Skyrim HD Texture Pack Update on Steam

In a continued effort to support our PC fanbase, we’ve released a Steam update to Skyrim’s (free) HD Texture Pack. In addition to high resolution textures in the main game, the update adds improved textures for Dawnguard, Hearthfire, and the newly-released Dragonborn.

Before you download, make sure your PC has the horsepower to support it. Make sure your system requirements exceed Skyrim’s recommended specs before attempting to install, and that your PC has Windows Vista/7, a minimum of 4GB of system RAM, and a DirectX 9.0c compatible NVIDIA or AMD ATI video card with at least 1 GB of RAM and the latest drivers.

If you already have the Skyrim texture pack, be aware that you’ll be downloading an update that’s approximately 4.7 GB in size.

Reader Comments

  3. Good job, thanks. Hopefully for Fallout 4 on next gen platforms the textures will be sharp right away and there will be no need for additional packs.

      • The PS3 can’t handle something like that. You’re talking about 7 year old hardware. My PC, which I last upgraded 5 years ago can barely handle these textures.

      • The PS3 is already having issues with the game as it is, and you want to stress the machine out more? If this was on the PS3, it would have graphic bugs and low frame rates everywhere.

      • Don’t worry, man. You’ll have a PS4 soon =)

        Until then, games like Skyrim are already at their absolute limits on consoles.

    • By the way, quoting your article: “Make sure your system requirements exceed Skyrim’s recommended specs…”. My computer doesn’t exceed the requirements and the new pack doesn’t make any problem.

        • I doubt a 100% that your PC runs Skyrim on max. There is no computer that can, yet. Wait 10-20 years, then come back. Then you can, possibly, have it maxed.

          • What are you talking about? lol
            I can run it on max without problems, with ENBs, custom 2K textures and so on without any major problems(~60 fps). My computer is quite powerful however, but even so a mid-range PC wouldn’t have any problem with Skyrim on high although I doubt 2GB RAM is near enough for running max settings smoothly with Windows being such a memory hog.

          • What are you talking about, Skyrim isn’t at all hard to max out. My 690 almost idles during most parts of the game, hell I can run the game on triple monitors on max settings and still get just under 100fps.

          • I got a GTX 560, and Skyrim runs at 50 FPS, with 4k textures and over 150+ mods. Skyrim is incredibly optimized, my CPU is an i7 2600k, but I can’t run any prior games from Bethesda with even a third of the resources without it going down to 20 or so FPS.

          • At release the bottlenecks and lack of threaded optimizations made it extremely difficult for some hardware – even some which ostensibly exceeded recommended specs – to run at max without additional ini tweaking and 3rd party performance mods if one was also using the HD textures. Those third party optimizations as well as large address awareness were eventually rolled into patches though and now relatively modern hardware has a far easier time running at max settings and beyond.

            Also, because of the reliance on older DX versions, depending on where someone might fall short on recommended specifications they may actually be able to run at far higher settings than might seem to be indicated.

          • How are you guys getting things to run so smoothly? I have an i7-875k, a GTX 680, along with 8-gig of ram. I use only about 30 mods and average about 39 fps at 1920 x 1080..but I never go over 55 or so. Any suggestions appreciated.

  8. Awesome , some love for PC users 🙂 ….

    Any love for modders with an update of the Version contro to use also multiple esms when making an esm mod?
    🙂

  9. Hey GStaff, do each the esp´s correspond to a single DLC? like HDDLC01 to Dawnguard, HDCL02 to Heartfire and so on? because i may want to disable some HDtextures or do i need to disable all of them?

    • Isn’t Dragonborn considered DLC2?
      Also, to disable individual ones, you might have either change it in the construction kit, or replace the textures files in the Skyrim directory (default: program files/steam/steamapps/common/skyrim). Since their using an ESP file to chnage the textures, it should be something you can change within the creation kit.

  10. I appreciate the update, but it’s unfortunate that it doesn’t fix all the problems of the previous release, like the incorrectly named Dragon Priest texture which prevents the Dragon Priests from disintegrating.

    • The texture pack provide better resolution for Dawnguard and Hearthfire dlcs. I do not have the Dragonborn dlc to check changes. The visual is ok for the general game, there is no more “pink” wood, and other small bugs.

