It is pretty easy to see the main selling points of the remastered Skyrim Special Edition on consoles. The game is being run on all new hardware and adds mod support for console users, similar to how Fallout 4 did. However, that’s a little bit of a harder sell for PC gamers, who have had the luxury of an active modding scene, even five years after it’s original release. PC players have been able to get close to the visual fidelity offered by the upcoming Remastered edition. So why should PC players upgrade?

Well, besides the fact that it is free to Steam users that own Skyrim and it’s three dlc’s, it’s using a 64 bit version of the engine. This means Skyrim Special Edition will be able to access up to 2 terabytes of RAM as opposed to the 4 gigabytes the original Skyrim did. While most people only have up to 16 gigabytes of RAM this change essentially unlimits the game’s RAM usage. This is particularly important for modders who had to struggle to cut down their RAM usage in their mods. The change eases mod development and allows for more extravagant mods all around. With mods being the lifeblood of Skyrim, this is a pretty big deal.

Cynically speaking, this allows for Bethesda to sell more copies of their game on PC while relying on the free labor of modders, but for the community as a whole I see this as a good thing. This upgrade will provide a jump-start to the modding community and may bring back modders that had previously moved on. We’re looking forward to the mods we’ll see in the coming months.

The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim Special Edition releases on October 28.

EDIT: Redditor McSeptim pointed out that the 64 bit version can use up to 2 terabytes of RAM.