What are the top 5 most essential mods for a first playthrough?

[AlienJay]

I haven't played Skyrim since day 1 release, and I forgot 90% of the game. What mods are the top 5 most essential to enhance a first time playthrough ?

[Synopse]

None. I always recommend to play vanilla first, to understand how the game actually is.
It soley depends on your preferences what YOU want to mod in YOUR game.

[AlienJay]

Originally posted by Synopse:

None. I always recommend to play vanilla first, to understand how the game actually is.
It soley depends on your preferences what YOU want to mod in YOUR game.

That makes sense I just hear a lot about how big the modding community is for Skyrim

[Synopse]

Originally posted by AlienJay:

Originally posted by Synopse:

None. I always recommend to play vanilla first, to understand how the game actually is.
It soley depends on your preferences what YOU want to mod in YOUR game.

That makes sense I just hear a lot about how big the modding community is for Skyrim

There are tons of mods. It's the biggest community, I would say. Enjoy your playthrough!
If you feel the strive to mod eventually, then I would recommend to start with graphic mods. And keep in mind that adding and removing mods can (and will) break saves.

[smr1957]

Basically what Synopse posted. As to the first mod that you add after playing for a bit - and, some would say, to add right from the start - that would be the Unofficial Patch (see the PINNED TOPIC regarding it for complete information about it).

Now, a good idea when playing, would be to keep a notepad nearby, and when you see something you think you would like to change, to make a note of it (where it is, what it is, what it does), so when you do get into modding, you can check for mods that deal with what you wrote down.

Finally, once you do decide to start modding, 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 have fun!

[Kussin]

Anime-Race is essential

[Freeman]

No mods are essential. The game is perfectly playable even without stuff like the Unofficial Patch.

[Docsprock]

Once you get through, (mostly), a playthrough, you will have a good idea of what mods you may want. You will also be able to tell from looking at a mod where it goes and how it works.

Protip: Don't even look at 'collections'.

[AG2590]

All of the unnoficial bug fix mods, these are essential.

Honestly, Skyrim is near 13 years old at this point - I wouldn't even do a vanilla play through anymore and would recommend LoreRim or Nolvus.

[SpeedFreak1972]

I tend also to none maybe the unofficial patch, but I would say play vanilla you'll need first have a grasp what you want to mod ... as for Nolvus or LoreRim NO!!!! TS doesn't know what is vanilla and what's modded

[chrisbamb]

I played a full play through on Vanilla when I bought the game. After I finished the main game, I watched some guy playing who literally had hundreds upon hundreds of mods installed and to be honest, I actually thought it looked worse! The only mod I've loaded for my new game is one of the ones that gives you a more detailed map.

[Elthrael]

I also played my first playthrough as vanilla as possible. I don't think you need a "top five", I would narrow it down to two, maybe three.

1) the Unofficial Skyrim Special Edition Patch - I would say this is essential because it fixes SO many quest bugs. Just... the sheer amount is argument enough. If you Ctrl+F their "fixes" page and type in "quest", you get 1000+ hits. If you type a random quest's name into the UESP wiki search, click on it, and go to Bugs, there's usually a "Unofficial Skyrim Patch, version [...], fixes this bug" under most if not all of them. I just clicked a few random quests to test this theory right now and each page had at least one to three bug fixes per quest listed. In fact, it's kind of hard to find a quest that doesn't have some kind of bug that the USSEP fixes. Some people say "oh I played vanilla and I didn't encounter any bugs" and IMO they either didn't really quest a lot or they didn't know something broke and they just ignored it. Even WITH the patch, some bugs still persist until today. So yeah. Unofficial Patch is what I'd call absolutely essential for a (close-to) headache-free experience.

The reason why some people don't like it is because in addition to fixing quests, item placements, text errors etc., it also fixes some of the more notorious exploits like the Restoration loop, the Necromage-Vampire synergy, and Alteration Telekinesis Fast Travel leveling. I would argue that these exploits make the game unfun because they give you access to ridiculously overpowered items, or make leveling some skills trivial and meaningless, so any kind of challenge is simply erased. On the other hand, it does take away the fun of making and using said items and exploits. If you use a mod manager like MO2, you can freely enable and disable the patch and play the game "normally" with the patch on, or turn it off and horse around to your heart's content.

2) Skyrim's UI was made with console limitations in mind, so it's very dependant on endless scrolling through items. For that reason, I would also recommend SkyUI. It does overhaul the UI quite substantially, so it's not a very vanilla experience (it is far, far superior IMO), but I find the original UI so clunky, slow and uninformative that this mod is a godsend for inventory management's sake alone. I just don't find any added gameplay value to "individually scrolling through the 143 potions I hoarded to see which ones are worth selling/keeping" or "manually deciding which items have a good enough Weight:Value ration to keep and which to leave behind". It's just needless staring at individual numbers for each item/spell/weapon that SkyUI just gives you up front to compare with sorting and filters. It just saves so much time I'd say it's "essential" if staring at menus is not your idea of fun.

3) If you have a fairly recent PC, and you want to circumvent the 60 FPS cap, there's also SSE Engine Fixes and SE Display Tweaks, but that's a very "up-to-taste" kind of thing, so in no way essential, but still a nice-to-have. Skyrim plays fine at 60 FPS, I'm just used to higher framerates and I try and get them whenever possible.

For a first playthrough, I would NOT recommend using massive overhaul modlists like LoreRim, Nolvus, or even perk overhaul mods like Ordinator etc. You're basically playing a different game at that point. They're great modlists and mods, but not very true to the original experience.

I would also highly recommend you have a look at Vlad254's guides here on the Steam community Guides page, even for basic mods such as this.