Here, let me wipe that smudge off your monitor for you. There, that's better!

Voted #1 Mod of All Time by vampires.

Vurt to Bethesda: "That's not a tree. This is a tree."

The stars: now with 300% more twinkle!

The textures on the right look so good you almost forget that that's where fish poop.

This week Bethesda released the Official Skyrim High-Resolution Texture Pack , taking the Skyrim world by storm. Suddenly everything looks so much clearer! It couldn't get any better than this, right?If you want your Skyrim adventures to look their best -- and I know that you do -- you'll need these five community-made mods that make Bethesda's "high-resolution textures" look like something Q-Bert might climb by NebuLa1Forget what you've heard. Thehigh-res texture pack for Skyrim is the Skyrim HD 2K Textures mod. This behemoth is 1.9GB large and replaces near 500 textures. Does it stand up to the official Bethesda texture pack? You bet your high-resolution ass it does. Some of these textures arehigher resolution than the vanilla textures, so you're guaranteed far more detail. See for yourself -- this image compares the official HD texture (left) to the HD 2K Texture (right). It's like laser eye surgery for your PC!by dDefinderThere aren't many things I've found really disappointing about Skyrim, but blood splatter is one of them. With gruesome decapitations going down ever few minutes, you'd think Bethesda would give the slosh of sanguine fluid a more satisfying level of gory detail, to reallythat M rating. Enhanced Blood Textures takes us to the blood bank, both increasing the resolution of the blood spatter detail texture from 512 to 2048 and adjusting its size on weapons and the duration your blade stays bloody. Additionally, you'll get that gore-soaked feeling of battle as splotches of blood fling across your screen as you're attacked. Here's a grisly scene that shows the weird, splotchy version from Bethesda's HD texture pack (left) to the thick and sticky Enhanced Blood Textures version (right).by vurtWith over a million downloads now, there's little question that Vurt's Skyrim Flora Overhaul has made him the Skyrim's most respected expert in the field of virtual botany. It may still be a work in progress, but from potato plants to pine trees, the complexity of the high-resolution textures will make your Skyrim flora truly bloom. The current version includes multiple tree variations, a drastic retexture of the Whiterun tree, plant/grass retextures, and snowy pines. Plant-lovers beware, this mod is very resource intensive. Can it be worth it for some fancy trees? Check out this comparison, again with Bethesda's texture on the left and the challenger on the right. "Surely there's some mistake," you say. "That can't possibly be the same tree. It looks like you've used a screenshot of a rock instead." Nope! by CptJokerI'd never have considered the night sky of Skyrim plain. The first time I saw the sun set, then the gorgeous moonrise, it was a breathtaking moment. So it's not lightly that I tell you Enhanced Night Skyrim takes this to the next level. Designed based on real astrophotography, this mod brings a whole new joy to looking up. There are plenty of options, so definitely take a look at the Nexus page to figure out the best selection for you. Try this stargazing for yourself on this screenshot, which shows a much sharper, denser starfield on the modded right side relative to the spase and blurry Official HD Texture Pack left.by isokuLet me hit you with some knowledge: Bethesda's official texture pack improves exactlywater textures. That's surprising, considering that the gushing waterfalls, placid lakes, and roaring rivers are such an integral part of making the Skyrim landscape feel alive. To add new depth (pun intended) to your lakes and rivers, you'll need Realistic Water Textures to make the water in the world look like the real wet stuff. Be sure to look at the Nexus site for the various options you have -- there are many. This mod is far-reaching, and includes textures to improve everything from oceans to the water in the blacksmith's trough. In the comparison screenshot, you can see how the Official HD texture water (or lack thereof) has a chunky look to it, while the modded texture (right) is drinkably smooth.: Now that's more like it. My PC and videocard have RAM to burn, so I'm gonna load it up with modded textures until I can see each individual hair on an orc's butt! Have you seen any other awesome texture mods out there that the world needs to know about?