Ever wondered what Skyrim's dragons looked like up close, like REALLY close? Most of the time you're probably too busy Fus Ro Dah-ing them to death, but what if you had the opportunity to see even the smallest cracks in their scales?
skyrim 16k dragons
Well, this new mod does just that all by giving the dragons in Skyrim insanely detailed 16K quality textures. 16K. Let that sink in. And as reported by GamesRadar, you don't even need to get a display at that high of a resolution to see just how detailed these new textures are.
The mod is now downloadable at Nexus Mods as "Bellyaches 16K-8K Dragon Replacer Pack LE." You can get it from there if you want to see it for yourself. Here's a sample comparison of the textures, showing you just how much detail the mod adds to the dragons in-game:
skyrim 16k dragons
According to the creators of the mod, it works by presenting the game's dragons free of compression artifacts. Their original textures were also upscaled to as high as 8K, which then lets you to see the textures at "true 4K" up close. You might think that this is counterintuitive, but this is a compromise the modders had to make to ensure that even console players can get a crack at it.
Here's how the modders explain their creation:
"All reslutions specified are the maximum resolution, and most of the texture files are twice as long as they are wide. So the 16K version has files that are 8192x16484. With 16K, a dragon wing is 7380x4020px, a head is 3320x2480px, and the entire rear body and legs is only 6060x4580px. If you're fighting a dragon up close and want to see it in 4K resolution, then you need the dragon to be in 16K."
The modders also mentioned how they made this mod accessible even for people with lower-end PCs. As per the mod's description on Nexus, they uploaded downscaled versions which don't use up a lot of VRAM/GPU memory while maintaining visual quality. That's because texture mods like these use a ton of VRAM, and people with less than 4GB would struggle running it at a full 16K.
Read also: Hardware-Accelerated FSR 3.0 Could Be Part Of AMD's RDNA 3 RX 7000 GPUs
Is This One Of The Best Skyrim Mods So Far?
It's too early to say whether 16K dragon textures would end up as one of the best Skyrim mods ever. That's the deal with this particular Elder Scrolls game: there are tons of other mods that deserve their own spot in the modding hall of fame. However, it could still be one of the very mods you need to install to make Skyrim a far more visually appealing and mechanically better game in 2022.
skyrim
In order to truly appreciate the skill and dedication of the greater Elder Scrolls modding community, here are the best mods you can partner with 16K dragons to further elevate your in-game experience:
-
Ultimate Skyrim: According to PCGamesN, this mod is a compilation of a total of 16 mods brought together in a package called Wildlander. The package makes the game far more immersive and gives it deeper role-playing mechanics, such as adding temperature and hunger mechanics, and overhauling the rather aging combat system in Elder Scrolls V.
-
Pirates Of Skyrim: If you loved the pirate mechanics of Assassin's Creed 4 and want to experience it in an Elder Scrolls game, this is the mod for you. This mod lets you become the captain of your own ship, as well as commit some piracy on the high seas and even do battle with enemy pirates. But as per PC Gamer, this mod doesn't really let you sail real-time just like AC4 did, which could be the only drawback.
-
2K Textures: What good is the 16K Dragon texture mod if the rest of the environment doesn't at least come close to the quality? Well, this specific Skyrim mod will do that for you. It gives the game all-new 2K and even 4K textures to things like in-game architecture, tons, water surfaces, and even the sky. You can get it now on Nexus Mods in two modes: Full which gives max resolution textures, and Lite which gives textures at 50% of the quality.
Related: This Skyrim Player Managed To Almost Completely Recreate Herself In-Game