his picks as a baseline over which to install those textures that I know I want. All textures? No way i'm gonna do this. This is not easy to do, especially how i do it, and it's time consuming. And i don't have any benefit from this. Btw, i did not say to you that you should not use other mods. But this Cestral guy knows nothing about moding. And people expect his analysis!? I "accept" his analysis indeed, especially since he has qualified his methodology (i.e., comparing textures in-game). Ultimately, his methodology is an aesthetic that I agree with philosophically. And I was just kidding about you fixing all textures ... I know that is not possible unless you were earning a salary ;) I am certain that we can agree that Bethesda artists did not give all of the Skyrim textures the same level of care (else why would Starac bother?). you should take a look at the final result of TPC yourself in-game and critique his choices. I'd appreciate an analysis from a texture artist Looks like i was wrong about you? I told you once that Skyrim is primarily a console game. So textures, meshes and UV-mapping cannot be better. All i need is to see these 2 pics from TPC: Could you post screens of the same with vanilla and your personal preference (i.e., PC version), noting the offending details? My cup is not yet full ... Could you be more specific? An you know how my textures look.Â

Very good advice! I see that you learned a lot  I also have a very good advice; remove this TPC nonsense completely. Just as soon as you create textures for all of Skyrim Actually, TPC is a fairly comprehensive compendium of Skyrim textures from the modding community (although I have not personally evaluated each of Cestral's choices compared to vanilla). If you read Cestral's description, it sounds like a lot of effort was spent on picking these, so I defer to his picks as a baseline over which to install those textures that I know I want. All textures? No way i'm gonna do this. This is not easy to do, especially how i do it, and it's time consuming. And i don't have any benefit from this. Btw, i did not say to you that you should not use other mods. But this Cestral guy knows nothing about moding. And people expect his analysis!? I "accept" his analysis indeed, especially since he has qualified his methodology (i.e., comparing textures in-game). Ultimately, his methodology is an aesthetic that I agree with philosophically. And I was just kidding about you fixing all textures ... I know that is not possible unless you were earning a salary ;) I am certain that we can agree that Bethesda artists did not give all of the Skyrim textures the same level of care (else why would Starac bother?). you should take a look at the final result of TPC yourself in-game and critique his choices. I'd appreciate an analysis from a texture artist Looks like i was wrong about you? I told you once that Skyrim is primarily a console game. So textures, meshes and UV-mapping cannot be better. All i need is to see these 2 pics from TPC:

Very good advice! I see that you learned a lot  I also have a very good advice; remove this TPC nonsense completely. Just as soon as you create textures for all of Skyrim Actually, TPC is a fairly comprehensive compendium of Skyrim textures from the modding community (although I have not personally evaluated each of Cestral's choices compared to vanilla). If you read Cestral's description, it sounds like a lot of effort was spent on picking these, so I defer to his picks as a baseline over which to install those textures that I know I want. All textures? No way i'm gonna do this. This is not easy to do, especially how i do it, and it's time consuming. And i don't have any benefit from this. Btw, i did not say to you that you should not use other mods. But this Cestral guy knows nothing about moding. And people expect his analysis!?

Very good advice! I see that you learned a lot  I also have a very good advice; remove this TPC nonsense completely. Â

Btw, what is wrong with Bethesda forums? I can't access them?

I know that there are alternatives. But question is will this work in case of mountains? If it works, why is not implemented already?

I presume that this requires coding, precision increasing between the textures, polygons. Not my field. Besides some tweaks can reduce this. So i don't see what's the big problem here. This is not something that happens 5 meters in front of me.