How best to pimp my Skyrim?

[Obahar_]

Been meaning to play through Skyrim again, but I've never played with much more than a body replacer, the smelt things back to ingots mod and maybe a race mod or two.
I'd love to try playing the game where my world looks like it was created within the decade, and maybe something to improve my magicka-based character's experience.

I discovered Ilia (sp?) in my last playthough a couple hours before I stopped playing (didn't even visit the Greybeards but I had found 1 of the 2 Dawnguard Elder Scrolls (Blackreach totally put me off I think, seeing as how my save was just outside the crazy guys ice house!))
I think I might pick her up early and use her as my follower rather than my usual Serena so if there are any QoL mods that would directly improve her that'd be cool too!

Most important thing I think would be the texture mods, I'd love to play the game and actually stop to look over cliffsides at a great view, I will be having a look myself over the next couple days but if anyone knows any great ones I'd love to hear them!

Thanks in advance!

[Grumpy]

#1 read up the basics:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/489830/discussions/0/340412122413706606/

#2 (optional) read even more basics
https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/12562

#3 get the mods you like

#4 dont overdo it. there is no reason to have 400 mods in your first game and crashing all the time. start small and have fun.

#5 keep in mind skyrim and fallout modding takes time in relation how many mods you want to run.

#6 (not modding related) but when asking on a forum for help, provide as much information as possible.

#7 look up the trick how to not let steam update your game or either you will have a bricked mod order when running skse, everytime SSE updates

[Obahar_]

Diposting pertama kali oleh Grumpy:

#1 read up the basics:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/489830/discussions/0/340412122413706606/

#2 (optional) read even more basics
https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/12562

Wasn't aware there were guides on the Nexus, thought it was just a mod marketplace (its how I use it!) I'll definitely give that a read when I have time. But I assume it'll be fairly basic stuff I already know from modding Fallout 4, that game I found way easier to mod out than Skyrim.

Step 3 is a rough spot though for me, because a lot of mods require MCM and they require SkyUI and I think SkyUI is absolutely disgusting and I hate everything about it (except the favourites keybinding, that'd be nice in vanilla)
And I don't like straying too far from Vanilla, being at the mercy of a modder's "That might be cool, lemme add/change that" was what stopped my first modded playthrough.
The tedious stuff like Campfire/Frostfall or whatever it is called is also on my avoid list.

I think just the better textures, a couple new magic spells and a rework of Destruction school is all I'm looking for to start with, then I'll just add QoL stuff when it comes to me.

Thanks for the materials and pointers!

[Kasane Randell MFer]

Only thing I can suggest is just look at the all time popular mods. Especially the Unofficial patch mods. Some mods will requires the unofficials so just throwing that out there.

SMIM is a good start for textures imo. There's also lighting and effect mods our there that make the original textures even better, or more defined/stand out.

[Grumpy]

if you dont like SkyUI, you can simply use skyUi away https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/12770

whats is tedious about campfire / FF?

[Eidgenosse]

Hello,

My advices :

Use the Mod Organizer 2 for the managment of your mods.

If you have a lot of mods, use the "sse engines fix mod" on Nexus. This mod is a must if you have a lot of mods. You will have 30 FPS more, stable framerate in all the game:
https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/17230

Clean the dirty edits of the mainfiles of Skyrim with tsedit (Thank you Bethesda for not doing it ;)
Instruction : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fw3g_N1jcZQ

Install the unofficial Patches.

If you have a good graphic card:
Try the noble hd texture pack and the simpler trees mod (the Special Edition Texture Pack is found on the skyrim repository, not in the special edition rep)
https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/45807


Use the SMIM Mod
Use Vivid Weather Mod with True storms
For lightning i use Realistic Lightning overhaul
For grass : Verdant Mod


For City expansion i use :
The great cities. You can find the modules separatly at nexus too:
https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/20272

JK Whiterun and Riverwood Mod. Dont forget to use the patches for open cities too if you use open cities..

Interface : SKYUI

Misc:
Use the open cities mod

If you plan using Frostfall, use this to create a working campfire, frostfall and unofficial patches archive that works:
https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/20608

Use the beth ini tool to tweak the ini files:
https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/4875

Use Fast Sync and Fullscreen Mode. Set in the beth. ini tool the framerate at your hertz of your screen. Lock the framerate and disable ingame vsync for no input lag.

This are just some basic things that i suggest..

[Obahar_]

Diposting pertama kali oleh Eidgenosse:

Hello,

My advices...

That's a lot of great information and mods to look into, might start prepping my game tonight so its all ready for when I do have time to play properly.

Diposting pertama kali oleh Grumpy:

if you dont like SkyUI, you can simply use skyUi away https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/12770

whats is tedious about campfire / FF?

SkyUI away looks good, and that definitely increases the amount of mods I can use.

Campfire/FF are just boring and don't really add anything other than tedium roleplay elements.
I'd rather just have a Don't Starve-esque clock in the corner and plan my trips accordingly so I'm in a dungeon or at an inn before nightfall, but then again I could just do that without mods and as my own personal rule that I can forego when needed, building a portable home is a cool concept but all the things that come with it and that it really isn't that useful or impressive compared to a Heathfire home makes it more effort than I think it is worth imo.

[Grumpy]

if you really need that 1 plugin in the end, you can still use bashed patches or merge mods together.