Skyrim Mod Offers 16K Dragon Textures For the Inevitable 2050 Release

ign.com:

Skyrim has already received countless editions and upgrades, but this new PC mod will seemingly future proof the game for a good few years. A 16K texture mod uploaded by Nexus Mods user xilamonstrr ensures that players can see every scale and scar on the game's dragons.

While this might seem excessive, the page offers a somewhat reasonable explanation as to why 16k might be a useful addition in a time when most games are still sticking with 1440p. Basically, the dragons in Skyrim are way bigger than any other enemy in the game, meaning their skins are stretched out much more than a normal enemy.

"I would recommend that you think of this as two 8K files next to each other", xilamonstrr said in the post. "With 16K, a dragon wing is 7380 x 4020 pixels, a head is 3320 x 2480 pixels, and the entire rear body and legs is only 6080 x 4580 pixels. If you are fighting a dragon up close and want to see it in 4K resolution, then you need the dragon to be in 16K."

The post also features a handful of screenshots (above) from the updated dragons that do look pretty good, so players with high end PCs may want to consider adding this mod to their collection if they're still roaming around Skyrim more than a decade after it was released.

There isn't an alternative, of course, as the Elder Scrolls VI is likely still years away. Director Todd Howard revealed last year that Bethesda's new space RPG Starfield had taken priority over the Skyrim sequel and this was recently delayed until next year as well.

Image Credit: xilamonstrr on Nexus Mods

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer who occasionally remembers to tweet @thelastdinsdale. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.