Best Mods First Playthrough

[Threadfall]

can you suggest me the best mods for first playthrough which doesnt change the vannila experience unlike better combat better animations etc which completely overhaul the game
and i have a gt 1030 so keep that in mind

[SpeedFreak1972]

To be honest for a first play I would only add the Unofficial patch. I mean it gives also a better idea WHAT you wanna change about the game.

[Sep]

Horse... it always the horse.

https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/9519

[wawawiwa]

if you find vanilla skyrim color a bit "washed off" and doesn't wanna be bothered with ENB/Reshade try enchanced saturation

[deckerdave1973]

Originally posted by SpeedFreak1972:

To be honest for a first play I would only add the Unofficial patch. I mean it gives also a better idea WHAT you wanna change about the game.

This is probably the best advice.

[StDrake]

SKSE, Unofficial patch, address library and engine fixes. Or patch and achievement enabler. The first is what I did. Should work the same as second, but didn't try

[Smugass Braixen-Chan]

Originally posted by SpeedFreak1972:

To be honest for a first play I would only add the Unofficial patch. I mean it gives also a better idea WHAT you wanna change about the game.

If you use USSEP, also use "Purist's Vanilla Patch" to remove all of the personal preference changes that the author of USSEP made, like adding (poorly voiced) dialogue to otherwise mute dragons and changing the colour of NPCs' hair to make them more waifu-able.

[smr1957]

Originally posted by Smugass Braixen-Chan:

If you use USSEP, also use "Purist's Vanilla Patch" to remove all of the personal preference changes that the author of USSEP made, like adding (poorly voiced) dialogue to otherwise mute dragons and changing the colour of NPCs' hair to make them more waifu-able.

Not recommended - this is purely a subjective opinion. Until you have played the game and have seen for yourself, you should not be changing things that the patch fixes. For complete information on what the Unofficial Patch fixes and why, see the PINNED TOPIC:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2909719179

[Smugass Braixen-Chan]

Originally posted by smr1957:

Originally posted by Smugass Braixen-Chan:

If you use USSEP, also use "Purist's Vanilla Patch" to remove all of the personal preference changes that the author of USSEP made, like adding (poorly voiced) dialogue to otherwise mute dragons and changing the colour of NPCs' hair to make them more waifu-able.

Not recommended - this is purely a subjective opinion. Until you have played the game and have seen for yourself, you should not be changing things that the patch fixes. For complete information on what the Unofficial Patch fixes and why, see the PINNED TOPIC:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2909719179

I haven't had a chance to play around with "Purist's Vanilla Patch" myself (Still busy with Arena, and will be moving onto Daggerfall after that)

But from what I've learned. "Purist's Vanilla Patch" does not touch any bug-fixes. Only things like giving Lynly Star-Sung her blond hair back. Alt-Moor (sic) being denied his black-hair fetish will not break your Skyrim.

I would like to see a mod that ONLY reverts very small cosmetic changes, without touching code, scripts, or anything that might cause problems. For the dragons, you could use Fus-Ro-Doh to have the sound-bite be present, but have the player not actually hear anything. But I'm 100% sure it would get DMCAed by Alt-Moor.

[Smugass Braixen-Chan]

tl;dr: If somebody is playing the game for the first time. We don't need some mod """""fixing""""" the physical appearance of NPCs.

This is what Lynly Star-Sung looks like
https://images.uesp.net/thumb/4/4b/SR-npc-Lynly_Star-Sung.jpg/1024px-SR-npc-Lynly_Star-Sung.jpg

This is a screenshot from the UESP wiki. If you don't like it then okay. mod it. But don't force your "Fixes" onto others, then tell people they aren't allowed to revert it.

[matt]

There are many bugfix mods you could install. The major ones are:

• Unofficial patch[www.nexusmods.com]- fixes some really buggy quests.
  
• SSE Engine Fixes[www.nexusmods.com]- a more complicated mod that fixes bugs in the 3D engine. Also re-enables achievements, if you care about them.

With that video card, you might want to look at performance-enhancing mods:

• Unofficial Performance Optimized Textures[www.nexusmods.com]- slightly lower quality textures to help conserve VRAM.
  
• Skyrim Project Optimization SE[www.nexusmods.com]- Stops the game engine from rendering things you can't see.
  
• eFPS[www.nexusmods.com]- does the same thing for exteriors.
  
• Insignificant Object Remover[www.nexusmods.com]- removes some rocks that you probably never noticed.

Also maybe try Bethini[www.nexusmods.com] to optimize your game settings. It'll save you some time from reading about how to do it yourself. Even if that's all you do, it may make the game seem a bit more responsive.

[Skumboni]

The only mod I would suggest to add would be 'Unlimited Wood Chopping' as it lets you start chopping wood and keeps chopping until you stop it, instead of stopping after 6 pieces making you have to start the process again. That way when you get to Riverwood (first town you will encounter) where you can chop wood to make gold, it will be less tedious then restarting the process over and over again. This makes it like when you mine granite or clay,so it is not a big game change, but makes that initial gold getting slightly easier.

[Vlad 254]

First time players we always recommend playing a vanilla game which of course means no mods at all. Beyond that and for me personally I wouldn't play without the USSEP even on a vanilla playthrough but then again I've played it vanilla many times before I started modding Skyrim.

As for modding this game. Many mods list the USSEP as a requirement so it's completely irresponsible to suggest you do not need it to anyone modding this game. But it goes beyond that. The USSEP fixes hundreds of bugs in the game and along the way it removed some exploits/cheats which in turn upset some users. And it should be mentioned that many of the non-"bug" related changes made by the USSEP that some do not like or scream "they change the game to their liking" are actually changes that the team received confirmation from Bethesda that indeed mirrors their original intention.

And if anyone disputes that the USSEP is required by many mods just go to the USSEP's Nexus mod page, look under "Requirements", use the dropdown and look at the list under "Mods requiring this file".

This article should be enlightening to anyone who thinks they don't need it at some point:
https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/articles/1376

[Kuollut]

You won't finish your playthrough with mods, I can tell you. First time experience should always be vanilla. Just like the guys above told you, use USSEP, it's mandatory... if you own AE and you have all the CC, you will need to download Unofficial Creation Club Patch or something like that, SKSE is a must have too, so you can download SkyUI which is a better UI compared to the ugly console-looking like one.

So, pretty much:

SKSE
USSEP + USCCCP (optional)
SkyUI

As for texture/models ... ugh, just keep it vanilla ... I would suggest you some but without an ENB, they won't look good... and your GPU won't support it, only with some heavy tweaks or a low-end preset... even I struggle with my 1060 sometimes.

When I'm playing seriously, I don't use any mods ... I'm serious, not even USSEP and SkyUI ... game is bugged to it's core anyway, so if I encounter a glitch or a bug which is game breaking I know I can curse those at Bethesda and not the modders ... when I'm goofin' around and roleplaying, especially with Alternate Start, I use mods.

Here's a light list with some of my mods (not the perfect order but I don't care)

https://i.imgur.com/sr5Cw23.png

[Ace]

Gt 1030 is below minimum specs for Skyrim SE so hopefully your system can handle it. Depending on how much memory you have SKSE, USSEP, SKYUI, engine fixes are probably the only quality of life mods I would recommend. Now if your looking for something more fun then there is always Cheesemod for everyone: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/36506
Cause why not.

[TheBeeMan ShiningShoresStudios]

don't use mods i am currently sitting in my chair in a skeleton costume so you should listen to me. just do a vanilla playthrough for the first time