Anniversary Edition

[DJB]

I understand the humbug about the anniversary edition, but I still need it to run mods correct? If so, it's worth it to get right? Thanks for the help.

[Skumboni]

You do not need it to run mods. It is a bunch of old creation club mods. If you are going to do free mods from nexus it is not required. AE is a dlc for skyrim se not a different version. I have 125 mods and do not have AE.

[DJB]

Originally posted by Skumboni:

You do not need it to run mods. It is a bunch of old creation club mods. If you are going to do free mods from nexus it is not required. AE is a dlc for skyrim se not a different version. I have 125 mods and do not have AE.

Thank you. I am new to mods so am figuring what is needed. Thanks!

[Rez Elwin]

Yes, while there is some, the vast majority of mods do not require the Anniversary Edition DLC. It might be confusing though since modders have taken to calling any version of Skyrim past 1.5 the Anniversary Edition even though it's not. The game is still Special Edition and Anniversary Edition is a DLC.

What you need to look for is version number. Assuming your Skyrim is Updated you'll be on 1.6.1130 so look for mods that work with that, most state if they do when looking at the files.

[DJB]

Originally posted by Skumboni:

You do not need it to run mods. It is a bunch of old creation club mods. If you are going to do free mods from nexus it is not required. AE is a dlc for skyrim se not a different version. I have 125 mods and do not have AE.

If you don't mind me asking do you use a mod manager, and if so what do you use? I downloaded Vortex, but I honestly don't know what I should use. Thanks!

[DJB]

Originally posted by Rez Elwin:

Yes, while there is some, the vast majority of mods do not require the Anniversary Edition DLC. It might be confusing though since modders have taken to calling any version of Skyrim past 1.5 the Anniversary Edition even though it's not. The game is still Special Edition and Anniversary Edition is a DLC.

What you need to look for is version number. Assuming your Skyrim is Updated you'll be on 1.6.1130 so look for mods that work with that, most state if they do when looking at the files.

Do you use a mod manager? And if so what do you use? Thanks!

[Sairek Ceareste]

Very, very strongly recommended to use a mod manager. Installing mods with Skyrim manually is something you shouldn't do unless you very much know what you're doing.


Both Vortex and "MO2" mod managers work well. I think Vortex is a little bit more user friendly, while MO2 is a little bit harder to learn but has a few more options regarding mod load order if you know how to use it. Both work just fine though and do the job.

[DJB]

Originally posted by Sairek Ceareste:

Very, very strongly recommended to use a mod manager. Installing mods with Skyrim manually is something you shouldn't do unless you very much know what you're doing.


Both Vortex and "MO2" mod managers work well. I think Vortex is a little bit more user friendly, while MO2 is a little bit harder to learn but has a few more options regarding mod load order if you know how to use it. Both work just fine though and do the job.

Okay, I will be sticking with Vortex for the time being. Any recommendations on must have mods? I am really open to graphical mods, added content, immersion, and more quests.

[Skumboni]

Check out 'Legacy of the Dragonborn' mod, it gives you a museum to display all the named gear you find, and one of the best houses in the game, with all the crafting stations in one room. And if you are a serious collector check out the collection mods that can also be displayed. And the more stuff on display the more gold you get every week from the visitors.

[oz40]

I can highly recommend the guides on steam for modding an configuration, I learnt the majority of what I know now from them. Especially the guide for basic must have mods SKSE, USSEP, etc and engine fixes. then go from there.

[Sairek Ceareste]

Originally posted by Skumboni:

Check out 'Legacy of the Dragonborn' mod, it gives you a museum to display all the named gear you find, and one of the best houses in the game, with all the crafting stations in one room. And if you are a serious collector check out the collection mods that can also be displayed. And the more stuff on display the more gold you get every week from the visitors.

Hard recommend. Haven't played with it myself because it requires a new playthrough, but I've heard great things about it.


