I'm just dipping my feet into CC, and I'm very happy with my Sims. However, I have seen some blindingly beautiful skins that state they require HQ. Does this mean that they will be buggy without the mod, or just not as beautiful as the thumbnail?

Apart from that-- is it worth it? Will HQ mods burn through my graphics card if I try to use one for anything but taking photos? Do items in the game that aren't created for HQ get messed up or stretched?

I am honestly interested in your opinions and your personal decision making process to use/not to use an HQ mod. Any considerations I haven't thought of.

HQ mods aren't recommended for regular gameplay as they are taxing on your GPU. Most people use them just to take pics. Run some tests (make sure to backup your graphicsrules file!), monitor your game's performance, and - if you haven't already - limit your FPS to avoid overheating.

And yes, they make textures look more clear. All the HQ mods out there provide comparison images so you can decide whether the visual improvement is worth it. Personally, I find that Reshade with some sharpening settings is more than enough to make things look nice, but that's entirely a personal preference; it's also less taxing on my PC and I can actually play with it for extended periods of time.

I haven't seen things created specifically for HQ mods, but you will find stuff (most likely clothes) with 2K and 4K textures around. Note that some items have bad textures by design (e.g. some photoskinned/badly UV-mapped CC, some small EA items), and even an HQ mod won't be able to rescue those.

Thanks so much! Also, thanks for your awesome CC, and for the hoard of Pocci's stuff.

Your cc is half of my downloads XD