Q: How HD is it?

A: Yes. 


Q: Are there different levels of HD?

A: Of course. There is the simple "batch-upscaled" + "subdivided 1-2-3x" kind of HD quality that you see in most "collection/reworked" mods out there. Those are the HD mods that do everything and claim to be better than all the other individual little mods that only do 1-2 things and do it well. 

Then there are mods like this, that only do 1 thing and they do it very well. Such mods, do not simply "batch-upscale" + "subdivide 1-2-3x" textures as their only HD credential, but instead they do radical changes to the game's 3D models to make them looks less 2000-and-late rectangular and more like 2010+ organic.

As we are currently in the animal kingdom, I will mention a few examples of well-done individual animal mods that you may have missed due to the first kind of mods that generate more "noise", and which do an amazing job at considerably upgrading (3D-wise) some of the game's aging animal models :

HD Birds by Feregorn
Dog Appearance Overhaul by DhuBlaidd
Dhu's Roach by DhuBlaidd
UHD Chickens by Ridog8
HD Geese by Valennia (not-yet-ready so link takes you to their precursor Christmas Geese)

And there are probably others equally great that I am forgetting...


Q: Why did you make this mod?

A: Firstly, to highlight the quality differences in such a dramatic fashion that will help everyone realize that modding is not a zero-sum game and that all mods, bigger and small can co-exist in good faith. Witcher 3 allows everyone to use multiple mods together and this should be known, even to those that forget. Especially when the "collection/reworked" mods are inevitably lacking compared to the smaller mods that just do fewer things and do them well. Classic quality vs quantity situation.

Secondly, to act as an instructional aspiration for said "collection/reworked" mod creators to put more effort in  re-working or radically upgrading game assets, particularly 3D models, to a good standard and avoid just taking the easy and simplistic route of batch-upscaling textures or foolishly subdividing 3 polygons for no good reason. Then pushing it as the end-all-be-all mod to unsuspecting users instead of letting them know better. Scusi mi, ma questo va a te amico . No matter how much you upscale a rectangle it will always stay a rectangle.


Q: Are you gonna make other animals HD too?

A: I would like to, but for now the answer is unfortunately no, as I have to move to other things. Plus it would hurt my romantic relationships, if I was spending more time on beautifying virtual animals than spending time with them as I'm pretty busy in the rest of RL. 

However, by releasing this mod, I'm hoping it will raise the bar a bit and set a new standard for "reworking" game models and not just animals, by emphasizing real 3D modelling improvements over marginal and inconsequential improvements in textures via batch-upscaling. Don't want to take the job of other mod creators after all, there are many capable people than can do it too.

Or at the very least, just go get also a free 3D model from Google and use it in your mods! Remember however to mention who inspired you to do this! 


Q: Are there bugs?

A: No, these cows are well-cared, the bell-collar is not too tight, they are regularly groomed and well-fed on a steady diet of AAA videogame quality. Otherwise, the only thing you might notice is that when cows are laying down their legs take a partially funny position, but that's the mediocre vanilla animation to blame (check the screenshot section for some lulz).

Also, as these are completely new models (if it wasn't already obvious enough) other texture mods will not apply to them. So, if anybody wishes or can do a better job or simply wants to modify them, just let me know and I will upload the raw files here.

So, what are you waiting for? Get out there and hug those MooMoos, you know you want to.

Ofc, if you don't like the extreme UBER HD of these cows, you can always go back to those other HD cows that look like rectangles! xD


Q: Why are you surprisingly laconic?

A: It comes and goes like that, plus I'm really close right now to one of the relationships I mentioned earlier....!