Pick & Choose Mods for Skyrim Special Edition

This is a categorized list of suggested, community favorite mods many of us consider staples in our load orders. Because sometimes sorting through thousands of mods & everyone telling you what you should or even "must have" can all seem a bit futile. Truth be told there are only a handful of must have mods but these are some great suggested and tested mods.

Since the release of 1.6.xxx (AE) it's up to you to check for compatibility when using SKSE64 mods.
This is only relevant in mods that rely on SKSE64 and also have a .dll

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“What we find in books is like the fire in our hearths. We fetch it from our neighbors, we kindle it at home, we communicate it to others, and it becomes the property of all.” ~Voltaire

Regarding Skyrim AE/SE

BEFORE DOWNLOADING ANY MOD
Due to the release of Skyrim Anniversary Edition (and as has always been the case) You should check to make sure the version of each mod that relies on SKSE64 you are looking to install on your game is in fact compatible. This is only for SKSE64 mods that have a .dll which is the majority of them.
Key words to look for are: Game version 1.5.97 or version 1.6.xxx

Not sure if your game updated?
Go to your Skyrim Special Edition folder in your Steam directory located here \SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Skyrim Special Edition, right click on SkyrimSE.exe, go to the Properties tab. look at the "Product Version":
1.6.xxx is the new version.
1.5.97 is the the pre-update version.

Unofficial Skyrim Special Edition Downgrade Patcher[www.nexusmods.com] Looking to roll back to Skyrim SE 1.5.97?

Mods by Category

IMPORTANT NOTE:
Please be sure to read each mod page before adding any mod to your load order for any additional installation instructions, conflicts & compatibility or bugs.

Always be version aware
All of the mods in this guide work for Skyrim SE v1.5.97 with the exception of a handful which have been updated as only for use with 1.6.xxx with no optional file for v1.5.97 of the game. I do have another guide for v1.6.xxx here

All Mod CATEGORIES LISTED ALPHABETICALLY

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Let's take a look 👀

Alternate Starts

There are a few mods to choose from that will give you different options to the game's beginning as opposed to the vanilla start.

Alternate Start - Live Another Life - SSE [www.nexusmods.com] Live Another Life provides an alternative means to start the game for those who do not wish to go through the lengthy intro sequence at Helgen. You choose the start, or choose random start. The grandaddy of em' all. created by Arthmoor
See more add-ons to this mod at the bottom of this section.

RASR - Random Alternate Start Reborn SE and VR [www.nexusmods.com] Be anyone you want to be. Choose from 21 classic Oblivion/Morrowind loadouts then get randomly thrown somewhere in the vast land of Skyrim. Will you end up in the royal court of Solitude's magnificent Blue Palace or will you end up at the bottom of a dark, dank, necromancer-infested mine shaft and have to fight your way up to the surface?

Skyrim Unbound (Alternate Start) [www.nexusmods.com] An alternate start mod with a wide range of options, including the ability to play as a non-Dragonborn character.

Realm of Lorkhan - Freeform Alternate Start[www.nexusmods.com] Starts the player in an alternate realm, rather than the default execution scene opening.

Add-ons For Arthmoor's Alternate Start - Live Another Life - SSE

New Beginnings - Live Another Life Extension SSE[www.nexusmods.com] New Beginnings Live Another Life Extension adds a lot of new options to Live another life by Arthmoor.

Alternate Start - A New Dragonborn Extension[www.nexusmods.com] An extension for Arthmoor's Alternate Start - Live Another Life, which bypasses most of the first act of the main quest.

Alternate Start - Child of Coldharbour[www.nexusmods.com] A quick mod that is designed to allow a player to basically skip the start of Dawnguard and play as a Vampire Lord from the get go.
The date will be 20 Evening Star - and you will have 'survived' an encounter with Molag Bal himself. You were his 'offering' it seems. Having survived miraculously - you discover you are a Child of Coldharbour.

Alternate Start - Another Day in Rorikstead (Lore Friendly)[www.nexusmods.com] Adds an immersive and very lore-friendly quest line prelude to the main quest, as well as context to your player being the Dragonborn you discover over time, and even gives you an incentive to join a side in the civil war!

Alternate Start Options for Beyond Skyrim - Bruma SE[www.nexusmods.com] 7 different options to begin your journey when using Alternate Start - Live Another Life alongside Beyond Skyrim: Bruma!

Animals & Creatures

Lets make animals look & act more like - well, animals

Also see the "Fishing" section of this guide

Anything by rougeshot[www.nexusmods.com] Want a more realistic and believable feel to Skyrim's creatures, while also providing new challenges and hazards to avoid or overcome. These mods are meant to give you the feeling that every vanilla creature has actual weight and mass, while also providing a new challenging world to survive in. Giants, Hounds, Mammoths, Trolls, Wolves you name the creature there's a mod.

SkyTEST - Realistic Animals and Predators SE[www.nexusmods.com] "SkyTEST - Realistic Animals & Predators" was the first animal mod which gave new AI (Artificial Intelligence) to Animals & Predators, the mod main focus is to overhaul Vanilla Skyrim Animals behavior to act a much more realistic while leaving the Original Design of the Animals and Stay LORE Friendly. The mod does not focus completely on adding more variation to animals since there way too many mods for that, but its also not limited to only altering the Ai, the following things is what this mod offers once installed.

SkyTEST - Harder Creatures SE[www.nexusmods.com] This rather simple mod that is intended for people who feel the Creatures are too Wimpy. Changes range between increased Creature Race & Size, Health, Tweaked AI and Hunting Ai Packages to give them a Tougher Feel. Some Creatures have vanilla never used animation attacks that stagger or knock you back, Player will no longer be able to Hack/Slash their way just standing like a brick and letting those huge amounts of health and armor soak out damage against dangerous and huge monsters, you will need to rethink the way you play.

Seagulls of Skyrim[www.nexusmods.com] This mod adds seagulls along the coasts of Skyrim and Solstheim, with animated models and sounds from Mr. Siika Seagulls for Skyrim SE!

One With Nature - Dynamic Animals and Creatures SE [www.nexusmods.com] MCM that allows you to select your relationship with a variety of animals and creatures (say for example if you like wolves you can set them to like you). Mod comes with all settings same as vanilla game. Watch Video . See mod page for details.

Bellyaches Animal and Creature Pack SSE [www.nexusmods.com] This mod provides new and modified textures for wildlife, domesticated animals, and creatures in the game. This mod is a pack of replacers and does not add new variants to the game. You can just choose new textures to overwrite the default textures.

Better Skyrim Wolves [www.nexusmods.com] This replaces the meshes of the wolves with that of the Dawnguard Husky. IMO this makes them look better while retaining a wolf like coat. (if you will be using the above mod but want the wolves to look like this, since this mod only changes mesh and textures load this one after, or you of course can just use this mod)

HD Reworked Bears 4K [www.nexusmods.com] The modification brings all bears and bear things (claws, pelts and bear trap) to stunning the highest 2/4K quality with 100% lore friendly look. (another great mod by HalkHogan)

ElSopa HD - Strider And Netches SE [www.nexusmods.com] Another great mod by Elsopa who says "Vanilla textures were nice, but I wanted something better. 4-2-1K resolutions."

Ducks and Swans for Skyrim SE [www.nexusmods.com] This mod adds ducks & swans at lakes and ponds in Skyrim. Both the ducks & Swans yield ingredients as well when you catch them. They are animated statics that move on a given path, like other critters such as bees, butterflies, pond fish and hawks. See mod page for details. (I always use these for a nice eye appeal effect).

Anything by Kajuan [www.nexusmods.com] Seriously for great retextures of individual animals say for example you are using a overhaul of all animals and want to overwrite one of them with one of Kajuan's.

Horses

*ONLY PICK *ONE MAIN HORSE MOD

*Simple Horse SE[www.nexusmods.com] This mod modify horse function e.g. call a last ridden horse with whistle, horse is no fighting. It is simple, stable and almost no performance hit and compatible with almost mods.

* Immersive Horses [www.nexusmods.com] A complete overhaul for the horses in Skyrim (yet this mod is lightweight). This mod DOES have several REQUIREMENTS so please check the mod page.

* Convenient Horses [www.nexusmods.com] I personally did not use Horses as much as I now do since using this mod. Convenient Horses for Skyrim Special Edition is next installment of a popular mod that has more than a million of unique downloads, aiming to overhaul horse system in Skyrim. (this mod has no requirements)
Unlike its predecessor, it has been built from a ground up to radically change the way you interact with and use horses. It is not a port, but a completely new experience with a special accent on immersion, free of any script extender dependencies. Check out the mod page for more details.

Add-on for Convenient Horses
Couch Lance - Convenient Horse Add-on [www.nexusmods.com] I've never used this mod but it adds a Couch Lance feature to Convenient Horse mod, similar to Mount & Blade and many people loved Mount & Blade. See mod page for details - includes a Video.

Add-on for Convenient Horses
Convenient Horses - Odin and Apocalypse Compatibility Patch[www.nexusmods.com] You don't need all 3 mods as this is for compatibility issues between Convenient Horses and mods with spells affecting horses (like Odin and/or Apocalypse).

Claim a Horse[www.nexusmods.com] Claim a Horse does exactly what it says on the tin and allows the player to claim unowned horses around Skyrim. These can be horses that you find on the road or being used by bandit camps you wipe out. This is great for those looking to claim a horse rather than pay for one and adds nicely to role-playing and immersion.

Check out Dragon mods

Moved the DRAGON mods to their own section (Dragons) in this guide.

Animations - movement

(a pex file patch hub is found at the end of this section for both go to bed and woodcutting)

First the 3 Animation Main Framework mods

Nemesis - Main
Nemesis Unlimited Behavior Engine[github.com] The new kid for on the block Behavior Engine that allows to add different types of animations to the game . (tough to find support but this baby is required by many new animation mods)

FNIS - Main
Fores New Idles in Skyrim SE - FNIS SE[www.nexusmods.com] The original Behavior Engine that allows to add different types of animations to the game. (No more updates on the horizon as the MA has retired but still community supported)

DAR - Main
Dynamic Animation Replacer [www.nexusmods.com] This mod dynamically replaces the actors' animations depending on various conditions. Supports most actors, including creatures. Actors and animations added by mods are also supported. No ESP file.

Now for the actual animations or Kill Move mods:
Some mods require Nemesis, some require FNIS, some require DAR, and some have no requirements. Always read the mod page for requirements.

UNDERDOG - Animations[www.nexusmods.com] Focuses on the little things. The things that surround the player moving around the world and the gameplay aspect from an animator's point of view. Like the MA says, "since pictures speak louder than words, especially with animations" see the mod page for examples.

EVG Conditional Idles [www.nexusmods.com] Handmade animations that only play in specific conditions. Unintrusive, no gameplay changes.

EVG Animation Variance[www.nexusmods.com] Adds variety to existing animations, through NPC personality types, conditions, or just randomly.

Scrolling Speed Continued - adjust your running speed with mouse wheel[www.nexusmods.com] Jealous of controller users who can adjust their speed easily ? This mod is the solution: use mouse wheel to adjust your speed on the fly and more.

VioLens - A Killmove Mod SE [www.nexusmods.com] SkyUI, SKSE64, and JContainers SE Required.
VioLens - A Killmove Mod gives you in-game control over both Ranged and Melee Killmoves. Version 2.2+ provides more Killmove Customization than ever before, allowing you to pick which Killmoves you'd like to see trigger for each weapon type and then saving/loading those picks using the Profile System

D13 Faster GET UP STAND UP animation vanilla friendly SSE [www.nexusmods.com] Did it always bug you that it took ages for dovahkiin, the strongest creature in Skyrim SOOOOOO long to stand up? Well this will make you stand up twice as fast, and it still looks realistic.

360 Movement Behavior SE [www.nexusmods.com] A 360 movement mod for movement, jumping, and swimming. It doesn't replace any animations, it's all done inside the behavior files (the animation code for the game). With this system, you can use any walking, running, or sneaking animations. The forward facing animations will automatically be used for all directions. It only affects movement when weapons are sheathed, you still face forward when weapons are drawn.

Heart Breaker - A Killmove Mod SE [www.nexusmods.com] SkyUI, SKSE64, and JContainers SE Required.
Heart Breaker - A Killmove Mod gives you the ability to go all Temple of Doom on your enemies just before they die. If your enemy is injured enough to fall to one knee (Bleed Out), you will be able to press Activate (Keyboard Default "E", Xbox Default "A", PS Default "X") to rip out his/her Heart.
I have never used this mod but it's by the same mod author as VioLens & compatible with it

Smooth Magic Casting Animation[www.nexusmods.com] New magic casting animations.

https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/73168 The script mineorescript.pex is changed by several mods. These patches fix some compatibility issues by merging the changes in one script file.

Armor & Clothing

"weapons" have now been moved to their own section in this guide

I'm going start off by linking a video from GamerPoets below as Michael features mods I've used in my playthroughs. These are Textures and Improvements that will Improve the overall look of the games existing weapons and armor. Some on this page add new armors to the game.

NOTE:
Read all requirements, installation instructions and compatibility notes on each mod page

Immersive Armors [www.nexusmods.com] Immersive Armors seeks to drastically enhance the variety of armors in the world of Skyrim in a lore friendly way. The goal of every set is to blend into the lore, balance, and feel of the game for the most immersive experience possible.
Immersive Armors is highly customizable through the in game MCM menu or spell menu. Since at the time there is no MCM menu for SSE, I encourage you to try out the spell menu, found in the shout powers section of the magic menu.

RUSTIC ARMOR and WEAPONS SE [www.nexusmods.com] Yes, we are starting off with another Gamwich retexture. His work is incredible. This is a hi-res "retexture of select armors and weapons" of Skyrim SE. 4K and 2K resolutions available. This mod does not add new weapons but makes The Dark Brotherhood, Daedric, and Forsworn Armors and Weapons look fantastic, the mod also corrects some errors on the same. Goes great with the Rustic Clothing mod found earlier in this guide.

RUSTIC FORSWORN - Special Edition [www.nexusmods.com] THESE ARE INCLUDED IN THE ABOVE MOD A hi-res retexture of the long neglected forsworn armor. Available in 4K and 2K resolution options. (because they are by Gamwich and they look awesome. We constantly run into the Forsworn so they may as well look good)

Scout Armor SE [www.nexusmods.com] This mod adds a complete light armor and weapons set. Reminiscent of Blades Armor, but in leather. A mod conversion from Legendary Edition.

Frankly HD Imperial Armor and Weapons [www.nexusmods.com] Visual overhaul of Imperial armor and weapons. Featuring high resolution textures (4k/2k), mesh improvements and fixes and optional sleeves and pants for Skyrim's weather. Includes heavy, studded, light, Penitus, Tullius and General Carius (with complete matching set); all for both genders; imperial shields; sword, bow and Champion's Cudgel.

Frankly HD Thieves Guild Armors[www.nexusmods.com] High resolution (4k and 2k available) retexture of Thieves Guild's armors. Includes all variants of the armor: standard, Guild Master, Linwe's/Blackguard and Karliah's.

Armor of Intrigue for SE - Modular Male Armor from The Witcher 2 [www.nexusmods.com] Adds a highly customizable light - leather based - set of armor ( male only ) that can suit almost every type of character with an armor rating close to that of the elven set.

Modular Clothing System - 1.0.0 - Vanilla Bodies[www.nexusmods.com] Build your own unique outfit right in game. Non-Nude lore-friendly clothing mod. Vanilla based.

Unplayable Faction Armors SSE[www.nexusmods.com] This mod adds armor and weapons for some of the unjoinable factions in Skyrim. Two files are provided, one version which distributes these sets to their respective factions and allows crafting, and a standalone version that allows crafting only.

Warmonger Armory - Unofficial Fixed SSE Port[www.nexusmods.com] SEE SPECIAL INSRTUCTIONS ON MOD PAGE. This is an up to date port of the latest version of Warmonger Armory from LE to SSE. It includes fixes for all the little things in the mod and should be fully functional.

Female Armors by DeserterX

Also, for great female individual custom armors look for anything DX by DeserterX [www.nexusmods.com]
This Video is just one example of DeserterX Female Armors
https://youtu.be/BCRvA5BSAQE?list=PLclnRJx55khhkUbL_VLUJH3UziSth-MeK

7B, UNPB, 7BB, Seraphim, DreamGirl, & others

DesertX mostly does UNP versions. For DX versions in 7B, UNP, UNPB, 7BB, Seraphim, DreamGirl, and More See bchick3's [www.nexusmods.com] work as she converts just about everyone of DX's Armors to many other body styles as mentioned above. She also does many other Armor's and Followers.
ALWAYS CHECK THE REQUIREMENTS ON EACH MOD PAGE.
For CBBE versions see each DX page for links although many (not all) are done by docteure [www.nexusmods.com]

There are endless mods on the Nexus that add one single new armor each and one single new weapon each. There are far too many to list. So let's say you want to make your favorite vanilla armor or sword look better like for example Daedric, simply search for it. Then again maybe you want a totally new armor or weapon that is not in the game, go for it. It's really that simple

I have all of the above in my game, improved every vanilla armor and weapon in the game and also have added many new armor and weapon mods. Same with clothing. A great looking game is important to me but of course to each his or her own.

Always check if you are about to download a "Replacer" or a "Standalone" item.

Pick/download your own color theme with this great armor mod -
available in both Male & Female versions as well
DX Daedric Reaper Armor with Theme Colors - UNP Perky UNPB 7BB DreamGirl Seraphim - Physics [www.nexusmods.com]

Shops

UNP Clothing Merchants SE[www.nexusmods.com] UNP Clothing Merchants (UCM) Combines 27 UNP clothing/armor mods (over 1000 individual items) into one mod. Features a new location and 7 unique merchants, nothing will clutter vanilla merchants or your vanilla forge/tanning racks.

Apachii Divine Elegance Store[www.nexusmods.com] Adds a store. Merchants sell all kinds of custom made outfits for males,CBBE and UNP females. Weight slider support, inventory model and ground object. Armour rated outfits, Silver swords, arrows, all can be crafted and upgraded.

There are countless Armor & Weapon mods out there

I'm going to leave you with a few video's that are very well done and offer a wide variety for your viewing pleasure. Take a look.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-ehffHjM2I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnZpH5c0fU8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZGHant96iI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yb8bfP2LHd0&t=154s


"WEAPONS" HAVE BEEN MOVED TO IT'S OWN SECTION IN THIS GUIDE

Audio - SFX - Sound

First a Fix

Direction sound problems

If you sometimes experience low volume to no volume depending on the direction your character or camera is facing.
Type in your Windows search bar "Sounds"
Select "Change System Sounds"
Select the "Playback" tab
Right click on the Speakers icon
Select "Properties"
Select "Advanced" Tab
Uncheck "audio enhancements"

NOW ON TO THE SOUND MODS

Important

As is always the case: Please be sure to read each mod page before downloading any mod for any installation instructions, conflicts & compatibility.

Lucidity Sound FX SSE [www.nexusmods.com] Re-mastered/mixed 100% (4681 samples) of the original skyrim sound fx. Providing a smoother and plainer sound experience.No hum,no crackle,less masking,high definition low-end,no excessive high-end..and much more! Overall far more appealing to the ear..you'll hear things you've never heard before.

IMPORTANT: use Lucidity Sound FX as a base, overwrite with any sound mods you`d like to use. Whatever your choice is, you will still be able to hear a lot of Lucidity samples, even if you get all the audio mods available. (I am not recommending you take them all lol, just thought I would include that note from the mod author to make a point for those in doubt.)

Improved Combat Sounds SE [www.nexusmods.com] Combat sounds are now enhanced to improve the overall quality of fights. If you have Sounds Of Skyrim installed, ensure Improved Combat Soundsv2.0esp is above Sounds of Skyrim esp's in the load order (or above any other sound mod just to be safe).

Sounds of Skyrim - Complete Edition - MCM [www.afkmods.com] Another Arthmoor mod. Arthmoor has made some of the best and most popular mods for Skyrim, you simply can't go wrong using his mods not to mention he is the main guy in creating and maintaining the Unofficial Patch, a must have in any load order. This is a port of the Original Oldrim mod made by Arthmoor and Cliffworms.

"Sounds of Skyrim is an audio project split in three parts that, in the end, adds around 460+ sound effects to the game world. It affects almost every cell and region in the game. My main goal is to not have one environment that is soundless to enhance immersion. The sounds are affected by the time of day, weather and location. So when walking in the city streets during the day, you'll hear the echo of doors opening and closing, children playing and workers sawing things. While at night, cats fight for territory and dogs bark.

Immersive Sounds - Compendium [www.nexusmods.com] A dramatic and extensively customizable overhaul of Skyrim's sound. First off, you should know that this mod is much more than merely just replacing existing sound files in the game with different ones. Rather, the aim of ISC is to greatly expand the functionality and scope of the audio in Skyrim. The vanilla sound design is in pretty dire straits, and my educated guess for this is that it was largely hamstrung by being primarily developed for aging console hardware, and thus sacrificed ambition for sound to instead prioritize those resources for other things like better visuals. (SEE THE PATCH SECTION OF THIS GUIDE for patches to Enhanced Blood Textures and Morrowloot)

Unofficial High Definition Audio Project[www.nexusmods.com] A high-definition restoration of Skyrim's orignal voices and music, drawing from the much higher quality PS4 audio as a source.

Reverb and Ambiance Overhaul [www.nexusmods.com] Makes all sounds more realistic for player and NPCs. Improves and balances ambiance and reverb to be more realistic and lively. Increases the diversity and dynamics of in-game sound. Fixes numerous issues.
Lightweight and compatible with all sound replacer mods.

Better Whispering Door - Dark Brotherhood Black Door Voice Tweaked[www.nexusmods.com] Edited the black doors voice lines to be deeper, and in effect more menacing and easier on the ears. English, French & German options during install. ESL-flagged. (Headphone users rejoice! Great sound either way)

Arachnid -Spiders Sounds Rework SFX-[www.nexusmods.com] HQ lore friendly Spiders Sounds Rework. Totally new sounds effects includes unique Attacks - death - injured and foot sounds plus some extra goodies (Vanilla Volume)

Matter of fact, anything from Satafinix is highly recommended
Satafinix[www.nexusmods.com] I use many of his mods in my games

See the "Dragons" section for Dragon Sounds

Headphones

I used last year when playing with headphones, and the sound improvement was outstanding:
Binaural 3D Surround Sound for Headphones - HRTF [www.nexusmods.com] This mod uses algorithms that can simulate HRTF, allowing for full 3D surround sound with just a normal pair of earphones or headphones. For 1st person use

This one has more downloads but has been out 3 years longer. I've never used this one.
True 3D Sound for Headphones [www.nexusmods.com] This enables 3D sound positioning in-game. You'll hear exactly from which direction a sound is coming from.

Bug Fixes & Improvements (QOL)

There are several other mods that fall under the "Fixes" or "Improved" category that are listed throughout this guide. Most of the mods on this page I personally use and I have seen many people swear by them. As usual you should read all the info on each mod's page.

Unofficial Skyrim Special Edition Patch[www.nexusmods.com] Good grief this mod should be called the OFFICIAL SSE PATCH. Many mods now require the USSEP or your game will not start.

SSE Engine Fixes (by aers - Nukem - Ryan) [github.com] over 1.5 million downloads
This mod not only covers MANY important fixes for your game it also includes a BONUS. Because using mods in SSE will disable Achievements, using this mod re-ENABLES ACHIEVEMENTS.
Read the installation instructions carefully as this mod has two parts to it and one part needs to be installed manually. REQUIREMENTS SKSE64 (by SKSE Team) [skse.silverlock.org] Address Library [www.nexusmods.com]

Scrambled Bugs[www.nexusmods.com] A collection of engine bug fixes and patches made possible by the .NET Script Framework. this mod has become a staple in my load order - see mod page for a list of what it does and why I use it

Drunk Sinking Head Idle Fix SE[www.nexusmods.com] This simply fixes the horrible drunk sinking head idle. There's no .esp just two idle replacers.

Stackable Stones of Barenziah with Optional Quest Markers[www.nexusmods.com] Quest is almost impossible to complete without the added (optional) quest markers to Stones of Barenziah. Also Fixes Stones of Barenziah to stack properly in the player's inventory.

PrivateProfileRedirector SE - Faster game start (INI file cacher)[www.nexusmods.com] Speeds up game start by storing INI files in memory instead of opening, parsing and closing the file each time some value from it is needed.

Remove QuickSave Button from SkyUI System Menu [www.nexusmods.com] This small mod removes the "Quick Save" button from System Menu (esc), that was added in SE. You can now normally exit your game without scrolling in System Menu. INCLUDES " SKYUI FLASHING SAVE GAME FIX"

Face Discoloration Fix[www.nexusmods.com] Fixes FaceGen errors that cause Black face bug. it works Caution: may convert modified character to vanilla face. Read mod page.

No Spinning Death Animation[www.nexusmods.com] This will simply remove the spinning around dance animation that they do before dying they will now just ragdoll when killed. Works for kills and dying from a high fall. It will not affect killmoves. Includes the Removal of certain creature death pause animations

Dragon Stalking Fix [www.nexusmods.com] Dragon corpses will no longer follow you or fall out of the sky.

Mfg Fix[www.nexusmods.com] This mod fixes ModifyFaceGen(mfg) console command and adds some more fixes. Fixes "mfg modifier", "mfg phoneme", "mfg reset" console commands and adds new command "mfg info" that shows all currently applied modifiers.Fixes eyes blinking for player and much more. See mod page for list.

Invisibility Glitch - Eyes Fix SE with Support patches[www.nexusmods.com] This mod will resolve the invisibility eyes glitch, whereby the player\'s eyes get messed up after turning invisible/visible. Requires SKSE. Support for EFF, Ordinator, Sacroscant, Apocalypse and Vigor provided.

PC Head Tracking and Voice Type SE[www.nexusmods.com] The player character moves their head to look at something or someone. You can choose either one or both of the following methods for detecting head tracking targets. Allows the player to make a facial expression when the head tracking is active. (and much more)

Weapons Armor Clothing and Clutter Fixes [www.nexusmods.com] Fixes bugs and inconsistencies for Skyrim's weapons, armors, clothing, jewelry, and clutter items. Read the mod page for details. This mod also requires the USSEP.

Flora Respawn Fix [www.nexusmods.com] You've hit this bug, even if you don't know it. Every time you went to a place after the cell was supposed to reset, and wondered "hey why haven't those plants respawned yet?" it's this bug and this mod fixes that. Please Note: The Author says DO NOT clean this mod with SSEEDIT. See mod page for details.

Hearthfire Display Case Fix by Krucify [www.nexusmods.com] If you've used the Display Cases in any of the Hearthfire Player Homes you know how they work and many of you do not like it. This mod fixes that.
OR
HearthFires Display Case Fix SE [www.nexusmods.com] Adds activators to all display cases in the HearthFires homes.

Artificial Intelligence Limit Increaser [www.nexusmods.com] USE the next mod instead. Seriously, even the author recommends doing so.

Actor Limit Fix [www.nexusmods.com] Fixes a bug where if you have more than 128 actors in the same place they start floating around weirdly. Also fixes a bug where NPC lips stop moving when too many NPCs are in the same area.

SkyUI SE - Flashing Savegames Fix [www.nexusmods.com] Fixes the flashing savegame entries when trying to save or load a game in the in-game main menu (quest journal). Made for SkyUI SE 5.2.

Quest Conflict Fixes[www.nexusmods.com] Cleans up some issues that could cause quests to become unavailable.

Dawnguard - Tweaks and Enhancements[www.nexusmods.com] This mod changes several things in both the Vampire and Dawnguard questlines. One of them adds new dialogue to Serana to allow/disallow her to raise undead minions.

FPS Limiter [www.nexusmods.com] FPS Limiter is a utility which enables you to cap your Frames Per Second to any set number you choose. Remember to force v-sync on in your GPU control panel if you don't want screen tearing. Amd cards may not be able to force v-sync the same way as Nvidia cards can. Optimus cards are not supported.

Complete Crafting Overhaul Remastered [www.nexusmods.com] This mod corrects inconsistencies in the crafting recipes and adds features to enhance the functionality and balance of Smithing and crafting in Skyrim. Read the mod page for the many changes and functions to the crafting system.

Potema Spawn Crash Fix[www.nexusmods.com] Simple bug fix for the crash that may happen when Potema tries to spawn in when using mods that mess with armor mesh of Jarl03 armor
IMPORTANT: This crash is normally triggered by not having XP32 Skeleton Extended installed correctly, I would highly recommend doing that rather than installing this, however use this mod if the crash persists.

Bug & Mesh Fixes

Assorted mesh fixes[www.nexusmods.com] Fixes various issues with vanilla Skyrim meshes that causes them to render incorrectly. Things addressed in this mod:

• Incorrectly flagged meshes not casting shadows, receiving shadows
  
• Incorrectly flagged meshes not contributing to depth buffer, and thus has incorrect depth of field
  
• Incorrectly flagged meshes not being reflected in water
  
• Missing/inaccurate collision
  
• Bad normals and tangents
  
• Strange lighting flags
  
• Bad geometry causing Z-fighting
  
• Broken UVs

Meshes Changed
• See Mod page for a long list of these changes
  

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  Skyrim Fixes Collection[www.nexusmods.com] Collection of bug fixes and consistency changes.
  
