Comparison between 2K vs 4K

[jazeon]

I'm running a laptop that goes with a resolution of 1920 x

 

And I'm trying to differentiate the quality of a 2K from a 4K quality in Skyrim. I haven't really downloaded any of it yet, but I was just watching a few comparison between a 2K imagery quality from a 4K and somehow I couldn't tell from the difference, because as people said, you have to have the monitor specifically that could run a 4K resolution screen cap. Please I need help with the difference between them if somehow it would be awesome, if you guys could show me a screenshot from a 2K from a 4K in Skyrim in full quality.

 

And also though, could I please get some recommendations on which 2K or 4K source files should be more reliable.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Lastly also though, it is my first time doing NexusMods or even applying mods coming from the workshop. So technically I'm still pretty fresh from these stuff.

[BlackRoseOfThorns]

That depends on what you are talking about. 4k screen resolution =/= 4k texture.

 

If someone records video in 4k screen resolution, you will need 4k screen to fully apreciate it. You can try downsampling the resolution to reduce visible aliasing on lower screen reolution, but it will be too taxing for a laptop.

 

You will see improvement with going 2k>4k on 1920x1080 monitor. However in most cases it's not necessary to go 4k. Think of texture as square made of rubber. Bigger objects will stretch it in order to cover whole mesh, while small ones will fit perfectly. With small objects you will see difference only if you zoom your camera and have the object covering most of your screen. If you had 27inch 1440p monitor and sit right in front of it, it would be easier for you to see more detail preserved in higher resolution texture.

 

 

To be honest, on a laptop you shouldn't be running anyhting bigger than 1-2k texture pack. You simply won't have enough horse power to output any decent frame rate. In case you have gaming laptop with dedicated gpu and quad core cpu, get Enb or SweetFX instead of 4k textures. Lightning mods have much more impact on your game visuals than simple resolution.

 

Install Nexus Mod Manager or Mod Organizer. Get NobleSkyrimMod and ICIBINE 3 + ELFX for starters and see how it will go.

[MrStoob]

In my layman's experience, 4k textures are great for close up screenshots on 1920x1080. However, for general gameplay I avoid them as they don't improve the game more than they slow it down on my fairly modest GTX 660. :)

[Perraine]

It makes S F A difference in normal gameplay. Realistically anything over 512 x 512 on 95% of the items in game is completely pointless, and worse is a potential resource sink and cause of stuttering, lag and CTD's. Unless you are spending all your time in game in TFC mode and zoomed into every spec of dust, every blade of grass, every piece of fruit, it's not worth it. You spend more time running past think from a distance than anything else, whcih means that the majority of the time, it's not even showing the full res texture, it's showing one of the mip maps. Don't be fooled by screenshots and talk of HD 4K textures it's a worthless gimmick nothing more

 

2K textures on Armours/Clothes/Weapons will make a difference to how they look on you and on NPC's, but even then, unless you are taking screen shots, it's overkill really. "Good quality" 1K textures can and do look just as good as any higher resolution, the problem is that many mod authors don't make "good quality" properly painted and properly normal mapped textures. Have a look at some of the Cabal/Amadianborn Armour textures, even downscaled to 1K they are still fantastic and so are the Monk Robes by Lind001.

 

The only textures I would normally suggest running at 2K is the body and face ones = Diffuse and Normal Map.

[jazeon]

Ah yes sorry, I actually forgot the very purpose of setting things to a highly more visual quality. And since I already completed the game in different methods and different class play through.

 

I was pretty much thinking on basically just modding some areas of the map like those " Bath House ", mods and more or less take a lot of close screenshots and infrastructures.

 

I forgot the fact that surely if I will run a 4K or probably 2K it would actually drop a huge fps drop or worse crash my game.

[BlackRoseOfThorns]

 

more or less take a lot of close screenshots and infrastructures.

 

I forgot the fact that surely if I will run a 4K or probably 2K it would actually drop a huge fps drop or worse crash my game.

 

Get Enboost and SKSE (with memory patch ini), those will help with your game memory managment. If you would get real Enb preset instead of Enboost (which is cutdown version without any graphic enhancements), you could turn on effects ingame only when taking screenshots.

