I still maintain it's a rather lukewarm "high resolution" texture pack. Don't take my harsh tone as not being appreciative of their work, it's just I feel like a lot of the time they over promise and under deliver, and we're left holding the bag.

So... basically this texture pack seems to sharpen the otherwise blurry textures quite a bit (http://i41.tinypic.com/14dd3z4.jpg, http://i41.tinypic.com/fnwc4n.jpg), and then mini-sharpen all other textures. It's not bad, and appreciate the effort, but honestly... it's far from as good as mods out there, for instance: http://static.skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/images/5400-5-1326115356.jpg, http://static.skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/images/5400-1-1326115450.jpg

But it was a nice surprise and I truly appreciate that Bethesda spend a little time extra on the PC. I'm most happy about the CK

Bethesda are really making an effort lately & this texture pack is very welcome.

Seriously, general valid(or not, Your valid is not my valid etc) complaints are fine as is being critical of gameplay elements & various other(missing) features, However complaints about this gratis texture pack from a company who are really trying to re-connect with their PC fanbase are just utter nonsense & does the community no favours whatsoever.

3rd person screenshots in Windhelm's White Phial...

BEFORE:
http://i.imgur.com/4S1JR.jpg

AFTER:
http://i.imgur.com/NyNYw.jpg

Don't look a gift horse in the mouth.

LOL!!! Why are people whining about this?

At least you guys got something. You got the creation kit! Which was the actual big thing today... This texture pack was just a nice little FREE bonus for you. But oh no Bethesda is so horrible, and they just don't care about us at all!

Oh yeah and the textures look good. wtf.

Puny Milkdrinker

As they were free i would say thanks but decline the offer, i would not act like a spoilt five year old child and throw a hissy fit.

Why do people complain about free content?

It's interesting how you people cherrypick the trollish OP to respond to, but then carefully avoid the better arguments.

Skyrim is a unique example of a free-roaming, non-linear AAA WRPG, and the sort of game that Bethesda and few others make. I'm not saying it's perfect, but there's very little to compare it to. It has a massive amount of content, is incredibly ambitious, and I enjoyed it. I have also enjoyed Morrowind and Fallout 3 - again, games that have little to no comparison.

They are games that are risky, non-standard and expensive to make - not instant $$$ like many other games on the market. Yet because of their quality, Bethesda has enjoyed success. And as an avid gamer, I appreciate that...because I enjoy their work and I recognize the amount of effort and time that goes into their products.

As for the PC market - let's be honest, developers of AAA games just can't depend on it for one reason, piracy. If a game is successful on consoles, it means guaranteed sales. That guarantee is minimized on PC. A sad fact, but true. What's sadder is that console tech is six years behind PC, and yet because of piracy game makers have to depend on their console sales to stay afloat. This isn't greed, it's just practical business. Thus, games limited by console tech come to PC, half of what they could be graphically.

And honestly, for all the complaining about Steam integration, how many people here would have already downloaded the CK and texture pack for their pirated version of Skyrim if Steam wasn't required? The answer, sadly, is many.

Bottom line, the PC is definately gimped by console ports. But that's for a reason that could easily be prevented on a user-by-user basis. And when a developer reaches out and attempts to support your PC community with dedicated modding tools (something that simply does not happen very often) and that developer also releases huge, ambitious open-world RPGs, you don't slap their hand away. That makes no sense.

Sigmunde, CK and texture pack already up on various torrent sites, so, Steam integration has stopped nothing.

Eeeeerm Creation Kit, maybe?

As someone who works in the catering and hospitality industry I can tell you for a fact that you can give the best service in the world and people will still complain! Fact of life.

Yup, totally abandoned. No creation kit coming, no siree bob.

Awesome, you just proved my point about piracy. Everyone wins.

lol @ the OP.

Did it hurt?

Be thankful you're not on console where it appears Princess Peach has thrown up Super Mario's 8-bit babysauce all over every single rock and snowy surface.

Better yet be thankful you're not in Mexico having your head cut off and rolled down the pyramid steps.

Hey, looks like they improved some of the worst offenders.
And I guess most people will actually be able to run them quite fine, even without 2 GB VRAM.

I like it.

Sure, it's no 4096px texture resolution mega ultra quality pack, but hey, it's better.
It's free, they delivered more than they had to.
But well, haters gonna hate...

(and if you do want those 4096 res textures, there are numerous mods).

*facepalm*

Slap in the face is a slap in the face. Everything else pales in comparison.

Honestly I didnt expect to have my mind blown by these new textures but Im glad to have them.

Why? I shouldnt have to spell it out for you. For the same reason vanilla Skyrim doesn't blow my mind at all but I'm still incredibly happy with it:

Because this texture pack, just like the game, are the ideal blank canvases. On their own, fairly unimpressive, but they enable modders to create true works of art.

This 'high res' texture pack's main value is that its a better -base- to make new modded texture packs than the the other textures were. That's it. The better the base texture, the easier it becomes for the Qarls of this world to make REAL texture packs. You can't expect professionals to come up with this kind of quality. It takes the sheer passion and commitment of a strong modding community to do something amazing.

This is why so many people are upset about everything Skyrim is and many dont understand: The former group have been playing Oblivion and Fallout with 200+ mods for years. Their modded Oblivion looks 10X better than Vanilla Skyrim. The latter group WAS STILL mostly playing Vanilla, maybe with a handful of mods they never truly reserarched. For them Skyrim is an end into itself. For us in the former category, Skyrim is a canvas. Anyone who still whines it svcks five years from now is crazy or hasn't taken the time to make it rock. People who want it all right NOW are merely impatient.

So three cheers for this texture pack, a small tool that'll help us make better textures down the line.

Why do people insist on complaining about free stuff?

It looks like they didn't even bother to include the beast race textures for updates. I hope I'm wrong.

http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1343508-no-beast-race-texture-update/

I must agree with OP, this HD Texture pack is meh!
But that's not the worst, it also disables all other texture mods!

Why are people complaining when its free FFS, what do you want your money back and high rez textures. Get a grip they did not have to do this, and steam did not have to give up 1000,s of GB bandwith for your free texture pack!!!!!!