  Bug Fixes:
  • Fixed pillar gap inside Blue Palace;
    
  • Fixed duplicated pillar inside Nightcaller Temple that caused flickering (WARNING! This is NOT a fix for LIGHT flickering in that place. Use ELFX or Relighting Skyrim to fix that issue);
    
  • Fixed (almost completely) gaps in hhlgbaylentrance01a, hhlgbaylentrance01b, hhlgbayrentrance01a, hhlgbayrentrance01b meshes;
    
  • Fixed Whiterun stockade meshes;
    
  • Fixed Windhelm metal gates/walls meshes;
    
  • Fixed stone gap in Whiterun (0004cc36);
  Consistency Changes:
  • Replaced some objects with different versions to make things blends better with landscape;
    
  • Removed grass in some places (change purely for grass mods users);
    
  • Added more objects in some places to cover "gaps" between roads and landscape (only these that triggered me too much);

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  Mesh Patch for Various Mods[www.nexusmods.com] Simply some mesh conflict resolution patches I made for personal use. If you have Skyrim Particle Patch for ENB, SMIM, Blended Roads, ELFX, Assorted Mesh Fixes, Unofficial Material Fix, Dlizzio's Mesh Fixes and Skyrim Landscape and Water Fixes in your load order, you'll find a few mesh conflicts between each other that no one bothers to patch. Now you have an OCD patch for you, hooray!
  

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  Dlizzio's Mesh Fixes[www.nexusmods.com] Corrects mesh & material errors not covered by other mods.
  
  What is done:
  • Fixed grass patterns from showing up on other meshes
    
  • Removed uneven grass patterns from Solitude and Whiterun
    
  • Fixed Windhelm ground materials to match sounds
    
  • Removed flat Windhelm texture details from all surfaces (buggy)
    
  • Fixed blurry Solitude textures
    
  • Fixed blurry cave textures
    
  • Removed clovers from SkyHaven
    
  • Removed Solitude house moss details (buggy)
    
  • Removed vines from Windhelm
    
  • Markarth road fix
    
  • Fixes ice sound to sound like ice
    
  • Removed snow mesh in DLC2 tree that had incorrect shading
    
  • Fixed incorrect shading of ice in the Forgotten Vale

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  Smooth Sky mesh - SSE[www.nexusmods.com] Removes color banding and smooths the sky transition between horizon, middle and top of the sky. Designed with ENBSeries in mind, but it has no dependency of it and improves the vanilla visuals as well.
  

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  Skyrim - A Mountainous Experience[www.nexusmods.com] Improves and fixes many of the issues found in the mountain meshes around Skyrim. Should be used alongside Majestic Mountains (Look at the photos)
  

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  Shingles - Alpha Patch[www.nexusmods.com] A mod that edits the shingles of the Whiterun marketplace to provide a workaround for misalignment issues seen with retextures.
  
  Fixed Mesh Lighting[www.nexusmods.com] Fixes various bugs with vanilla Skyrim meshes rendering too bright outside under shadows during daytime. Patches for some popular mods included.
  
  Invisibility and Eyes Mesh Fix by HHaleyy[www.nexusmods.com] This mod fixes some eye related bugs including "Invisibility Bug/Glitch" by replacing eye meshes or using a lesser power.
  

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Caves, Dungeons, Forts, Mines, Ruins, Tombs

Textures

Here again we have choices, it's your game so take a look at each linked mod page and install only the items that you feel you need. As is the case with the rest of this guide, I have used each of the mods listed below with different combinations at one time or another. Not every mod will be for you, then again nothing is for everybody. Again carefully read what each mod covers then choose either a combination or a single mod.

Ruins Clutter Improved [www.nexusmods.com] This mod is a staple in my load orders. This mod does improve textures and meshes and also corrects UV errors of many clutter objects, which can mostly be found in the dungeons of Skyrim. (If you are going to get 1 mod on this page, get this). Also check the patch section for a "patch".

CleverCharff's Caves 4K 2K [www.nexusmods.com] Retexture of caves and ice caves in 4k or 2k.

CleverCharff's AIO[www.nexusmods.com] An All-in-one of all CleverCharff's mods so far. Covers virtually all of Skyrim's towns and locations. Apocrypha, Castle Volkihar, Caves, Dawnguard, Forgotten Vale, Forts, Dungeons, Mines, High Hrothgar, Markarth and Dwemer Ruins, Smelters (for SMIM), Ash pile and so much more. Available in 4K, 2K and 1K.

RUSTIC RELIEFS [www.nexusmods.com] by Gamwich. The mod author who set the standard back in oldrim has ported his work over to Skyrim SE. This is a All-in-one package of several of Gamwich's works, it includes the textures for RUSTIC MONUMENTS & TOMBSTONES, RUSTIC NORDIC MURALS, RUSTIC STANDING STONES, and RUSTIC WORD WALLS. You already know how I feel about the work of Gamwich.

Azura's Star Dungeon Retexture[www.nexusmods.com] Retexture, mesh, and lighting tweak of the interior of Azura's Star with an emphasis on the 'twilight' nature of Azura. Available in 2K or 4K.

CC's HQ Mines [www.nexusmods.com] This is a retexture of the minewalls, minefloor and the minewood. All textures handmade by ClearanceClarence using Substance Designer 6.

CC's HQ Caves [www.nexusmods.com] This is a retexture of the Cavewalls and the Cavefloor. All textures handmade by ClearanceClarence using Substance Designer 6.

Gecko's Dwarven Ruins Textures [www.nexusmods.com] 2K overhaul of Dwarven/Dwemer ruins.

Underground - a dungeon texture overhaul [www.nexusmods.com] Underground is a complete retexturing of all dungeons except the ships and the clutter. It covers Caves, Ice Caves, Mines, Nordic Ruins, Dwemer Ruins, Imperial Forts, Riften and the Apocropha dungeons.

4K HD Fine Mines [www.nexusmods.com] 4K HD Retexture of the mines. Port of Pfuscher's over 2000 times endorsed Oldrim mines mod. With some upgrades.

Skyland - Imperial Forts and Dungeons] [www.nexusmods.com] The long awaited Skyland Imperial Forts & Dungeons replaces all internal and external textures for the Imperial forts and dungeons found throughout Skyrim.

Skyland Nordic Ruins [www.nexusmods.com] Skyland Nordic Ruins adds a complete overhaul to the visual of Nordic tombs, ruins, Orc longhouses, and other ruins found throughout Skyrim.

Stunning Statues of Skyrim [www.nexusmods.com] This humble but brilliant artist covered all Statues of Skyrim remade in HD. The installation package give you the choice of what you want selecting meshes and/or texture most of the texture format are in 2k/1k and some in 4k.

Remiros' Shrines HD [www.nexusmods.com] This mod replaces the textures of all shrines found in the vanilla game with new ones in 2k resolution.

JS Shrines of the Divines SE[www.nexusmods.com] Replaces vanilla divine shrines with completely remade, higher resolution versions. Comes in 2k and 4k.

Fortified and Animated Fort Doors SE [www.nexusmods.com] New door meshes and textures with custom animations and matching sounds for all the forts in Skyrim, 2K & 4K. (This has turned out to be a must have mod for me)

Non-Texture Mods

Markarth - Help the Warrens and A Cure for Cairine SE[www.nexusmods.com] MHW introduces two small quests: one to clean up the Warrens, and one to FINALLY cure poor Cairine!

Draugr Upgrades and Improvements [www.nexusmods.com] Let's add some tougher Draugr to the Nordic Tombs. This mod toughens up vanilla Draugr and adds new varieties of Draugr to the game.

Improved Traps[www.nexusmods.com] Fixes several issues with traps and adds detection events to alert enemy NPCs when a trap is triggered. Includes an option to increase the damage done by traps. 2 versions & 1 optional file - read mod page for details There is a patch for NFF in the "Patches" section of this guide.

Cities, Towns & Villages

Oakwood[www.afkmods.com] (Arthmoor's town mods must be below your landscaping mods) A new village reviving an old town from TES:Arena. Falkreath Hold has always seemed like a reasonably large place, but having only the Hearthfire home, a house taken over by bandits, and the burned out remains of Helgen hardly does it justice. Oakwood fleshes this out somewhat by placing a fishing and mining village on the shores of Lake Illinalta, just west of Lakeview Manor. This town once existed in TES:Arena but has not been mentioned since so there's nothing saying it wouldn't still be here.

Shor's Stone[www.afkmods.com] (Arthmoor's town mods must be below your landscaping mods) Shor's Stone always seemed like a place that had more potential than what was in the game, and as it turns out, that's because it does. NPCs talk about Odfel's wrecked house and the need to build a new one, but the wreckage doesn't exist. Grelka has some scenes with the other NPCs that can never play because she never comes to the town, and may well have originally been planned for there. Now, all of these things have been taken care of. Shor's Stone is no longer a backwater half-village.

The Fall of Granite Hill[www.afkmods.com] (Arthmoor's town mods must be below your landscaping mods) Granite Hill is mentioned in a few places in lore and existed prior to the 4th Era. However nothing remained of it in Skyrim by 4E 201 except the dragon mound where Vuljotnaak was buried in ancient times. All well and good, but with no explanation for what may have happened to the place it felt like a good enough opportunity to tell my (Arthmoor's) own version of events here.

Falkreath[www.afkmods.com] (Arthmoor's town mods must be below your landscaping mods) A minor expansion for the city of Falkreath. Provides additional housing for 2 NPCs. Like so many other towns in Skyrim, NPCs have been doubled up in housing or simply not given any at all and occupy space at the inn forever. Falkreath is already fairly large and space is limited, but there was enough available to provide homes for Kust and Valdr in a part of the city that wasn't occupied by anything other than trees.

Rorikstead[www.afkmods.com] (Arthmoor's town mods must be below your landscaping mods) Rorikstead is a farming village on the northwest end of Whiterun Hold. It has a rich history with a mention in an ancient book accounting for the property once owned by Jarl Gjaland, and a ballad is sung about the death of Ragnar the Red taking place there. Yet when you see the place in person it's a sad shadow of all of that history. This brings at least some of that back by expanding the village with more NPCs, houses to put them in, and additional farming for them to do. The town also now has a blacksmith to fulfill the complete picture. Lokir's abandoned house is included and can be claimed as a new home if you wish.

Darkwater Crossing[www.afkmods.com] (Arthmoor's town mods must be below your landscaping mods) If Darkwater Crossing ever seemed like too many people with nowhere to live were there, you're probably right. It's major enough for Tullius to know about it to set up an ambush for Ulfric, yet there's a single house there where two people live while everyone else sits around a campfire. Not anymore! Three new houses have been added to provide accommodations for the 4 NPCs who had no place to call home.

Ivarstead[www.afkmods.com] (Arthmoor's town mods must be below your landscaping mods) Ivarstead always seemed like it should be more to me. * Temba Wide-Arm will offer to share her house if married to you. * All added houses are radiant quest enabled, so you may get Companions missions and anything else that's properly configured to use NPC homes for quests. * Bonus: Golldir now has a home as well and will return to it once his quest, "Ancestral Worship", is completed. He can be married at that point and you can move in with him if you wish.

Keld-Nar[www.afkmods.com] (Arthmoor's town mods must be below your landscaping mods) Keld-Nar is a village in Eastmarch, near the Dwemer ruin of Mzulft. It boasts an inn, a blacksmith, stables to park your horse at, and a decent sized local garrison of troops. Unlike many other populated areas, Keld-Nar welcomes Khajiit, owing to the history the ancestors of the current residents had with them in Feldscar those many decades ago. The village starts off held by Stormcloak Rebels and openly worships Talos, but will change hands to Imperial control if they win the Civil War.

Whistling Mine[www.afkmods.com] (Arthmoor's town mods must be below your landscaping mods) It always seemed odd to me (Arthmoor) that an established mine with an active smelter had no place for the people there to live. Whistling Mine is cold, and inhospitable. Nobody in their right mind would actually sleep there! This mod solves that oddity by providing a small village for the 4 NPCs to live in and spend some time in. Cause who wants to spend their lives living in the mine they work in! It was also somewhat strange that Winterhold Hold had nothing but a single half ruined town in it.

Karthwasten[www.afkmods.com] (Arthmoor's town mods must be below your landscaping mods) Karthwasten is supposed to be a bustling mining town with two actively worked mines, yet only has a couple of buildings and too many NPCs to match. Plus it's a known lore town that's been here for at least 200 years. So this place needed a bit of an expansion to flesh it out and make it seem more like the "Karthwasten Hall" of old, in as much as Skyrim will allow for that. No more pitifully small center of mining for The Reach!

Dawnstar[www.afkmods.com] (Arthmoor's town mods must be below your landscaping mods) Dawnstar has always been described as a large port city with a lot of activity. What was presented in the game didn't quite do it justice, but until recently putting one's finger on why wasn't so easy. As it turns out, Dawnstar was run by cruel heartless nobles! The miners were condemned to live out their lives neck deep in grime in the mines. Well no more! Now these poor miners have homes like everyone else, and in the process Dawnstar feels more like that larger port city we've been told about too. With six extra homes in it, that shouldn't be much of a surprise. Plus the miners will now go home to sleep, and visit the inn after their shifts are up too. So there will be some of that missing activity now too.

Storefront[www.afkmods.com] Now your spouse will operate a store from the market area in the city you are currently living in. Your spouse will man this stall during the normal daylight hours, then return home at night. You can come collect your profits at any time just like normal. Works with Hearthfire homes.

Open Cities Skyrim

Open Cities Skyrim 3.1.6[www.afkmods.com] Open Cities Skyrim is a comprehensive project that aims to bring back at least part of the feel of Morrowind - specifically how most of the cities were a natural part of the world and you could just walk in without loading screens. The added immersion and realism goes a long way, probably a lot more than you might think. .

5 ARTHMOOR TOWNS w/JK PATCHES! | SKYRIM SE
https://youtu.be/XaVm3FGF_fE

Civil War

There are many mods that alter Skyrim's Civil War however this page, much like the rest of this Guide, will feature mods that either a) have no bugs, b) there are reported bugs but the mod author is very active and the page also has many downloads, c) the mod author is actively working on & fixing bugs, d) the comments sections show users who dispute any "reported bugs", because as we know anyone can report a "bug". Bottom line: do your homework folks.

Your Guide To Skyrim’s Civil War[unwinnable.com] Article

Mods

if you've never played Skyrim before you'll soon see why this mod was made
Civil War intro scenes run only once[www.nexusmods.com] Makes the scene with Ulfric and Galmar, and the scene with Tullius and Rikke, discussing Whiterun play only once. great mod. Now you only need to hear "he's a true Nord, he'll come around" once

New Skyrim at War - Anniversary Edition[www.nexusmods.com] Improves the Civil War by adding over 200+ Civil War patrols that march throughout Skyrim along with new Civil War units, proper marching/battle formations, tactical retreats, and the ability for the Player to command up to 78 soldiers. Full of exciting, action packed, challenging, tactical, stressful, and unpredictable battles/experiences.

for those who do not want to side with either the Stormcloaks or the Imperials
Civil War Neutrality SSE[www.nexusmods.com] You can stay neutral without having to miss important content. Also clears your quest journal and enables you to become Thane of Eastmarch and more.

After the Civil War - Siege Damage Repairs[www.nexusmods.com] An immersive way of repairing the damage left by the Civil War. Twenty days after the final battle the cities will be back to normal, but a generous donation will speed-up the reconstruction. Crews will be at work fixing the damage. Patches for "Immersive Citizens", "Open Cities", "Second Great War". ESP-FE this mod author is still very active on this mod page to this very day 2 1/2 years after it's release.

Many have used these next two mods (plus patch) together

Alternate Start - Live Another Life - SSE[www.nexusmods.com] No matter a player's views on who should control Skyrim, the Alternate Start mod allows players to jump right into the Civil War questline as a Stormcloak or Imperial. This alternate start begins with a quest that asks the player to retrieve the Jagged Crown, paving the way for the rest of the story.(obviously can be used without the next mod as well).

CIVIL WAR OVERHAUL - Redux[www.nexusmods.com] A very popular mod that has bugs listed but has many users to this day and the mod author not only has fixed many of the bugs in this Redux but is also very active on the page's forum You may want to use zEdit[github.com] with this mod to check for patches for Alternate Start or other Civil War mods you might use ( It will also allow you to adjust what troopers appear and how often..) Read the mod page ;-)

Clothing

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Apachii Divine Elegance Store[www.nexusmods.com] Adds a store. Merchants sell all kinds of custom made outfits for males,CBBE & UNP females. - Weight slider support, inventory model & ground object. - Armour rated outfits can be crafted & upgraded.- Silver swords, arrows can be crafted & upgraded.

Bruma Outfits for Skyrim Imperials (SPID Version)[www.nexusmods.com] Distributes colovian, cyrodilic and nibanese armors and outfits from Beyond Skyrim Bruma to Skyrim, Dawnguard and Dragonborn imperials.

Dunmeri Outfits for Skyrim Dunmers (SPID Version)[www.nexusmods.com] Distributes dunmeri armors and outfits from Dragonborn DLC to Skyrim and Dawnguard dark elf NPCs without editing the NPC records. Replaces the outfits of all unique (named) dark elves, except for Gabriella (Dark Brotherhood), Karliah (Thieves Guild) and Savos Aren (College of Winterhold).

Female Outfits Standalone CBBE Bodyslide[www.nexusmods.com] As requested 74 standalone outfits from the Mod Author's female outfit replacer mod.

Modular Clothing System - 1.0.0 - Vanilla Bodies[www.nexusmods.com] Build your own unique outfit right in game. Non-Nude, lore-friendly clothing mod. Vanilla based.

Modular Clothing System - 0.1.2 - CBBE SOS Bodyslide[www.nexusmods.com] in total there's around 230+ different parts. Some parts, like belts and capes (scarfs) have two versions: Big and Regular. Regular parts are made to fit naked bodies and thin clothes. And big parts are made to fit huge armored outfits. All parts are available for crafting on tanning rack and forge. You can equip all of these parts (except for pants because it uses 32body slot) on top of any regular vanilla/custom outfits.

Rugged Rogue Outfits[www.nexusmods.com] Informal, hard-wearing clothing for the discerning adventurer.

Sexy female clothing with pants by Giamel[www.nexusmods.com] This is a port of three mods by the mod creator, Giamel. They include; "Sexy Merchant Clothes", "Sexy Tavern Leathers" and "Summer Miner Two-Piece". Bodyslide files for each of them.

UNP Clothing Merchants SE[www.nexusmods.com] Adds a store not too far from Solitude. -> Combines 27 UNP clothing/armor mods (over 1000 individual items) into one mod. -> Features a new location and 7 unique merchants, nothing will clutter vanilla merchants or your vanilla forge/tanning racks. -> A lot of other changes you can find out about on the mod page.

Wilderness Witch Outfit[www.nexusmods.com] An outfit for female characters with full weight slider support.

An Appropriately Attired Wedding Couple SE[www.nexusmods.com] Allows you to set the wedding outfit of your betrothed for your big day.

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Combat

Also see the "Enemy Scaling" and the "Magic" sections of this guide.

First the Combat mods with No Dependencies

*New Valravn - Integrated Combat of Skyrim[www.nexusmods.com] (Alternative to Wildcat) Valravn is a compact, fully script free combat overhaul that focusses on the strengths of Skyrim - not twitch combat or "Dark Souls", but a slower paced game of decisions and consequences. It is widely compatible. Features include combat system rebalances, improved AI and increased relevance of Stamina.

Combat Evolved [www.nexusmods.com] This is a light script-free combat mod and difficulty increaser. This mod makes combat more dangerous and unforgiving. Combat Evolved changes nearly every aspect of combat, including improved enemy AI.

Wildcat - Combat of Skyrim [www.nexusmods.com] Wildcat is a streamlined, yet full featured combat overhaul. It makes combat more dangerous and visceral by increasing lethality, adding injuries and context sensitive stagger and making combat AI more responsive and aggressive. Wild Cat accomplishes this with minimal scripting and no save bloat.

Blade and Blunt - A Combat Overhaul [www.nexusmods.com] Blade and Blunt is a streamlined combat overhaul designed to enhance Skyrim’s difficulty and encourage active resource management. This mod is from the same Mod Author that brought us "Mysticism - A Magic Overhaul" which can also be found in the Magic section of this guide.

Archery Tweaks [www.nexusmods.com] This mod might fall under the category of "fixes" and you can make these adjustments in your .ini file however many first time modders may be interested in this. According to the mod author this mod: Increases the speed of all arrows and bolts, and makes them fly further before dropping towards the ground. This particular speed makes archery more realistic and satisfying while respecting gameplay mechanics. The MA is also very active and you could learn much from simply reading the discussion section of the mod. MA also provides many patches.

ABT SE - Arrows and Bolts Tweaks Special Edition[www.nexusmods.com] Lots of options for arrows and bolts in one handy NMM installer, pick and install the tweaks you want!

Combat mods that require/depend-on other mods

*Ultimate Combat SE [www.nexusmods.com] According to the Mod Author this mod is focused on enhanced game enjoyment and ease of play. The goal is to bring Skyrim closer to a neat action game than to increase difficulty and reality. Enemies acts are various, dash attacks, continuous attacks, dodge, great spell, cooperating act, get angry, and more...See mod page instructions for requirements.

*TK Dodge SE [www.nexusmods.com] Same mod author as Ultimate Combat (see above) but that mod does not include dodge. This mod adds dodge animation of using key press when player drawn weapons, spell, staff and unarmed. They of course can be used separately. See mod installation instructions for requirements as they vary.

Combat Gameplay Overhaul SE [www.nexusmods.com] CGO adds several features and fixes to combat and movement. It has responsive dodge rolls, procedural leaning, grip changing, mid-air combat, striking with staffs, dual-wielding two-handed weapons, 1st & 3rd person weapon animations, & more. *NOTE: FNIS is NOT Compatible with CGO.

Archery Gameplay Overhaul SE [www.nexusmods.com] Adds many features and changes to bow gameplay. Includes new animations with nocked arrows, bleeding, persistent arrows, and arrow enchanting.

Dark Souls Combat System SE by TheDriedFinger[www.nexusmods.com] Dark Souls Combat is a mod for Skyrim meant to bring core elements of the combat system of the Soulsborne series (the Souls series and Bloodborne) to Skyrim.

AIM FIX - total control over the crosshair for archery and magic [www.nexusmods.com] Makes aiming accurate out of the box. Provides total control over the crosshair position for archery and magic to match the hit point shift caused by the custom animations and mods. User determines how much easy or realistic the aiming will be. Equalizes the accuracy for 1st and 3rd person view. Tons of flexible MCM options and camera features.

Spellsword

The Wizard Warrior - Spellsword Magic Combat Evolved [www.nexusmods.com] The wizard warrior is an independent system which allows you to cast spells through weapon or fist (damage and cost are the same). This mod has additional features. Please see Mod Page for details.

Want more Gore & Violence?

Maximum Carnage[www.nexusmods.com] Finally, gore is back in Skyrim. Burn, electrocute or dismember your foes with extreme prejudice. You're welcome.

See the "Magic" Section of this Guide for pure Magic Combat mods.

Courier

Lilly - A fully-voiced female courier replacer and follower[www.nexusmods.com] Lilly is a female courier replacer. She will replace the default courier in Skyrim. She is fully voiced by the extremely talented druundev.

Vander Nightbrook - Courier Replacer[www.nexusmods.com] Vander Nightbrook is a fully custom voiced courier-replacer. He is the Post Haste representative in Skyrim and will take over all deliveries. His origin-story comes from CouchWarrior and can be found on his YouTube Channel. Vander is not the usual Bosmer.

Immersive Courier[www.nexusmods.com] Makes the courier look less of a wimp and more of a hardened survivalist who is up to the task of traversing Skyrim.

Hardened Courier[www.nexusmods.com] Gives the Courier a new look showing that he's been through a lot, and a true survivor who battles the many perils of Skyrim just to get your letters delivered.

Provincial Courier Service[www.afkmods.com]
This mod is a simple immersion/realism mod that provides a small shack outside of Whiterun along the main road, next to Pelagia Farm:

+Provides a home for Skyrim's default courier NPC who hands out letters for various quests.
+Courier deliveries will now occur in person nearly anywhere in Skyrim.
+Optional home delivery service will instead deliver messages to one vanilla or DLC house of your choosing.
+Can also approach the courier at his office and receive mail deliveries there.

Speak to the courier to set up your options. Until this is done, the courier will seek you out to deliver messages in person.

Crafting

Thus far I have never used any of these mods besides "WACCF, CCOR, & The Smelter"

Honed Metal - SSE[www.nexusmods.com] Blacksmiths and mages all over Skyrim will be able to craft, temper and enchant your equipment, including any armor and weapons added by mods. The quality and price of their work will depend on their skill as blacksmiths and enchanters as well as your barter prowess. Fully customizable through an MCM menu.

Honed Metal Voiced[www.nexusmods.com] Love the idea of ordering armor/weapons from smiths, but dislike subtitle-only dialogue or mismatched lines? This is an addon to Honed Metal SE, which switches out its lines with linked vanilla dialogue.

Complete Crafting Overhaul Remastered[www.nexusmods.com] The goal of this mod is to provide the most comprehensive, consistent, and customizable crafting experience in Skyrim. This mod aims to correct inconsistencies in Skyrim's crafting system and to enhance the functionality and balance of smithing and crafting in Skyrim. REQUIRES: USSEP, SkyUI, & The next mod (Below this)
*Weapons Armor Clothing and Clutter Fixes[www.nexusmods.com] *(Above Mod Requires This)Fixes bugs and inconsistencies for Skyrim's weapons, armors, clothing, jewelry, and clutter items.

Crafting Supplies - All In One[www.nexusmods.com] This is a collection of all the mod author's 'Supplies' mods (6 stand-alone mods) in one easy-to-find place. Each mod is available in the combined All-In-One file or as separate files. To download, choose either the main file or pick any of the optional files.

*New - Kats Smelt Everything SE[www.nexusmods.com] Allows you to smelt down most generic non enchanted armor, weapons, arrows, clutter and dwarven items in Skyrim into ingots. This is the SE version of Kats Smelt Everything, It's a simple but very useful mod and should not conflict with anything that does not edit smeltable items.

ScrollScribe SE - A Scroll Crafting Mod[www.nexusmods.com] Because you don't need manna when you have paper and a gem or two. Plus it allows you to turn every spell into a scroll! Emphasis on EVERY.

Riverwood Smelter[www.nexusmods.com] A small mod that adds a smelter in Riverwood next to the forge. (see a need, fill a need)

I'll be adding more crafting mods to this section soon

Creation Club (1.6.353 AE)

This section contains patches for Creation Club Content & Skyrim Anniversary Edition

Be sure to check the "Fish & Fishing" section of the guide as well

Unofficial Skyrim Creation Club Content Patches [www.nexusmods.com] This is a bundle of patches to fix the bugs in the Skyrim Creation Club content as well as resolve conflicts between Creation Club mods and the Unofficial Skyrim Special Edition Patch (USSEP).

No More Creation Club News ANNIVERSARY EDITION[www.nexusmods.com] A simple mod that removes what many people are considering as a 'spam box'. Aimed exclusively for ANNIVERSARY EDITION.

hakasapl's Creation Club Patch Collection[www.nexusmods.com] A work in progress collection of patches for creation club mods included with the anniversary edition update of Skyrim special edition.

Remove All Creation Club Content[www.nexusmods.com] Simple Batch file available in 2 versions to remove or backup every creation included in Anniversary Edition:
1st version
Obliterate Creation Club Content
2nd version
Move Creation Club Content files to a folder named backup

Pick & Choose your CC Content
Anniversary Edition Content Picker[www.nexusmods.com] A basic FOMOD installer for picking and choosing the Creation Club content you wish to keep installed with the Anniversary Edition of the game. This DOES NOT include any CC content and comes with instructions to follow prior to installation to allow the FOMOD to install the requested files.

Ghastly's Open World Loot Creation Club Patches[www.nexusmods.com] The pretty much official patch hub for Creation Club and OWL. I'll be adding the rest soon!

Survival Mode USSEP Patch[www.nexusmods.com] This patch combines the changes made by both Survival Mode and USSEP, allowing them to work in harmony. Survival Mode was given automatically to all users with the latest SSE update, and Anniversary Edition comes with Survival Mode built in. However, the Unofficial Skyrim Special Edition patch - a staple to many load orders - overwrites some of the changes Survival Mode makes to various record files, breaking a lot of the Survival Mode functionality around food and hunger.

More CC related
Although not a patch I'll place these here for now:
Anniversary Edition and Creation Club - Everything Upscaled[www.nexusmods.com] Every texture for every Creation Club mod upscaled, maximum size is 4K, textures that were already 4K have been cleaned and saved with a lower compression.

M'aiq The Liar Anniversary Edition (aka Modder's Edition)[www.nexusmods.com] Adds additional quirky not-quite-but-almost-fourth-wall-breaking dialogue lines to M'aiq the Liar celebrating 10 years of modding Skyrim.

