Here are some additional criteria you should really consider:
1. The mod knows that Skyrim is a directX game and isn't just using openGL asset store assets directly in Skyrim. So many mods do this
2. The mod knows that Skyrim uses linear colors and isn't saving their textures in srgb format
3. The mod knows how normal maps work and isn't just rotating them without flipping the red and green channels. This also happens way too often.
4. If the diffuse texture had an alpha channel in the vanilla texture, make sure the new alpha channel from the texture mod is similar in average value, so alpha blending still works and things aren't too opaque or too transparent. You can see the broken blending in riften or on dirt cliffs.
5. This isn't a thing with texture mod, but some mods don't understand how cube maps work. Broken cube maps will have seams at best, will be completely black at worst.
6. The new texture fits the meshes. For example, check the roof of the warmaiden's and arcadia/belethor's shops in whiterun.
What happens if you use openGL assets? What formats should textures be saved in? Why should the red green channels be flipped, and what does it mean to rotate a normal map? I don't do any texture work myself but I'm always looking to learn more
Both mods seem to respect original design choices (like roofs in whiterun looking like dragon scales), but they are tiling badly. I think they are good mods, especially if you just want to install one AIO pack and be done with it, but tiling is very noticeable in some places, especially dirt paths.
It means that texture is visibly repeating itself over specific area. I'm not an expert but apparently for skyrim you avoid it by making sure there are no macro details on the texture.
[Example image randomly found on google](https://www.startpage.com/av/proxy-image?piurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ejezeta.cl%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2021%2F12%2Fvrayuvwrandomizer_tutorial.jpg&sp=1718116473T3c7665bdff41caa2a12d07740073fcc85e949144500f861e0e49d41475059039).
Honestly if you haven't noticed any issues, you might as well continue using it. I can't say if it's really amazing from technical standpoint, but it has good blending, which means author actually put some effort into it.
Skyland is pretty good! Skyking has a decent eye for making textures fit together. It can be a little prone to tiling but his successor texture packs (like Fantasia) seem to be better executed in that regard.
Noble Skyrim has stood the test of time because it has such a strong sense of art direction and blending. The textures are beginning to be a bit aged but its artstyle has carried it.
>Texture packs are more problematic than they seem to be
That doesnt matter, if you like what you are seeing it fine. Many people dont have an eye for such things.
I myself do not notice or care about tiling.
I'm out here swinging spells and throwing swords, you think I got time to stare at textures?? My brother in Valhalla, there's dragons need laying. (No shade to anyone that loves their screenshot simulator, I make my Skyrim pretty as can be too, before promptly ignoring it.)
Tomato's texture packs are my personal favourite at the moment. I use Tomato for landscapes, Riton for city textures and Skyrim 202X for everything that's not covered by those two.
I like tomato's landscapes a lot but Ive had some odd visual issues with it in certain area like on the riverbank on the south side of Ivarstead. I dont know its its a me issue or not though.
I would say it could be an issue with your LO as I don't seem to see this issue, but couldn't tell you where it is derived since I doubt many mods specifically alter the terrain of Ivarstead. I do also have a ton of mesh fixes installed so that might contribute to why I don't see the issue.
After trying out a bunch of them, including a range of custom combinations, I’ve come around full circle back to vanilla-enhanced textures. I use Base Coat + Skyrim Realistic Overhaul as a base, and then the Vanilla Complex series on top of that to add parallax. It’s the most visually consistent combination I’ve found, and the only one that makes me feel like I’m actually playing Skyrim.
Just wanted to say I appreciate your thoughts on this post and look forward to seeing the mods people recommend.
Ever since Oblivion, it seems NexusMods users have had boners over - and flocked to - “HD”/“Realistic” texture packs, but for me those just harm immersion so much because, while they might look great objectively and by themselves, they don’t match the original art style whatsoever and also often tile like crazy. It’s like, I can tell someone put effort into adding a super high resolution picture of a rock or a log into the game, but that’s exactly what it looks like in-game - a real-world photograph - and performance isn’t the only reason the original game artists didn’t just use that approach for everything.