  15. Even though my computer is too bad to use the HD Texture Pack, have my sincere thanks and gratitudes for continuing to support the PC and not “dumbing it down”.

    But most of all, I’d like to you thank you for creating such a great DLC and that you listened to what long-time fans have wanted for so long: more Morrowind! Going to Solstheim is truly a nostalgic trip. It would have been ever better to visit all of Vvardenfel, but you can’t have everything I guess 😛

  18. “Before you download, make sure your PC has the horsepower to support it” Wut ?! steam just installed this automagicly regardless.

  19. I’m excited that the new waves and new lanterns may look even more beautiful now than when I admired them on the Xbox. Thanks for the bonus!

  20. Such a nice suprise!!!
    yesterday i loged out of the game and in markath there was a purple treestump. finnaly it got fixed! mother nature says high five 😀

  22. Bethesda, me and a friend named Krist2 made a mod long ago that addressed a lot of issues that we found in the HD DLC, like purple chopping blocks and nuclear glowing firewood logs, are those fixed now? I would really like to know.

  23. Nvidia 3D vision is pretty much as unplayable due to the shadows rendered at wrong depth. Is there any patch to correct that? Or can i swich off the shadows completely somehow?

  24. I remember way back when the game first game out rumor that you guys were gonna select certain Skyrim Mods created by the fandom for free dlc options for the consoles. Was that ever a thing, or were people just being wishful?

      • I see. Thank you for your honesty. Let’s hope the PS4 and 720 will be the start of the age where we can install user crated mods to games… I mean, it shouldn’t be too hard, right? Just make sure it’s got good quality control, doesn’t cause conflict with other mods, and just send it in for approval as though it were DLC, right?

        I mean, it looks like both systems will be very close to PC this time in terms of their framework – looks like it’ll be much easier to develop for them, too.

      • Until you can find a way to remove mod references from saved games, what’s the point? Skyrim took a big step backwards in this regard. In Morrowind and Oblivion, you at least could remove mods and not cause irrevocable damage to your saved game. Not so with Skyrim. That’s not mod-friendly game design.

  25. Really?? -_- Lame. No new “high resolution textures” for consoles… Goin’ to go play Mass Effect, pout and shower before dinner.

    • Yeah Skyrim is an especially memory intensive game particularly compared to its relatively lower demand on GPU processing power. While console hardware can handle rendering idividual scenes with far greater fidelity than Skyrim tasks them with, the existing demands on system and video RAM (as well as the chipset’s ability to manage that memory) are near the limit of that aspect of their capabilities. The additional demand placed on them by including high-res texture packs would probably be beyond their limits.

    • Complain to Sony and Microsoft for not getting their next-gen consoles released in time for Skyrim. There’s nothing Bethesda can do about the limited hardware you choose to play on. Sorry =(

      • 360 (mine anyway) has been just fine with Skyrim; it’s just the new* & free textures I (and apparently my 360) have a problem with. Obviously it was “released in time”, or else I wouldn’t be able to play Skyrim on it. Duh. -_- & if anything, it wouldn’t be the hardware* that’s limited, it’s the company and their guidelines. You know, the same company that makes some of the same PC’s people will now be able to enjoy those new textures on. I’d protest the company, buuut I don’t have the appropriate funds to do so at the moment and still be able you ‘game’ happily. Yeah… Oh, and if you’re going to reply, at least try have your facts straight, little buddy.

        • Um… what? The 360 can’t use these textures because it’s already maxed out. You can’t complain about Bethesda not releasing an HD texture pack that flat out won’t work! Your console’s GPU would burn up!

          The “company and their guidelines” are the reason you’re playing on 7 year old limited hardware. For modern games, that hardware is limited. You can’t argue against that, and it’s not a jab at consoles! It’s just the truth. My point was that if the next gen was released in 2011 instead of dragging things out until 2013, then Skyrim would likely have been developed as a next gen title and you’d be playing with gorgeous textures, advanced AI, and much better draw distances and frame rates.

          No point complaining about it. At least the next gen is finally coming though, and the industry can start evolving again. Stagnating a technology driven industry for 7-8 years was a really, really bad idea.

  26. Good see some fixes in the texture pack, a small step to offer a product with less problems about “how this is possible to pass.” Is good have an install without the necessity to create a list of mods to fix small problems.

