During my forum lurking I have noticed that a lot of people use the Texturen mod on their first play through without ever seeing the vanilla graphics. There are also probably some people who would like a comparison to help decide if the large download is worth it. I did some comparison shots for these people. The textures in this mod are not completely new, they have just been enhanced. They are much sharper, which brings out a lot more detail, but in my opinion it also makes things look a bit artificial. That is just my opinion though. whether or not you like this mod will be very much down to personal preferences. There a couple of things that I feel this mod does make a lot worse though. The big one is the dynamic grass. The added sharpness and darker color make it stand out a lot more. It no longer blends into the ground texture the way it does with the vanilla graphics. The other issue Is with Geralt's hair. I don't have any screenshots that really show it off well, but in the Texturen mod the ends of his hair are sort of blocky. If either of these issues bother you, but you like everything else about the mod, you can probably just find and delete the offending files.

Here are a couple more comparison shots.

"Enhanced" is the last word I would use to describe the textures in this mod. It's just a bad Photoshop filter.

I actually had downloaded that mod and was going to install it before starting a new playthrough. As far as I can see the resolution of those textures has not been increased - they've just been sharpened and had their contrast raised, which introduces a load of artifacts and messes with the aesthetic of the game! There ARE some things that the mod seems to improve (wood grain in particular), but overall it does not look worth it.

I use this mod but I don't have the file that changes Geralt's hair. I may have deleted it. Also, my grass doesn't look like that. It looks integrated with the landscape.

Generally, the Texturen mod really looks great at medium distances, however when you get close-up, many textures that looked poor in vanilla still look poor- mostly buildings and interiors. They just look, well, sharpened and grainy instead of blurry and plastic-like. It's hit or miss. I prefer to keep it installed as I think the improvements outweigh the drawbacks.

A different author (Roxtar) also did the same thing for NPC and monster textures, and I have to say, I think these are an improvement across the board. It really adds a touch of realism and makes them all seem a bit more like living beings.

I tried that one as well. It makes the clothes look a lot better while not bringing out the details better left hidden like Texturen does. It doesn't seem to do much with faces and skin though, so there is very noticeable inconstancy with characters.