Creation Club Patches

Always read the details on each mod page to ensure you are getting exactly what you are seeking (which of course should always be the case). Also, while we should of course always read each mod page's "Bugs" section anytime we are researching a mod please keep in mind that anyone can report a bug regardless if it actually is one or not. This is why we should then continue to read everything associated with that report (ie, all replies).

MAKE SURE TO CHECK PATCHES ARE UP TO DATE SINCE THE RELEASE OF 1.6

Unofficial Skyrim Creation Club Content Patches[www.nexusmods.com] This is a bundle of patches to fix the bugs in the Skyrim Creation Club content as well as resolve conflicts between Creation Club mods and the Unofficial Skyrim Special Edition Patch (USSEP).

Creation Club - Misc Patches[www.nexusmods.com] A collection of small patches for the Creation Club Content. Mainly for Weapons Armour Clothing Clutter Fixes, but other patches are available.

Unofficial Creation Club Updates - All-In-One[www.nexusmods.com] A merged, all-in-one patch for almost all of the Creation Club content, with numerous bugfixes and improvements. This also includes making sure the Creation Club Content does not auto-start as soon as you exit Helgen.

CBBE Creation Club Outfits Bodyslides[www.nexusmods.com] CBBE bodyslides for Creation Club Stuffs. Most don't support HDT, only Netch leather set is optional.

UUNP Creation Club Outfits Bodyslides[www.nexusmods.com] UUNP bodyslides for Creation Club Stuffs. Most don't support HDT, only Netch leather set is optional.

Creation Club Integration - Armours[www.nexusmods.com] Better integrates most of the armours available from the Creation Club into the world.

Creation Club Armors Upscaled Textures[www.nexusmods.com] upscaled textures of armor of Creation Club with ESRGAN.

Survival Mode Patch Collection (For Creation Club)[www.nexusmods.com] A collection of Survival Mode patches to allow Survival Mode features to function entirely with modded content.

Creation Club - Better Survival Mode (English)[www.nexusmods.com] This mod changes some penalties in Creation Club Survival Mode to make it more enjoyable. This includes changes to fast travel, food, carry weight, hunger need rate and more.

Unofficial Creation Club Patch - Wet and Cold[www.nexusmods.com] MA also gives you the load order for said patches.

Legacy of the Dragonborn - Creation Club Patch Hub[www.nexusmods.com] Created by the MA of LOTD. This is the central hub for Legacy of the Dragonborn support patches for Creation Club content.

Beyond Skyrim Bruma - Creation Club Goblins Synergy Patch [www.nexusmods.com] Synergy patch for Beyond Skyrim: Bruma and the Goblins Creation, including a new passage into Cyrodiil.

Creation Club is part of Skyrim[www.nexusmods.com] adds many of the items from various creations to the game either through levelled lists or through adding items to NPC's (but only where it makes sense!). For example Vigilant's of Stendarr wearing the Vigilant armor.

Unofficial Creation Club Updates - Arcane Accessories[www.nexusmods.com] A small patch that implements numerous fixes and improvements to the Creation Club's Arcane Accessories file, including preventing the quest (The Lost Library) from starting automatically when installed and gifting you some robes.

Sleep Under The Stars - Survival Mode Tweak[www.nexusmods.com] Tired of Survival mode ruining your camping experience? Well no more!
This simple tweak aims to make camping viable by allowing the player to get the "Rested" effect while sleeping in exterior cells.
Sleeping in an Inn or a player home is still going to be the better option since it is the only way to get the "Well Rested" effect.

Dragons

Let's show dragons some love

*Paarthurnax - Quest Expansion[www.nexusmods.com] A fully voiced, quite expanded new take on the quest Paarthurnax, giving both the Blades and Paarthurnax good reasons for their stances, and you, Dragonborn, the final choice. Fully voiced. Not with xVASynth, but vanilla lines. It is not perfect, but I'd argue it's pretty close to vanilla quality. My goal was to have it as seamless as possible, so the player wouldn't know where my mod starts, and where vanilla ends. It will depend on how good your headset is haha

Less Dragons SSE 1.0.0[www.afkmods.com] Less Dragons SSE is, simply put, a mod that reduces the amount of random spawns and dragon attacks. That means when out walking, or fast travelling to a town or village you'll be less likely to hear that roar and think "Oh no, not AGAIN".

*The dragon mods listed below are ALL compatible with each other:

UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED
(SKSE64 will improve compatibility with other creature mods)

D13 Faster GET UP STAND UP animation vanilla friendly SSE [www.nexusmods.com] (I'm placing this mod here because you need it if you want to fight Dragons imo) Did it always bug you that it took ages for dovahkiin, the strongest creature in Skyrim SOOOOOO long to stand up? Well this will make you stand up twice as fast, and it still looks realistic. You want this mod (compatible with everything).

Diverse Dragons Collection SE (DDCse) [www.nexusmods.com] Adds 28 leveled enemy dragons with unique models, textures, & abilities, uniting work from over a dozen mod authors. Now fully configurable. (Highly recommended to read the mod page)

Splendor - Dragon Variants SE [www.nexusmods.com] Drastically increases the visual diversity of enemy dragons, while using only vanilla resources. Extremely compatible with other dragon mods. NOTE: see this mod's Optional Files section for a patch that "Delevels all dragons in Splendor, so you can encounter the weakest and the strongest dragons at any time, regardless of your level"

Simply Stronger Dragons (SSD) SE [www.nexusmods.com] A simple script-free mod to boost enemy dragons' health and melee/breath damage. Designed for compatibility with DDC, Splendor, and other dragon mods. Health, Meelee, Breath, and Alduin boosts are separately configurable. Options are chosen during installation -- safe to reinstall with different options at any time. Do not combine with mods that change dragon difficulty (If you already use Deadly Dragons or similar and are happy with that, then there's no reason to download this mod). WHEN INSTALLING THIS MOD LOOK FOR A SEPARATE INSTALLER WINDOW IN THE BACKGROUND OR YOUR MOD MANAGER WILL APPEAR TO BE STUCK IN DEPLOY MOD. This is a great mod I use every playthrough. Also, when fighting a dragon the health being higher as a result of this mod makes it longer to start seeing their health bar go down. This is due to a game engine bug.

The Paarthurnax Dilemma [www.nexusmods.com] by Arthmoor. Disappointed with how ruthless and unforgiving the Blades were at the end of the main quest? Felt like you should have been able to put your foot down and make them see reason? Well now you can! Please read the mod page to ensure this mod works as intended.

The Paarthurnax Dilemma - Voiced Dialogue[www.nexusmods.com] Added voiced dialogue for Arthmoor's popular mod "The Paathurnax Dilemma". (voice generated through xVASynth)

Talkative Dragons [www.nexusmods.com] I love this mod, after all Mirmulnar, Odahviing, and Paarthurnax speak but none of the other dragons do. This mod changes that by using some vanilla voice lines to make other dragons speak during combat, so they feel like sentient creatures instead of just mere beasts. Also is flagged as ESL so to not take up a load order spot. See the mod page for details.

Immersive Dragon Sounds -iDS- (Enigma Remaster)[www.nexusmods.com] A Remaster Of it's Predecessor Immersive Dragon Sounds! Replaces Every dragon sounds from attacks to wings flap to death sounds with much fearsome and realistic sounds, while also fixing the old bugs and totally reworking it from scratch! (Goes well with Talkative Dragons). Go to the mod page where you can listen to the sound files (great job).

OR

Not feeling the above selections? Here's an Overhaul for you:
KS Dragon Overhaul 2 [www.nexusmods.com] Dragon combat and difficulty mod that overhaul your vanilla dragon combat experience with new one that makes dragon combat more interesting, intense, challenging and fun.

Enigma Series -All In One- SSE [www.nexusmods.com] The total Remake of every unique dragons voiceline, All in one package!

Enigma Series Compatibility Patches (Official) [www.nexusmods.com] Patches for the last 2 mods listed and some of the others on this page.

NOT Compatible

Dragon War - A Dragon Overhaul[www.nexusmods.com] a lightweight dragon combat overhaul. It will change the way you approach dragon encounters - now you are the prey and no longer the predator. To defeat a dragon you will need to be well-equipped and play smarter than before. Last but not least you can no longer rush the main quest as dragons are now far stronger.

Dragon War is incompatible with any other dragon combat overhauls, that includes Ultimate Dragons, KS Dragons ect. That said, a patch for Splendor is in the making.

Ultimate Dragons SE[www.nexusmods.com] Be sure to see the bug section on the mod page.

---

TESTING
I'm testing this next mod right now: "Paarthurnax Choices plus3" still testing as of 06/19/2021
Adds three additional possible outcomes to the Paarthurnax sidequest.

ENB's

I'm suggesting two ENBs in combination with Weather mods on this page for you to choose from (I also include 2 other ENB's and Reshade along with other options). IMO one ENB does not rule them all because again IMO each ENB has a certain weather mod in mind by that author. So here are 2 ENBs for you to choose from, 1 specifically for Vivid Weathers and 1 for Obsidian weather mod. (Both ENBs are by firemanaf & he has other ENBs for many other weather mods on his nexus mod page).

Enhanced Natural Beauty (ENB)
An ENB is an addon to the game that enhances the graphical appearance of the game. This addon consists of two parts, the ENB binary file which contains all the actual processes and general settings and which can only be downloaded from one specific site run by the creator of these, and the preset which can be gotten at any modding site (though, of course, Nexus is the most used). The preset is just tailor settings and changes made to the actual ENB binaries to change the appearance - by itself, it is useless.

There are many ENB's for Skyrim SE and just about every one of them offer 3 versions (usually included in one download) designed to fit your pc specs. They include 1 for "High Quality" for higher end pc's, 1 for "Quality" and 1 usually called "Performance" which is designed to give you better performance usually aimed at lower end pc's (Note: they may name them something similar to High Quality, Quality, and Performance but you get the idea). This way you can start with the best quality and see how your pc handles it and if needed work your way down.

With any ENB from any mod author regardless of the version you're definitely going to lose some FPS with an ENB installed. For that reason and the fact I want to see my game without enb's effect as I mod it, I add my enb when I'm done. I never bothered to mention this before until I heard Michael of GamerPoets say it out loud then and only then did I realize my important omission in this guide.

I usually add my enb mod last when building a load order so I can see the changes related to the mods in my load order although (there is not set "rule") it's really a matter of preference.

*New 8/1/2021 Culminated ENB[www.nexusmods.com] like a natural vibrant look? Check this beauty out

Here's a generic installation tutorial video if you're interested

(video's for installation of our enb & how to tweak it are below)
https://youtu.be/DKz2WVC-ezw

Re-Engaged ENB - by firemanaf

So in staying with the theme of this guide, which is listing mods that I have personally used, this section will focus on two enb's I use for my setup which are both included in "SkyrimSE Re-Engaged ENB" by firemanaf. RE-Engaged" comes in 9 different downloads depending on which of 8 weather mods you use and 1 for vanilla weather (no weather mod in your load order). The weather mods are not included in the downloads.

The creator of Re-Engaged, firemanaf, is also very active and very helpful in not only keeping his mod up to date but also in assisting people with their questions on his Nexus mod page.

NOTE: if you are not using a weather mod simply download the Vanilla version of Re-engaged, along with the binary from the ENB Binary site, plus ENB Helper from the Nexus ENB Helper page.

Here's a video by firemanaf Showcasing his Re-Engaged ENB for Vivid Weathers
https://youtu.be/biUUQt-VITY

Re-Engaged offers individual ENBs for several weather mods but there is a difference in the "Weather Supported" versions which he also offers. (See the Re-Engaged page for details). The mod author showcases his "Weather Supported" in the following video which happens to be the version I currently use and am in awe of, wow..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkCM98Rv2WE

Here's what you'll need:

ENB Binary [enbdev.com]
ENB Helper SE [www.nexusmods.com]
SKSE64 [skse.silverlock.org]
Smooth Sky mesh - SSE [www.nexusmods.com] *Recommended

Pick 1 of the following sets

Re-Engaged ENB for Vivid V9.1c[www.nexusmods.com] *Make sure you download the Vivid Weathers Version *IF YOUR USING VIVID WEATHERS otherwise download the ENB that matches your favorite Weather mod
Vivid Weathers Definitive Edition [www.nexusmods.com]

OR

Re-Engaged ENB for Obsidian v9.1a[www.nexusmods.com] *Make sure you download the Obsidian Weathers Version *IF YOUR USING OBSIDIAN WEATHERS otherwise download the ENB that matches your favorite Weather mod
Obsidian Weathers and Seasons [www.nexusmods.com]

A ENB Installation Walk through by firemanaf

https://youtu.be/4k_Pa3eZT6M Please Note: if you decide on another of the Re-Engaged ENB's make sure you download the corresponding Weather Mod for that enb unless you are using the Vanilla weather ENB. The installation instructions should be the same for any ENB you use from Re-engaged or other mod Authors.

How to Tweak & Adjust your ENB Settings by firemanaf

https://youtu.be/BD8o_7kTI-c

Try this lightweight ENB
The Truth ENB[www.afkmods.com] Combines the colors and spirit of Skyrim with the best ENB has to offer. Taken down 7/1/2021 I'll leave the link for a few days in hope it comes back. DHYB. YOU'LL NEED AN ACCOUNT WITH AFK MODS

Have not tried this one yet but..
Ljoss ENB for Cathedral weather - Night Eye - Real time snow cover - Performance friendly [www.nexusmods.com] Also for Obsidian. Real time snow cover, Support Seasons & Vanilla screen effects (Night Eye, Berserker Rage, fade-to-blacks), Performance Friendly, 4 variations, Support Cathedral Weather and Obsidian, include Horizon fix.

Alternatives to ENB

IMAGINATOR - Visual Control Device for Skyrim [www.nexusmods.com] So you say you want to bring the overall look to your game to yet another level but do not want an ENB or your PC can't run one without taking a substantial hit to performance. Well this little gem just might be your answer.

IMAGINATOR, a stand-alone, in-game, image modification tool. Easy to install & Easy to use it allows you to separately control visual elements like Brightness, Contrast, Saturation, Sky Brightness, Sunlight Output, Bloom and Tint all from within an easy-to-navigate HELPER or through an MCM also available on the mod's page. The Mod Authors, MyGoodEye and Gopher, have all the details you want & need to know regarding important information like Options, Compatibility, Load order, FAQ's & more on the mod's page. Check it out.

A good ReShade will also do the trick

Reshade[reshade.me] Start with this then search for a good preset on Nexus.

Enderal SSE Standalone

SSE version Now Available for download on Nexus and Steam

The biggest Skyrim mod ever is now compatible with Skyrim SE

Enderal: Forgotten Stories is a downloadable total conversion mod for TES V: Skyrim. A game modification that is set in its own world with its own landscape, lore and story. It offers an immersive open world, all for the player to explore, overhauled skill systems and gameplay mechanics and a dark, psychological storyline with believable characters.

Enderal is free and can be played by anyone owning a legal copy of TES V: Skyrim Special Edition. It was developed non-commercially by SureAI, the team behind the renowned Oblivion mod Nehrim: At Fate´s Edge (and various other projects).

Features

An open world with its own lore and hand-crafted, detailed and diverse landscapes – explore deserts, heathlands, forests, jungles, mountains, and more.
An unconventional story with believable characters and psychological undercurrents.
German and English voice acting by professional voice over artists.
Multi-faceted, believable characters with own ambitions and motivations.
Overhauled gameplay with classes, experience points, survival mechanics and challenging combat.
An overhauled skill system with classes and new special abilities.
A housing system allowing the player to design their own homes.
30 to 125 hours of expected playtime.

Added in Forgotten Stories:

Two "crafting classes" that utilize alchemy and enchanting for combat – use potions to shapeshift into a werewolf as the Lycantrope, use enchanting to craft spirit companions as the Phasmalist.
Improved performance and stability for a smooth experience.
Twelve new sidequests and two non-linear guild questlines: Work your way up the Golden Sickle, Enderal's merchants guild and infiltrate the ranks of the Rhalâta, the enigmatic cult ruling the Undercity.
Reworked and improved crafting, spells, and much more.

Enderal on Nexus mods[www.nexusmods.com]

OR

Go to the Steam Store where it's also free:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/976620/Enderal_Forgotten_Stories_Special_Edition/

Enemy Scaling

Also see the "Combat" and the "Magic" sections of this guide

WARNING: Some of the following mods may make enemies extremely difficult.

As always you must read each mod's complete Nexus mod page description for any requirements listed by it's mod author (as well as any conflicts)

Advanced Adversary Encounters - Ultimate SSE[www.nexusmods.com] A full-scale overhaul of skyrim's enemies featuring new spells, new names, new AI and new combat tactics.

High Level Enemies[www.nexusmods.com] Adds 874 new enemies with optional level scaling to Skyrim. Includes Bandits, Forsworn, Draugr, Falmer, Vampires, Warlocks, Cultists, Rieklings, Dragon Priests, Gargoyles, Animals and more! The new enemies start appearing at level 10. Also includes optional Hardcore and Spell Scaling modules.

OBIS SE - Organized Bandits In Skyrim Special Edition [www.nexusmods.com] Adds over 2500 different bandits into the level lists. They are organized into gangs with 7 tiers from wannabes to the deadly Bandit Lords. Each gang has its own strengths, weaknesses and lore. OBIS Bandits reluctantly work together to ensure Skyrim never feels safe again.

Advanced Organized High Level SkyTweak Encounters Patch[www.nexusmods.com] (REQUIRES ALL OF THE ABOVE MODS) AAE, HLE, OBIS, AT, SkyTEST. An ambitious patching project to forward all perks/bonuses of the mods to mod-added enemies, and resolve conflicts.

Draugr Upgrades and Improvements[www.nexusmods.com] This mod toughens up vanilla Draugr and adds new varieties of Draugr to the game.

Tougher Skeletons Meaner Draugr SE[www.nexusmods.com] Are you tired of Skeletons crumbling at the slightest tap? No backbone? (ahem!) Well henceforth Skeletons put up much more of a fight! Draugr are now much tougher opponents!

Haugbui - A Draugr Overhaul[www.nexusmods.com] A lightweight overhaul providing balance adjustments, new items, unique boss designs, and some more variants to the draugr enemies.

Mortal Enemies SE[www.nexusmods.com] Improves Skyrim's combat by removing the aimbot-like attacks of creatures, and imposing movement limits on NPCs while they are attacking.

High Level Enemies Redux[www.nexusmods.com] (Note: This is a Redux of the mod High Level Enemies you can NOT upgrade the old one with this one). An update and continuation of Dalquist's High Level Enemies.

Encounter Zones Unlocked SE[www.nexusmods.com] Prevents Skyrim from freezing the level of Encounter Zones (like dungeons) when they are first visited.

Combat Evolved[www.nexusmods.com] This is a light script-free combat mod and difficulty increaser. This mod makes combat more dangerous and unforgiving. Combat Evolved changes nearly every aspect of combat, including improved enemy AI.

Smilodon - Combat of Skyrim[www.nexusmods.com] Smilodon improves the combat experience by enhancing combat AI, adding mechanics such as timed blocking and attacks of opportunity, and making combat faster by increasing lethality. It is lightweight and uses minimal scripting.

Arena - An Encounter Zone Overhaul[www.nexusmods.com] Arena is a difficulty overhaul designed to enhance Skyrim’s original Encounter Zones rather than replace them.

Less Spongy Enemies (SPID)[www.nexusmods.com] Reduces the health of spongy enemies but doesn't affect low-hp enemies.

SkyTEST - Realistic Animals and Predators SE [www.nexusmods.com]The FIRST and most Advanced Mod that gives new Artificial Intelligence to animals for more realistic behavior, GUARANTEE OR YOUR MONEY BACK! There is also a version of this mod for use with the Creation Club's "Survival Mode"

Animal Tweaks[www.nexusmods.com] Animals are tougher, more intelligent, have improved and added abilities, and have realistic movement and speed. You can no longer run from bears, wolves, and sabre cats and win! Increases the challenge and difficulty of animal and creature encounters. New lore friendly abilities to keep things interesting.

See both the "Combat" & "Dragons" sections of this guide for more enemy scaling mods

Environment

Obsidian Weathers and Seasons[www.nexusmods.com] Sharp, ominous, and atmospheric weathers that accentuate proximal detail while obscuring distant landscapes with mysterious fogs. Obsidian Weathers and Seasons is a collaborative work by the authors of Dolomite and Rustic Weathers; a hybridization of artistic styles that glorifies Skyrim for her beauty while preserving her dated modesty. my current weather mod

Vivid Weathers Definitive Edition - a complete Weather and Visual overhaul for Skyrim.[www.nexusmods.com] Vivid Weathers is the ultimate weather mod for Skyrim. It combines features features from COT, ESS, SS, Vivid Snow, Vivid Clouds and Fogs, Real Skyrim Snowflakes and much much more into an in-depth overhaul. It revamp the colors and weathers of the game to achieve a stunning effects even without an ENB. for me it's vivid or obsidian

Majestic Mountains [www.nexusmods.com] -all mountains cast shadows-a single 8192 x 4096 pixel sized texture instead of two 4096 pixel ones-custom UV mapping with a reworked fitting lod-completely reworked vertex colors, prebaked ambient occlusion-reworked "Improved Snow Shader" settings-three completely differen variations -optional landscape texture pack with a fitting lod

Landscape Fixes For Grass Mods [www.nexusmods.com] Goal of this mod: Primary: Change landscape to reduce grass clipping through objects and restore lost details (details=pathways and small objects)
Secondary: Improve performance by removing grass where it cannot normally be seen without ~tcl (under Whiterun and inside Buildings of Falkreath for ex.) & Reduce overgrown sections of some roads. a staple in my load order

Northern Grass SE[www.nexusmods.com] Northern Grass adds unique, lush and beautiful grasses that maintain a cold aesthetic and fit greatly with the climate of Skyrim. Built from the original Unbelievable Grass Two, it adds various other immersive and cold looking grasses for a unique and beautiful result. If you want your Skyrim to look cold, this is the mod for you. my current grass mod

Veydosebrom Regions [www.nexusmods.com] A blend of fantasy and realism for Skyrim's vegetation.

Cathedral Landscapes[www.nexusmods.com] A dense grass mod that outperforms vanilla Skyrim with complementary landscape and terrain LOD to eliminate grass pop-in. PERFORMANCE FRIENDLY

Verdant - A Skyrim Grass Plugin[www.nexusmods.com] A personal take on Skyrims grasses - inspired and built upon Tamu75s Unique Grasses plugin.

Fluffy Snow [www.nexusmods.com] Simple texture replacer for snow. The aim is to make the snow a little more fluffy than vanilla. (be sure to check the patches) a must have imo

Transparent and Refracting Icicle and Frost Atronach [www.nexusmods.com] Realistic looking Icicle and Frost Atronach.

Yee - a new snowflake mod - Cathedral Concept [www.nexusmods.com] Made from ~20 micron resolution stereographic photographs produced by the Particle Flux Analytics Multi-Angle Snowflake Camera (MASC). Also, modifications to snowfall for Obsidian Weathers.

Better Dynamic Snow SE [www.nexusmods.com] Replaces the default snow shader with a dynamic shader. The dynamic shader uses the installed snow texture for the shader instead of ugly vertex colors.

Enhanced Vanilla Trees SE [www.nexusmods.com] Better Vanilla Trees? Sign me up! All-In-One tree overhaul package with enhanced Vanilla trees. Supports RAT, SFO Branches, SFO Snowy Pines, and more! it's usually either this or "Simply Bigger Trees" for me but EVT has a 50% bigger trees option so it's my current

Guide to Weather Creation and Realtime Snow Cover[www.nexusmods.com] Guide to Weather Creation, Combination, Patching, and Realtime Snow Cover.

Fish & Fishing

What's more immersive than fishing?

Fish Anywhere With Water[www.nexusmods.com] {My Favorite} Fish anywhere as long you are facing a nearby body of water.

L.V.X Magick's - Fish Anywhere (Skyrim AE - SSE)[www.nexusmods.com] Now you can literally fish anywhere you want, with new mechanics you don't have to stay at the fishing spots CC wants you to..
Adds a Lesser power to fish when you have the Fishing rod.. Has All the different biome Fishes

Skyrim Fishing SE [www.nexusmods.com] Ever wanted to spend time fishing in Skyrim? Well now you can!

The Skillful Fisherman - Fishing gives skill (Creation Club Addon)[www.nexusmods.com] Fishing in Skyrim now give a small amount of skill progression (One Handed, Alchemy).

Temper Fishing Rods[www.nexusmods.com] Simply adds tempering recipes so you can improve the fishing rods from the Fishing creation. Now also enchantable!

Epic Fishing Rods[www.nexusmods.com] This will allow you to enchant the fishing rods added by the Fishing Creation, which was previously not possible. Ever wanted a fishing rod of drain health? Go ahead. A rod that steals your enemies' souls? That's right. You can be the ultimate badass now, be the awesomest fisherman today!

Lakeveiw Manor Fish Hatchery SSE Edition[www.nexusmods.com] Adds a Fish Hatchery to Lakeview Manor.

Unofficial Creation Club Fishing Patch[www.nexusmods.com] Fixes an bug where records for the fishing mod get overwritten with Vanilla values by mods still patching for a Skyrim SE without the free Creation Club content.

Power of Creation - Fishing[www.nexusmods.com] This mod will alter the enchantments of the various reward items added in through the Creation Club add-on "Fishing". If you find one or two of the rewards within this content to be disappointing or think they can be better, look no further for I aim to do just that.

Eating Animations - Fishing Patch[www.nexusmods.com] Compatibility patch between Eating Animations and Sounds and the Creation Club Fishing mod. Because why wouldn't you need animations for all the fish?

CC Fishing Campfire patch[www.nexusmods.com] Allows cooking of fish from CC Fishing in Campfire.

Fishing iNeed Compatibility Patch[www.nexusmods.com] Patches raw fishes added by the new Fishing CC that are missing the VendorItemFood keyword so that they can be assigned iNeed hunger attributes.

Fish Hatchery Addon for Legacy of the Dragonborn[www.nexusmods.com] Adds a fish hatchery behind the Explorer's Society Guildhouse.

The Great City of Solitude CC FIshing Patch[www.nexusmods.com] This patches the location of the CC Fishing Supplies at the Solitude docks to work with the Great City of Solitude. It simply moves the fishing supplies on the nearest dock, nothing else is changed. This can be installed on an existing save, but the fish that spawn with the fishing supplies will remain at their original location. A new save, however, will have the updated location. This doesn't touch the Great City of Solitude, so in an untested theory it could be used for other Solitude mods if the docks are in the right place. ESL flagged ESP to save those slots.

Dawn of Skyrim - CC Fishing patch[www.nexusmods.com] Patch resolves some conflicts and issues between Dawn of Skyrim (Director's Cut) SE and new Creation Club / Skyrim Anniversary Edition content - Fishing. It changes position of some elements and markers to match environment modified by Dawn of Skyrim.

Additions for Myrwatch - Wood Chopping Block and Fishing Bench[www.nexusmods.com] A simple addition to the Morthal swamps - A wood-chopping block, alongside a pleasantly atmospheric fireplace and fish barrels. Also adds some fish to the pond. Functional with or without the Myrwatch creation club player house.

Want better textures fish related items?
Rally's Fishing Poles [www.nexusmods.com] Texture Replacer for Fishing Poles.

Fish Rack[www.nexusmods.com] Crisp new retexture for the fish rack. 2K / 4K.

Pond Fish Retexture[www.nexusmods.com] A retexture of the small fish found in ponds and streams.

Fixes

SkyUI 5.2 SE Plugin with Master Added[www.nexusmods.com] SkyUI 5.2 SE plugin with Skyrim.esm Master added. Alternate ESP-FE version available. Requires SkyUI 5.2 SE. Override existing SkyUI plugin with this one.

Patch for Map.swf Issue in Skyui[www.nexusmods.com] This is a simple fix for the SkyUI Error Code 5 issue when you install something that over writes the Map.swf file, this simply replaces the correct file so the Find function in SkyUI works again. This for SkyUI_5_2_SE but might work with older versions.

Word Wall Suspended Stack Fix - Shearpoint[www.nexusmods.com] May fix a rare bug where the word wall fx on Shearpoint never goes away.

Flickering Sunlight Shadows Fix[www.nexusmods.com] Fixes Flickering Sunlight Shadows while moving.

Quest Journal Limit Bug Fixer - Recover Disappeared Quests[www.nexusmods.com] Utility to bring back quests that disappeared due to quest journal limit bug. READ MOD PAGE BEFORE USING THIS MOD.

NPC AI Process Position Fix - NG[www.nexusmods.com] Updated NPC AI Process Position Fix adding support for SSE and AE in one DLL.

Animated Static Reload Fix - NG[www.nexusmods.com] Updated Animated Static Reload Fix with support for SSE, AE, and VR in one DLL.

Invisibility and Eyes Mesh Fix by HHaleyy[www.nexusmods.com] This mod fixes some eye related bugs including "Invisibility Bug/Glitch" by replacing eye meshes or using a lesser power.

Horse Mane Fix[www.nexusmods.com] Just a quick fix for the double mane bug when using horse overhauls introduced by the AE update separating horse mane and body meshes. Intended to be used with Oblivion Horses but should work with any horse overhaul that doesn't utilize the vanilla mane. ESL Note: The mod author has reported this also works for Special Edition.