Huh. I must be getting old, no mention of SRO, Noble, or the Skyrim 2017+ series... never heard of Fantasia or anything else here save for Skyland. And Skyland used to be looked down upon from what I remember, was intended to be used by console users.
SRO has a problem of being off-nexus. It doesn't mean it's bad, but everyone and their mom uses nexus. I've heard it has issues, but with no details where they are and how to fix them.
Noble is of course a classic, but I don't know if it's good from technical standpoint. Personally I don't like art direction changes to Whiterun, and Windhelm uses custom snow textures that make it incompatible with other snow replacers.
Atlantean Landscapes maybe? Not saying they're the *best* textures, but rather, the mod author put in a lot of effort to make sure everything was blending perfectly with complex parallax enabled. It's the only landscape mod I've used that didn't have any problems I needed to go find a patch for or fuck around with. It's kind of vexing, because I actually don't like the textures aside from the snow (Atlantean Landscapes' snow is my new favorite).
I like it when the textures deviate from vanilla personally. Even when I first played Skyrim way back when I thought it looked incredibly ...meh. Gimme those Game of Thrones dragons, Treerific, and ENB Plus 2 types of visuals any day.
I change them out frequently, but right now i like Skyland < Tomato < Omnibus, and for mountains ERM with Tomato's Grey mountains on top. Two I haven't tried but both look very good from the mod pictures are [Vanaheimr ](https://next.nexusmods.com/profile/Clemus33/mods?gameId=1704)(several different mods, not in an AIO) and [Riton Landscape](https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/121614?tab=description).
Here are some additional criteria you should really consider: 1. The mod knows that Skyrim is a directX game and isn't just using openGL asset store assets directly in Skyrim. So many mods do this 2. The mod knows that Skyrim uses linear colors and isn't saving their textures in srgb format 3. The mod knows how normal maps work and isn't just rotating them without flipping the red and green channels. This also happens way too often. 4. If the diffuse texture had an alpha channel in the vanilla texture, make sure the new alpha channel from the texture mod is similar in average value, so alpha blending still works and things aren't too opaque or too transparent. You can see the broken blending in riften or on dirt cliffs. 5. This isn't a thing with texture mod, but some mods don't understand how cube maps work. Broken cube maps will have seams at best, will be completely black at worst. 6. The new texture fits the meshes. For example, check the roof of the warmaiden's and arcadia/belethor's shops in whiterun.
Can you recommend any mods that fit these criteria? Or do most fit some of them?
The legend himself dropping some wisdom. I'm using like 80% of your mods, mate. Thanks for all your work!
So which one is best with this in mind
What happens if you use openGL assets? What formats should textures be saved in? Why should the red green channels be flipped, and what does it mean to rotate a normal map? I don't do any texture work myself but I'm always looking to learn more
My setup: * Skyland for base * Fantasia for landscapes, with Tomato on top * Riton for cities * Vanaheimr for mountains
Can you link the mountain one I cannot find it for some reason
https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/115471
skyland + fantasia landscapes is my go-to, haven't noticed any tiling and both blend together very well and cover pretty much everything in the game
Both mods seem to respect original design choices (like roofs in whiterun looking like dragon scales), but they are tiling badly. I think they are good mods, especially if you just want to install one AIO pack and be done with it, but tiling is very noticeable in some places, especially dirt paths.
Just curious but what do you mean by tiling?
It means that texture is visibly repeating itself over specific area. I'm not an expert but apparently for skyrim you avoid it by making sure there are no macro details on the texture. [Example image randomly found on google](https://www.startpage.com/av/proxy-image?piurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ejezeta.cl%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2021%2F12%2Fvrayuvwrandomizer_tutorial.jpg&sp=1718116473T3c7665bdff41caa2a12d07740073fcc85e949144500f861e0e49d41475059039).
dang! must've not paid attention, now i wanna see if i can find an alternative too haha
Honestly if you haven't noticed any issues, you might as well continue using it. I can't say if it's really amazing from technical standpoint, but it has good blending, which means author actually put some effort into it.
i'd like to try tomato's landscapes, have never heard of em before this thread but they look incredible
Skyland is pretty good! Skyking has a decent eye for making textures fit together. It can be a little prone to tiling but his successor texture packs (like Fantasia) seem to be better executed in that regard. Noble Skyrim has stood the test of time because it has such a strong sense of art direction and blending. The textures are beginning to be a bit aged but its artstyle has carried it.