    Next time, for a thief game, remember to check the house structure and the number of npcs inside, to provide a better response after changes in the general world, like after the war. A house with one bed for three npcs, because the jarl of Winterhold and her family are moved to the house of Brunwolf Free-Winter in Windhelm, causes no sleep cicle for the npcs, our thief have no moment to act using “skills” because the house have the interior too small if compared with the exterior. The sneak and invisible always fail if the npc do not changes position or activity.

    But is good to see support, more luck with the next game, not just another GOTY and more millions, a more quality product.

  28. Maybe an option to turn off the useless feature of killcams? playing in master difficulty, when you gets stuck with that “fatality” camera, the chances to get killed are absurd. Specially in beast form and vampire lord, the third person camera for the beast mode is awful.

    • And let’s not forget that the kill cams override the attack, and have been known to either fail utterly or cause a miss for no good reason.

  30. Also, where are the Dunmer Kids in Solstheim, now where am i again, oh yea the Morrowind Region, so whats with the Nord Clone Kids.

    So now that Dragonborn is out and we got a New High Res Texture Pack, please tell me WHY we cant Become a Bard so we can play some Music at Taverns or even sleep at the Bards Collage.

    • There is no kids of orcs, elves or khajiits. The kids are default, always nord or redguard, or half nord and redguard, like the little boy in Dragon Bridge. I wonder, in a five year game, full of oportunities to refine mistakes, again is obvious see a model start to change the size to provide reuse of the bone structure. Is really ugly to see the high elf in the White Phial, change her body size from the walk cycle to the animation to sleep. And around the world, an sleeping npc has no animation for the mouth, if starts to talk from the bed. I wonder whats happens inside those big studios, because a game is not like a Pixar movie, with all done for just watch.. but the quality bar between the two disciplines makes all diference. And the argument about the complex world is not usefull today, the company is extremely big, with a decade of experience or more.

      • and the size problem for the characters is not because of too much characters. is a lazy organization for the races heights, to provide animations for each group, just with a male and a female in each one.

  31. expect that when they announce ps3 dlc available on the 12th you see a small thing about it, and alot of posts about dishonored or something new for xbox.

  33. Bethesda, you absolutely need to fix more of the bugs in Skyrim, and you have to fix these HD texture packs. I’m not using any other mods so nothing is conflicting here. Purple missing textures everywhere. I just can’t believe you release this stuff and leave it for the fans to fix.

    • Change your business model for the next game. Put your next games with 50% off to justify the product mess, and requirement of mods. Maybe 75% off.

    • They already fixed the HD Textures, but i am with you on Quest Fixing. It is kinda strange Bethesda would focus on fixing HD Texture Packs instead of Glitched Quests, i am still gratefull though… but we really need Quests to be fixed.

  35. All I want is for them to stop having people invading my house just to finish the same sentence they’ve 60+ times before.
    Could they at least stay current?
    I mean, even as a Harbinger they still think you fetch the mead. When the war is over, they seem to not notice that fact. And these are only two of the many occurrances that plague the rather oblivious people of Skyrim.

    When you promise a lot more voice actors, bloody well follow through on it. Is there any conceivable reason why Babette sounds exactly like Mila?
    “Missing In Action” seems like it’s missing a peasceful resolution.
    You also can’t get the Argonian Ale for whatisface without the console. It’s just not there anymore.
    The Strange Amulet bug needs to be fixed. I didn’t sell it to Calixto, but Wuunferth still told me what it was, so why is it still “Strange Amulet”?
    I’ve been to Arcwind Point and got the shout there, but the Greybeards keep sending me back.
    I realise you’re not supposed to be able to, but how do you proceed if you slaughter the Guards that come to arrest you during “The Forsworn Conspiracy”?
    Also, the Stormcloak/Imperial Generals are still marked as essential at the end of the Civil War. This needs to be addressed.
    My brother was playing through the Thieves’ guild last night and he found the door to the vault open before it was supposed to be. And nobody seemed to care.
    Why can you only be the Agent of Dibella and Mara? Why not Julianos, Arkay, Akatosh, Kynareth, Talos, Zenithar or Stendaar?
    I know there is a quest chain for Kynareth, but it’s a joke. The Agent of Kynareth is a freaking Amulet. That’s lazy.