Wall mounted dead animals fixes[www.nexusmods.com] Fixed meshes for most vanilla wall mounted dead animals.

Citizens of Tamriel - More Immersive Edit[www.nexusmods.com] Not a 'fix" per se but more of a minor tweak to the excellent Citizens of Tamriel, setting 5 somewhat controversial NPCs to *not* spawn.

Bronze Shine Be Gone[www.nexusmods.com] A simple mod that removes the shine/gloss that appears under certain lighting conditions. In more technical terms: It effectively removes subsurface scattering from characters.

Floating Ash Pile Fix[www.nexusmods.com] Fix floating ash piles by making them fall down to the ground.

Hearthfire BYOH Mesh Fixes[www.nexusmods.com] Corrects the drooping visible when using some texture replacers in the Hearthfire BYOH player homes.

Quest Fixes
Quest Conflict Fixes 1.2[www.afkmods.com] There are a number of quests in the game that, if completed in certain orders, will cause another quest or item to become permanently unavailable. This mod attempts to remove, or fix these lockouts. See mod page for Fixes.

Proving Honor Companions Quest Progression Fix[www.nexusmods.com] Makes sure that Vilkas will greet you when you return with the Fragment of Wuuthrad, even if you didn't enter Whiterun through the main gate, and allows you to continue the Companions questline normally.

Lights Out. Solitude Lighthouse Fix[www.nexusmods.com] Automatically relights the solitude lighthouse during the quest Lights Out!

King Olaf's Fire Festival Not Ending Fix[www.nexusmods.com] Retroactively fixes The Burning of King Olaf Fire Festival being stuck.

ReAnimate - Broken Animation Fix[www.nexusmods.com] Some say this mod actually worked for them. Fixes broken (stuck) animations, often described as T-pose glitch.

In-Game Guide to Finding Creation Club Content in Skyrim AE[www.nexusmods.com] Adds a book to your inventory with detailed instructions on how to find all the Creation Club / Anniversary Edition content, because it's easier than exiting the game and scrolling through the Creation Club menu for a short description.

vanilla save for anniversay edition[www.nexusmods.com] Save game without mods ideal to play the new CC content. Contains 2 file types. See mod page for details.

Looking for Creation Club Patches?
Scroll down to the "Patches+ (Skyrim AE) Creation Club" section

Fun, Goof, Unusual

So it seems that there are more people than it would appear that are looking for "Funny" or "Goof" mods to add to their Skyrim SE experience.

This guide has zero experience as far as actually using the following mods so we can't vouch for them. So please make sure you read each mod page's Description, Install info, Requirements, Conflicts, Pinned Topics, Updates, & Bugs sections (as is always the case).

*New Magical Dorito[www.nexusmods.com] adds Magical Dorito to skyrim.

DMT's Epstein Didn't kill himself (Operation Death Eater) [www.nexusmods.com] Completes Maven Blackbriar's unfinished DBH contract found in her basement. Kill Jolfreid Ypstein, it will be painted as a suicide no matter how you finish him. "They say Jolfreid Ypstein killed himself in his cell... with his voice! Shouted himself apart!"

Macho Dragons- SSE Port [www.nexusmods.com] This mod makes the dragons into Randy Savage from Macho Dragons by FancyPantz. These dragons also have some epic voice lines that complete the experience.

Intoxication (Drinks and Drugs visual effects) [www.nexusmods.com] Mod adds Intoxication Visual Effect after consuming alcohol or skooma. Adds Visual Effect of Intoxication after consuming alcohol or skooma. Doesn't contain quests or new scripted events. Uses simple harmless vanilla script. Effect duration is 60 seconds. Smoot start and closure.

Giants and Mammoths - Mounts and Followers SE [www.nexusmods.com] With this mod you can summon Giants, Ents and Mammoths - Mounts and Followers everywhere you want. Giants and Mammoths allow you to summon 12 Giants + 3 Mammoths, Mounts and (-simple-) Followers everywhere you want. You can easily DISMISS when you want with a "Spell tome:Dismiss Summoned Giant"

The Batman in Skyrim [www.nexusmods.com] Don the cowl of the Dark Knight, complete with a new Wayne Manor player home, a Batcave, and much more!

Rupert the Teddy Bear Companion SE [www.nexusmods.com] Adds teddy bear follower Rupert, and his player home.

Ultimate Superman - Supergirl Mod [www.nexusmods.com] An ultimate Kryptonian experience for any Superman / Supergirl lovers. Adds over 20 super powers!

Loading Screens With Extra Sarcasm Special Edition [www.nexusmods.com] Have you ever wanted your game to be a little bit more sarcastic? Do you think the loading screens are really boring? Well, this add-on is perfect for you! It took lots of science and math to make this.

Flatulent Falling [www.nexusmods.com] Flatulent Falling [/url] Sometimes you will squeak out a fart when landing from a fall or jump.

Rubber Chicken SE [www.nexusmods.com] Adds a rubber chicken weapon to Skyrim.

Swearing Mudcrabs (Special Edition Edition) [www.nexusmods.com] An offcial re-upload of the Swearing Mudcrabs mod to the Special Edition site by request.

Mjolnir (Marvel Comic Style) [www.nexusmods.com] "Whosoever holds this hammer, if he be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor." Marvel Comic Book inspired Mjolnir. It has infinite shock (Health/Magicka) damage, and stun enchantments. From a gameplay perspective, this item is high on the cheating scale. Infinite stagger and shock enchantment, and a 22 base attack. I mean what do you expect, it's Mjolnir!

Star Wars Lite Conversion [www.nexusmods.com] Converts Skyrim´s world into a Galactic Battleground between Imperials and Rebels. Adds some weapons and Gameplay mechanics and a lot ot models.

*Unique Magicka Sabers SSE [www.nexusmods.com] This is a wide addition to Lord Haun's Magicka Sabers. It includes various lightsabers from Star Wars, both EU and canon.

*Magicka Sabers for SSE with Light Emission [www.nexusmods.com] Mod Author's conversion to Skyrim Special Edition of "Magicka Sabers" MA also added a light effect to the sabers to increase immersion.

*Star Wars Lightsaber Sounds Expanded [www.nexusmods.com] Lightsaber sound pack for Magicka Sabers. Requires 1 of the two above mods

Lara Croft - Standalone Follower SE [www.nexusmods.com] This is a port of Lara Croft (Standalone Follower) with permission from the original author: There are a few different Lara Croft mods but we chose this one because A) it seems to have posivitve feedback (people like it) B) it was ported by ff7legend who really stays on top of his work. He also works with Tron91 who is more than capable

Staff Of Chicken Ball SE [www.nexusmods.com] This mod adds a customized staff to Katlas Farm. This staff casts a spell that projects chickens that explode in a fireball on impact.

Persian Turtles Of Skyrim [www.nexusmods.com] The famous Persian turtle has made his way to Skyrim! Compatible with immersive creatures, and maybe even use swearing mudcrabs to supplement the experience.

Baked Beans of Skyrim - The definitive fart mod [www.nexusmods.com] Mod conversion of well known mod Baked Beans of Skyrim created by verteiron.

Skyrim Bill Gates Edition Main Menu Replacer[www.nexusmods.com] Replaces your main menu background and audio. Bill Gates Edition. in honor of Microsoft purchasing Bethesda

May as well have a "Goof/Fun Mod" Player Home"
Itsy Tower - Playerhome on top a giant mudcrab[www.nexusmods.com] Small playerhome housed on top of a giant mudcrab called Itsy. Well lit interior with lots of clutter, storage and crafting stations. Houses 2 mannequins and some weapon racks for display and includes a library with enough shelves that can hold 556 books.

Have a suggestion for a Fun mod for Skyrim? Let us know in the comments section of this Guide.

Furniture & Clutter

While we of course use textures from several mod authors there is one in particular that is consistently in my load orders. Gamwich [www.nexusmods.com]. I also will be moving some mods from the previous sections of this guide to this section as I continue to expand on the mods in the guide. So until I complete this page and others I highly encourage you to view his work.

WHEN CHOOSING YOUR TEXTURES PLEASE REMEMBER THE GENERAL RULE: Smaller objects/items usually only require 512 or 1k textures and larger objects, depending on your system, should be 2k or 4k. Also remember to think about a texture overhaul for a base, something like Noble Skyrim and SMIM which cover so very much of all things Skyrim. So depending on what (and if) you installed for a base you should overwrite accordingly. Then of course if you are a screen archer and will be taking many screenshots you may want to choose accordingly. See the article by the very talented MA Shutt3r, author of Noble Skyrim here[forums.nexusmods.com] for more on this subject.

This Video Features Rugarok, Rustic Soul Gems, Rustic Clutter Collection & Peltapalooza
All of which are staples in all my SSE load orders and of course included in this guide:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fi_Frt6z-TQ&feature=youtu.be
RUSTIC CLUTTER COLLECTION - [www.nexusmods.com] by Gamwich. This is a collection of Gamwich's Rustic clutter item retextures. The mod includes RUSTIC DINNERWARE, RUSTIC POTTERY, and RUSTIC SILVERWARE. There are also a few other clutter items like mead bottles, wine bottles, the satchel, knapsack, coin purse, strongbox, safe, prisoner cage, and the dwemer lexicon cubes. 2K and 1K versions available.

RUGNAROK - Special Edition [www.nexusmods.com] by Gamwich. This mod is an overhaul and expansion of the rugs of Skyrim. 2K & 1K versions available. (Stunning difference yet very immersive IMO)
Check out the difference in this Video

PELTAPALOOZA - Special Edition [www.nexusmods.com] by Gamwich. This mod expands from the 3 default pelt used in farmhouses and inns to have as many as 9 different pelts in the game at one time. There are different sets for the floors, walls, and beds. ( as good as it gets and I love the name)
Compare vs Vanilla - Video

RUSTIC FURNITURE - SPECIAL EDITION [www.nexusmods.com] by Gamwich. (Gorgeous work IMHO) RUSTIC FURNITURE - SPECIAL EDITION is a high-resolution retexture of the noble furniture and high chest for Skyrim. Available in 4K and 2K resolutions. Version available for SMIM users with the SMIM noble chair textures included.

RUSTIC WINDOWS - Special Edition [www.nexusmods.com] by Gamwich. So I guess this page is turning out to be a Gamwich page lol for which I will not apologize as this is great work. This mod retextures the Skyrim & Dragonborn windows in a lore-friendly way. The window glass has been revised to be thick, textured & insulating. The "opaque" nature of the glass has a purpose. 2K & 1K versions.

Check this video out and watch the before and after of the windows - beautiful work.
https://youtu.be/iBiQCEeT16w
RUSTIC COOKING - Special Edition [www.nexusmods.com] by Gamwich. A "rustic" retexture of the main cooking stations, the spit, stewpot, and oven. Includes retextures for the stew, cooked beef, cooked venison, and cooked goat. Also included are retextures for cheese and cabbage. 2K and 1K versions available.

Skyrim 3D Misc[www.nexusmods.com] Take what you like here as they are all individual files by Mathy79. Butter Churn, Bucket, 3D Traps, Mammoth Cheese and more....

Farmhouse Door 3D [www.nexusmods.com] A beautiful replacer for the farmhouse doors. I have been using this mod for the last couple of years and it is beautiful work originally created by renthal311 and ported to SE by mathy79.

Gameplay Effects & Changes

Scrolling Speed Continued - adjust your running speed with mouse wheel[www.nexusmods.com] Are you jealous of controller users who can adjust their speed easily? Bored of trying to walk at the same pace at NPCs? Only able to only walk slowly or run as fast as hell drive you crazy? This mod is the solution. use mouse wheel to adjust your speed on the fly and more! NOTE: A user found this mod after noticing a problem when going from running to sprinting, in that the animation his character had a moment of delay in the standing position. They tried changing animations, engines and verifying the files but the issue remained. This mod solved that.

Multiple Floors Sandboxing[www.nexusmods.com] Have you ever wondered why NPCs mostly just stay at the same floor, even though the cell (regardless where at) has multiple floors? Do you have a nice custom home that has multiple floors in the same cell (i.e. no loading doors), and you want your NPCs to move up- and downstairs more This little tweak should address these needs.

Run For Your Lives[www.nexusmods.com] A small mod but vital mod that makes citizens in a village or city run indoors during a dragon or vampire attack. This way shop owners etc. should not die during these attacks so you can do business with them as the game progresses.

Guns

NOTE: I have never tested any of the mods on this page

Lore Friendly Rifles of Skyrim[www.nexusmods.com] Adds 15 new lore-friendly rifles based on vanilla materials and 8 bullet types to Skyrim. All craftable. Bandits and Guards use rifles as well.

Skyrim SE - Modern Weapons[www.nexusmods.com] See later versions below.

Skyrim SE AE - Modern Weapons Polished V26[www.nexusmods.com] This is the Most up to date version of the Weapons mod. It contains a lot of weapons 109ish to install place the data file into Skyrim root directory.

Skyrim SE AE - Modern Weapons V63[www.nexusmods.com] There are roughly 239 weapons.

Dwarven Blasters[www.nexusmods.com] This mod adds three types of dwarven blasters in the game, with custom ammo, sound and visual FX.

SKYRIM SE AE - Pre Alpha Grenade Test[www.nexusmods.com] This is a small part of a large monolithic mod, this is the Vietnam War Weapons Pack.

Project Flintlock Redux SE[www.nexusmods.com] This mod adds Flintlock Rifles with bayonets,a Blunderbuss, a Grenade Launcher and ammo/supplies, a Steampunk Mask and a new area (Outlander's Camp & Cave) to the game.

dwarven rifle Crossbow tipe[www.nexusmods.com] This mod adds two Dwarven Rifles to the game. The newest model features a bayonet!

https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/39830 This mod adds a Gray-Mane rifle to the game.

Rifle[www.nexusmods.com] see next mod

Rifle_Redone[www.nexusmods.com] Olegbest's RifleMod is now easier to use!

Next one is not a gun but I'll place it here for now
SlingshotInSkyrim[www.nexusmods.com] .This mod adds 24 types of Slingshots and 13 types of Balls.

Holiday

I've never used any of these mods but have been asked for some suggestions. As is always the case; Please read all requirements and know what you can uninstall and how if needed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmQPCPPN0QE&feature=youtu.be&t=59
Christmas Lanterns SE[www.nexusmods.com] This mod add several made by MannyGT lanterns in the following places: - Dawnstar - Falkreath - Markarth - Morthal - Riften - Riverwood - Solitude - Whiterun - Windhelm - Winterhold.

The Merry Snowberry SSE[www.nexusmods.com] Port of the holiday themed shop from Oldrim to SSE by Jokerine. This mod has been cleaned with TES5EDIT, does not require any DLC, does not make changes to cities, add NPCs, or modify scripts.

A Festive Christmas SE [www.nexusmods.com] Adds festive decorations right across Skyrim. Almost every cell has some Christmas bling! :)

Dovahkiin Retreat Continued[www.nexusmods.com] (Base Mod) Adds a Small house near a River. Outdoor Access to Crafting area and much more. Dovahkiin Retreat Continued Christmas Edition [www.nexusmods.com] Addon that Turns the Base mod Christmassy to add to your yuletide cheer.

Quests

Santanism - A Christmas Adventure [www.nexusmods.com] Now for Skyrim SE! To celebrate our most heathen holiday traditions we bring to you an eerily what-the-heck-is-this-omg-I'm-scared Christmas quest mod with lots of custom Christmas-themed creatures, weapons, armor, textures, music and kettlemen. A fully voiced experience, featuring 244 lines of custom-voiced dialogue.
https://youtu.be/nOQ4jGjtbbU
Insanity Clause - A Christmas Quest - SSE[www.nexusmods.com] Christmas Quest mod inspired by Oblivion's "Whodunit?" with an insane twist. CHECK FOR PATCHES ON THIS ONE
https://youtu.be/r8ZrLir5oeg

Here's a few (3) overhauls

Saturalia - Christmas in Skyrim SE [www.nexusmods.com] Saturalia is Tamriel's most important winter holiday, and all of Skyrim has been decorated with this large mod. Carolers, fully-voiced quests, and a huge amount of new content awaits. (This is an SE port with permission). colorful tree illumination addon for Saturalia[www.nexusmods.com]

Holidays [www.nexusmods.com] Villages/cities will visually change as holidays based on TES lore come and go. NPCs will also react to these changes by attending various events appropriate for the holiday. From festive lanterns to fireworks, a list of currently implemented holidays and their basic effects in-game can be found here [sites.google.com]. You will be given notice of upcoming holidays through flyers from the courier and/or through a monthly events letter at the bar in each city tavern.

Candy Cane Villages - Winter-Saturalia-Christmas Textures [www.nexusmods.com] Turn villages and farmhouses into candy cane (peppermint) color styles.

And a few Simple Mods

Skyrim Christmas Moon[www.nexusmods.com]

Santa Hat SE [www.nexusmods.com] good for all races.

Skaal Santa Suit Standalone or Replacer [www.nexusmods.com] Craftable Skaal Santa Suit with optional replacer version. Compatible with Frostfall, all body replacers, etc. (make sure you get both files)

Santa Girl sexy outfit 2017 [www.nexusmods.com] Like the title says. For CBBE but I did jump into game so I could try it on Lydia (UNP) in order to check it out and there was a little clipping in the hips and a little clipping in the hair thru the santa cap. All-in-all I'd say it does not look bad on UNP even tho it's for CBBE.

CandyCaneArmorAndStuff [www.nexusmods.com] Adds a new armor set. 35 new shields, 30 new staffs, 10 Spears and a spell. Looks like Candy Corn to me but it's here for you to check out

Follower

Frosty the Snowman Follower SSE [www.nexusmods.com] The head is mostly animated, the eyes blink, the mouth moves when he talks, etc. His primary body texture is the snow texture you're using in your game. Results may vary based on what texture replacers your have installed for snow, carrots, and the branches. He's using the vanilla MaleDarkElf voice. He can be found wandering around Winterhold.

Little Red Dragonborn SSE - With Optional Heels Sound - Physics - UNP UNPB 7BB Seraphim DreamGirl and More[www.nexusmods.com] Once upon a time, a sweet, innocent young girl called "Little Red" Dragonborn walked through the woods to deliver food to her sickly grandma. Locals called her "Little Red" because of the red riding hood she always wore, a gift from her grandmother.

Immersion mods

There are over 1,000 mods on the Nexus mods website listed under "Immersion" but there are actually many more that are not listed as "Immersive" when in fact many do just that, improve your immersion. So with that thought in mind I'll list a few here to get you started. Some mods like "Immersive Citizens" were listed earlier in this guide.

See the NPC section of this guide for more "immersive" mods like OBIS etc.

Important

Remember to always read each mod page that you are downloading from for any special requirements, for compatibility, and for available patches. Also check for the mod author's recommended load order placement. Easy now, Don't let your eyes get bigger than your stomach.

Helmet Equipping Overhaul [www.nexusmods.com] This mod handles automatic equipping/unequipping of helmets, hoods and circlets. For the sake of convenience, I'll just write "helmets" from now on, and that will include hoods and circlets too. Different actions for the Player, NPC's, and your Followers. Gotta Love the Immersion.

Guard Dialogue Overhaul SE [www.nexusmods.com] by Argonil. I'm listing this mod first in this section for a reason, the vanilla guards are flat out annoying and repetitive. This version is the original port from Oldrim and the one I still use. There is another version available for SSE which I also have used. They both have been last updated at the same time however this one sticks closer to the original. This version also has Quinn's patching system built in. Read mod page for more details. Always make sure to check for additional patches based on your load order.

Serana Dialogue Edit - Skyrim Special Edition [www.nexusmods.com] (Requires USSEP) Talk about immersion! How could I leave out Skyrim's favorite Vampire (for some not so much lol). This mod and the next mod work well together. Be sure to read the descriptions of both mods.

Serana Dialogue Add-On [www.nexusmods.com] An expansion to Serana's dialogue in order to make her feel more organic as an interactive character with the player and the world. This includes more conversations with the player, expanded combat lines, and radiant dialogue. This mod is intended to be both standalone and compatible with Serana Dialogue Edit (see mod above).

Marry Me Serana [www.nexusmods.com] You can marry Serana after completing the quest "Kindred Judgment".
This's a simple mod. The mod just adds Serana to the vanilla marriage options. It's the same way that you marry another marriable NPC. You can install this mod anytime. A new game isn't required. Load order should not matter but if it does try moving it lower in your load order.

Immersive World Encounters SE [www.nexusmods.com] (requires SKUI) Immersive World Encounters expands the vanilla random events by adding roughly 70 new random World Encounter and 16 World Interaction events. These new events will start to happen randomly the moment you install it in your game. It comes with a handy MCM which allows you to configure various aspects of the mod, including toggling on/off certain random events from vanilla and the mod.

Immersive Patrols SE [www.nexusmods.com] I'm going to include this mod because not only did I use it but it is also one of the most popular immersion mods on Nexus with over 2 millions downloads. Plus according to the mod author this mod "Does not use scripts. Feel free to install and uninstall worry free." So I tried it and loved it. One thing with mods that add NPCs to the world is you can get too many in one area (birds included) so be careful and if you try it and have problems you can uninstall it mid-game. See the mod page for more details.

True Storms Special Edition - Thunder Rain and Weather Redone [www.nexusmods.com] Yep, I'm placing this in immersion. True Storms is true immersion when it comes to the atmosphere around you. Check it out on the mod page and there are patches available if you use this with a weather mod.

Weightless Overhaul [www.nexusmods.com] This mod allows you to Change weight of Books, Ingestibles, Ingredients, Scrolls & Misc items to 0 (Zero). You can choose to install everything or pick the items you want set to zero during installation (FOMOD). This is a mod I can't play without. Nothing breaks my immersion like having to constantly run to town to sell items or worse yet leaving items behind.

Open Faced Guard Helmets - Special Edition [www.nexusmods.com] Changes Guard Helms to an Open Face Version so now you can see the faces of the Guards! Simple but immersive.

Quick Light SE [www.nexusmods.com] I hate not being able to see in the dark at all. Turn on/off a light when long pressing the activation key or short press L key. 3 options on the fly including a wearable lantern (without taking up an equipment slot).

Face Light [www.nexusmods.com] This mod adds a "Facelight" spell. Has a MCM. Works great together with Quick Light. Great for screenshots as well. I'd say it's "immersive" to see faces.

Hold Border Banners [www.nexusmods.com] This mod adds banners along roadsides at the boundaries of two holds. The banner you see will show you which hold you are entering. If you're not sure what the banner represents, just walk up to it and it will show the name of the hold.

*New - Illustrated Town Panels SSE[www.nexusmods.com] I like this as much if not better than Hold Banner Borders (can use both). Can pick individual towns during install - all plugins ESL-Flagged. English, French & German options during install.

The Notice Board SE [www.nexusmods.com] This mod adds new and alternative radiant (and side) quests. It was inspired from other good games like The Witcher which make use of notice boards in their gameplay.

2K - 4K Notice Board [www.nexusmods.com] Makes your Notice Board either 2K or 4K and gives more quests.

The Notice Board SMIM 3D Ropes Fix[www.nexusmods.com] A mod that fix the position of the board models from The Notice Board to avoid clipping with SMIM 3D ropes Are you using SMIM? If so here's a mod that fix the position of the board models from The Notice Board to avoid clipping with SMIM 3D ropes.

Bells of Skyrim[www.nexusmods.com] Ever wondered why the game's official trailer shows a ringing alarm bell during the dragon attack, but there is none in the game? This mod fixes that & adds those bells.

Jewelry

This first mod very well might be the best jewelry replacer for Skyrim SE but you need to 1) read the requirements, and 2) read all the additional jewelry mods that you'll need to add. I believe she's working on a true all-in-one replacer but folks have been pestering her so here you go:

Ave's Unique Jewelry Replacer[www.nexusmods.com] The Amulets in this Mods require Bodyslide and SOS without it there may be issues. Place all required files (see mod page) in your Data folder (you can ignore the esp files that comes with each mod). Use Bodyslide to create the models. (She has a long list of individual files you'll need to pick from. Again, see the mod page. She has also made patches: see the next mod:

Ave's Unique Jewelry Replacer Patches[www.nexusmods.com] Patches for: for Immersive Sounds - Compendium, Weapons Armor Clothing and Clutter Fixes, Complete Crafting Overhaul Remastered, Zim's Immersive Artifacts, and/or Reliquary of Myth - Artifact Overhaul

iD - DovahBling Bracelets[www.nexusmods.com] DovahBling Bracelets have arrived to Skyrim SE ! Enchantable Left and Right variants for males and females.

Newmiller Drake2 Jewelry SSE[www.nexusmods.com] 6 variants of necklace, 1 circlet few coloring variants - totally 112 items craftable or in chest. For UNP and CBBE. Ported to SSE with permission from newmiller.

KS Jewelry SSE[www.nexusmods.com] A jewelry mod that comes with 22 pieces of jewelry consisting of earrings, necklaces, chokers, ear cuffs, and others. Comes with elven support.

KD Circlets Redone by zzjay[www.nexusmods.com] This mod is a standalone conversion of all the kdcirclets models from TES 4 . Contain several new circlet models and dozens of craftable choices. Brought to SSE by permission.

JS Armored Circlets SE[www.nexusmods.com] A set of 9 brand new standalone Circlets with the same attributes as their helmet counterparts. A Mage version is also optional.

Gemling Queen Jewelry SE[www.nexusmods.com] This is a faithful port of Saerileth excellent Jewelry mod Gemling Queen Jewelry with amazing textures made by Gamwich. lordjoseph7, who ported this mod kept all features intact, converted all meshes to Skyrim SE new format using ousnius excellent tool SSE NIF Optimizer & saved the Dawnguard vampire amulet fix esp in the new CK. Nice work

Left Hand Rings Modified SE[www.nexusmods.com] An updated version of Left Hand Rings by Duggelz. The biped slot number have been changed for people who had conflict problems using the original mod, along with a bunch of added new features.

Ring of Waterwalking and The Waterwalking Enchantment[www.nexusmods.com] Waterwalking was introduced in Dragonborn but not on any items you could disenchant. This adds a water walking ring to the world that is disenchantable. Now in German also!

Jewelry of Power[www.nexusmods.com] Adds 21 uniquely enchanted pieces of jewelry in the "misc" category that can be crafted at an anvil or forge. 13 of the items can be disenchanted to learn their unique enchantment and are noted as such. These enchantments can be applied to any piece of armor you own with no wear restrictions.

Elewin Jewelry SSE - Navel Piercings for UNP[www.nexusmods.com] Adds 5 sets of navel / belly piercings to Skyrim. I am not the mod author. Elewin is! All credit to Elewin :). This is a simple SSE port of Elewin's original mod. The items can be FOUND IN A SMALL JEWELRY BOX OUTSIDE FRONT ENTRANCE OF THE DRUNKEN HUNTSMAN

I happen to like this mod but some do not enjoy the way it changes crafting etc. Read up:
Immersive Jewelry SSE[www.nexusmods.com] Add diversity with 4200 jewelry variants distributed across culture-specific leveled lists for races and dungeons. Swap any of 1700 rings or bracelets to the left hand and back instantly via right click-even player enchanted and named ones.

Immersive Jewelry also incorporates a new system of gem and metal-influenced enchanting based on occultism and the Aedric planets. This mod was designed to work with "Complete Crafting Overhaul Remade (CCOR)", and as of release 0.95 its functionality with CCOR's enchantment effects scaling based on value and the CCOR MCM is intact. Since CCOR ships with Jewelcraft and Jewelcraft recipes and items are a bit incongruent with those of Immersive Jewelry, simply uncheck the CCOR options to have Jewelcraft items appear in the crafting menu and in leveled lists. Make sure to load IJ after CCOR. THERE IS NO NEED FOR THE MOD LEFT HAND RINGS WHEN USING THIS MOD

Landscape

Important

As is always the case: Please be sure to read each mod page before downloading any mod for any additional installation instructions, conflicts & compatibility.

https://youtu.be/bm3vtWzs7ko

Majestic Mountains[www.nexusmods.com] IMO Skyrim's best mountain mod. The goal of this mod is a complete mountain rework. The lighting of the mountains was changed in a way to fit much better to dynamic day night cycles and the weather system of Skyrim.

RUSTIC MOUNTAINS - Special Edition [www.nexusmods.com] A RUSTIC enhancement of the vanilla mountain textures for Skyrim Special Edition. Texture sizes are identical to the originals. Now with BC7 compression. (by Gamwich, need I say more?)

PICK 1 OF THE NEXT 2 SNOW MODS - BOTH ARE GREAT - I FIND THERE ARE TIMES ONE WORKS BETTER THAN THE OTHER DEPENDING ON YOUR OTHER MODS (PREFERENCE)

Nordic Snow (aka HQ Snow Texture) (by gorefest2011) [www.nexusmods.com] These textures are 2048x2048 which is also the same as the original snow textures in SSE. Hence, these textures won't cause you any harm as long as you can pull off the original (with some exceptions).

Fluffy Snow [www.nexusmods.com] This mod contains textures only and should be safe to add/remove mid game. The textures are 2048x2048, so shouldn't affect performance much.

