Recommended Visual/Animation Mods for First Time Playthrough.

[Anubis]

TL:DR I want to take the easiest path to modding Skyrim so it can look and feel amazing to play on my first play through.

I'm considering buying Skyrim as I haven't played it since Xbox 360 era. I'm specifically looking for mods to make the game look and feel better without taking away from the original experience. I did find a modlist I liked but, it had mods that changed game play and I've read that you can't really customize modlists without breaking other mods. Or the modlist requires AE and i'm planning to get SSE.

(I can link said modlist & PC specs if interested)

Can anyone recommend a modlist or a set of mods or something because i have no idea what to get. Also is MO2/Vortex and LooT required?

Thank you to everyone in advance.

[Hypertext Eye]

Ursprungligen skrivet av Anubis:

Or the modlist requires AE and i'm planning to get SSE.

There is no difference. When a mod says it requires "AE" what it really means is it requires the most up to date version of the game. You do not need the Anniversary Upgrade DLC to use mods that say they require AE.

[Anubis]

Oh, I read the Anniversary Upgrade DLC is required for "Constellations" as well as other mods that requred the CC from AE. Is this not true?

[Death Approaches]

yes it is true, some mod collections require you to have the AE CC content, and Constellations clearly states in the requirements: "Skyrim AE DLC: The modlist is optimized for the Skyrim Anniversary Edition DLC. Its inclusion significantly enhances your gaming experience with additional content and features." and further explains how non-technical types that don't understand it's something separate from Bethesda.net not from Steam, can verify if they own it: "Head to the Skyrim directory Data folder (Steam\steamapps\common\Skyrim Special Edition\Data) and ensure you have 148 files starting with 'cc'..."

so in this case, your options are buy the AE content, or pick another modset.

but if you want alternate suggestions on this scale, give us your specs; things like Nolvus or Gates or Daedric Princes forbid, Lorerim (sitting at 4000+ mods) you're not doing this on a low-end or even medium-spec gaming rig with low RAM/VRAM...

[Anubis]

Ursprungligen skrivet av Death Approaches:

yes it is true, some mod collections require you to have the AE CC content, and Constellations clearly states in the requirements: "Skyrim AE DLC: The modlist is optimized for the Skyrim Anniversary Edition DLC. Its inclusion significantly enhances your gaming experience with additional content and features." and further explains how non-technical types that don't understand it's something separate from Bethesda.net not from Steam, can verify if they own it: "Head to the Skyrim directory Data folder (Steam\steamapps\common\Skyrim Special Edition\Data) and ensure you have 148 files starting with 'cc'..."

so in this case, your options are buy the AE content, or pick another modset.

This is why I made a thread asking for help. I'm unsure which mods to actually get for what I'm looking for. I'm hoping for a modlist for ease of access but, if I have to do them individually, I will. I would like to avoid redundant mods if possible.

If I could just be pointed in the right direction, that would be great too.

Edit: Just seen you edited your message.
Specs:
CPU: Ryzen 5 5600
GPU: RTX 4080
RAM: 32GB DDR4
Storage: NVMe

[Death Approaches]

lol sorry I edited it to add that bit re: specs while you were replying, come back..

[Anubis]

Ursprungligen skrivet av Death Approaches:

lol sorry I edited it to add that bit re: specs while you were replying, come back..

It's fine. I add my specs. To be clear, I don't need/want crazy photo realistic graphics. I just wan to game to look and feel better than vanilla for my first play-through.

[mikk011]

A weather mod, a lighting mod, and a couple graphical mods can make a huge difference.
I won't give links for the following, they are some of the most popular mods on nexusmods.com. If you don't like them, use the tags to bring up other options.
Rustic Weathers and Lighting-note that almost every weather mod will have an in-game book, spell, or menu option to tweak the color palette. This is old, but fairly lightweight and doesn't have a bunch of other prerequisites and has some nice subtle colors.
Enhanced Lights and FX (use the main file only, test the other files at your leisure, don't use the optional weathers file if you already have another weather mod).
Static Mesh Improvement Mod
Noble Skyrim-Improves and/or changes the textures of hundreds of items, buildings, and other objects.

Always read the modpages carefully, some mods need other mods to work. These are fairly harmless about having prerequisites.

Don't mess with animations unless you are a self-starter willing to study things in detail cause that's a deep rabbit hole and there is a lot of conflicting information out there and there are lots of compatibility issues as well.

[Hypertext Eye]

In that case, Constellations or modpacks like it are far beyond what you're looking for. What you need is Community Shaders or a good ENB, texture packs, and NPC replacers.

I do not have specific suggestions, sorry

My personal recommendation is to try the game without mods, see what you find lacking, and search for mods to fix those things

[Death Approaches]

oh you're fine, you can run anything, 32Gb and 4080s are 16GB minimum right? you're golden. take your pick, but since you don't wanna buy the AE stuff, check out Gates to Sovngarde and see if that's you cup of nord mead... https://next.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/collections/qdurkx

[Anubis]

The confusing part is;

Nexusmods has 2 mods "Enhanced Light and FX" and "Lux" I seems like these do the same thing but i could be wrong. Some sites recommend "Lux" but "Enhanced Lights and FX" has more DLs and endorsements. Also it seems I have to use MO2 or Vortex and another mod called LooT to get everything running right.

[Anubis]

Ursprungligen skrivet av Death Approaches:

oh you're fine, you can run anything, 32Gb and 4080s are 16GB minimum right? you're golden. take your pick, but since you don't wanna buy the AE stuff, check out Gates to Sovngarde and see if that's you cup of nord mead... https://next.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/collections/qdurkx

Thanks i'll take a look.

[mikk011]

Ursprungligen skrivet av Anubis:

The confusing part is;

Nexusmods has 2 mods "Enhanced Light and FX" and "Lux" I seems like these do the same thing but i could be wrong. Some sites recommend "Lux" but "Enhanced Lights and FX" has more DLs and endorsements. Also it seems I have to use MO2 or Vortex and another mod called LooT to get everything running right.

The one I'm talking about is this one:
https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/2424 If you install it with Vortex or MO2 it has an installer package that will let you pick and choose components.

[Anubis]

Ursprungligen skrivet av mikk011:

Ursprungligen skrivet av Anubis:

The confusing part is;

Nexusmods has 2 mods "Enhanced Light and FX" and "Lux" I seems like these do the same thing but i could be wrong. Some sites recommend "Lux" but "Enhanced Lights and FX" has more DLs and endorsements. Also it seems I have to use MO2 or Vortex and another mod called LooT to get everything running right.

The one I'm talking about is this one:
https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/2424 If you install it with Vortex or MO2 it has an installer package that will let you pick and choose components.

I'll check it out. Thanks.

[Anubis]

And thank you to everyone else as well

[mikk011]

One last thing, make a clean save before adding any mods, and add them one at a time to be sure they work. If you don't like it, you have a clean save to go back to, because it is a generally bad idea to remove any mod with an .esp, .esm, or .esl file once it has been incorporated into a saved game.