Can I Use 4K Textures?

[monkeycid]

Hello,

 

I am in the process of modding Skyrim for the umpteenth time since its release back when dinosaurs roamed the Earth. Of course, 4K textures have been around for some time and I am wondering if it is wise to use them. I don't want to brag about my computer but it is almost a year old and I am using a GeForce GTX 1080 in a gaming laptop.

 

I am worried that running 4K textures alongside an ENB will have dire consequences and cause the fans to rev up and drown out any other noise.

 

Thanks.

[morogoth35]

Of course you can use 4K textures, but it isn't something I would recommend. Firstly, I think 2K textures look just as good and I personally don't see a reason for using 4K textures seeing as they take up so much of your VRAM.

[Novem99]

Why don't you just try it out?

[FrankFamily]

Imo the most accurate response to this question is "depends". A 4k texture is just 4 times the size of a 2k, that's all, lets not be dramatic about the consequences, the amount is key and consider whether you should, not just if you can.

 

Can you use 4k textures for every single asset? Depends on your vram, resolution you are running and the rest of stuff that contributes to filling it.

Can you use 4k textures for the stuff you consider most important, like mountains, weapons, armor, or whatever assets you want to stare at, all chosen considering whether the assets will actually benefit from 4k textures? Probably.

Can you use 4k textures for the fork? Do not, it's pointless.

 

Same goes for 2k textures looking the same as a 4k, for a fork yeah, a 1k would as well. Depends on the size of the object, how close you are going to look at it and your screen resolution, of course.

Edited August 25, 2018 by FrankFamily

[monkeycid]

Thanks for the replies.

 

I will try using 4K for armor and weapons where possible as well as statues and 2K for the environment. All things considered, rendering walls, land, mountains and everything else inbetween in 4K alongside a heavily modded game might not be the best choice after all for a marginal visual improvement.

[chanchan05]

I think the question here we should be asking you is what is the resolution of the screen you're playing with. I mean it's pointless if you have a 2k monitor since using 4K textures would just have the system unpacking the texture to 4K, then going, oh s#*! the screen is only 2k, let's dumb it down to that. Basically just a waste of processing power and space since 4K is what, 4x larger than 2K? If your screen isn't 2K, the improvement could be nonexistent, or even negative because the system shat on it while recompressing.

[FrankFamily]

That statement completely disregards uv mapping and the size of the object the texture belongs to, view distance... screen resolution is different from texture resolution, completely different. Not even useful as a rule of thumb. A 4k can be a very significant improvement on 1080p depending on the asset, view distance, etc.

Edited August 31, 2018 by FrankFamily

[Novem99]

I mean it's pointless if you have a 2k monitor since using 4K textures would just have the system unpacking the texture to 4K, then going, oh s*** the screen is only 2k, let's dumb it down to that. Basically just a waste of processing power and space since 4K is what, 4x larger than 2K? If your screen isn't 2K, the improvement could be nonexistent, or even negative because the system shat on it while recompressing.

 

Didn't see such a nonsense comment in a long time. You should not parrot things you just read somewhere over the internet when you don't have a clue what you are talking about.