Footprints (by jonwd7) [www.nexusmods.com] Adds footprints to the player, NPCs, and creatures. With particle FX! Currently for snow and ash. Talk about immersion! Check out the Video

Ultimate HD Fire Effects SSE [www.nexusmods.com] You can choose between the Ultra, Medium and Low Resolution version of the mod. This mod changes all fire effects in the land of Skyrim (fire spells, campfires, braziers, torches, dragonfire, some smoke effects etc.)

"Ultimate HD Fire Effects" is a Visual Effects Mod so if you experience odd visuals this could be the result of another Texture mod you installed that is conflicting. (This mod does not contain a .esp)

ETHEREAL CLOUDS - Special Edition [www.nexusmods.com] (by Gamwich) With over 450,000 downloads and counting this a mod that was a staple in my load order and will be again ASAP as I miss it. This mod is still getting endorsements today and for good reason.

According to the Author "Ethereal Clouds is a Lore-friendly retexture of the clouds of Skyrim. My aim was to make cloud textures that are neutral in appearance, so they will blend with any lighting mods, and add more visual interest than the default clouds." Available in both 2K and 1K

A MODerate Whiterun Tree Mod[www.nexusmods.com] This mod will add a mix of trees inside the city of Whiterun and to the surrounding area.

Simply Bigger Trees SE [www.nexusmods.com] All trees nearly doubled in size, with resized HD LOD, and support for Realistic Aspen Trees. Get lost in the forest! Only download the first file on this page and be done with it unless you're more experienced and want to start generating your own LODS or use this mod with other tree mods.

Makes all of the trees bigger, keeps the look and feel of vanilla, retains compatibility with texture mods, and makes Skyrim's forests worthy of their legend! This seemingly small change has MASSIVE atmospheric impact in-game. This is specifically aimed at those who like the look and feel of the vanilla game, but just want things a bit more big and wild.

The author did a great job on his description of this mod. Lots of detailed info relating to features, compatibility, LOD, load order and more for those wanting to take it beyond the basics. However, if this is your first time modding stick with the first file on the Simply Bigger Trees page as suggested above.

ElSopa - Creep Cluster SE [www.nexusmods.com] by Elsopa - Creep Cluster Retextured 2k-1k

Mountain flower by Mari SE [www.nexusmods.com] Mountain flower retexture 1k, 2k (Love her work)

Lavender by Mari SE [www.nexusmods.com] Lavender 4k, 2k, 1k (Her work is beautiful)

Hanging moss by Mari SE [www.nexusmods.com] Hanging moss 1k and 2k. (more from Mari)

Thistle by Mari SE [www.nexusmods.com] Thistle retexture 4k, 2k, 1k (awesome)

Nirnroot by Mari [www.nexusmods.com] Nirnroot retexture 4k, 2k, 1k

Spiky grass by Mari [www.nexusmods.com] Spiky grass retexture 4k, 2k and 1k

Dragons tongue by Mari [www.nexusmods.com] Dragons tongue retexture in 4k, 2k, 1k

Tundra cotton by Mari [www.nexusmods.com] Tundra cotton 4k, 2k, 1k

Ivy by Mari [www.nexusmods.com] Ivy retexture 4k, 2k, 1k (Green or Red)

Snowberries by Mari[www.nexusmods.com] Snowberries replacer 4k, 2k, 1k

Swamp fungal pod by Mari[www.nexusmods.com] Swamp fungal pod replacer 4k, 2k, 1k

Jazbay by Mari[www.nexusmods.com] Jazbay replacer 4k, 2k, or 1k (FOMOD)

Juniper by Mari[www.nexusmods.com] Juniper replacer 4k, 2k, or 1k available in FOMOD installer

Mari's flora[www.nexusmods.com] A pack of ALL of Mari's Plants in one.

Vanilla HD Tree Branches [www.nexusmods.com] these are for EVT but I use SBT and these look great. He does put the following info on his page: Note: You do not need EVT for this to work. In fact, you do not need any other tree mod at all. This is just a texture replacement.

Leveling - XP

Always check each mod for required add-ons because almost All of these mods have requirements
I have not personally used the mods on this page

Skyrim Skill Uncapper[www.nexusmods.com] This DLL plugin unlocks the skill level caps of 100 and makes some relevant leveling tweaks.You can treat it as Skyrim-Community-Uncapper SSE version. Features: Redefine skill level caps; Redefine skill formula caps; Redefine skill exp gain mults; Redefine PC level exp gain mults...etc.

Experience[www.nexusmods.com] Gain levels by completing quests and exploring. Skills don't contribute to character's level anymore!

Static Skill Leveling (Experience Mod Add-on)[www.nexusmods.com] requires the "Experience" mod) When you gain a level, choose which skills to increase, rather than tediously micromanaging skill gains.

Get Skill Experience With Experience[www.nexusmods.com] requires the "Experience" mod) This is a simple mod to get (just) a little character XP from skills while primarily getting character XP as the Experience mod intends. I've mainly uploaded it so that my learning process can be of benefit to others.

Faster Skill Leveling Ultimate (plus Slower Leveling)[www.nexusmods.com] - back by popular demand but currently unsupported -[/i] Faster Skill Leveling 2017 upgraded (2020) to Ultimate, now easier to use than ever before!

Sleep to Gain Experience[www.nexusmods.com] Any skill experience you gain is buffered and later added after you've slept in-game.

Experience - Slower Leveling - ESL Flagg[www.nexusmods.com] Slower Leveling for Experience. Each level takes 175 XP longer to reach.

Spell Research[www.nexusmods.com] Adds a completely new system to research and discover spells from any supported spell mod. As well as adding an in-built spell tome and scroll crafting system, a Victorian-Era style alchemy system, where you can dissolve items, and mix or analyze the resultant solutions, and expands the lore of magic with dozens of texts and artifacts to find.

Spell Research - Experience Book[www.nexusmods.com] This is an extension of the Spell Research Mod by IronDusk33 and requires it to function.

Crafting Skill Leveling Overhaul[www.nexusmods.com] Changes the formulas for crafting skill level up to make more sense.

Faster Leveling[www.nexusmods.com] A little mod that edits Standing Stones to give more xp.

More Perk Points Per Level[www.nexusmods.com] A simple mod that allows you to expand your characters abilities faster per level.

Lighting

Lighting mods are plentiful on the Nexus and most of you know the big names out there but I thought I'd post a few for the new folks and a new lighting mod that came out in 2020. Many times certain lighting mods are suggested by Weather Mod and ENB Authors.

Note that most lighting mods offer both indoor and outdoor lighting options.

First some very popular and suggested Lighting mods

Enhanced Lights and FX [www.nexusmods.com] ELFX adds lights to all light sources and removes any light without a source, as well as adding many more effects like smoke, volumic lights, driples, etc. The Mod Authors says they made some friendly redesigns as needed too, and some redesigns for more dramatic looking. This mod has not been updated since 2017 but many good mods don't need updating and this one is still recommended and used by ENB authors.

Realistic Lighting Overhaul SSE[www.nexusmods.com] The Mod Author says "This is a massive overhaul of Skyrim's lighting. Exteriors also vastly overhauled! No Post Processing - No FPS loss! New features added for SSE - Dwemer Lighting Technology. Check out Understone Keep for an introduction to this feature!" But the key might be the "No FPS loss" that the MA claims which would make this mod performance friendly. I have not used it in a while but have no complaints about it.

Enhanced Lighting for ENB (ELE) - Special Edition[www.nexusmods.com] DOES NOT REQUIRE ENBSERIES. Lighting changes for all interiors in Skyrim Special Edition. This version of ELE is a Lite version of the full ELE Suite found at ENBDev. This only includes certain features from all ELE modules into one single .esp plugin. BRING A TORCH TO THOSE DUNGEONS

Relighting Skyrim - SSE[www.nexusmods.com] Fixes the placement and characteristics of lights throughout Skyrim. Aspires to keep the intended vanilla feel, while actually making light come from light sources and not be absurdly bright or dark. NOW IN 2 VERSION - 1 OF WHICH IS COMPATIBLE WITH "WINDOW SHADOWS".

Now for the New(ish)

Window Shadows[www.nexusmods.com] Started using this mod by "HHaley-Dlizzio-CathedralCommunity" after wolfpack recommended it earlier this year and I was wowed. Windows now cast shadows from interiors and worldspaces. Now includes Enhancer.

Tamriel Master Lights[www.nexusmods.com] The MA says this is a complete exteriors lighting overhaul. It replaces a huge amount of lighting sources with shadow casting ones without causing any light flickering issues. This highly improves realism, immersion and atmosphere expecially during the night time.

Interior Lighting Mods Comparison Video

https://youtu.be/f4yHwyC81IU

Exterior Only Lighting mods

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJvbaSz07_U

CLARALUX SSE - Controllable Lights Everywhere[www.nexusmods.com] Completely REBUILT for SSE! With IN-GAME LIGHT ADJUSTERS! Adds 1000s of new light "fixtures" to WALLED CITIES, FORTS, ROADS, PATHS, and elsewhere. Increases the light output for improved visibility using dark night mods as well as allowing you to adjust the light temperature.

Mage Gear

Are you thinking about role-playing as a Mage? Maybe a Greybeard? This Section is dedicated to various gear for your Mage PC ranging from traditional mage robes or Spellsword "Special" armored robes to mods that allow your Mage to wear Circlets with Hoods. Let's take a look at a few mods.

The first two mods allow us to avoid grinding away our smithing and enchanting for the 100th time.

Golden Rings Of Crafting by PoweredBySushi [www.nexusmods.com] A small cheat item for those who do not wish to spend a couple of minutes doing the alchemy enchanting loop. ha, he says a couple of minutes, more like hours that seem like forever. I usually grab the "Conjurer" ring which Improves Smithing, Alchemy and Enchanting by 250 points

Jewelry of Power by LukeFabello [www.nexusmods.com] Adds 21 uniquely enchanted pieces of jewelry in the "misc" category that can be crafted at an anvil or forge. 13 of the items can be disenchanted to learn their unique enchantment and are noted as such. These enchantments can be applied to any piece of armor you own with no wear restrictions.

Crafter's Amulet is one of the items included in this mod. Plus you'll see a couple of others that are magick casting related you should learn at the enchanting table then use to enchant some jewelry.
With Crafter's Amulet:
Created potions are 150% stronger and always pure.
Weapons and armor can be improved 150% (75/100/200/300)% better.
New enchantments are 50% (20/30/75/100)% stronger and two effects can be applied.
This item is also Disenchantable.

Destruction Power Enchantment - The Armor of Zurin Arctus[www.nexusmods.com] This mod adds a series of enchanted rings, which increase the damage done by destruction magic. There are 4 basic levels of the enchantment, which increase destruction power 20, 40, 60, or 80 %, depending on your level when you find or buy one. They can be disenchanted and the enchantment can be applied to any items that would normally take a destruction enchantment. The enchantments stack as well.

Armored Robes of Skyrim SSE [www.nexusmods.com] by mogmac99 - Armor or Robes? No longer will you have to make that choice. This mod allows you to craft all the standard robes of the vanilla game as clothing or as Light Armor. Dragonscale, Elven, Elven Gilded, Glass and Leather options are all available. All items within this mod are added as new items, and as such should not conflict with any other mod. If you have any re-textures or replacement meshes for the vanilla robes, this mod should be fully compatible.

Armored Greybeard Robes [www.nexusmods.com] by CuL8Rgator - Adds Armored variants of the Greybeard's Robes in 3 tiers (Initiate, Armored, and Master Armored) In both Light and Heavy Versions. Upgrade the Initiate Set via Smithing and Temper at the Workbench. Enchantable and works for Male AND female characters! ultimately this set of Greybeard Robes at the 3rd stage, "Master Armored" crafted with Ebony ingots, would be tempered higher than other mage armored robes in the game watch this video

Armored Mage Robes [www.nexusmods.com] Adds enchanted and unenchanted heavy and light armored variants for all of the standard College Mage robe sets.

Empowered Archmage Robes [www.nexusmods.com] This mod alters the Archmage Robes you are rewarded with at the conclusion of the College of Winterhold questline into a more powerful version. There are multiple versions available. See mod page for a list of Stat changes.

Circlets or Masks with all Robes and Hoods [www.nexusmods.com] by Artesiastp - Enables wearing both hoods and circlets or masks. Modifies robes and hoods so they don't occupy the circlet slot, thus allowing another item to occupy that slot (Circlet OR Dragon Priest Mask). Read the mod description for other options.

RUSTIC CLOTHING - Special Edition [www.nexusmods.com] by Gamwich - You may already have this in yout load order as do I. I thought I would put this here because it also includes every piece of clothing (unarmored) the mages, necromancers, Greybeards, etc. wear in the vanilla game only much much better quality and look. See the mod page for complete description with images.

Opulent Outfits - Mage Robes of Winterhold 2020-SSE [www.nexusmods.com] by Mebantiza babooncru - Another non-armored option if you don't use Rustic Clothing The Modern Opulent Outfits - Mage Robes of Winterhold 2020 for SSE. A completely overhauled and modernized version, of the original 2013 Opulent Outfits by Babooncru. Featuring elaborate, high quality and lore-friendly Mage, monk, necromancer and maids and merchant outfits in a variety of styles, and colors.

Note: don't use both Rustic Clothing + Opulent Outfits together, pick one or the other

Wizard Hats [www.nexusmods.com] The hats come in several different colors (see screenshots on mod page) and were made to match the textures of the various vanilla mage robes.

Magic

Always make sure you include all patches

Magic has been accused of being weak in Skyrim. This is because Destruction magic compared to swords or bows is weaker due to fortified smithing being so unbalanced compared to the rest of the game. So let's balance that out with some mods.

Also see the "Enemy Scaling" and the "Combat" sections of this guide.

Forget Spell[www.nexusmods.com] Too many spells cluttering your magic menu? Now you can forget them, directly from the menu! (English Only) Now you also can remove starting spells

Apocalypse - Magic of Skyrim by EnaiSiaion [www.nexusmods.com] Apocalypse is the most popular Skyrim spell pack, adding 155 new spells that are unique, balanced, lore friendly, use high quality custom visuals and blend seamlessly into the vanilla magic system. Also includes scrolls and staves for the new spells.

Odin - Skyrim Magic Overhaul[www.nexusmods.com] Odin is what magic in Skyrim should have been. It improves and fixes vanilla Skyrim spells, makes scrolls and staves viable, and adds new spells, scrolls and staves inspired by previous Elder Scrolls magic. The new content is balanced and seamlessly integrated into the game.

Vokrii - Minimalistic Perks of Skyrim by EnaiSiaion [www.nexusmods.com] Vokrii overhauls the perk trees of Skyrim, upgrading them while staying true to vanilla balance and vision. It is smaller than many popular perk overhauls while still adding depth and replayability.
Vokrii - Compatibility Notes [www.nexusmods.com]

Fire and Ice Overhaul Redux[www.nexusmods.com] SE version of FIO with improved visuals as well as scripts and plugin cleanup.

Vokrii - Full Magic Scaling Patch by Rumbeldude [www.nexusmods.com] Allows Vokrii to work nicely with Full Magic Scaling

Spellshaping - Magic Customization by OlvynChuru [www.nexusmods.com] Spellshaping gives you the ability to modify almost any spell, enchantment, shout, or power in the game in a variety of ways.

Requirements for Spellshaping

PapyrusUtil SE - Modders Scripting Utility Functions [www.nexusmods.com] An SKSE plugin adding several new scripts with native functions that provide various conveniences related to data storage and other misc functions to the scripter/modder.
powerofthree's Papyrus Extender for SSE by powerofthree and Shizof [www.nexusmods.com]
You'll also need SKSE64 and Address Library

Also Download the following patch

Spellshaping - Apocalypse Compatibility Patch in the same section while you're at the above page.

FleshFX[www.nexusmods.com] Replaces the infamous alteration flesh glow with proper animated effects.

Deadly Spell Impacts [www.nexusmods.com] by isoku - Fire, lightning, frost, and spit (Spider/Chaurus) spell impacts now have their own unique textures. This mod also increases the variation in impact size, increases the size of dragon breath impacts, and adds melted snow impacts for fire and lightning spells.

Elemental Destruction Magic Redux [www.nexusmods.com] Original mod by reaperix Redux by phenderix Adds earth, water, and wind as new types of destruction magic. Besides dealing the same amount of health damage as their vanilla counterparts, each new type of destruction magic has a unique secondary effect as well. Water spells stop enemy Magicka and Stamina regeneration for several seconds, earth spells stop Health regeneration and have a chance to stagger targets, and wind spells have a chance to blow targets away. This mod contains 29 new spells, including 23 destruction spells and 6 conjuration spells. You can increase their power of spells added.

The Following mod is great if you're swimming and Slaughterfish attack you although it's not very effective out of water it sure gets the job done in water where you can't usually use magic or weapons.

Underwater Blast Spell by JeramyWillow [www.nexusmods.com] This is the first mod that I have shared with others. It introduces a spell tome that adds an Underwater Blast Spell as a lesser power. It can be cast by using your lesser power/shout key. This allows it to be done without the use of your hands, which means you can use it underwater. It works out of the water as well, but is not very powerful.

Enhanced Atronachs - With Levelling and Luminosity by Raxyx7 [www.nexusmods.com] Enhances atronach effectiveness according to tier and elemental type of summons. Unique ability applied to master-level powerful summons. Unlocked levelling. Lighting. Fixes.

Longer Lasting Bound Weapons [www.nexusmods.com] Just a simple tweak to make the bound weapons last up to 5 minutes. and that's why I use it, simple yet effective. there are many other mods that effect bound weapons just be careful that they are compatible.

Healing Spirit Shout SSE [www.nexusmods.com] This mod adds a new Healing Shout into the game which acts as a replacer to the 'throw voice' shout. Healing Spirit - The Voice is a soothing whisper, healing body and mind for those around you.

The Wizard Warrior - Spellsword Magic Combat Evolved [www.nexusmods.com] See Mod Page for details.

Mysticism - A Magic Overhaul [www.nexusmods.com] Mysticism is an overhaul that fixes bugs in Vanilla spells, fills in gaps in the game's magic progression, and adds new spells from previous Elder Scrolls titles. These spells are designed to feel like they belong in the world of Skyrim, both mechanically and aesthetically. You can purchase them from vendors, loot them from dungeons, or find them hand-placed in carefully chosen locations around the world.

Phenderix Magic World[www.nexusmods.com] adds a massive amount of content including new spells, weapons, bosses, followers, locations, and much more!

Phenderix Magic Evolved[www.nexusmods.com] Magic Evolved adds 170+ new and unique spells to the game in an organic and balanced method.

Magic (cont..)

Better Telekinesis[www.nexusmods.com] Improves the telekinesis spell in many ways, check full list on mod page.

Progressive Novice Spells[www.nexusmods.com] Adds four progressively stronger versions of the standard novice concentration spells: flames, frostbite, sparks, and healing. ESP or ESL.

Starting Spell Choice - by AliTheLord [www.nexusmods.com] Allows the player to select which spells they start with by removing the Healing & Flames spells from the player, as well as any race specific spells. Then allows the player to choose one novice spell (or none) from each Magic school. The player will be given 5 Scrolls, which when cast will let the player choose their starting spells. You can then use the previous mod, "Spell Shaping", to adjust your spells etc. on the fly

Full Magic Scaling by ilovecarpet [www.nexusmods.com] Here you will find a very small but nice mod which will allow all 5 magic skills to scale your spells with your skill level and perks!

Flying Mod Beta by porroone and Flying Mod Overhaul by Indefiance (Converted for SSE)[www.nexusmods.com] This is the mod famous in the Oldrim, allows the character to FLY!!!. Comes with converted animation

BE SURE TO CHECK OUT The Animation Section of THIS GUIDE for "Smooth Magic Casting Animation" which provides New magic casting animations.

BE SURE TO CHECK OUT The Crafting Section of THIS GUIDE for mods like "Honed Metal"
You can pay Blacksmiths to Craft and/or upgrade gear for you. You also can pay Court Mages to enchant for you. This will allow you to focus your skill points on Magic and other abilities.

Then there's "ScrollScribe SE - A Scroll Crafting Mod" that's more than your usual scroll crafting mod. You can make any spell a scroll. Also useful because scrolls don't use your magicka.

Spell Organizer - Hide Remove Delete Erase Forget Spells[www.nexusmods.com] Easily Remove(aka hide substitute), Erase and Add learned spells via MCM menu and hotkey.

Forget Spell[www.nexusmods.com] Too many spells cluttering your magic menu? Now you can forget them, directly from the menu!

Main Character

FNIS, XP32, and RaceMenu are listed in the Basic Load Order Guide

THIS FIRST VIDEO COVERS THE BARE VANILLA CREATION OF YOUR CHARACTER
This video is for Oldrim but the basics are the same for Special Edition:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85SGjY8fNPE
BELOW YOU'LL FIND A SMALL SAMPLING OF MODS AVAILABLE ON NEXUS
IMO these are top quality and I use them, if my player is a female character, to this day

BODY
UNP Blessed Body UNPB [www.nexusmods.com]
Replaces the female body mesh with new models. The difference between UNP and UNPB is just bigger breasts.

Caliente's Beautiful Bodies Enhancer CBBE [www.nexusmods.com]
Replaces the vanilla female body that all adult female characters (player and NPC) share, with one that is fully customisable with the BodySlide tool. [www.nexusmods.com]

FACE
The Eyes of Beauty SSE [www.nexusmods.com]
The Eyes of Beauty offers many new eyes textures for player and NPCs. All textures are high resolution and are made for the best result in Skyrim. No other eyes will be so real and unique.

Improved Eyes Skyrim[www.nexusmods.com] Highly detailed replacements of all the existing eyes for all races, and options for dozens of new eyes for the races as well. Customize the installation to replace or add only exactly what you want. Comes with full Dawnguard support for its added races.

Pretty Lips SSE [www.nexusmods.com]
Pretty lips for all the females with lips (Sorry kajits and Argonians).

Seductive Lips HD SE [www.nexusmods.com]
This mod provides new HD lip tintmasks for human and elf races which give them a fresh, young,natural and slightly shiny look which can provide every female character with really seductive lips. It is compatible with all kinds of female face textures - modded as well as vanilla.

Eye Normal Map Fix SSE [www.nexusmods.com] This mod alters the human and beast race normal maps to reflect light correctly. It is just a pair of textures and will not impact performance, or conflict with anything else, like modified character creation. It is compatible with pretty much all eye mods.

HAIR
Brows [www.nexusmods.com]
The most popular eyebrow mod for Skyrim, Brows - from Hvergelmir's Aesthetic series is now available for Skyrim: Special Edition!

KS Hairdo's SSE - Female [www.nexusmods.com]
KS Hairdos is a hair pack that contains 755 hairstyles. 696 hairstyles are for females, 79 are for males.

ApachiiSkyHair SSE [www.nexusmods.com]
New Female and Male Hairstyles for Humans, Elves and Orcs. Converted hair from Sims2 and Sims3. Standalone version.

Beards[www.nexusmods.com] The most popular (and only?) beard retexture mod for Skyrim, Beards - from Hvergelmir's Aesthetic series is now available for Skyrim: Special Edition!
Beards also enables previously unavailable beard styles Bethesda left out of the game (for good reason?)

SKIN
Bijin Skin UNP and CBBE SE [www.nexusmods.com] 2K, 4K, or 8K Skin Textures for both CBBE & UNP based body types.

FNIS, XP32 XPMSSE, and RaceMenu are listed on the Basic Load Order page of this Guide

Male Character

Highly Improved Male Body Overhaul -HIMBO-[www.nexusmods.com] A customizable body mesh replacer for male characters.

SkySight Skins - Ultra HD 4K 2K Male Textures and Real Feet Meshes [www.nexusmods.com]

Beards [www.nexusmods.com]

Playing as a Male Argonian?

Male Argonian Shouts - Revoiced[www.nexusmods.com] A mod that makes male Argonian shouts sound gruffer and closer to Argonians, rather than using the default human voice.

Menus - UI

One constant theme in all my guides is the presence of GamerPoets Videos & this section is inspired by his "Clean Up Those Menus!" video. Very few put out content that is as useful, professional & easy to understand as Michael of GamerPoets. In the spirit of his video you'll find additional Menu & message improvements on this page as well. So without further adieu: Let's Work on our Menu's.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wD2VVBkQyj0
SkyUI[www.nexusmods.com] We start with the original improved UI mod which is also required by so many mods. Elegant, PC-friendly interface mod with many advanced features.

SkyUI - Better Favorite Menu [www.nexusmods.com] Increases the size & capacity of SkyUI's favorite menu.

Immersive HUD - iHUD Special Edition [www.nexusmods.com] Gopher describes it best "Get the best of both worlds. The usefulness of having a HUD with the immersion of having none." HUD when you need it. HIDE when you don't. I can't play without this one.

Stay At The System Page - Updated [www.nexusmods.com] Ensures the journal menu always opens at the system page tab.

SkyHUD[www.nexusmods.com] Toggle HUD elements on or off, scale sizes, change positions and swap elements with alternative version. Features dot crosshair, slim compass, alternate ammo display, detached compass markers and built-in support for font mods.

Dialogue Movement Enabler[www.nexusmods.com] Tired of NPC's walking smack dab between your conversation and planting themselves there? Now we can easily step away without losing the conversation. With this mod you will be able to move around in dialogue menus. It also unlocks the camera rotation so you'll be able to look around in any direction.

A Matter of Time - A HUD clock widget[www.nexusmods.com] This mod adds a clock to the HUD showing the current time of day and more.

moreHUD SE[www.nexusmods.com] Adds more information to the HUD about the currently targeted object and enemies. Such as ingredients, weapon effects, potions, read books, v/w, enemy level, etc (Read the Bug section)

moreHUD Inventory Edition[www.nexusmods.com] Does not require the mod moreHUD. From your inventory you can now see if enchantments are known by the player and other features. Also increases the Item Card size for mods that have long effect descriptions

No Pesky Planter Message Boxes [www.nexusmods.com] Remove the message box appearing every time you plant an item.

Clean Menu [www.nexusmods.com] Elegant UI mod that removes the Bethesda logo, smoke, and unnecessary buttons from the main menu. It also removes the intro video allowing you to skip straight ahead into the beautiful world of Skyrim. The creation club news / button is also disabled by this mod.

ReCleaned Menu [www.nexusmods.com] This is a very simple mod that removes some unnecessary buttons from Skyrim's menus. Say goodbye to unintentionally clicking on the mod manager or the Creation Club. DOES NOT REMOVE MENU SMOKE but the above mod does. See the above video by GamerPoets for details on making both mods work together as it is really simple.

Remove QuickSave Button from SkyUI System Menu [www.nexusmods.com] This small mod removes the "Quick Save" button from System Menu (esc), that was added in SE. You can now normally exit your game without scrolling in System Menu. INCLUDES " SKYUI FLASHING SAVE GAME FIX"

Immersive Loading Icon [www.nexusmods.com] You know that stupid spinning icon in the bottom right when you boot Skyrim? Creation Club introduced it? The one that sometimes gets stuck until you restart your game? Well, time to get rid of it.

Wider MCM Menu for SkyUI [www.nexusmods.com] This mod improves your MCM configuring experience. Please see the mod page for details.

Ultrawide SkyrimSE[www.nexusmods.com] An 21:9 ultrawide fix for Skyrim Special Edition. Works on both 3440x1440 and 2560x1080 resolutions.

Complete Widescreen Fix for Vanilla and SkyUI 2.2 and 5.2 SE[www.nexusmods.com]

SkyUI Item Card Fixes [www.nexusmods.com] I was bothered by the non-uniformed alignment, size, positioning and general inconsistency's of a lot the information on the item card interface so I have spent some time moving and sizing things so they look a little better.

More Menu & Message improvement mods

Whose Quest Is It Anyway [www.nexusmods.com] Tired of seeing the message "Quest items cannot be removed" in your inventory? This mod Swaps the "Quest items cannot be removed" message for a more descriptive message informing you which quest the item belongs to.
REQUIRES: 'Address Library for SKSE Plugins' and 'Scaleform Translation Plus Plus'.
(See mod page for links to each requirements download page)

Mannequin Messages [www.nexusmods.com] This mod changes the message "You can only place armor on mannequins" from a message box that you have to press OK on to a quick message in the upper left hand corner of the screen. This mod is for everyone who uses FNIS Sexy Moves and experiences this annoying disruption to their play.

Hide SkyUI [www.nexusmods.com] This disables the menus introduced by SkyUI so that you can have the MCM and still have the original Vanilla Menu's for those that do not like the SKYUI menu's. *I have not used the mod however I can see the need for some folks.

Better Dialogue Controls [www.nexusmods.com] Ever pick the wrong item in a dialogue with a NPC? This mod aims to fix some annoyances with the way keyboard and mouse selection works in the dialogue interface.

Better MessageBox Controls [www.nexusmods.com] Navigate all message boxes with the Left/Right and Activate (E) keys. Also fixes the clickable area of buttons so they are easier to select with the mouse. Great for Controllers as well

No More Creation Club News [www.nexusmods.com] A simple mod that removes what many people are considering as a 'spam box'.