As for tgraphical mods? These are sometimes subjective, so I can't really recommend any too hard, but there's a few all-in-one texture mods that use AI upscaling that actually work great. Despite what most people say, I do like the game's more realistic art-style approach. Much better than whatever the hell we got with how people look in Oblivion, at least. This is the one I use personally. 2K and 4K options available and it covers just about every landscape/environment texture in the game for an updated, but consistent look: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/3820


Enhanced Lights and FX has no performance cost and makes the game's lighting look so much more better. It's pretty popular as far as I know and for good reason: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/2424



Getting into some more smaller stuff now:

Texture pack for animals. Makes them look much better: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/75983


"Project Clarity" has texture packs for most vanilla clothing and armors in the game, as well as for jewelry. I'd recommend the "half resolution" option for both personally if you plan to eventually add more weapons/armors to the game at some point so the art styles don't clash too much if those mods don't have their gear in higher resolution than what the base game has.
https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/35593
https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/42859


Children in Skyrim are extremely ugly. Like, they look very bad. And they're very same-y, too, with only a small number of facial and hair styles They're also coded really weirdly. RS Children makes them look much better. This is also allows Children races to be playable (and killable), if you're like me.
It's not perfect since they have an obvious neck seam with most clothes, but other than that it works fine from my experience: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/2650
There's also patches to help the better looking children appear in a bunch of other mods: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/13409
And this makes the children able to properly wear pretty much any outfit. Also makes it so you can see your arms in first person when playing a child, rather than just see your floating hands: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/50669

Finally, this is a skin texture pack for RS children to make them look even better. There's not a lot of skin texture mods for children (for... obvious reasons), and most of them beautify them to the point that they look like porcelain dolls and it's off-putting too me. This texture pack not only makes their skin textures look crisp and clear, but it keeps a more realistic look, but one where they look good: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/78536

While technically not a texture pack, cloaks of Skyrim helps make the game look more natural with people wearing them in Skyrim's cold and bitter weather. Never understood why half the people run practically shirtless in this game or wearing nothing at all. Capes are cool. There's a lot of options to choose from.
Also as a side consequence, the cloaks are great for hiding the neck seam when playing as a child, heh: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/6369


Further improving children (or anyone that isn't scaled properly, which can be a lot of things), is this mod which fixes people interacting with objects. No more children sunken into seats, or taller people floating above them, especially when using crafting stations, etc. Just helps the immersion more: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/32010


Believable Weapons makes the game's weapons actually make sense. Sword handles are in fact, not circular. They are actually oval in shape. And many of the game's weapon styles are actually cartoonish. This mod rectifies that and they look better for it in my opinion. Helps with immersion when people aren't swinging obviously cartoonish designs around: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/37737



If you want to play the game in third person, 3PCO (and its dependencies) are great. It will even add blinking to your player character, turning your character's head so you will actually look at NPCs instead of staring blankly ahead in whatever direction you are facing when talking, etc. Great for immersion without playing in first person, and also makes playing in third person actually a viable option:

https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/89516




I think that's all for graphical stuff that I have and tested. I'll make another post for content mods.

[smr1957]

You might find it helpful to read this - it has links to everything you need to get a modded game up and running:

Advice to New Players Regarding Modding the Game
https://steamcommunity.com/app/489830/discussions/0/3780246026239478835/

Link is in the For Those New to Modding the Game section of the following
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2882241414
from the PINNED TOPIC Helpful Links and References

Good luck and Happy New Year!

[Dragonbored]

If your pc can handle it, install Nolvus

[Sairek Ceareste]

For content mods, I'll throw in a couple of hard recommended gameplay mods first. These are small but they help fix Skyrim to not be so horrible with combat.


