Ambitious Fallout 4 Mod Optimizes and Resizes all 40,000 Textures

When it comes to open-world post-apocalyptic titles, the name Fallout is usually the first one that springs to mind. While generally beloved by fans the world over, 2010's Fallout: New Vegas is considered the best entry in the series by many. Of course, all of the games are celebrated in their own ways, though less so for the latest Bethesda installment, and one thing that keeps them in good stead is the dedicated modding community. With that in mind, one fan has managed to take every single texture from Fallout 4 and give them a bit of a facelift.

Uploading the files to Nexus Mods recently, user Rikintosh claims that this is the first custom add-on that optimizes all 40,962 textures from Bethesda's 2015 epic. Referred to as "Rikintosh's Performout," this mod appears to do what other texture mods for Fallout 4 don't. The description says that while others improve "some" textures, this one goes all in. The basic idea behind this mod is that it resizes all textures, taking them from 64x64 to either 256x256 or 512x512. On top of that, a later version aims to improve overall performance for those running the mod on lower end systems, as well as quashing a few bugs.

The game itself is already pretty spectacular in terms of its visuals, but this will be a good addition for those looking for that visual boost. As ambitious as Rikintosh's project is, it's perhaps not quite as ambitious as the upcoming Fallout: London mod for Fallout 4. That's not to downplay the work that's gone into "Performout," but the team behind Fallout: London are looking to take one of the biggest cities in Europe and give it that Wasteland look. A recent trailer was unveiled which shows that this unofficial DLC will be coming next year. In fact, the project has garnered so much attention lately, that Bethesda has now hired two of its team members.

Fallout mods are an integral part of the series, with so many ways to modify the games either by improving the visuals or adding new content. It's possible for fans to alter things so much that they become different entities entirely.

With Bethesda recently announcing Fallout 5, it looks as though the franchise is going to be continuing for the foreseeable future. No one knows exactly when the next game will come out, but it looks as though The Elder Scrolls 6 will be the studio's priority, so that means the next Fallout game could be years away. And no one really knows when TES6 is coming either, so it could mean an even longer wait.