*New Auto Input Switch[www.nexusmods.com] Ever get annoyed that you can't use your mouse with your gamepad plugged in? Now you can switch between them painlessly.

Camera's

Customizable Camera [www.nexusmods.com] Customize your camera in-game via MCM. Also allows you to quicly swap sides or to set a view mode camera for landscape or portrait character. SkyUI required.

SmoothCam[www.nexusmods.com] SmoothCam is a highly configurable third-person camera, with smooth frame-interpolation and a raycasting crosshair to help you aim.

Mod Managers etc.

VORTEX [www.nexusmods.com]

Mod Organizer 2[www.nexusmods.com]

Kezyma's Reinstaller for Mod Organizer[www.nexusmods.com] Reinstaller is a Mod Organizer 2 plugin that allows you to backup downloaded mods and run their installers on demand. Useful for large fomod patch installers with loads of options that you have to re-run frequently. Don't let those files keep your downloads tab cluttered anymore!

Prepare Merge - Mod Organizer 2 Plugin[www.nexusmods.com] Plugin for Mod Organizer 2. Finds and enables the mods containing a selected list of plugins and their required masters. Then places the selected plugins at the end of the load order. Useful for preparing a merge of plugins with e.g. zEdit.

Sync Plugins with Mod Order - Mod Organizer 2 Plugin[www.nexusmods.com] A simple plugin for Mod Organizer 2 to sync the order of the Plugins in the right pane to the order of Mods in the left pane. Useful if you manually sort your load order via the left pane.

Modders Resource & Tutorials

Address Library for SKSE Plugins[www.nexusmods.com] Contains header file and a database to make SKSE DLL plugins version independent easily.

FileAccess Interface for Skyrim SE Scripts - FISSES[www.nexusmods.com] Easy to use interface for modders to save&reload in-game variables (e.g. MCM settings) to/from file.

PapyrusUtil SE - Modders Scripting Utility Functions[www.nexusmods.com] An SKSE plugin adding several new scripts with native functions that provide various conveniences related to data storage and other misc functions to the scripter/modder. MAKE SURE THIS MOD IS OVERWRITING ALL OTHERS. NOTHING WITH CONFLICTING FILES SHOULD EVER BE LOADED AFTER THIS MOD.

powerofthree's Papyrus Extender[www.nexusmods.com] SKSE64 plugin that extends Papyrus script functionality, with over 275 new Papyrus functions, and 29 events.

PapyrusUtil SE - Modders Scripting Utility Functions[www.nexusmods.com] An SKSE plugin adding several new scripts with native functions that provide various conveniences related to data storage and other misc functions to the scripter/modder.

The Custom Voice Resource - CVR[www.nexusmods.com] Custom Voice Types for modders to utilize for Followers, NPCs... anything!

JContainers SE[www.nexusmods.com] Extends Skyrim SE Papyrus scripts (or SKSE/C++ plugins) with JSON based serializable data structures like arrays and maps. Embedded Lua interpreter.

More Mods that Work with AE

Here's a thread with a list of mods that work with the Skyrim Anniversary Edition. Let them know of any mods you have tested as working with Skyrim AE!

Mods that Work with AE by cfs111

Most texture and / or mesh mods should work fine.
Early SKSE64 release was made mostly for plugin authors. SkyUI runs with it, but not much else.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2664164755

Always be version aware
All of the mods in this guide work for Skyrim SE v1.5.97 with the exception of a handful which have been updated as only for use with 1.6.xxx with no optional file for v1.5.97 of the game. I do have another guide for v1.6.xxx here

Music

Remember - you have sound sliders in the game's menu that control various sounds

Do your homework, read everything - and you can change Skyrim's atmosphere to suit you

This first one can take some work:
Personalized Music - Skyrim Special Edition[www.nexusmods.com] This mod lets you add your own choice of music to the game by some simple renaming and converting of files. Add 1200 tracks! You can remove the original music or play withNo original music is deleted or overwritten, it will still play together with your added music. Supporting both .wav and the compressed .xwm format!

Kill The Orchestra 3.1[www.afkmods.com] Choose which music you'll hear (if any). Disable by type via the FOMOD installer.

The Northerner Diaries - Immersive Edition (music by Jeremy Soule)[www.nexusmods.com] Adds a few tracks from Jeremy Soule's Northerner Diaries into Skyrim and Solstheim's exploration playlists.

Morrowind Music Integration[www.nexusmods.com] aims to make the Morrowind music added by the Dragonborn DLC play alongside the original Skyrim soundtrack while you explore Skyrim. No more fooling around with audio conversions and Skyrim directories now you can just download and install using NMM.

Musical Lore (Soundtrack Mod By Nir Shor)[www.nexusmods.com] This mod adds lore friendly professionally produced music tracks to your skyrim playlists.
The mod tries to stay true to the original game composer's (Jeremy Soule) style to provide you with beautifully and seamlessly integrated new music to your skyrim experience.
All music has been written by Nir Shor and all rights reserved.

The Witcher 3 Music Overhaul (SE Edition)[www.nexusmods.com] The music is actually 100% lore-friendly and fitting to The Elder Scrolls universe, well... the majority of the tracks are - especially if you're doing a Witcher playstyle.

Around the Fire - Skyrim Fan-Made Music[www.nexusmods.com] Doubles the amount of tavern tracks with lore-friendly/immersive music written specifically for Skyrim! The mod adds new tracks to the taverns and inns of Skyrim. These are not royalty-free tracks packed together to make a quick mod. They were written with the atmosphere and vibe of Skyrim's world in mind. I always to strive to make music that will fit in with the world of Skyrim and its soundtrack. As such, in addition with my own melodic material, you'll find melodies from other Elder Scrolls game arranged in the Skyrim style. TL:DR no metal, electronic music, Irish/Celtic music, cheap or cheesy orchestral music, ect...

The main mod adds the music without overriding vanilla music. The plugin is an esp flagged as esl (ESPFE) and as such doesn't take a plugin slot. A replacer version is also available in the optional files section.

Melodies of Civilization - Skyrim Fan-Made Music[www.nexusmods.com] The mod adds new music to the cities and castles (think Dragonsreach) of Skyrim. These are not royalty free tracks packed together to make a quick mod. These were written specifically for Skyrim and have its atmosphere, world and general vibe in mind. This music is designed to fit with Skyrim and the original OST as if it was always there. As such, I made liberal use of melodies and motifs from other TES games, but arranged and orchestrated with the Skyrim style in mind. Of course, I also added a lot of my own melodic material. TL:DR no metal, electronic music, cheesy/cheap orchestral music, ect...

Navmesh

Kojaks Whiterun Navmesh[www.nexusmods.com]
Optimised NavMesh for Whiterun that improves performance.

Debug Menu - In-Game Navmesh Viewer and More[www.nexusmods.com]
Render Navmesh, occlusion planes and cell borders in-game.

Nexus mod refugees

Can't find one of your favorite mods on Nexus due to some mod authors removing their mods from Nexus Mods?

Here's a link created by Ilja to a list of the mods that have new hosting sites:
[SSE] Where to find Nexus mod refugees?

NPCs - Children

CHILDREN

PICK 1 AND ONLY 1 OF THE NEXT 3 MODS

The Kids Are Alright SE [www.nexusmods.com] by triptherift. A Skyrim Children Overhaul Mod. The goal for this mod was to make children that look like they would belong in a modern DX11 or 12 game - by using high quality meshes and textures to update this old game engine.

RS Children Overhaul [www.nexusmods.com] by Ranaline. Overhauls the appearance of all children. Also adds some outfits and accessories (currently only for boys). Check the "Patches" section of this guide for a link to 45 patches for RS Children.

TK Children SE [www.nexusmods.com] This mod modifies child faces based on parents and personality for variation.

Upgrade

Realistic RS Children Overhaul[www.nexusmods.com] WANT TO IMPROVE THE ABOVE MOD? A project to overhaul the children from RS Children Overhaul to make them look more realistic, unique and lore-friendly.

THE NEXT 2 MODS WILL ALLOW YOU TO:

ADOPT MORE THAN TWO CHILDREN

Hearthfire multiple adoptions [www.nexusmods.com] by TMPhoenix - With vanilla Skyrim you can only adopt 2 children. This mod Allows adoption of up to 6 kids, and you can also move your family into suitable custom mod homes (if you installed one).

ASSIGN CUSTOM HOMES

And there's "My Home is Your Home" (MHIYH)[www.nexusmods.com] You can give each of your followers their own home. Dismissed followers will return to their new home (including custom player home mods). They will wander around, eat, sleep, use furniture and tools. You can assign guard/sleep/work areas for up to 60 followers. The assigned area can be anywhere.

NPCs - Bijin

Here's an example of the quality of Bijin (Skyrim purists who don't like the makeup see below)

This could be classified as for "Intermediate" users rather than "Beginner", please read on;

I decided to make this a separate page in this guide. Please do not attempt this unless you are confident you can install this properly and definitely unless you read through everything first.

Although this is not THAT difficult to set up, the problems "can" come in if you are trying to use other NPC replacers or from textures from other mods. I say they "can" occur because many of us use many other NPC mods with Bijin but since load orders vary it makes it difficult to help you if problems arise.

Bijin Warmaidens, Wives, and NPCs, Using AIO

This one will be a little different installation but don't let it overwhelm you. Please Read instructions carefully. This is one of, if not my favorite NPC improvement mod from a graphics standpoint. But using this set of mods (yes it's a set) can be tricky. For new users I must caution that although this is one of the most popular mods it can drive you crazy with texture glitches unless you A) follow instructions carefully B) do not use alot of other NPC replacers and C) place it relatively low in your load order.

Eventually as you get better at modding you will be able to use many other NPC replacers with this mod but I must warn against that if you are new to modding.

I would not use this together with another NPC overhaul like Pandorable unless you are very comfortable with modding at this point. My suggestion is use one or the other. They do work together but if you have problems you may not find it easy to get help. Every load order is different.

Unofficial Skyrim Special Edition Patch is also required if you choose "Bijin AIO SE for USSEP"

This mod is made as Fomod installer, so please install this mod with the mod manager.

I've included basic instruction s on this page however please refer to the Bijin pages for instructions

If you're ready let's proceed. There are no shortcuts.

*Step 1) Install the following 4 mods and in each install choose All in one esps in the FOMOD installer. (Please don't install any older versions)

Bijin Warmaidens SE [www.nexusmods.com]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvuTho-Votk

Bijin Wives SE [www.nexusmods.com]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qcs4z_-rSgU

Bijin NPCs SE [www.nexusmods.com]
https://youtu.be/-0PhiTM_w3I

Seranaholic [www.nexusmods.com] Pick your favorite Serana on this page (mine is v. 1_7 w/ blue eyes)


*Step 2) Install Bijin AIO SE or Bijin AIO SE (for USSEP) found in the Bijin OPTIONAL FILES.

*Step 3) Disable 3 esps(Bijin Warmaidens.esp, Bijin Wives.esp and Bijin NPCs.esp) in your mod mamager (plugins).

I would suggest not using the extra beauty stuff right away as these look outstanding as is. Again you can do that as you get more comfortable.

Don't want makeup on your Bijin characters?

For Skyrim Purists who don't like make-up on their characters for "Lore-Friendly" reasons there is a brand new mod that has been out for about 2 weeks (with zero complaints although I have not tried it) that will remove makeup from Bijin mods. There are 3 by the same author vampiredirt, 1 for Bijin Warmaidens, 1 for Bijin Wives, & 1 for Bijin NPCs.

Makeup Remover for Bijin Warmaidens SE [www.nexusmods.com]

Makeup Remover for Bijin Wives SE [www.nexusmods.com]

Makeup Remover for Bijin NPCs SE [www.nexusmods.com]


BEFORE & AFTER using the remove makeup mod (also removes face paint & tattoos)

NPC - Followers

Here you'll find some of my favorite Follower Mods along with a video for most of them

First Let's Cover how All Followers work, including Vanilla

The Following information comes from stackexchage gaming as a reference for folks new to Skyrim so you would have a basic understanding of the games follower framework, how to have more than the 1 active follower the game allows you by default, & how to increase the total followers available.

"Skyrim's base game allows you to only have 1 follower at a time: if you want a different one, you need to dismiss the first one before you recruit them. There are situations if you already have a follower & a NPC needs to join you for something quest-related. In this case, the quest-related follower might join you in addition to your current follower. (There are mods that allow you to have several active followers)

Followers can be found all over the world: it'll be hard to avoid finding followers. There are 45 in total:

6 mercenaries: generally one per hold city
5 housecarls: one per Thane appointment in the cities where you can buy a house
7 members of the Companions
3 members of the College of Winterhold
2 members of the Dark Brotherhood
9 quest-related or dungeon-related followers
13 followers you can recruit if you've done them a favor
In addition to a single follower, you can buy a wardog in Markarth Side for 500 gold, which acts as another member of your team. There are two dogs you can choose from: Vigilance and Meeko. You can also pick up a stray dog after a random encounter.

Finally, while they're not followers, the Conjuration school naturally gives you access to spells that summon the forces of Oblivion fight for you for a period of time (or permanently, at the higher levels)."

with that out of the way

you can have a total of 5 followers overall but only 1 actively following you at a time in the Vanilla game as noted above. However, by adding a Framework Mod, you can have many times more total followers assigned to you and can have 3,4,5, or even 7 actively following you at a time. So to summarize; you can find many followers provided by vanilla Skyrim as noted above and you can download additional Follower mods to add to your game. You can also install a Framework mod for added flexibility with your followers.

Some followers that you can download to liven up your game.

INIGO [www.nexusmods.com] Inigo is a fully voiced khajiit adventuring companion with over 7000 lines of unique dialogue - much of it about you. He'll level alongside you & avoid most traps. Do Not put Inigo under the control of a multi-follower mod! like AFT or EFF
https://youtu.be/YMNN_WGcvFQ

Vilja in Skyrim [www.nexusmods.com] The young bard Vilja has her own mission in Skyrim - but she needs your help! Will you let her tag along? Will you let your Skyrim life be changed by a talkative, curious & unpredictable girl who might be a nuisance at times, but who also will offer a strong, indepth friendship, and later optional romance. Do Not put Vilja under the control of a multi-follower mod! like AFT or EFF
https://youtu.be/WC4KSk8VwRg

Hoth [www.nexusmods.com] Hoth is an old bounty hunting adventurer & a brutal companion to travel with - one of the most visually customized followers made for Skyrim. Hoth has many one-of-a-kind features, such as being a quest giver for infinite bounty hunt contracts.
https://youtu.be/lIBovziypaU

Sofia - The Funny Fully Voiced Follower [www.nexusmods.com] Skyrim's most endorsed follower is back for more in Skyrim Special Edition. The infamous Sofia needs little introduction as she causes trouble across Skyrim.
https://youtu.be/uJ6OZ8r2uZc

Lucien - Immersive Fully Voiced Male Follower [www.nexusmods.com] Lucien is a fully voiced Imperial follower with around 3000 lines of immersive, lore-friendly dialogue. Though he arrives in Skyrim as a cowardly scholar, he'll gradually gain strength & confidence by your side until he grows into a hero in his own right.
https://youtu.be/zU7wu_afu2I

Song of the Green (Auri Follower)[www.nexusmods.com] a fully voiced follower and quest mod, which centers around Bosmer culture and tradition.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQGuSfFZf3U

(note: if you have visual problems with follower mods move them down in your load order)

a few more follower recommendations from my favorites

Shirley - A Skyrim Follower Mod[www.nexusmods.com] Shirley Curry, the beloved Skyrim Grandma, finally comes to the game as a follower you can recruit! She'll join you on your adventures, but don't expect her to simply carry your burdens! She's got more personality than all the vanilla followers combined, & we're sure she'll be a great companion, friend, & grandma!
https://youtu.be/mVCaIszvwIM
And of course Bethesda is adding her to TESVI.
You can make her look older thanks to a mod that came out right after the Shirley mod
https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/2977

Alexis - The Freckled Assassin - SSE [www.nexusmods.com] This is a port of the original Skyrim mod to SSE with permission from the original authors. (She is a very good fighter) Available in 3 body types, 7BB, CBBE, & UNP. Feel free to use Alexis with AFT or EFF

Moniko the Tattooed Beauty [www.nexusmods.com] The Author recently sat down and optimized her. Includes all 5 of her looks. Moniko is a very strong woman of exotic beauty. Her tattoos tell a story. She includes standalone lingerie, armor and a katana. During install you will have the option of choosing from 4 body types 7B, CBBE, UNP & UNPB Feel Free to use Moniko with follower mods like AFT or EFF

Chaconne Follower - SSE[www.nexusmods.com] Chaconne is a STANDALONE FOLLOWER (no other mods will be required). Level : 10 - 80. Body : UNP, UNPB, UNPB-BBP, 7B Natural and CBBE. Hair: Blonde or Black. Ears: Elf/No Elf.

Luna Standalone Follower with Voiced Custom Dialogues - SSE [www.nexusmods.com] Life and character has been added to her soul. Now she's more alive than never before! Several body options in installer.

Vivace Follower SE[www.nexusmods.com] Includes a MCM that allows you to fully customize her combat behavior, class/skills, and spells.

Videos on Followers you can find in the game but might just miss.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCgMLPOcoK8
More you might just miss in the game
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXtmVEG7Y5k

MORE REGARDING FOLLOWERS

from Wiki [en.uesp.net]

from Fandom [elderscrolls.fandom.com]

NPC - Followers (cont..)

For now this page consists of Animal Followers & Companions.

Garm the Husky Companion SE[www.nexusmods.com] Garm is an husky companion. He can be found with Andurs in the Whiterun Temple of Arkay. He is named after Garmr, the guardian of the Norse Underworld. He has many versions and styles.

Styx the Spectral Wolf Companion[www.nexusmods.com] Styx is a shadowy wolf puppy! Adopt her, and watch her grow from a tiny cowardly puppy to big brave alpha wolf!

A Cat's Life[www.nexusmods.com] A Cat's Life brings cats into the land of Skyrim in a way no mod has before. You will find both domesticated and stray cats roaming the streets of the major cities and some smaller villages. Adopt a cat by earning its trust or purchase a furry companion from one of two stores. A Cat's Life comes packed with features, all controllable via MCM. I'm including a video by the mod's author which also can be found on the mod's page.

video by DarkFox127

NPC - Follower Framework

Note: if you experience issues with a follower please remember to make sure the framework mod loads after the follower mod

Please visit each mod's page for important information as these mods really open up your flexibility with followers. ONLY Pick One
AFT [www.nexusmods.com]

EFF [www.nexusmods.com],
both covered in my Basics+ guide.

or
Nether's Follower Framework[www.nexusmods.com] Nether's Follower Framework is a multi-follower system that is light on game resources and allows for up to 10 companions at one time. It provides a wealth of additional features, including immersion and quality-of-life functions to allow you to adventure with a small team of characters.

Important: Some custom follower mods must not be controlled by AFT, EFF, or NFF. This does not mean you can't have them installed in the same load order as they control others followers, you just can't put some custom followers under the control of AFT, EFF or NFF. (always read the details).

My Home is Your Home [www.nexusmods.com] With this mod you can assign each of your followers their own home, including custom player homes, or have several live in one home. Do not use MHiYH on Custom Followers like for example Inigo. (See mod page)

Loot and Degradation SE[www.nexusmods.com] NPCs now have access to tempered/enchanted items that were previously only available to you. Tempered items no longer retain their tempered state forever. And a whole lot more. Read Mod Overview.

*I'm going to add this mod here as this Guide is getting too big to add another Category

(This one is not necessarily a "Follower Framework" mod)
Follow Me Darling - All Spouses Can Be Followers[www.nexusmods.com] Take any spouse on your travels as a follower. Have that special someone in mind for marriage but they just happen to be not able to come on quests with you? Use this mod BEFORE you marry them and they can.

Children Framework

Hearthfire multiple adoptions - Now with custom home support for kids and spouse[www.nexusmods.com] Allows adoption of up to 6 kids, instead of just 2. Move your family into suitable custom homes. Gives children a last name.

NPC - Outfit/Armor Manager

Simple NPC Outfit Manager[www.nexusmods.com] For ALL NPC's. Simple NPC Outfit Manager allows you to have direct control over what your Skyrim NPCs are wearing. Create custom outfits and equip them to any Skyrim NPC. Powerful, functional, and lightweight.
https://youtu.be/4UEMCvdASqw

NPC - overhauls

The following Mods will give your vanilla NPC's a visual makeover

I'm adding this next series and bumping it to the top for very good reason

Northbourne NPCs by Southpawe who not only is one of the most talented mod authors in Skyrim but he thinks of everything. For example; There is an optional version of each mod in the download section of each page that removes female npcs already covered by other mods if in fact you are using them and want to keep them. He's adding more holds/factions as you read this so stay tuned. In the mean time the following are complete.

Please Note

During subsequent Northbourne installations (after you install the first hold) your mod manager should list conflicts because each hold uses many of the same assets. This is normal. Just let each install overwrite the last.

Please note his installation requirements on the mod page

(I've also listed them below - same requirements for all holds)

Northbourne NPCs of Whiterun Hold [www.nexusmods.com] This is a high poly face replacer/redesign for all 102 named male and female NPCs in Whiterun Hold (except children and beast races). Comes in two versions, Full version and a Males Only version.

Northbourne NPCs of the Rift [www.nexusmods.com] This is a high poly face replacer/redesign for all 125 named male and female NPCs in the Rift Region (except children and beast races).

Northbourne NPCs of Falkreath Hold [www.nexusmods.com] This is a high poly face replacer/redesign for all 60 named male and female NPCs in Falkreath Hold (except children and beast races). Comes in two versions, Full version and a Males Only version.

Northbourne NPCs of Winterhold [www.nexusmods.com] This is a high poly face replacer/redesign for all 34 named male and female NPCs in the Winterhold Region (except children and beast races).

I've noticed some who have not used this guide have reported issues with NPC's being naked. This should not happen as Southpawe does not edit the clothing, However, should you experience this simply do the following: you can walk up to the NPC, open the console, click on the NPC, then type "resetiventory" without quotations and hit enter. Done.

*Requirements for all Northbourne NPC mods listed above

Expressive Facial Animation -Female Edition [www.nexusmods.com]

Expressive Facial Animation -Male Edition[www.nexusmods.com]
I'm going to leave you with a note from the Mod Author himself (southpawe) from his mod page:
"I have left the faces, bodies, and eyes to use whatever textures you have (if any) installed because everyone's preference is different. That being said, for best results these are the mods the replacer was designed with and I highly recommend them."

Biijin Skin (realistic face textures option in fomod)
Skysight Skins (just the normal face textures, not younger option, and less veins body)
Superior Lore-friendly Hair (rough version)
Beards (retextures)
Brows (just for retextures)
Mild Complexions (overwrite this mod with Bijin Skin and Skysight Skin)
The Eyes of Beauty ( just for vanilla eye texture replacer)

Other excellent npc overhauls

The Ordinary Women SSE [www.nexusmods.com] This mod changes the appearances of 60 female NPCs.

Pandorable's NPCs [www.nexusmods.com] A visual overhaul of 85 female NPCs with the goal to enhance them while staying true to their original character. The key word here being enhance - not beautify. Some will be beautiful, others will look plain but still greatly improved from their vanilla look.
READ INSTRUCTIONS ON THE MOD PAGE AND REFER BACK TO THE PANDORABLE PAGE IF YOU HAVE ANY PROBLEMS (ie. neck seams or neck gaps).

NPC Misc.

Consistent Older People[www.afkmods.com] Have you noticed that some NPCs are clearly meant to be elderly if you look at their faces, but their bodies seem to be more appropriate for a younger person? Furthermore, this is not consistent - some older NPCs have bodies and faces that match. The mod author decided to let you make their bodies match their faces by using this mod.

Final Note:

If you decide to use a standalone NPC mod, say for example a mod strictly for Serana or maybe Aela The Huntress. Make sure you install those mods underneath (lower in your load order) than you NPC overhaul mod. Ex: Pandorable, Northbourne, Bjin etc.

NPCs - World

Important

As is always the case: Please be sure to read each mod page before downloading any mod for any additional installation instructions, conflicts & compatibility.

Be careful when adding mods that add many NPC's at a time as too many in any one area at a time can cause performance problems and even crash your game. Larger mods that add NPC's like "Interesting NPC's or "OBIS" (Organized Bandits of Skyrim) can add many dozens or even thousands to your Skyrim world.

AI Overhaul SSE[www.nexusmods.com] Changes many of the Vanilla NPCs AI to act more realistic and immersive. see mod page for details - also there are many patches for this mod in the "Patches" section of this guide.

Immersive Citizens - AI Overhaul SE [www.nexusmods.com] This mod can need several patches depending on your load order so please study the mod page carefully for any mods that are incompatible and for any available patches. Make sure you read the linked description on the IC mod page.
Immersive Citizens is an overhaul of the AI (Artificial Intelligence) for just about every friendly NPC in Skyrim. This mod could be listed in the "Immersion" section of this guide but we chose to place it here with other NPC type mods. IC is a very popular mod that has almost 3 million downloads because it truly makes Skyrim a better experience with combat and it's many subtleties. This mod can need several patches depending on your load order so please study the mod page carefully for mods that are incompatible and for any available patches. Make sure you read the linked description on the IC mod page.

Skyrim Revamped - Complete Enemy Overhaul [www.nexusmods.com] Enemy Overhaul focusing on enemy variation and hard boss battles. This mod is an overhaul of the game's enemy system.

Citizens of Tamriel SE [www.nexusmods.com] A tribute to old-school RPGs that adds some much-needed life to Skyrim's NPCs. Features all new, fully-voiced characters, branching dialogue and more!

OBIS - Organized Bandits In Skyrim Special Edition [www.nexusmods.com] Adds over 2500 different bandits into the level lists. They are organized into gangs with 7 tiers from wannabes to the deadly Bandit Lords. Each gang has its own strengths, weaknesses and lore. OBIS Bandits reluctantly work together to ensure Skyrim never feels safe again.

Immersive World Encounters SE [www.nexusmods.com] Immersive World Encounters aims to enhance your game-play experience to be more diverse and engaging by adding more than 70 new random events as well as modifying some of the vanilla events.

Populated Cities Towns Villages SE [www.nexusmods.com] Now each city, town and village in Skyrim has new respawnable, with own AI package and daily action NPCs. They walk, sit, go into shops, temples/Hall of Deads, explore, interact, work and so on. For lunch but more often during night a lot of them populate taverns and inns (all this without using scripts). More life into Skyrim! Long life.

Immersive College NPCs [www.nexusmods.com] Adds a bunch of NPCs to the College of Winterhold as well as Saarthal Exterior for added immersion. They all have things to do and will wander around and use idles/furniture and workstations.

Immersive College of Winterhold [www.nexusmods.com] An overhaul of the buildings and inhabitants of the College of Winterhold.

Rebalanced Encounter Zones and Leveled Actors [www.nexusmods.com] This mod will be difficult, and will expect you to play Skyrim like Morrowind of old. Some locations will simply be too hard to overcome at low levels, and you'll have to learn when to come back later. There is a Lite Version on the page as well, just thought I'd throw that out there. ;-)

Bathing Beauties or Beefcake Luxury Suite (BBLS)[migal3d.com] You can find this mod here as it's no longer available on Nexus. Make sure you grab the SE Version along with requirements.

Parallax Fix

Tomato's Complex Parallax Material Landscapes AIO - With DLCs[www.nexusmods.com] This mod is a better alternative if you were using mods like Atlantian Landscapes

No longer needed if you use ParallaxGen
Auto Parallax[www.nexusmods.com] SKSE plugin which automatically disables parallax on meshes which have missing height textures or conflict with single-pass shaders.

PATCHES

Always place patches after the mods you are patching

START OFF BY CHECKING EACH PATCH DATE AGAINST ORIGINAL MOD DATE

Looking for a patch you can't find? You can make your own
How to create conflict resolution patches with SSEEdit[www.nexusmods.com] This is a very basic guide intended to get modding newcomers started with creating patches

Lost of T'Skyrim [www.nexusmods.com] A Variety of Individual Patches

AI Overhaul SSE - Official Patch Hub[www.nexusmods.com] As the name implies

A Few NPC Overhaul AIO Patches[www.nexusmods.com] forwards changes from AI overhaul and some ussep changes for various npc overhauls without them getting dark faces. Northbourne NPCSs Mods, Diversity-An NPC Overhaul, Male NPC Overhaul SE, Jampion NPCs, Fresh Faces, The Men of Winter, eeekie's Enhanced NPCs

Unique Region Names [www.nexusmods.com] Take Main File + whichever patches you need (Faalkstar, CRF, Open Cities, Bruma, etc.

Audio Overhaul and Immersive Sounds Patch Redux [www.nexusmods.com] The ultimate integration patch between AOS & ISC.