Armor Rating overhaul fixes the broken armor value system. It's... bad. Like, really bad. I very much strongly recommend getting it to help balance the game. It works for both you and enemies: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/95507


Smooth Cam lets you lock-on to targets in third person. Think Legend of Zelda or Dark Souls. This helps make third person an even better option for playing. You can do it in first person too, which may be helpful for playing on controller: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/41252


True Directional Movement is another mod for third person to let movement feel much fluid and less stiff, especially when sprinting. It feels great: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/51614


The Choice Is Yours fixes the dialogue selection prompt to, y'know, select whatever the ♥♥♥♥ you're actually highlighting on, instead of picking something else you're NOT highlighting on: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/3850


Encounter Zones Unlocked prevents the level of an area being frozen when you first visited the zone. Basically if you passed by an area at level 1, even if the area resets it. These areas won't be perpetually stuck for level 1 for the rest of time of your playthrough: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/19608


Respawn - Death Overhaul may seem like a "cheat", but I prefer dying and respawning at a place much more immersive then having to reload a save and going back in time. It just helps prevent save scumming - including save scumming not by your choice, or if you have forgotten to save and suddenly losing 30 minutes worth of progress because the game loads the last save on you whenever that was: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/27546






Okay, now for content stuff. I won't say too much about them because potential spoilers, but these are the ones I liked for one reason or another and ultimately enjoyed:


Interesting NPCs adds a bunch of random NPCs that are... well, interesting. Many of them have a bunch of stories, backstories, some may have a couple of favors. They're all fully voice acted (and acted well). It just makes the world much more immersive: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/29194


Summermyst adds a bunch of fun enchantments to the game. Some of these are definitely much better than others (movement speed enchantment = vroom vroom with strong enough enchanting), but a bunch of them are kind of fun and silly even if they're not "meta": https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/6285


The Forgotten City was so popular it became its own independent game. I think that's enough said. Many branching paths in a storyline where you are trapped in a time loop and need to figure a way out. There's a bunch of ways you can do this with multiple endings: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/1179



Project AHO starts a storyline where you get kidnapped and have to escape from where you are captured from: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/15996


Wyrmstooth is an old one, which explores a questline where a dragon challenges you to the isle of Wyrmstooth, a DLC-sized area like Solstheim which has its own dungeons, quests, NPCs, etc: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/45565



Falksaar is one of the original "DLC type" mods. It shows its age. It's nothing amazing, but it's serviceable. If you just want "extra content" to do, this mod works fine, even if the voice acting is... Oblivion levels of bad, some times: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/2057



Beyond Reach has you explore... well, Beyond the reach past the borders of Skyrim. It has adult themes (which you can optionally turn off), but it's my favorite content mod so far. There's a lot of content in it, though some of the voice acting is a bit awful (and some lines are not voiced at all unfortunately). That said, it can be played from start to completion and it took a good 20 hours for me to not even finish everything: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/3008



Carved Brink is a very preplexing story that was too complex for me to follow personally, but it has some of the best environments in any mod I have ever seen. Just look at the screen shots and you'll see what I mean
Unfortunately the gimmick of getting to place to place kind of wears thin after a while in my opinion, but for how pretty the places in it are, I still recommend it. Plus the voice acting is great: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/24351



I just finished Clockwork today and heartily recommend it. It's a "horror" story, and it does some genuinely interesting things with the Creation Engine to creep you out.

You enter some tunnels and get trapped within them. And something is haunting you the entire time as you try to work out the mystery of the "Clockwork castle" and whatever the hell is haunting you and trying to kill you: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/4155




And finally... Hey, do you want to visit Cyrodil in Skyrim? Well, here you go: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/10917





That's probably enough content mods to last you a good 100~150 hours or so.

[Skumboni]

When doing mods for the first time it is easy to grab collections because they have a bunch of mods all together. But seldom will someone who puts those collections together ever have everything i want and not have a bunch of stuff in the way. So i recommend you scan the mod categories on nexus and pick/make your own collection.

[DJB]

Here’s my next question. I hardly have any playtime in Skyrim on Steam, so that said what it be better to start a new modded game? I just assume a lot of these mods will require a fresh restart of the game? I honestly haven’t played vanilla in years, so I almost want to play through vanilla first unless there are mods that make vanilla a little bit better.