Delete High-Res Texture Pack?

[Hubble]

So my computer does not have a lot of HD space, and it also cannot run skyrim very well above medium settings. Generally I can get away with texture detail set to 'high' and most other things set to low/medium.

I noticed a couple of big files in my skyrim data folder, 'HighResTexturePack01.bsa' and 'HighResTexturePack02.bsa' and I was wondering in what way does the game use these? Because if they aren't being used by the game when playing on normal (rather than ultra HD settings) does that mean I can delete them? Or will deleting them mean I will only be able to use the absolute lowest graphics settings?

[Samyaza Bayangan (Ace V.)]

i dont have those texture packs (i did installed them but i disabled them), still i can play flawless on medium.
I use the climates of tamriel and my desktop is not that good (only have a nvidia geforce 560 gtx vid card) but it is running smoothly

[Incunabulum]

Delete the hirestexturepack.esm/esp also.

Well, after you run the launcher and deactivate them.

Skyrim only uses one texture size - either regular or HD (if you have the HD pack installed) regardless of your settings. Deleting the HD pack won't cause any problems.

But - Steam will proabably try to redownload them. If that happens, play in off-line mode.

[ShocksVR #AirLink]

You can safely remove the textures without issues. The game uses those HD Textures to make your game look better; so if you are having problems running Skyrim, then they're worth disabling.

New Feature, go into your DLC tab of Skyrim, and mark the High Res DLC to not load [untick them]. It should delete the HD Texture DLC without redownloading

[Hubble]

So just to confirm what you guys are saying:

Because I play only on medium settings, I don't need these HD texture packs. I unchecked:
HighResTexturePack01.esp
HighResTexturePack02.esp
HighResTexturePack03.esp
from the data files so that they won't load. Then I'm going to delete the corresponding .bsa and .esp files from my data folder. This should still let me play the game with the graphics settings I'm currently using (default medium) and skyrim shouldn't re-download them, right?

[Clever Monkey]

it is safe to delete these texture packs and recommended by others that have experienced major issues. you are not missing out on anything noteworthy. I dont use them but did for a while when i first started playing. On my settings i see nothing game breaking or making.

[ShocksVR #AirLink]

Then I'm going to delete the corresponding .bsa and .esp files from my data folder. This should still let me play the game with the graphics settings I'm currently using (default medium) and skyrim shouldn't re-download them, right?

ONLY TRUE if you go into your DLC tab of your SKyrim properties and untick the HD Textures DLC.
Sorry I should have said to go into your Skyrim properties in my statement above.

Official STEAM SUpport page on disabling DLC:
https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=9673-IKVB-3221

[Zefram Cochrane]

Disable in the load order then contact steam support to have it removed from your account. When they say they've done it, remove the files from your local drive.