Immersive Sounds Compendium - PATCHES [www.nexusmods.com] Name says it all

Better Dynamic Majestic Mountains [www.nexusmods.com] This is a much-needed patch for Better Dynamic Snow and Majestic Mountains. Fix for the "white-painted" rocks bug included. Works in Bruma, as well

Bruma and Other Patches for Convenient Horses [www.nexusmods.com] Convenient Horses Patches = The summoning, harvesting, looting, and storing features of "Convenient Horses" will work in "Beyond Skyrim - Bruma SE", "The Shire SE", "Beyond Reach", "Falskaar", "Vigilant SE", "The Gray Cowl of Nocturnal SE", "Wyrmstooth SSE", "Midwood Isle SE", "Hammet's Dungeon Packs SE". Also, your faithful horse won't be attacked by the local enemies

The Great Cities - Unofficial Compatability Patches[www.nexusmods.com]

iNeed Universal Water Patch[www.nexusmods.com]

Combat Gameplay Overhaul Personal Patches [www.nexusmods.com] These are four patches for Combat Gameplay Overhaul

Combat Gameplay Overhaul - Merged Patch - Imperious-LotD-ZIA [www.nexusmods.com] A merged patch for Combat Gameplay Overhaul. Patched for Imperious - Races of Skyrim, Legacy of the Dragonborn and Zim's Immersive Artifacts

Realistic Water Two Patch Hub [www.nexusmods.com] official patch hub

Legacy of the Dragonborn Patches (Official) [www.nexusmods.com] This is the official page for all Legacy of the Dragonborn SSE patches & the central home of the Legacy FOMOD patcher

kryptopyr's Patch Hub [www.nexusmods.com]
A central location for any compatibility patches this Author created for kryptopyr's mods. He'll also try to provide updated links to patches available elsewhere

Improved Lydia - Northbourne Whiterun Patch[www.nexusmods.com] A Patch to remove the Lydia face errors when using "Improved Follower Dialogue - Lydia" and "Northbourne NPCs of Whiterun Hold" together.

Patches for Northbourne NPCs[www.nexusmods.com] A collection of patches for Northbourne NPCs. (USSEP)

Northbourne NPCs - Compatibility Patches [www.nexusmods.com] A compendium of patches, mostly making Southpawe's various Northbourne NPC mods compatible with preeum's VHR - Vanilla Hair Replacer. Other fixes included

USSEP - Northbourne NPCs - AI Overhaul Patches' Compendium[www.nexusmods.com] A compendium of patches to apply Unofficial Skyrim Special Edition Patch's and AI Overhaul's modifications to Southpawe's Nortbourne NPCs series' mods

Northbourne NPCs AIO and Patches[www.nexusmods.com] A merged plugin which contains all Northbourne Npc replacement mods made by Southpawe

Northbourne NPCs of Haafingar AI Overhaul Patch[www.nexusmods.com] Title says it all

RS Children Patch Compendium [www.nexusmods.com] A Collection of 45 RS Children patches

RS Children-Citizens of Tamriel SE-Patch [www.nexusmods.com] The name says it all

RS Children 3DNPC (Interesting NPCs) Patch[www.nexusmods.com] Exactly what the name of the mod implies

Ruins Clutter Improved - Fixes [www.nexusmods.com] THIS IS MORE OF A PATCH for Ruins Clutter Improved SE that allows to install other retextures for Enchanting Table and Bloody Rags.

The Gray Cowl of Nocturnal SE - Addons & Patches [www.nexusmods.com] A collection of tweaks, enhancements and patches for The Gray Cowl of Nocturnal SE

Useless Patches Collection - Because who cares about conflict resolution & consistency [www.nexusmods.com] (maybe not that useless)

Kaptain's Assorted Modular Clothing System (MCS) Patches[www.nexusmods.com] Assorted patches made for MCS. Covers WACCF, CRF, Morroloot Misc's Hybrid Loot module, Aetherius, and Raptor's No Color Change for Beast Race Vampires

Obsidian Weathers Watercolor Fix for RWT2[www.nexusmods.com] A patch for people who want to use the watercolor plugin from Realistic Water Two (or any mod that changes water color) while using Obsidian Weathers.

Improved Traps - Nether's Follower Framework Bear Trap Fix[www.nexusmods.com] Fixes a conflicted script between kryptopyr's Improved Traps & NFF

Compatibility Patch for Archery Gameplay Overhaul & XP32 Skeleton Styles MCM[www.nexusmods.com]

WiZkiD Patches Compendium [www.nexusmods.com] A compendium of various patches with FOMOD installer that automatically detects if you have the mods/plugins needed by the patches and installs only the ones you need

Miscellaneous Patches [www.nexusmods.com] Miscellaneous for: USSEP, Complete Alchemy and Cooking Overhaul. Immersive Horses, RDO, Book Covers Skyrim, Juniper's College of Winterhold, Snazzy Furniture and Clutter Overhaul, Bottles of Skyrim, etc

QUASIPC - Qwinn's Unified Automated Self Installing Patch Compendium [www.nexusmods.com]
USE CAUTION WITH THIS MOD: SOME MODS IN YOUR LOAD ORDER MAY HAVE BEEN UPDATED RECENTLY WHICH MAY NOT BE REFLECTED HERE.

Window Shadows - ELFX (Enhanced Lights and FX) Patch[www.nexusmods.com] This is an exclusion patch that removes all cell records in ELFX & ELFX Enhancer that conflicts with "Window Shadows".

Patches (more)

Unofficial Enhanced Lights and FX ELFX SMIM fps patch for SE[www.nexusmods.com] FPS issues in Whiterun's Dragonsreach or Jorrvaskr basement, Solitude's Radiant Raiment, Faldars Tooth, or Shadow Green Cavern? ELFX used with SMIM mod can drop frame to crawling on these areas, and this mod patched those to bring back the performance to normal.

JK's Interiors Patch Collection[www.nexusmods.com] my favorite interior mod has a ton of patches. A collection of small patches/tweaks to help various mods play well nice JK's Interiors series

Better Dynamic Snow (v2 vs v3) Parallax and you (and some patches)[www.nexusmods.com] as a bonus this page will explain Better Dynamic Snow Patching. Catch-all page for explaining the interaction between Better Dynamic Snow and Parallax Textures, where end users may run into confusion with v2 vs v3, and a central location to toss my BDS patches.

Enigma Series Compatibility Patches (Official)[www.nexusmods.com] A Series of Compatibility Patches to allow other mods to use Enigma Voice reworks assets (Dragons).

Waterplants - Skyrim 3D Landscapes Lilypad Patch[www.nexusmods.com] Removes clipping between 3D Landscapes and Waterplants lily pads.

elwaps' Patches and Fixes[www.nexusmods.com] You'll find patches, compacted and esl flagged plugins, cleaned plugins, fixes for mods and lazy ports and other things like that.

Patches by Phoenix and Umgak[www.nexusmods.com] A collection of patches for various mods.

---

Performance

This Section Under Construction

Low Resolution Particles[www.nexusmods.com] This mod lowers the resolution of rain, snow, and leaf particles to improve performance. These particles are so fast-moving that most people can't tell the reduction in quality, and it frees up some resources for other things--like more mods.

So if you are gaming on a laptop or a really old GPU is this mod likely to make a noticeable difference. If you are in that camp where you are experiencing framerate issues in heavy weather or with lots of leaves falling, this mod is worth a try. It's only a few texture files, so it won't break anything if you uninstall it.

PERK Tree Mods

Ordinator - Perks of Skyrim [www.nexusmods.com] Ordinator overhauls the perk trees of Skyrim to increase the depth and fun of character building. It is highly compatible with other mods and uses lightweight and clean scripting.
This mod does not have any known dependencies other than the base game.

For some the above mod is a bit much. See the Next mod if that's the case with you.
From the same Mod Author.

Vokrii - Minimalistic Perks of Skyrim [www.nexusmods.com] Vokrii is a lightweight "vanilla-plus" perk overhaul that improves build diversity, but respects the vanilla vision and balance. It is lightweight and uses clean scripting.
This mod does not have any known dependencies other than the base game.

For yet another lightweight, streamlined Perk mod you may be interested in:

Adamant - A Perk Overhaul [www.nexusmods.com] Adamant is a streamlined perk overhaul designed to enhance every aspect of your Skyrim experience. This mod requires Mysticism - A Magic Overhaul[www.nexusmods.com]

Throwing Weapons - Skill and Perks Tree[www.nexusmods.com] The trees of perks for all your throwing weapons, javelins, axes, knives and shurikens, compatible with many mods.

Shout Perks V2[www.nexusmods.com] This mod add some perks and improves some shouts. Whirlwind Sprint, Become Ethereal, Battle Fury, Dragon Aspect.

Shout Perks[www.nexusmods.com] Adds 19 new perks for Shouts.



OR We can use this next mod which requires us to uncap the skill restriction of 100

(use the following at your own risk)

SPERG - Skyrim Perk Enhancements and Rebalanced Gameplay SE[www.nexusmods.com] A minimalist perk overhaul aimed at making leveling more fun and rewarding. Earn basic perks automatically, saving perk points for specializing your character with unique abilities. SPERG also boasts an easy installation, a variety of configuration options, and high mod compatibility. Ported by Rwby and esu_riddick (all credit to original seorin)

Requires: SkyUI, SKSE64 and:
Skyrim Skill Uncapper[www.nexusmods.com] This DLL plugin unlocks the skill level caps of 100 and makes some relevant leveling tweaks.You can treat it as Skyrim-Community-Uncapper SSE version.
Features:Redefine skill level caps;Redefine skill formula caps;Redefine skill exp gain mults;Redefine PC level exp gain mults...etc.
https://youtu.be/lhOzStXrtN8

Player Homes

Player Home mods come in all types, shapes, & sizes. There are modifications to existing vanilla player homes and there are completely new player homes introduced to the game with everthing from small shacks to mansions. There are countless Player Home Mods out there. We are going to only cover a few in this section in sticking with the mods that I have personally used or people I trust have used and that we can recommend. So let's take a look at some great home related mods:

Riverside Lodge[www.nexusmods.com] The good old Riverside Lodge by Lupus, ported to SSE. A picturesque and fully equipped player home between Whiterun and Riverwood. Welcome home!

Hidden Pines Cabin[www.nexusmods.com] A tiny, no load door cabin in the heart of Skyrim. Perfect for roll-playing a solitary druid/witch or for the survivalists out there!

Knight's Rest SE[www.nexusmods.com] A smaller castle/home located near Shor's Stone. lots of displays for unique items, follower friendly and compatible with Hearthfire multiple adoptions.

Lake Haven[www.nexusmods.com] Lore-friendly, multiple adoption compatible player home on Lake Ilinalta.

Elysium Estate SSE[www.nexusmods.com] one of the best player homes on the market imo A mid-sized, lore friendly home located near Whiterun for you, or with family and followers. Full of foliage, fountains, features to customize, optional displays, crafting and plenty more. Now includes (a small) voiced introductory quest!

Raven's Nest Tower SSE Port[www.nexusmods.com] A Big Tower Player Home within a breathtaking scenery. this home is gorgeous inside and lore friendly (ported from LE)

Morskom Estate [www.nexusmods.com] Mörskom Estate is a large player home situated on the hillside of Dawnstar. The mod comes with a short quest to acquire the home before the player will need to restore the building to its former glory, including the exterior and interior. Depending on your play style, Mörskom can be rebuilt using skill and materials or paid workers.

The Northern Star Retreat - Revisited[www.nexusmods.com] Many options for this excellent player home.

AYLEID PALACE: Maybe you're more into mansions. This next house mod is beautiful and has it all. This place is so huge that it comes with several NPCs inside and outside including guards.

Ayleid Palace SE [www.nexusmods.com] Ayleid inspired palace, located in the Rift, east of Fort Greenwall. Features all of the usual amenities, crafting, storage, displays. Follower and adoption friendly. Must be purchased for 50,000 gold - Click the sale sign near the front door.

Same Mod Author as above mod also offers Ayleid Citadel in Falkreath, Ayleid Haven between Cradlecrush Rock and Darkshade, and a Ayleid Sanctuary in the Reach next to Dushnikh Yal.

Riften Fishing Shack[www.nexusmods.com] As a contrast to the above 2 mods let's check out a SMALL fishing cabin on the lake behind the Riften Stables.

AHO - Dwemer Ship [www.nexusmods.com] AHO - Aetherium Hyperspace Observatory - is a large mobile player house, in Dwemer style. It is a stand-alone player home, part of our big DLC - Project AHO. ATTENTION! DO NOT USE THIS MODE WITHIN "PROJECT AHO".

This next mod is not a player home but I'm placing it here for now. Elianora ported this, her own mod, over from oldrim and her work is outstanding. A simple place to display your treasures for those who don't want all the fanfare.

Dovahkiin's Vault SSE [www.nexusmods.com] A small vault in the Throat of the World for storing away all those sketchy arcane objects in a safe location away from innocent people and your family. Only accessible with Clear Skies shout.

Upgrades/Overhauls to Vanilla Homes

BREEZEHOME BY LUPUS: The next mod is a huge and much needed improvement on your first available home for purchase. Also added a basement with complete crafting.

Breezehome by Lupus [www.nexusmods.com] "There are plenty of Breezehome mods already available. I know. But I wanted to make a version of my own - with my own flavour. I've kept the house somewhat "true to original", since I have always felt Breezehome needs to feel like a small town house, not a large mansion. So no added basements, towers, smithing areas or hoarder's mannequins and displays. But it doesn't have to feel crappy, either. Just compact and functional. As always, I like to keep things simple with mostly ingame assets and minimal amount of custom stuff. But what I can't live without, are the autosorter scripts that I've used in my other player homes, so those are there of course (and you can turn them off individually if you do not prefer to use them)."

HS Player Homes - Severin Manor[www.nexusmods.com] This mod overhauls Severin Manor, the default player home located on Solstheim.

Cynn's Vlindrel Hall[www.nexusmods.com] A lore-friendly overhaul of Vlindrel Hall in Markarth. The Mod Author says they didn't touch anything outside of the house, so it will be compatible with any Markarth overhaul mods. It should be compatible with Open Cities. Load this mod before Open Cities and after any lighting overhauls you are using. I like Cynn's work as it's not full of clutter and they are relatively bug free so they are very well done. Make sure you see the other player home mods offered by Cynn

NOT a Player Home but; Speaking of add-ons and speaking of add-ons for Vlindrel Hall:
Stoop Over Markarth -- Vlindrel Hall Elevated Patio SSE[www.nexusmods.com] A lore-friendly catwalk-patio that extends the approach of your lofty home overlooking Markarth. This ideal setting for posh banquets doubles as a perch for dropping potted plants. fits like a glove

https://youtu.be/U6dnlxT8eqs
YOU WILL NEED "MY HOME IS YOUR HOME" TO ASSIGN FOLLOWERS TO PLAYER HOME MODS THAT ARE ADDED TO SKYRIM. AND YOU WILL NEED "HEARTHFIRE MULTIPLE ADOPTIONS" FOR ANY CHILDREN YOU MAY ADOPT PAST 2. These mods are also listed in the "Follower Framework" section of this guide.

SIDE NOTE: To see the harbinger to this guide, the guide that inspired this collection of mods please see my guide titled: Starter Load Order Basics+ for Skyrim SE 2020

QoL

Quality of Life mods

This section is in progress

Sweeping Organizes Stuff - Use Broom to Clean Mess[www.nexusmods.com] Use a broom to clean up physics mess including bookshelf mess.

More Informative Console [www.nexusmods.com] This mod edits the UI to show a great deal of additional information on npcs, items, and other objects when the console is opened, similar to the way MFG console worked for Oldrim. It can be used to identify what mod is responsible for adding new objects to the world, or has moved existing objects to new locations. It can also provide detailed information about NPCs, items, spells, and containers.

Quests

FIRST 3 MODS to MAKE QUESTS RUN YOUR WAY:

The Choice is Yours[www.nexusmods.com] Stop quests from starting automatically. Pursue the quests you want, ignore the ones you don't. Make your choices matter.

Timing is Everything SE[www.nexusmods.com] Allows you to customize the starting conditions for various quests. You can choose to delay the start of Dragonborn, Dawnguard, or Hearthfire quests, as well as other quest events. You can also reduce the level requirements to allow a quest to begin earlier than it normally would.

Missives[www.nexusmods.com]
Adds a large number of localized radiant quests found at Missive Boards of varying difficulty and with varying rewards. The missive boards have been placed to be compatible with MannyGT's own mod (The Notice Board), so they can be used consecutively. This mod is also compatible with Extended Towns and Cities, and JK's Skyrim.

QUEST MODS

The Shire SE[www.nexusmods.com] The Shire is on the brink of disaster and it falls to an Outlander to determine its fate. Will it be conquered or liberated? In this DLC-sized adventure the decisions of one traveler hold the answer. Needs this Patch[www.nexusmods.com]

Clockwork (SSE)[www.nexusmods.com] Clockwork is a quest mod involving a castle high in the Velothi Mountains, lost to the world for over a hundred years. Once found, you may call Clockwork Castle home... but if you want to leave, you'll need to discover how to escape. (Updated Nov. 2020)

Helgen Reborn[www.nexusmods.com] Helgen Reborn is a fully voiced adventure with over 20 superb voice actors. As you help rebuild the town you'll reunite two old friends, uncover an underground slavery ring, battle in an arena and many other adventures! If you enjoyed other Mike Hancho mods, you will be blown away by Helgen Reborn as this is my most ambitious mod to date.

Beyond Reach[www.nexusmods.com] A DLC sized mod that takes place in the east of High Rock, commonly known as The Reach. You will experience a story of intrigue, conspiracies sowed by both men and gods, and the struggles of those in the most squalid situations.

Invasion of Skyrim - The Force Awakens - Grand Admiral Thrawn[www.nexusmods.com] Prepare for a gameplay overhaul unlike what you've seen before! Take part in a simultaneous civil and Daedric war alongside phenomenal warriors as they take up arms against monstrosities never before unleashed upon Tamriel! Featuring a cast of dozens of unique characters, tons of new armor/robes/weapons, and hundreds of enemies and bosses! (Updated August 2020)

Legacy of the Dragonborn SSE[www.nexusmods.com] Legacy of the Dragonborn will forever change how you play Skyrim. Not just a display mod, not just a quest mod, not just a new guild mod, but a complete foundational flagship mod to build an entire load order around. This DLC expansion sized mod adds hundreds of new items, dozens of new quests and hundreds of extra hours of play. (Updated November 2020) *See Patch Section
Paintings Replacer for Legacy of the Dragonborn SSE[www.nexusmods.com]

Moon and Star[www.nexusmods.com] A mysterious and powerful criminal has been spotted in Skyrim, his trail dogged by hunters from Morrowind. However, there may be more at stake than it seems, and this criminal may be familiar...

Project AHO[www.nexusmods.com] Project AHO is a large quest modification, comparable in size to a medium-sized DLC. Designed in the best traditions of Bethesda Game Studios, this mod adds to Skyrim a hidden settlement of Great House Telvanni. Determine its fate for yourself! (updated April 2019)

The Forgotten City[www.nexusmods.com] The Forgotten City is the first mod in history to win a national Writers' Guild award for its script. It is a critically acclaimed expansion mod offering a unique 6 - 8 hour experience: a murder mystery investigation set in an ancient underground city. You'll need to solve it using your wits, and the ability to travel through time...

VIGILANT SE [www.nexusmods.com] A Dark story for Vigilants of Stendarr. This mod includes a lot of unique armor sets, weapons, jewelry, creatures and more (Updated July 2020).
*Englished Voiced Add-on[www.nexusmods.com] for this mod. (Updated September 2020)

Wyrmstooth[www.nexusmods.com] The East Empire Company commissions the Dragonborn to slay a dragon that is interrupting trade routes throughout Skyrim. But is the dragon stirring up trouble with a particular reason and what sinister motive does it have for its actions?

THE NEXT TWO MODS ARE TOTALLY SEPARATE - DO NOT USE BOTH TOGETHER

The Gray Cowl of Nocturnal - Fully Functional Gray Fox Cowl [www.nexusmods.com] Do you have what it takes to don the fabled Gray Cowl of Nocturnal? This mod sets you on a short, clever quest to prove you're worthy of the great cowl. Complete it to earn a completely functional, better than the original cowl of the Gray Fox.

The Gray Cowl of Nocturnal SE[www.nexusmods.com] For a long time no one claimed the Gray Cowl of Nocturnal. The last one was the Champion of Cyrodiil at the ending days of the Third Era. But what happened after the Oblivion Crisis? Where is the Gray Cowl now? Add-ons and Patches[www.nexusmods.com] *For this mod only.

Shouts

For Shout Perks see the "Perk Tree" Sections of this guide

Shout - A Complete Immersive and Dynamic Overhaul of all Shouts[www.nexusmods.com] Let it all out! Improves upon all the shouts in Skyrim in a fair and balanced way by cutting down the cooldown timer effects, thus allowing the player to use a host of shouts in innovative, devastating combinations. Also adds unique effects to some shouts (Yes, It's compatible with Ordinator, too).

Forceful Tongue - Shouts Overhaul[www.nexusmods.com] Forceful Tongue is an enhancement to shouts and their system. It provides a balancing of the system through tweaks on shouts damage, duration and effects, without making them too overpowered.

Thunderchild - Epic Shouts and Immersion[www.nexusmods.com] Thunderchild enables players to create shout-centric characters, adding 29 new shouts with multiple effects. It also includes several buffs that are unlocked by completing Kyne's tests of faith, a custom Greybeard Robe in several variations, the High Hrothgar Library, and an assortment of buffs and bugfixes for vanilla shouts.

Thundering Shouts[www.nexusmods.com] Gives shouts echo and thunder in the background, kinda like draugr shouts. Includes DLC shouts.

(SJG) Better Sounding Female Dragon Shouts[www.nexusmods.com] Does your female Dragonborn sound a bit too butch when using a Dragon Shout? Would you prefer she sound a bit more feminine? This mod increases the pitch of all female shouts and is based upon the Skyrim elf voice.

Unlimited Shouting[www.nexusmods.com] Reduce the cooldown of shouts without using the console.[/url] Reduce the cooldown of shouts without using the console.

Shouts in the Dragon Tongue - Special Edition[www.nexusmods.com] Shouts in the Dragon Tongue ported for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - Special Edition.

Ulfric Shout Fix[www.nexusmods.com] A small fix that makes Ulfric Stormcloak actually speak the words of the Thu'um when he uses Unrelenting Force or Disarm.

Legendary Shouts[www.nexusmods.com] Shouting is supposed to be the Dragonborn's main source of power however, it's proven to be really weak, this mod adjusts that by buffing the shouts.

Shout Cooldowns That Make Sense[www.nexusmods.com] This mod reduces and balances the cooldowns for all shouts. In vanilla Skyrim some shouts become less worthwhile with additional words, and many shouts are never worth using because their cooldowns are too high compared to their utility. This mod fixes these issues, and makes using a variety of shouts more viable.

Dragon Shouts Overhaul[www.nexusmods.com] A complete overhaul to the effectiveness, usefulness, and overall viability of the shouts in Skyrim.

Thu'um - Fully Animated Shouts[www.nexusmods.com] Thu'um - fully animated shouts is a toggleable(activated through right alt key) behavior which changes your shout behavior to a custom behavior that allows each shout to have full animations. All shouts have unique animations which were possible through Nemesis & DAR.

Nordic Shouts -Enigma Series- SSE[www.nexusmods.com] Nordic Shouts Aims to rework the male shouts voice to make it deep and higher quality than vanilla!

SKYUI

https://youtu.be/Y3Zif0Bf_9I
SkyUI[www.nexusmods.com] Elegant, PC-friendly interface mod with many advanced features.

Some SKYUI Fixes
SkyUI SE - Flashing Savegames Fix[www.nexusmods.com] (Thump thump thump) Fixes the flashing savegame entries when trying to save or load a game in the in-game main menu (quest journal).

SkyUI - Ghost Item Bug Fix[www.nexusmods.com] Fixes the issue where SkyUI favourite groups may not equip correctly under certain circumstances, such as after upgrading items.

SkyUI Item Card Fixes[www.nexusmods.com] "I was bothered by the non-uniformed alignment, size, positioning and general inconsistency's of a lot the information on the item card interface so I have spent some time moving and sizing things so they look a little better."

Fix Note icon for SkyUI (SKSE64 plugin)[www.nexusmods.com]

S u r v i v a l

NOTE: IF you also use Survival mods from Bethesda's Creation Club please make sure you see the section of this Guide titled "Patches: Creation Club"

Make sure you read each mod page's requirements & compatibilities

SkyUI - Survival Mode Integration[www.nexusmods.com] IF YOU ARE USING CREATION CLUB's survival mode mod. See the "Creation Club section" (currently under construction) in this guide for other CC related patches.

Vitality Mode - Basic Needs - Eat Drink and Sleep [www.nexusmods.com] Basic needs are a common target for mods, since food and drink in the vanilla game are utterly useless, and sleeping is only marginally beneficial for skill increase bonuses. This mod gives these game mechanics a bit more weight, but without introducing a survival mini-game.

Campfire - Complete Camping System [www.nexusmods.com] (Also Supports Skyrim VR) Campfire is the most feature-rich stand-alone camping mod for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, created from Frostfall's immersive and detailed camping system. Campfire is also a modder's framework, allowing anyone to create their own unique camping equipment.

Frostfall - Hypothermia Camping Survival [www.nexusmods.com] Frostfall is a survival-style mod that adds cold weather survival gameplay elements to Skyrim.

The Frozen North - Minimalistic survival overhaul[www.nexusmods.com] Experience a more immersive Skyrim without being forced into annoying micromanagement.

Campfire and Frostfall - Unofficial SSE Update[www.nexusmods.com] Activate all features of Frostfall & Campfire including MCM, SKSE plugin and Interface.

Frostfall - Hypothermia Camping Survival[www.nexusmods.com] The primary objective of this mod is to add a deep, immersive level of gameplay to Skyrim, while keeping tedium to a minimum. An immersion mod should never get in the way of having fun.

Frostfall - Seasons[www.nexusmods.com] This mod adds monthly modifiers to Frostfall's base regional temperatures so that the temperatures will vary throughout the year. It also includes an MCM so that you can set each region's base temp and each month-type's modifier.

Realistic Needs and Diseases 2.0 [www.nexusmods.com] This is a new and updated version of the very popular Mod Realistic Needs and Diseases by Perseid9. On top of the original features there has been some fine additions, like weight feature, widgets and various other changes. Now ported for SSE. No Longer Supported but still Popular

SunHelm Survival and needs[www.nexusmods.com] SunHelm is an all in one survival and needs mod. Many other survival options are either too complex, or lightweight and do not have a full suite survival features. I have nothing against those mods, I just wanted SunHelm to bridge the gap where a full feature mod was needed, but in a somewhat lightweight and performance friendly manner. ALSO GREAT WITH THE NEXT MOD:

Survival Control Panel[www.nexusmods.com] A framework for mods and players to customize native Survival Mode features like Sleep to Level Up, with added support for cloaks and more! Survival Control Panel does not require Survival Mode to be installed to utilize its features.

Hunterborn SE[www.nexusmods.com] Changes animal looting into a process of dressing, skinning, harvesting, and butchering. Adds hunting knives, many new alchemy ingredients, animal meat, recipes, and foraging.

Hunterborn and Realistic Needs and Diseases All-In-One for USSEP PATCH [www.nexusmods.com] A patch to add restoring thirst and hunger effects to hunterborn's food.

Wet and Cold SE[www.nexusmods.com] This mod adds weather-dependent visual effects and AI enhancements to the player and NPCs.

Scarcity SE - Less Loot Mod[www.nexusmods.com] If you use weapons/armor/creature mods you will need Scarcity because the more weapons/armor/creature mods you use the more unbalanced Skyrim's economy becomes.

Exhaustion SE[www.nexusmods.com] This is a simple mod that plays audible breaths from your character when your health/stamina/magicka drops below a certain percentage. see mod page for more details

Mealtime - a Food and Recipe Mod[www.nexusmods.com] Adds over 120+ unique food items for you to eat, give to your children, and decorate your home with.

You Hunger SE[www.nexusmods.com] Complementary survival mod for use alongside basic needs mods such as Realistic Needs and Diseases. Increases difficulty by removing most food and drinks from the game. You have been warned!

More Growable Plants SE[www.nexusmods.com] READ THE MOD PAGE FOR PARTICULARS. makes more stuff growable with the 3 Hearthfire Homes. For one example you can now grow tomatoes. There is also a simple version.

Mini SSE Needs[www.nexusmods.com] This mod adds the needs of eating, drinking, pissing, and sleeping to the player. For each need, you can define how much time you can spend without satisfying the need. If too much time will pass some penalties will be applied.

Campsite[www.nexusmods.com] Build a campfire and pitch a tent, using only existing items with no spells/powers added.

SKYWATER_survival[www.nexusmods.com] This mod adds basic functionality for use and consumption of water to SkyrimSE. Get water at any natural water source. Quench your thirst and hunger. Make hot drinks to warm you and fill your health and stamina.

Conner's Survival Mode[www.nexusmods.com] An overhaul of the Creation Club Survival Mode.

Simply Rest (or Sleep) Anywhere[www.nexusmods.com] One hotkey allows sitting (cross legged/ on a ledge) or laying down on the ground (or anywhere else) with a possibility of waiting/ sleeping. Requires SKSE64 and UIExtensions.

iNeed - Food Water and Sleep[www.nexusmods.com] The goal of this mod is to provide an incentive to “live” in Skyrim without demanding a significant change in playstyle.

