Hi-res texture pack for PC Dragon Age II

By Fred Dutton Published 7 March, 2011

Got an extra 1GB going spare?

PC gamers looking for a little extra definition from their copy of fantasy RPG Dragon Age II can download a high resolution texture pack, developer BioWare has announced.

The huge 1.08GB upgrade is available from its official site now, ahead of the game's release later this week.

According to the blurb, "This will add the option to enable higher detail replacements for most textures in game. A big difference will be noticed on level art especially."

Naturally, there are some system requirements. You'll need a graphics card with at least 1024MB video memory and BioWare recommends you run the game in DirectX 11 to best enjoy the benefits.

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About Fred Dutton

Fred Dutton is Eurogamer's US news editor, based in Washington DC.

Read more articles from Fred by visiting the Fred Dutton archive page.

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Comments (26) Latest comment 1 year ago

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  • ChthonicEcho #1 1 year ago

    Using high-resolution textures requires a graphics card with at least 1024MB video memory.
    Most of the benefits from the Hi-resolution textures will only be seen if you are able to run the game in DirectX 11.

    Not quite sure how this makes any amount of sense, unless these textures are of a higher resolution than even games leading in visual innovation. Would genuinely like to know why a higher res needs higher DirectX, too.
    Edited by ChthonicEcho at 07/03/11 @ 20:31

  • Gastrian #2 1 year ago

    Post deleted at 17:56:43 13-04-2012

  • Gastrian #3 1 year ago

    Post deleted at 13:33:59 08-05-2012

  • randompanda #4 1 year ago

    At least they dont have the cheek to charge for it.

  • Caimbeul #5 1 year ago

    Well bloody done Bioware! seriously this is welcome news to me. I just wish they would do the same for Mass Effect 1,2 & 3 it really sucks having a gaming rig and getting lumbered with console textures.

  • Xensor #6 1 year ago

    Why do i get the feeling these are the original art assets and everything was dialled down for consoles? :)

  • brod #7 1 year ago

    @Xensor

    Well yes, that's how art assets for every game are made.

  • paketep #8 1 year ago

    Thanks, Bioware, but please do this for Mass Effect 2.

    Faces where great, but body textures looked like they were taken from Quake 2.

  • oerhoert #9 1 year ago

    This is simply great news.

  • ro-kurorai #10 1 year ago

    Awesome move Bio, finally u're showing some PC love =)

    Now I'm actually proud having pre-ordered the PC Signature Edition ages ago. Better controls, awesome UI, one-click to attack and hi-rez textures (damn you MS and your gimped 20th century storage media, 6.8 GB - seriously? even Wii has 8.5GB discs -_-).

    Good to see devs that actually utilize PC's strengths (DA:o, DAII, BF3, better performance and UI in ME2), now just give me a hi-rez texture pack for ME3 and you're officially my favorite (western) RPG (lite) developer, Bioware.

  • StooMonster #11 1 year ago

    This is great, definitely going to buy Dragon's Age 2 (although need to finish the first one first).

    Wish there were more optional HD download packs for PC. Perhaps this is the way of the future ... there could be a standard download with regular (same as console) textures and an additional advanced download with extra high definitions textures for those with (a) hardware to utilise it and (b) the bandwidth to download it.
    Edited by StooMonster at 08/03/11 @ 16:05

  • funkateer #12 1 year ago

    Cool, now give us a HD FMV upgrade for PS3 Mass Effect 2 (come on, those video's in ME2 for PS3 looked pretty awful when they could have filled the bluray with full HD ones).

  • graysonavich #13 1 year ago

    Nice to see developers taking care of the main gaming platform.

  • hiddenranbir #14 1 year ago

    "Well yes, that's how art assets for every game are made."

    So is it a really big deal they're being given to the PC platform when normality from a PC loving developer would have had them anyway?

    They're announcing something that, really, they should be doing for the PC platform, regardless. What -is- a good thing is it won't be forced in an initial install/download if the user has no intention of ever using it.

  • Gastrian #15 1 year ago

    Post deleted at 17:56:43 13-04-2012

  • Tricky #16 1 year ago

    I would think this is simply an overt way of addressing one of the critcisms of the original on PC. God alone knows why some of you are getting so upset about it though - get a grip.

  • jimr9999us #17 1 year ago

    Nice to see a win for pc gamers.

  • Hunam #18 1 year ago

    They do this, yet argued the toss over fixing the ME1 textures because it would be over a gig. Just fix it you lazy swines!

  • 5h1nj1 #19 1 year ago

    And this is not in the retail package because...
    Please fill the blank for me, Bioware.
    Also, higher textures only in DX11? Does this make sense to anyone?

  • geeza2020 #20 1 year ago

    yeah consoles suxxors, PC 4 life fools

    /wanks over alienware shite

  • FooAtari #21 1 year ago

    @Xensor
    "Why do i get the feeling these are the original art assets and everything was dialled down for consoles? :)

    Along with most other aspects of the game it would seem. I've read it plays to much like ME and not enough like BG. End of cRPG's?

  • Darren #22 1 year ago

    I found out about this this morning and downloaded it before leaving for work. GAME sent my copy today so I should get it tomorrow or, more likely, Thursday. Sucks a bit that the textures weren't included as part of the retail version though; after all not everyone will be aware there is a pack but may well have the hardware (i.e. a graphics card with 1 GB of memory) to use it. So why wasn't this included on the disc/digital release?

  • Darren #23 1 year ago

    @5h1nj1 - "Also, higher textures only in DX11? Does this make sense to anyone?"

    It doesn't.

    The only thing DX11 adds is tessellation but only when you run it on Very High settings (the demo only allowed High settings). Since tessellation is just more detailed polygon meshes (frameworks) and nothing to do with textures there is no reason why they couldn't be used in DX9 mode too. The demo implies though that DX9 is limited to Medium settings, although I've no idea why; on my system with an i7-920, 6 GB of memory and a GTX 580 card DX11 ran like shit (literally a slideshow in parts) yet is perfect in DX9. The visual difference between DX9 Medium and DX11 High is negligible in the demo so I'm guessing that tessellation and this hi-res texture pack will be the only things the game will have to show for running in DX11.

    So far, in my humble opinion, DX11 hasn't proven to be as much of an overhyped disappointment as DX10 was before it. Yes, tessellation can add impressive geometry detail, which is noticeable when comparing still screenshots with and without it, but so far in the games I've played it either looks great with lousy performance (Metro 2033) or looks not so great but has OK performance (Aliens vs. Predator).

  • Darren #24 1 year ago

    Here are some screenshots of DA2 running under DX11 with the hi-res pack: http://forums.guru3d.com/showpost.php?p=...

  • darc #25 1 year ago

    The demo was a little weird with regard to DX9 vs. DX10 vs. DX11. Very high detail required a DX11 card, high detail required DX10 if I recall correctly, but for some reason disabled AA entirely, so that on my system the game actually looked its best on medium. Puts me at a loss as to whether I should spend any money upgrading my video card for this game (first time I've considered that in years)... and then inevitably my power supply... and the snowball effect begins.

    I'm mainly favoring the PC version over XBox because the camera seemed a *little* more flexible. But I'm not sure whether it'll be worthwhile to actually try to optimize for graphics fidelity.

  • darc #26 1 year ago

    P.S. Where's the Dragon Age 2 review?? :)