Turns out there’s actually an extra Fallout 4 DLC following Nuka World after all, and you don’t have to even pay for this one! It’s a high resolution texture pack that will overhaul the look of your game — and a massive download, clocking in just shy of 60 GB.
Sadly it offers no new content, but that’s not going to stop hordes of players from downloading. Good luck getting it to run though, because you’ll need these minimum specs to get the high resolution texture pack running:
- OS: Windows 7/8/10 (64-bit OS required)
- Processor: Intel Core i7-5820K or better
- Memory: 8 GB RAM
- Graphics: GTX 1080 8GB
- Storage: 58 GB available space
Yep, it’s what fans have been clamoring for: a high-res update to bring Fallout 4’s open world more inline with the graphical capacity of other AAA titles! Having sunk something like 93 hours so far into the game, I for one was stoked to try it out and see the Commonwealth through fresh eyes.
Side By Side: Institute and Commonwealth
After waiting for the 58 gigs to finish downloading (at twice the size of the base game, these better be some awesome textures…) I got down to taking some screenshots for side-by-side comparisons to see what all the fuss is about.
Both sets of images below were taken on Ultra settings — one before the pack was applied, and one after. First up is a room from the Institute where the game’s story starts to wrap up.
Pre-Texture Pack
Post-Texture Pack
Anybody else scratching their heads right now? Other than the slightest of differences along the edges of Righteous Authority and maybe on the scope, there’s almost no change here in anything. The shrubs and tree are the same, the floors are the same, the benches are the same, the steps are the same…
In case those textures weren’t affected or the indoor lighting was messing with the appearance of any given object, I headed over to the BADTFL Regional Office to take a look at an outdoor setting.
Pre-Texture Pack
Post-Texture Pack
Huh, I’m still not seeing it. Maybe a minor change on the rust along the top of the building? The random debris and foliage on the ground looks the same, the red/white/blue cloth is the same…what am I missing here?
Next I spent some time battling robots and raiders outdoors, nabbing screen shots like crazy in VATS, while aiming, and while shooting from the hip. I got nada here guys: they all look the same.
Side-By-Side: Clothes And Ceilings
Since there has to be some kind of change made in that gigantic download, I checked some other sources around the web to see what other people where looking at. Maybe I’m looking at the wrong places? The results are underwhelming. Here’s one side by side from Imgur:
Now here at least you can tell there’s a minor difference. The textures on the bed are a little different, and there’s a change in the weave of the fabric. You’d really have to zoom in and look for it to ever notice, though (and kudos to the Imgurian who took the time finding that!).
After that incredibly stingy clothing variation, here’s two shots from PC Gamer that seem to actually indicate a noticeable change.
Pre-Texture Pack
Post-Texture Pack
Good thing somebody thought to look up, huh? We’ve actually got some changes worth discussing this time around. The steel girders are noticeably more rough and less flat, and the wood fan has a grittier texture.
Still though… 58 gigs for this? Much like with the Workshop DLCs, color me disappointed about this latest update from the developer. Sadly, as with nearly all things Fallout 4 these days, you can get better results through fan-made mods than what was officially released through Bethesda.
Anybody else downloaded the texture pack yet? Let us know about the biggest differences you’ve spotted so far!
Published: Feb 8, 2017 06:07 pm