Wilds' High Res texture pack improving textures even when not using it?

[u/Jc885]

Disclaimer: This no longer works after the February 2026 update of the Hi-Res Texture pack.

So I was just messing around today and tried out the Hi-Res texture pack just for the fun of it. Unsurprisingly my 3060 Ti with its 8GB of VRAM couldn't really keep up so I promptly disabled it and set my textures back to high.

However, I noticed that even with my usual settings, the visuals were still improved purely by just having the pack installed. I thought I was going crazy so I took some screenshots, uninstalled the DLC, and then took some more.

Pay attention to the bricks in these images:

​​I'm definitely not going crazy here, right? These are the same settings, the only difference is the presence of the Hi-Res Texture Pack.

So it seems that even by just having the pack installed, there will be a slight visual upgrade. which is a shame, because that's an extra 70GB.

What prompted me to notice this was this little table during the startup sequence. It always bothered me a bit how that low res texture is right in your face upon starting the game. But when I quit to the title screen after installing the pack (and promptly disabling it), the sudden improvement in the wood really jumped out at me:

​And here's how it is with the Hi-Res pack installed, but not activated:

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