Installing a new Texture or Resource pack in Minecraft is the easiest way to completely change the appearance of the game. There are many styles which can suit the type of world you’re building, whether it be a cartoon, medieval, post-apocalyptic or fantasy styled.
All of these Texture & Resource Packs where tested by me on my own world. Below is a screenshot of the world using Minecraft’s default textures. You can also see that I’m using a shader pack, which helps make the world look even more realistic.
With a Shader Pack, even default textures are enough in my opinion. Anyway, below you can check out the 10 most downloaded realistic texture packs for Minecraft. All the links go back to PlanetMinecraft, where they can be downloaded. For more Minecraft guides and best-of lists, check out our dedicated area here!
How to Install Texture & Resource Packs
Once you’ve downloaded any packs below, you will need to install them. It’s a simple process, so don’t worry. When you download a pack, you will receive a .ZIP file, this doesn’t need to be opened.
Go into your AppData folder, then into the Minecraft Resource Packs folder. This can be found at C:\Users\YOU\AppData\Roaming\.minecraft\resourcepacks. If you can’t find this location, try typing %AppData% into your Start menu search and pressing Enter. Otherwise, you can go into Minecraft > Video Settings > Resource Packs > Open Resource Packs folder.
When you’re inside the Resource Packs folder, all you have to do is place the .ZIP file inside. That’s it. When in Minecraft, go to Settings > Video Settings > Resource Packs and enable it.
Wolfhound
Wolfhound makes this list, but it wasn’t my favourite out of every pack I looked at. The colors of the Wooden Planks changed dramatically to a bright reddish-brown, with the Wheat also losing a lot of it’s transparency, reverting it to a blocky form. Where the ground has been dug to create a path also looked slightly low resolution, but I did like the stone brick walls and lanterns.
Serene HD
Next up is Serene HD. One of the most obvious things is that either some textures didn’t load in, or just didn’t change, specifically the ground path and the wheat. The textures on the wood seem a little blurry, but that’s possibly a problem with a lower resolution pack being downloaded, and the colors overall seem to be on the more colorful side.
Flows HD
Flows HD is an interesting resource pack, there are a few things I personally liked and a few things I didn’t. I didn’t like the design of the wheat, which looks like it’s made out of 2D rectangles, and how the floor path didn’t match up together nicely. However, the wooden logs and planks do look like an improvement over the default textures.
Full of Life
Full of Life brings in a lot of realistic textures which do actually work, and suit the style of Minecraft. Although the one thing that really stands out on the image above is the sharp contract between some areas. The stone path next to the dirt under the wheat really stands out, giving off the square appearance again, instead of blending in naturally by using a similar color palette.
ModernArch
ModernArch again has a few textures which didn’t work correctly for me. However you can still see the difference in the wood and walls. What’s very different about this pack is looking at the trees in the distance, they’re a lot more rounded and rough, losing most of their typical block appearance. It’s a good attempt at making Minecraft look different, and realistic.
Realistic Adventure
Realistic Adventure is actually the most downloaded texture pack on PlanetMinecraft under the ‘realism’ section. It uses images taken from the real world and applies them to blocks, which work in most cases. Again, there was a few missing textures, but the overall appearance of this resource pack leaves a good impression. It’s still not my favorite though.
T42 Resource Pack
T42 almost gives Minecraft a darker, gritty feel, like it would make good use in a post-apocalyptic type world design. I’m not the biggest fan of the appearance of the wheat, with it looking sparse and repetitive. However the overall design of the wood, and the stone brick walls is quite impressive. This resource pack definitely fits the realistic theme.
SC Photo Realism
SC Photo Realism shows how using real world textures is done right. The wheat retains it’s 3D appearance, taking on a new shape of how it looks in the real world. The wood textures on both the stairs, fences, planks and logs also look great, with them lining up perfectly. There isn’t much I dislike about this pack, and think it offers one of the best appearances when it comes to realism with new textures.
Clarity
In my opinion, Clarity is a great looking texture and resource pack for Minecraft. It doesn’t stray too far from Minecrafts original look, keeping a lot of the textures to a similar style. The colors on all the different blocks blend together almost perfectly, stopping any sharp contrasts and straight edges from standing out too much. It’s the perfect choice for most people.
Natural Realism
My favorite pack out of all 10 that I tried had to be Natural Realism. When you compare this pack and default, they’re extremely similar minus a few changes. Things just contrast more, the lines on blocks are darker giving it a more rustic look. It would definitely be a great resource and texture pack for any medieval or post-apocalyptic styled worlds. My only gripe is that is comes in just a 16x resolution.