 

Shift ENB - Performance

 

RedShift Performance ENB Preset

http://static-2.nexusmods.com/15/mods/110/images/55134-5-1403381883.jpg

http://static-5.nexusmods.com/15/mods/110/images/55134-3-1403381773.jpg

 

 

 

 

NobleSkyrimMod in 1k resolution will still look great and won't tax your laptop (huge improvement over vanilla design, even if you use official HD DLC).

http://static-8.nexusmods.com/15/mods/110/images/45807-0-1438764260.jpg

http://static-8.nexusmods.com/15/mods/110/images/45807-8-1442224588.jpg

http://static-2.nexusmods.com/15/mods/110/images/45807-3-1441445158.jpg

[jones177]

Hi

 

Most if not all games use 3dmax UVW mapping. Google it.

 

So a 4k map can have 4 2k textures on it. Back when I used that style of mapping I would have up to 12 textures on a 1k map.

 

A 4k map of poor quality will not look as good as a top quality 2k map & you can't see the whole 4k map on a 2k screen. Pixel math.

 

The best way to judge the quality of a map is to view it at a 100% in a paint/viewer program. Any program that can read the dds format will do. If an author of an armor mod has a 2K & 4k texture versions I will download both manually & view them to determine which one to use.

 

I think the best way to add textures to Skyrim is to start of with the vanilla textures & only add textures to objects that bug you. I use textures from several loose file texture mods. 4k tree bark from one mod & 2K leaves from another. My skyrim looks a lot better now than it did when I used texture packs & my vram usage has gone down as well.

 

Later

[BlackRoseOfThorns]

A 4k map of poor quality will not look as good as a top quality 2k map & you can't see the whole 4k map on a 2k screen. Pixel math.

 

You are forgetting that meshes rarely use 100% of the texture area. Lets take for example trees. In skyrim we get branch compositions squized into 1 texture. Same goes for furniture and other similar items. Besides some objects are suppose to be big enough not to fit in your screen. Mountains and rocks look much sharper with 4k textures, especially in places like Markarth where some of the rocks are resized.

 

 

 

The best way to judge the quality of a map is to view it at a 100% in a paint/viewer program. Any program that can read the dds format will do. If an author of an armor mod has a 2K & 4k texture versions I will download both manually & view them to determine which one to use.

 

Often the quality goes up due to normal map detail level. Armors and terrain looks much better with more evident difference in high on intricate patterns or rough surfaces.

 

 

I hate how some of the texture packs include textures that were upscaled and sharpened in PS. There is just too much noise and the detail amount stays the same as in the original. I've seen some people destroying normal maps by resizing them (they had no clue how it works).

 

 

 

I think the best way to add textures to Skyrim is to start of with the vanilla textures & only add textures to objects that bug you. I use textures from several loose file texture mods. 4k tree bark from one mod & 2K leaves from another. My skyrim looks a lot better now than it did when I used texture packs & my vram usage has gone down as well.

 

There is no point with sticking to vanilla textures when there are authors like HalkHogan and Gamwich, who provide their mods in 512-1k resolution. Official HD DLC textures often eat a lot of vram and offer only tiny visual improvement (just not as blurry as original).

[jones177]

I agree. The Official HD DLC textures are crap.

 

I sometimes play at 4k & the Official HD textures fall apart more than the vanilla ones & they don't address things like tree bark & bridge walls.

 

A few months back I replaced my GTX 980 with a 980 ti. I had lots of issues with the 980 ti so I switched off the 2k texture pack I was using for testing & I was shocked to see how good Skyrim looked.

 

Texture packs seem to be designed for 1080. At 1440 & 4k some textures look too share & others look dull. Because of this I use textures from different sources.

 

My favorite textures are from the aMidianBorn Landscape textures. These look good at 1080 & 4k.

 

Normal maps are a bit of an art forum & I am willing to forgive anyone who attempts one & dose not get it quite right. Some of the best normal maps I have ever seen were made for this game by modders. There is just a very high standard here.

 

Normal maps are one of the reasons I didn't update NMM. Every time I download a follower I give them some abs. After all they do have to run all over Skim with me.

 

Later

[lucidstorm1]

. Think of texture as square made of rubber. Bigger objects will stretch it in order to cover whole mesh, while small ones will fit perfectly.

as a general rule yes, but in many cases texture size doesn't matter, since skyrim has nasty mesh stretching the texture everywhere so go on a put 8k and looks like 512