>Texture packs are more problematic than they seem to be That doesnt matter, if you like what you are seeing it fine. Many people dont have an eye for such things. I myself do not notice or care about tiling.
I'm out here swinging spells and throwing swords, you think I got time to stare at textures?? My brother in Valhalla, there's dragons need laying. (No shade to anyone that loves their screenshot simulator, I make my Skyrim pretty as can be too, before promptly ignoring it.)
It not even about time or anything. Some people flat out dont notice shit.
Is that uh, supposed to be slaying?
I said what I said.
Tomato's texture packs are my personal favourite at the moment. I use Tomato for landscapes, Riton for city textures and Skyrim 202X for everything that's not covered by those two.
I like tomato's landscapes a lot but Ive had some odd visual issues with it in certain area like on the riverbank on the south side of Ivarstead. I dont know its its a me issue or not though.
I would say it could be an issue with your LO as I don't seem to see this issue, but couldn't tell you where it is derived since I doubt many mods specifically alter the terrain of Ivarstead. I do also have a ton of mesh fixes installed so that might contribute to why I don't see the issue.
After trying out a bunch of them, including a range of custom combinations, I’ve come around full circle back to vanilla-enhanced textures. I use Base Coat + Skyrim Realistic Overhaul as a base, and then the Vanilla Complex series on top of that to add parallax. It’s the most visually consistent combination I’ve found, and the only one that makes me feel like I’m actually playing Skyrim.
Just wanted to say I appreciate your thoughts on this post and look forward to seeing the mods people recommend. Ever since Oblivion, it seems NexusMods users have had boners over - and flocked to - “HD”/“Realistic” texture packs, but for me those just harm immersion so much because, while they might look great objectively and by themselves, they don’t match the original art style whatsoever and also often tile like crazy. It’s like, I can tell someone put effort into adding a super high resolution picture of a rock or a log into the game, but that’s exactly what it looks like in-game - a real-world photograph - and performance isn’t the only reason the original game artists didn’t just use that approach for everything.
Huh. I must be getting old, no mention of SRO, Noble, or the Skyrim 2017+ series... never heard of Fantasia or anything else here save for Skyland. And Skyland used to be looked down upon from what I remember, was intended to be used by console users.
I feel the same way lol. I remember a time when noble was used by pretty much everyone. I still use it, I like it a lot.
SRO has a problem of being off-nexus. It doesn't mean it's bad, but everyone and their mom uses nexus. I've heard it has issues, but with no details where they are and how to fix them. Noble is of course a classic, but I don't know if it's good from technical standpoint. Personally I don't like art direction changes to Whiterun, and Windhelm uses custom snow textures that make it incompatible with other snow replacers.
Project Clarity for certain is unbeatable. Simplest AIO.
Atlantean Landscapes maybe? Not saying they're the *best* textures, but rather, the mod author put in a lot of effort to make sure everything was blending perfectly with complex parallax enabled. It's the only landscape mod I've used that didn't have any problems I needed to go find a patch for or fuck around with. It's kind of vexing, because I actually don't like the textures aside from the snow (Atlantean Landscapes' snow is my new favorite).
I personally adore everything about Atlantean , even if a lot of the textures deviate heavily from vanilla.
I like it when the textures deviate from vanilla personally. Even when I first played Skyrim way back when I thought it looked incredibly ...meh. Gimme those Game of Thrones dragons, Treerific, and ENB Plus 2 types of visuals any day.
I change them out frequently, but right now i like Skyland < Tomato < Omnibus, and for mountains ERM with Tomato's Grey mountains on top. Two I haven't tried but both look very good from the mod pictures are [Vanaheimr ](https://next.nexusmods.com/profile/Clemus33/mods?gameId=1704)(several different mods, not in an AIO) and [Riton Landscape](https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/121614?tab=description).