HIGHER-POLY SKYRIM (v0.2.1)

SUMMARY:
Higher-Poly Skyrim came from me not being overly happy with the low-poly count on a few items (namely the apples) in Skyrim.

A decent chunk of research on my night off and some experimenting has yielded v0.1.0 of Higher-Poly Skyrim!

This mod does exactly as intended and replaces the .nif mesh files with the ones I have edited. this does not at all effect textures so feel free to use whatever hd texture pack your used to :)
So far we have the main offender, the apple, and also one of the wine bottles fixed up (although looking at the texture i will definitely fix that to match the contours of the bottles top - youll know what i mean when you see it)

basically the whole plan here is to eventually replace a whole heap of stuff im personally not happy with in poly size. this means for you - more rounded objects (candles/goblets/drawer handles being actually round) and as I get more used to the nif file format well look at kicking up the poly count on some other stuff (armor, weapons etc) but only where I feel its needed.

My job working as a 3D artist keeps me very busy lately so to those wondering why I dont release a texture pack, purely its because alot of people are already doing a great job on that. I haven't seen others attempt to fix the actual models (fix may not be the right term as they are excellent to start) So thats something I thought i could help with.

Feel free to make requests and give feedback in the comments I only ask that story items/quest items not be talked about as Im playing the game as much as all of you and im sure other players would appreciate a spoiler-free experience also.

that said, any items of that nature I feel i should fix as i cross them in-game i will do so and hide changes appropriately in the description for a spoiler-free page :)

UPDATE:
I have found a solution to the vertex colour problem that gives hue to items like ruby/gold. unfortunately this is a VERY basic process i have devised and until better tools are available objects like the green apple a just not a possibility, as they have quite precise hue shading applied which if i was to try and replicate would take a VERY long time using this method. Im getting more versed at this process though so who knows ;) more to come soon guys!

I still need to get my head around worn items, as they are setup differently (bones/skinning etc). when I have worked this out I will be able to make wearable rings, amulets etc :D

INSTALL:
just extract to your Skyrim directory :)

delete the included files to uninstall :D

PERFORMANCE:
This mod should really only be at the mercy of your videocard. I have not in any way edited the collision data or textures, so ram usage (textures) and cpu usage (physics) should be unchanged.

Im running a gtx590 and an intel 2600k 3.4ghz (overclocked to 4.5)
and these two models havent affected frames-rates for me (yet!)

As I do more and more, the poly count on these objects easily will triple to get the effect im looking for, and I imagine soon as theres enough changed obects the game may suffer on the performance scale for it. that said there wont be a 'mid' range version as I count skyrim vanilla to already cater to that crowd.

THANKS:
Big thanks of course to the amazing artists at Bethesda for their impeccable design, no doubt all the objects exist in a super-high poly version on their servers so really i wish they released a higher res pack from there! but alas it is obviously a performance issue.

Also A huge thanks to the creators & contibutors over at niftools.sourceforge.net

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VERSION OVERVIEW:

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v0.2.102/12/2011
FIXED
normal maps now display correctly

ADDED
Bread
Long Taffy
Gold Ring
Cooked Chicken Breast


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v0.2.0 - 01/12/2011
ADDED
Silver Ring (unequipped)
Silver Ruby Ring (unequipped)
Silver Garnet Ring (unequipped)
Ring (unequipped)

note: equipped apparel coming soon! :D

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1st release! v0.1.0 - 30/11/2010
ADDED
Red Apple
Corovian Brandy

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made by Benjamin Swinbanks (DeadlyAzuril)