SKYRIMLE Hectrol CAVES DELUXE HighRes Retex (by Hectrol)

[exploiteddna]

i can take some more if its necessary, i just never did because i thought these were sufficient.

[phazer11]

I mean we could both do it (if they think it'd be a good idea) but one of the reasons I joined the MT team was to help out with the compares and such (at the very least until I get my full STEP list installed)

[exploiteddna]

Vanilla-HRDLC

 

Current STEP - Snow and Rocks 2K

 

Hectrol Caves Med. Res 2K

 

Scene: I am exiting Bleak Falls Barrow, immediately after the first word wall and obtaining the Dragon Stone from the boss draugr

[rootsrat]

I definitely like Hectrol's most (I use them anyway). Vanila and S&R are too yellow/green imho.

[exploiteddna]

Vanilla-HRDLC

 

Current STEP - Snow and Rocks 2K

 

Hectrol Caves - Med Res 2K

 

Scene: a different shot just down the hallway from where the other shots were taken, still in BFB

[exploiteddna]

I definitely like Hectrol's most (I use them anyway). Vanila and S&R are too yellow/green imho.

yeah, they have grown on me a little bit.. im still not sure though, i still have my reservations

[TechAngel85]

Did we forget about Beauty of Skyrim in our compares?

 

Nonetheless, I've updated the OP with your compares and closed the poll. I'll open the poll again whenever we have a full set of compares.

[exploiteddna]

:facepalm: its always something

 

i thought the protocol was:  Vanilla >>  current STEP >> proposed STEP

 

so i thought that anything having to do with a different proposed mod (i.e. Beauty of Skyrim) would go into its own respective thread. but again, it looks like i was wrong. ^$@$^

 

Ill get the screenshot for Beauty (in the same exact locations, of course) and edit my post to include that.

[TechAngel85]

That is how things would normally go; however, sometimes when multiple mods do the same thing (like these) it's generally done all together.

[exploiteddna]

Beauty of Skyrim - Shot 1

 

Beauty of Skyrim - Shot 1

 

 

i just decided to make a new post instead, that way you would know theres been an update in the thread. So these are the same scenes as i posted yesterday, with Beuaty of Skyrim - Caves installed

[EssArrBee]

Beauty of Skyrim - Shot 1

 

Beauty of Skyrim - Shot 1

 

 

i just decided to make a new post instead, that way you would know theres been an update in the thread. So these are the same scenes as i posted yesterday, with Beuaty of Skyrim - Caves installed

No need to correct double posts, one of the mods will be by to delete it.

 

Anyways, I'm really partial to Hectrol still, but Beauty of Skyrim is quite good. I'd be happy with either of those.

[exploiteddna]

No need to correct double posts, one of the mods will be by to delete it.

 

Anyways, I'm really partial to Hectrol still, but Beauty of Skyrim is quite good. I'd be happy with either of those.

 

Yeah i agree. The hectrol has grown on me. And, even though this is not STEP-approved yet, when you use interior/dungeon lighting mods like ELFX, the hectrol textures come out to look rather similar to vanilla in terms of color. But if you look at the compares i posted (obviously without any lighting mods, etc.), the hectrols are a lighter shade of color than the others.  If I were basing it solely on the compares, I would probably opt for Beauty.

 

That being said, there is one drawback to using Beauty in my opinion, and thats the fact that the textures being used for caves are extremely similar to the textures he uses for the mines.. such that there would be very little difference between caves and mines. Maybe use hectrol for caves (since that's all his mod covers anyway) and then use Beauty just for the mines

[TechAngel85]

Thanks for doing that! I've updated the OP with your shots. I'll reopen the poll when I get my shots posted as well (tomorrow), unless someone else beats me to it. This way there will be at least 4 different compares for each mod.

 

As for right now, my evaluation is:

 

Hectrol is nice in some place and "ew" in others for me. I'm still of the opinion that it looks too "carved out" for my liking. If this mod wins out, it will not be included as a Core mod (which the current STEP, Snow and Rocks HD, is Core) because it's too much of a deviation from vanilla in terms of style. However, Beauty of Skyrim is just that...beautiful and is very close to vanilla. Close enough to remain a Core mod if it replaces Snow and Rocks HD.

[EssArrBee]

Well, caves and mines are basically the same thing. They both happen to be built into mountains for the most part, so them being similar isn't a big deal.

[WilliamImm]

Of the new shots michael took, I'm very partial to Hectrol (especially after playing with it in game - wow). Beauty of Skyrim is a close second - though, if Hectrol deviates too much from the vanilla art style, then I wouldn't mind if Beauty got included.

 

Also, Snow and Rocks isn't completely replaced by Beauty of Skyrim, so some of the textures used will still be there.

 

(I've reopened the poll and moved the shots in the order of voting, to prevent confusion)