Since its initial release as far back as 2011, The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim has maintained a dedicated following thanks to its active modding community. Player made mod-content originally accessible only on the PC version of Skyrim, since made available on consoles albeit with a little more regulation, has enabled fans of one of Tamriel's richest worlds to experience a very different adventure.
The most recent in a series of graphical overhauls designed to breathe new life into the nearly nine year old tundras and taigas of Skyrim, modder Iconic's Project Clarity - Effects Textures Redone project targets and overhauls the game's various particle effects via an AI-upscaled HD texture pack. This mod effectively sharpens the existing effect textures used in-game, removing the subtle blurriness of the stock textures that serve to date the game especially when other graphical improvement mods are used in conjunction with this mod.
As most mods are designed either off of one another or share the base game's assets and rules, this mod runs with minimal dependencies that might overlap and cause issue with other graphics mods. As HD re-texture mods for Skyrim are always in high-demand, they typically focus on improving the visual quality of the environment and its NPCs. Fans of the game's robust spell casting systems, easily bolstered by additional magic-themed mods of course, will appreciate this upgrade to the spellsword experience.
Due to the sheer volume of textures sharpened, Project Clarity - Effects Textures Redone will require an additional 1.6GB of space to accommodate, though this may come as no surprise to avid modders familiar with particularly ambitious mods weighing in with similar space requirements. Also worth noting is this particular mod is designed for Skyrim: Special Edition, which is an important distinction to make when dealing with modding the PC version of the game, as some converting is required between mods made for the base game and the special edition despite their similarity.
Openly released as a modder's resource, this re-texture works on its own to improve the vanilla particle effects but can just as easily be built upon by other interested modders. Project Clarity itself serves as a collection of re-textures that revitalize weapons, armor, creatures, statues, and now magical effects capable of warranting a new playthrough of Skyrim on their own. Thanks to the work of seemingly countless modders, Skyrim still manages to hold the fascination of its fans, even with a little bit of help.
The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim is available now for PC, PS3, PS4, Switch, Xbox 360, and Xbox One.
Source: Nexus Mods