Medicus Abandoned Survival Home[www.nexusmods.com] This is a lore-friendly, simple and small Home for Adventures and Survivors it has all you need to get a dry night sleep. It´s located near the Halfmoon Mill watch out for the Mapmarker. There are all Workstations around and in the House - two beds and a place to cook. Have a look at the pictures.

Simply Knock SE[www.nexusmods.com] Simply Knock is the first feature-complete mod that allows you to knock on locked doors of houses in Skyrim. THIS mod is great for Survival as it allows you to knock on doors to get out of the elements
Simply Knock SKSE64 DLL[www.nexusmods.com] YOU MUST ADD THIS FILE OR YOUR GAME WILL CRASH

Tattoos

Shep's Tattoo Collection SE[www.nexusmods.com] This is a RaceMenu plugin that adds 132 new overlays to a female character face.

Dragon Age Dalish Vallaslin Face Tattoo's for Racemenu SE[www.nexusmods.com] This is a RaceMenu plugin that adds 30 Dalish Vallaslin face tattoo's to your makeup section. Both male and female. Created by Tropelicious :)

Community Overlays 1 (0-30) Bodypaints Warpaints Tattoos and more made for the Community (Special Edition)[www.nexusmods.com] 30 Sets of unique overlays for RaceMenu, each designed according to the parameters given to me by different community members! Contains many different kinds of overlays from warpaints, bodypaints, tattoos, dragon scales, blood stains, and much more! In total there are around 110 Individual Overlays!

Some Equippable (Tattoos UNP and UNPB and CBBE)[www.nexusmods.com] This is a small mod that adds some equippable tattoos to your game. Craftable at the forge under Misc and enchantable. They use equipment slots 55 through 59 and are shaped to fit the UNP body, thus female only. CBBE version added, as well as a UNPB version.

Community Overlays 2 (31-50) Bodypaints Warpaints Tattoos and more made for the Community (Special Edition)[www.nexusmods.com] A set of 20+ overlays for RaceMenu made from the ideas of members of the community! UUNP, CBBE, and Male Support! The highest quality work I have put out. Contains many different kinds of overlays from warpaints, bodypaints, tattoos, Indrik Feathers, Occult markings, Runes, and much more! In total there are around 95 Individual Overlays!

Textures - Argonian & Khajiit

Masculine Argonian Textures (Chameleon and Lizard)[www.nexusmods.com] This is a retexture for the Argonian male, it will make your Argonian look more masculine.

Feminine Argonian Textures (Chameleon and Lizard)[www.nexusmods.com] This is a retexture for the Argonian female, it will make your Argonian look more feminine.

Female Dragonic Argonian Textures 4k - 2k(CBBE and UNP)[www.nexusmods.com] New UNP & CBBE textures for female argonians.

Feminine Khajiit Textures (Grey Cat and Leopard)[www.nexusmods.com] This is a retexture for the Khajiit female, it will make your Khajiit look more feminine.

Better Khajiit female body Texture for UNP and CBBE body[www.nexusmods.com] etter Khajiit female body Texture for UNP, 7B, CBBE body, finer fur, more details, high resolution.

Masculine Khajiit Textures (Grey Cat and Leopard)[www.nexusmods.com] This is a retexture for the Khajiit male, it will make your Khajiit look more masculine.

Towns & Villages

Skyland - Towns and Villages [www.nexusmods.com] by johnrose81. Overhauls the towns and outposts of farmhouses throughout Skyrim. Using the same high quality techniques you'd expect from the Skyland name. (johnrose81 has been at this for a long while) Noble 2K does a great job on Cities etc..
check out Skyland Towns & Villages Video

Towns and Villages ReTextured [www.nexusmods.com] by ernest1. New textures for towns and villages. All textures are 1024x1024 and only change looks of villages and towns like Riverwood, Helgen & others.

Fences of Skyrim - No more flickering fences [www.nexusmods.com] by Therobwil. Tired of those fences that are always flickering from a distance? These new meshes will fix that. Fences of Skyrim - Video

Utilities

Simple NPC Outfit Manager[www.nexusmods.com]I use the 2nd file "Simple NPC Outfit Manager (Utility)"
Mod allows you to have direct control over what your Skyrim NPCs are wearing. Create custom outfits and equip them to any Skyrim NPC. Also has all vanilla Clothing and Armors to choose from. Powerful, functional, and lightweight.

Remove Restriction: Outfit change dialogue is only available to all unique Skyrim NPCs
To remove the restriction use console command CCORestrictOutfitDialogue 0
this will permanently remove the restriction.

Just to clarify how "Simple NPC Outfit Manager" works
When you give a NPC a custom outfit that you selected from your inventory if you later decide to give that same outfit to another NPC but change, let's say 1 item item, this does not change existing instances of that outfit already equipped on NPCs. For example: you equip outfit 1 on a NPC, then change the items in outfit 1 while giving it to another NPC, the first NPC will still be wearing the original outfit you gave them -- they won't have switched over to the new outfit, only the 2nd NPC will have what you changed. So this means you can equip as many different outfits to as many NPCs as you like. The only limitation is how many "recent" outfits you can store, which is up to 15. Great tool. I've been using it for years. See mod page for more details.

Customizable Camera [www.nexusmods.com] Customize your camera in-game via MCM. Also allows you to quicly swap sides or to set a view mode camera for landscape or portrait character. SkyUI required.

SmoothCam[www.nexusmods.com] SmoothCam is a highly configurable third-person camera, with smooth frame-interpolation and a raycasting crosshair to help you aim.

.NET Script Framework [www.nexusmods.com] Framework for memory editing, native code hooking and writing DLL plugins in any .NET language.

PapyrusUtil SE - Modders Scripting Utility Functions [www.nexusmods.com] An SKSE plugin adding several new scripts with native functions that provide various conveniences related to data storage and other misc functions to the scripter/modder.

DLL Plugin Loader [www.nexusmods.com] Simple DLL plugins loader.

RaceMenu High Heels [www.nexusmods.com] Hub and fixes for high heels made using the transforms system for equipped items of RaceMenu SE/SKEE64.

Skyrim Project Optimization SE [www.nexusmods.com] This is a mod aimed at improving performance in almost all interiors of Skyrim while staying as a clean mod by using Occlusion Culling.

BodySlide and Outfit Studio [www.nexusmods.com] An easy to use tool for customizing bodies and outfits, creating new bodies and outfits, and converting outfits between body types.

SSEEdit [www.nexusmods.com] SSEEdit is the Skyrim: Special Edition version of xEdit. xEdit is an advanced graphical module viewer/editor and conflict detector.

LOOT [loot.github.io] The Load Order Optimisation Tool, LOOT, is a plugin load order optimiser for TES IV: Oblivion, TES V: Skyrim, Fallout 3, Fallout: New Vegas and Fallout 4. It is designed to assist mod users in avoiding detrimental conflicts, by automatically calculating a load order that satisfies all plugin dependencies and maximises each plugin's impact on the user's game.

Vortex [www.nexusmods.com] The official download page for Vortex, the new mod manager made by Nexus Mods.

Mod Organizer 2 [www.nexusmods.com] Mod Organizer (MO) is a tool for managing mod collections of arbitrary size. It is specifically designed for people who like to experiment with mods and thus need an easy and reliable way to install and uninstall them.

Bethesda Launcher [bethesda.net] Bethesda Launcher is a game utility software by Bethesda Softworks LLC. The game platform showcases some of Bethesda's exclusive computer games and other contents that cannot be found from other digital distribution platforms in the market. Also used for Creation Kit.

Personalized Music - Skyrim Special Edition[www.nexusmods.com] This mod lets you add your own choice of music to the game by some simple renaming and converting of files. Add 1200 tracks! No original music is deleted or overwritten, it will still play together with your added music. Supporting both .wav and the compressed .xwm format!

zEdit[github.com] zEdit is a new GUI/frontend for the xEdit framework built with Electron. The goal is to do everything xEdit does and more through the power and flexibility of JavaScript, HTML, and CSS. zEdit also includes a core module - the zEdit Unified Patching Framework (or UPF for short). UPF is similar SkyProc/SUM, but better.
How to download, install, and use zEdit Getting Started with zEdit[z-edit.github.io]

Vampire

Better Vampires 8.5 SE[www.nexusmods.com] A highly customizable Vampire overhaul; players determine how they want to play. Neither feeble nor overpowered because YOU balance weaknesses and strengths how you see fit. You and those you turn will live your lives as Vampires and feed to enhance your power and abilities.

Better Vampire NPCs 1.9 SE[www.nexusmods.com] Better Vampire NPCs overhauls Skyrim's vampires. They will be leveled according to the PC and get stronger with advanced perks, spells, and all new abilities. Vampires can now be many different classes: one or two handed, light armor, heavy armor, mage, light bowman, heavy crossbowman. More variety, more challenge, more fun!

Sacrosanct - Vampires of Skyrim[www.nexusmods.com] Sacrosanct overhauls vampires and vampire lords. Reverse progression (stronger when fed), new abilities, powers, perks, hemomancy, various new progression systems and many gameplay tweaks for the discerning undead monster.

Vampire Hunter Mod[www.nexusmods.com] a small mod to add a little immersion for you Vampire Slayers. Now with a few vampire strongholds for the tougher of you vampire slayers.

Scion - A Vampire Overhaul[www.nexusmods.com] Scion is a streamlined overhaul designed to improve the gameplay of Vampires and Vampire Lords.

Sanguinaire (Revised Edition - Skyrim Vampire and Lycanthropy Experience)[www.nexusmods.com] This is a re-release of Sanguinaire which was taken offline about a year ago. Sanguinaire is a Vampirism and Lycanthropy overhaul mod, which completely rewrites the core mechanics base vampirism and lycanthropy. In addition, many new functions and experiences have been added to the game. See full description for details.

Supreme Vampire Lords[www.nexusmods.com] A must have mod for Vampire lovers, this mod not only enlarges the wings of Vampire Lords, but also makes new subtle enhancements to the upper torso, along with fixing the ridiculous leg clipping animation when the wings flap as a bonus!!!

Vampire Lord Retexture[www.nexusmods.com] Vampire lord retextured into a more demonic form.

Vampire Attacks Restored Outside of Walled Cities[www.nexusmods.com] Simply restores the Dawnguard DLC vampire attacks (they were removed with SSE release or some time after) with a new condition: they don't happen inside walled cities.

Fangs and Eyes - A Vampire Appearance Mod[www.nexusmods.com] This mod changes the fangs and eyes of the player vampire and all NPC vampires. Fangs are shorter and now present for females. 10 Different eye colors are available.

The Eyes Of Beauty - Vampire Eyes SSE[www.nexusmods.com] Standalone vampire eyes replacer with new improved SE vampire eye mesh, both normal and glowing. Credit to original author LogRaam and with permission from JRICH604.

Predator Vision - Night Eye and Thermal Vision Overhaul[www.nexusmods.com] See clearly in the night, and sense your preys body heat as you close in for the kill.

Royal Bloodline - Vampire Lord perk tree - abilities - and more SSE Edition[www.nexusmods.com] Vampire Lord Perk Tree mod The royal bloodline ported to sse under permission of txt12100.

Unique Vampire Dens SSE[www.nexusmods.com] Adds six new, unique, hidden vampire dens in various cities around the world.

Volkihar Knight - Vampire Armor[www.nexusmods.com] A lore-friendly vampire armor pack. Three standard variations can be crafted at the forge as both heavy and light armor. Legendary versions with unique affects can be found in Volkihar Cathedral after confronting Harkon.

CleverCharff's Castle Volkihar 4K 2K[www.nexusmods.com] Retexture of Castle Volkihar interior and exterior to look as sinister as possible.

Lustmord Vampire Armor - SSE CBBE BodySlide (with Physics)[www.nexusmods.com] The most popular vampire armor in Skyrim now comes in CBBE SSE BodySlide version. With permission from the original author AmethystDeceiver. Proof of permission is in description.

Weapons

Note:
Read all requirements, installation instructions and compatibility notes on each mod page

Immersive Weapons [www.nexusmods.com] If you're seeking to enhance your Skyrim with a greater selection of weapons without breaking from natural feel of the game, this mod is for you. It adds many new custom weapons that have been seamlessly integrated into the world. The items are balanced and spread across your gaming experience. You will be finding new, power appropriate weapons starting from level one up to level fifty and beyond.
Immersive Weapons is more than a mod that adds weapons. Here is a list of the features of this mod:
Adds 230 new weapons, and distributes them around the world in a variety of ways
Adds duel wielding opponents to give variety to combat and better utilize the new weapons
Allows for breaking down weapons at smelters for base components
Adds 21 new weapon archetypes to Skyrim (the vanilla game has 8) to increase combat variety and promote more choice in play-style
Adds custom crafting requirements (such as quest completion or specific item acquisition) to promote immersion and protect the game's lore.

*New ElSopa - Iron Weapons Redone SE[www.nexusmods.com] Every Iron Weapon Redone. New Meshes. New Textures. No ESP. Performance Friendly. All Resolutions

Unique Uniques SE[www.nexusmods.com] A conversion of InsanitySorrow's mod Unique Uniques updated for Skyrim Special Edition.

Insanitys Celtic Katana SSE[www.nexusmods.com] Now converted for Skyrim Special Edition, this classic masterpiece of a craftable set of weapons from InsanitySorrow will be seeing more of your adventures in SSE.

The Witcher 3 Weaponry SE [www.nexusmods.com] Adds 24 unique swords from TW3, including 2 with upgradable appearance/level. Plenty to read about here. See mod page.

Cain9580's Harkon's Sword Retexture[www.nexusmods.com] A quick texture mod I put together similar to the Ebony Blade mod I designed.

Thane Weapons Reborn[www.nexusmods.com] Thane Weapons Reborn is a mod which makes the Thane reward weapons truly unique with brand new models and equally unique abilities. V4.0 now live!

Believable weapons[www.nexusmods.com] Mesh replacer for 85 of Skyrim's original axes, maces, swords and warhammers. Opts for a slimmer and cleaner design, while keeping the original style.

LeanWolf's Better-Shaped Weapons SE[www.nexusmods.com] Tired of broad, thick weapons that would be far too heavy, blunt or unwieldy in actual combat? Maybe you find their styles a little too unconventional or just plain ugly? This mod simply reshapes the weapon meshes and is compatible with re-texture mods.

Project Clarity - Vanilla Weapon Textures Redone[www.nexusmods.com] High resolution AI up-scaled weapon textures, for every single weapon.

Bowgasm SE[www.nexusmods.com] This is a combined .esl flagged plug in of 14 different bows that I have made for Skyrim. Optional file is a non-plug in replacer for nearly all Vanilla bows in game with higher poly models, more realistic shapes, and higher resolution textures.

Real Bows (by DecimusMaximus for SSE)[www.nexusmods.com] With DecimusMaximus' permission, I present to you: "Real Bows" for Skyrim Special Edition

I Want Better Arrows[www.nexusmods.com] This mod will replace the models and textures for all of the arrows in the game. There is an All in one (if you want them all) or individual files (if you only want specific ones). All are custom created models and textures.

for the next three mods there is also a Perk Tree mod listed under the "Perk Tree" section of this guide

Throwing Weapons Lite SE[www.nexusmods.com] Adds script light throwing weapons to the game. Also integrates them into the leveled lists and allows them to be used by followers and NPCs.

True Spear Combat - Weapons and Animations[www.nexusmods.com] TSC offer new animations for spears, tridents, halberds and javelins, as well as some bound spears and various throwing weapons. For both players and NPCS. FNIS or Nemesis are required for this version.

True Spear Combat - DAR[www.nexusmods.com] TSC offer new animations for spears, tridents, halberds and javelins, as well as some bound spears and various throwing weapons. For both players and NPCS. DAR is required for this version.

There are more Weapon Mod videos included in the Armor section of this guide as part of total Armor & Weapon Mod overhauls.

some well done video's showcasing weapon mods
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYsBZK6T5IY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9XhpxeHQGA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHftKGY61Eo

Weapon Fixes

Bloodskal Blade - Tweaks and Enhancements[www.nexusmods.com] This mod fixes several issues with the Bloodskal Blade, as well as expands its usage.

Looking for modern weapons? See the "Guns' section of this guide

Weapons - Skyrim Guns

Beware of possible bugs
Please read everything on each mod page as I have not used any of these mods:

NEW - Skrimborne Flintlocks[www.nexusmods.com] Makes Flintlock Pistols for Adventurers more like Bloodborne pistols; Tools for parrying/staggering.

Lore Friendly Rifles of Skyrim DAR[www.nexusmods.com] Bolt action animations from the Mosin Nagant 1891 Skyrim Rifles Gun mod DARified for the Lore Friendly Rifles of Skyrim mod

Dwarven Blasters[www.nexusmods.com] This mod adds three types of dwarven blasters in the game, with custom ammo, sound and visual FX.

Dwemer Longrifle SSE[www.nexusmods.com] An ancient weapon of the Dwarves, long since forgotten. The Dwemer Longrifle is a powerful combination of alchemy and engineering that the Dwarves created to defend themselves from the brutality of Dragon domination. The technology has been all but lost, spoken of only in ancient tomes.

Dwarven Rifle Crossbow type[www.nexusmods.com] This mod adds two Dwarven Rifles to the game. The newest model features a bayonet!

Lore Friendly Rifles of Skyrim[www.nexusmods.com] Adds 15 new lore-friendly rifles based on vanilla materials and 8 bullet types to Skyrim. All craftable. Bandits and Guards use rifles as well. Made using vanilla assets.

Flintlock Pistols for Adventurers (travelling in hostile environments)[www.nexusmods.com] This mod adds 15 pistols to the hostile Skyrim world. Pistols date back to the Dwemer era, so will mostly be found in and around old Dwemer ruins, or in the inventory of other explorers of the forgotten (but technologically advanced) ruins that predate Nord civilization.

Project Flintlock Redux SE[www.nexusmods.com] Ports and Rebalances Project Flintlock.

Spaghetti Western - Western style revolver and rifle in skyrim[www.nexusmods.com] Adds a crossbow-based revolver and bolt action rifle to Skyrim.

Skyrim SE - Modern Weapons[www.nexusmods.com] Get Wrecked Son!!! its a simple staff mod creates new staffs that are guns.

Junk's Cow Catapult SE[www.nexusmods.com] Adds a craftable, portable catapult. That flings cows.

Ordo Legionis (Flintlock Muskets of the Imperial Legion)[www.nexusmods.com] Ordo Legionis adds black powder muskets to the world of Skyrim. Ordo Legionis Overhaul adds these muskets to the world as weapons of the Imperial Legion.

Models Only
Matchlock Musket Models[www.nexusmods.com] THIS IS NOT A MOD. As stated by the uploader; "This pack Contains 3 Musket Models; A European Arquebus, a European Matchlock Musket and a Matchlock Musket Carbine with a shorter barrel which should fit in with crossbow animations. I don't really know how to mod very well, therefore I am uploading these models for anyone interested in adding these muskets into the game."

Weight Management

CHECK INDIVIDUAL MOD PAGES FOR REQUIREMENTS & COMPATIBILITY

WeightLess[www.nexusmods.com] A configurable xedit script that can patch any mod added items.

Carry Weight Modifier[www.nexusmods.com] Increase your carry weight by x2, x3, x5, x10, x25, x50 or x100 with no hassle! Install any of the versions and you're good to go. No Spells, Jewelry, Enchantments or Console Commands required! Works with all saves! Optional: -100, -150, -200 from the base Carry Weight(300) for those looking for a little more challenge. I'm currently using this mod which has not been updated since 2016, because it has not needed to be.

Weightless Overhaul[www.nexusmods.com] Change weight of Book, Ingestible, Ingredient, Misc and Scroll items to 0 (Zero). You can choose to install everything or pick the only category you want with an installer.

Increase Carry-Weight on Level-Up[www.nexusmods.com] Mages want to carry loot, too! Increase the player's carry-weight, no matter which stat you choose when levelling up.

Weighted - A Compatible Item Weight Mod[www.nexusmods.com] A simple, fully configurable mod designed to alleviate annoyances with the character weight limit system by removing the weight from less significant items (e.g. food, potions, books) instead of simply raising the Dragonborn's carrying capacity. Also designed for maximum compatibility - a problem I ran into when trying to use similar mods.

Reduced weight of Ingredients and Potions[www.nexusmods.com] Reduces the weight of all Alchemy Ingredients to 0.01 and the weight of all Potions to 0.1

Firewood Weight Reduction[www.nexusmods.com] A simple mod that reduces the weight of firewood from 5 down to 1.

Widescreen & Ultra Widescreen Users

For those using my load order guides:

I play at 2560X1440 and do not need to make any *special adjustments to do so. But before we get into the User Interface section of this guide I suggest if you are planning on playing at say for example 3440x1440 and are unsure of what you need to do use this section as a reference point. You should still follow the UI sections of this guide but you may need an adjustment that you are unsure of and this may help you.

See this mod page for instructions:
Complete Widescreen Fix for Vanilla and SkyUI 2.2 and 5.2 SE[www.nexusmods.com]

Guides with Additional info for Ultra Widescreen
Widescreen for Skyrim SE 1.6 and Anniversary Edition How to get Skyrim SE 1.6 and Anniversary Edition working on ultrawide monitors. This guide uses SkyUI, Complete Widescreen Fix, and several UI tweaks.

Running Skyrim AE in ultrawidescreen without stretching and cutting off the UI A quick guide to help set up Skyrim Anniversary Edition for ultrawidescreen usage, without stretching or cutting off the UI. This should be very simple and take about 10 minutes or so and the game will then run full screen - in ultrawide (21:9) aspect ratio - with readable text at the bottom of the UI.

And finally
Ultrawide Intro Video Fix[www.nexusmods.com] a fix for the the ugly grey bars that appear on ultrawide monitors in the intro sequence. Ultra scriptless, ultra easy installation, ultra wide. Includes a patch for "Ultrawide Logo Fix (24-10)"

Also you can check out Flawless Widescreen[www.flawlesswidescreen.org] which I know supports Skyrim I'm just not sure if it supports SSE since I don't use Wide or Ultrawide. (I play at 2560x1440)

Witcher mods

Armor

The School of Bear SE - HDT-SMP Ursine Armor from Witcher 3[www.nexusmods.com] All sets are craftable and temperable, but they not comes for free. You have to find diagrams for each sets to be able to craft them. Diagrams are scattered across Skyrim. See Mod Page for Spoilers.

Witcher 3 Kaer Morhen Armor - SE Port - Remastered[www.nexusmods.com] Leather Armor used by Geralt in Witcher 3 - This is a port of the mod Witcher 3 Kaer Morhen Armour from LE. Besides me porting the mod I have recently remastered the mod. Besides crafting and tempering, you can now enchant the armor. This wasn't available in the LE mod or in SE version1.0

Ciri's Outfit (The Witcher 3) SE UNP-CBBE[www.nexusmods.com] Adds Ciri's outfit and sword from the game The Witcher 3.

Armor of Intrigue for SE - Modular Male Armor from The Witcher 2[www.nexusmods.com] Adds a highly customizable light - leather based - set of armor ( male only ) that can suit almost every type of character with an armor rating close to that of the elven set.

Prologue Gear The Witcher 3[www.nexusmods.com] Armour can be crafted at any forge. Also addable trough the additem menu. -including Wolf Mask, Witcher Necklace

The Witcher 3 Female Armours - SSE CBBE BodySlide[www.nexusmods.com] Skyrim's The Witcher 3 Female Armours mod by ZZJay, converted to SSE CBBE BodySlide

Witcher 2 Steel Plate Armour Replacer[www.nexusmods.com] This replaces the (ugly) steel plate armour with armour from The Witcher 2.

Caranthir Armor SE Port - The Witcher 3[www.nexusmods.com] Adds Caranthir armor from The Witcher 3 to Skyrim Special Edition.

Ves (Witcher 2) Outfits-UNPB BBP-SSE[www.nexusmods.com] 8 variations of Ves's Prostitute Outfits from Witcher 2: 4 colors, each in 2 versions- with and without panties. Light Armor, Craftable, Temperable, Enchantable.

Ves (Witcher 2) Outfits BodySlide UUNP HDT[www.nexusmods.com] UUNP Bodyslides for above mod (Ves Outfit)

DX Witcher Armor SSE - with Optional Heels Sound and UUNP Bodyslide - Physics - UNP UNPB 7BB Seraphim DreamGirl and More[www.nexusmods.com] A new craftable light ebony armor accompanied by a unique crossbow, bolts and cosmetic Witcher themed swords.

Weapons

The Witcher 3 Weaponry SE[www.nexusmods.com] Adds 24 unique swords from TW3, including 2 with upgradable appearance/level. (Open the Book and the special Forge launches)

DX Witcher Swords - SE[www.nexusmods.com] Deserter X's Witcher Swords now function as weapons, available as both swords and greatswords. Standalone mod. With permission from the original author.

Witcher 3 - Geralt's Dual Swords[www.nexusmods.com] Dual back-mounted sheathes. For this mod to properly display your swords, XP32 will be required.

Followers

Yennefer of Vengerberg - The Witcher 3 Voiced Standalone Follower SE[www.nexusmods.com] This mod adds The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt's Yennefer to Skryim. If you haven't played the Witcher series, I highly recommend it. And a big thanks to CD Projekt RED for allowing use of their assets so mods like this are possible.

Cirilla (Ciri) Fiona Elen Riannon - Witcher 3 Voiced Follower[www.nexusmods.com] This mod adds The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt's Ciri to Skryim. If you haven't played the Witcher series, I highly recommend it. And a big thanks to CD Projekt RED for allowing use of their assets so mods like this are possible.

Triss Merigold - The Witcher Voiced Standalone Follower CBBE 3BBB[www.nexusmods.com] Everyone's favorite red-headed Sorceress is now available as a follower for Skyrim Special Edition! Based off of Triss Merigold from The Witcher series.

Geralt Of Rivia SSE Voiced Follower The Witcher[www.nexusmods.com] Geralt Of Rivia from the Witcher as a voiced follower for Skyrim.

Misc.

The Witcher 3 Eyes SE[www.nexusmods.com] Adds 51 eyes from The Witcher 3. Male/female, humans/elves and some for Khajiits/Argonians.

Witcher Style Meditate Waiting SE[www.nexusmods.com] By pressing a custom hotkey, you can meditate waiting just likes in Witcher 3.

Skyrim Witcher Experience Enhanced[www.nexusmods.com] This mods brings elements from the Witcher Games to Skyrim, like monsters, signs, armors, weapons and more.

Toxicity SE - A Witcher-like Toxicity System[www.nexusmods.com] Puts a soft limit on the number of potions that could be consumed at once. Drinking too many potions will cause your toxicity level to rise and will eventually cause you to lose your balance and produce hallucinations in the form of visual effects. It's also compatible with everything out of the box.

Deithwen - Witcher Inspired Home - SSE Port[www.nexusmods.com] A large player home greatly inspired by the architecture and characters of The Witcher series.

Bring Your Silver Lite Special Edition[www.nexusmods.com] Overhauls the silver resistances bringing a more hardcore experience that makes you actually want to carry a silver weapon with you when fighting the undead, vampires, and werewolves.

Witcher Decor in High Definition SE[www.nexusmods.com] Retextures the Witcher Decor mod (which is no longer needed) with textures in High Definition, no more blurry mess. THIS MOD IS NOW STAND ALONE

Tavern Games - Mini Games in Skyrim[www.nexusmods.com] This mod adds mini games to Skyrim! Board game, card game, dice games, lotteries, etc.[/url]

A lute from Witcher 3[www.nexusmods.com] Replacer for lute.

Rally's Witcher Lute Redone[www.nexusmods.com] REPLACES TEXTURE FOR THE (ABOVE) MOD "A LUTE FROM WITCHER 3"

4K Witcher Lute[www.nexusmods.com] ANOTHER Texture Replacer that requires the mod "A lute from Witcher 3".

The Witcher 3 Music Overhaul (SE Edition)[www.nexusmods.com] With permission from CD Projekt RED.

Witchery Skill (Vanilla Alchemy Extender)[www.nexusmods.com] This mod adds expands the vanilla Alchemy skill and turns it into a more witcher oriented skill by adding witcher alchemy (separate from vanilla alchemy), magical Signs and benefits to using steel and silver swords.

Worldspace

Just a place to park some mods until I get to this section

Bee Hives 2.0.3[www.afkmods.com] by Arthmoor. Ever wonder where Honningbrew Meadery gets their honey? Bet you never quite gave it much thought, figuring it had to come from somewhere. The only problem is that the sole source of honey is at Golden Glow Estate and you know Maven isn't likely to give that up. This little mod takes care of the issue by making some room in front of the Honningbrew Boilery for 5 bee hives. That's it. Simple. Flagged as ESL.

Mods for Intermediate Users

Nothing really scary here. This section is more like "for users who don't mind more work" to be frank. There are also those who don't want much more than a basic load order for various reasons and that's fine as well. How many mods will be here? Not many otherwise we are, for all intents and purposes, into a separate guide. Truth be told it's being created for two mods that work well together (one of them is in the Basic Load Order) and Michael of GamerPoets made an as easy to understand video that you'll find regarding the installation process and the important tweaks. So let's take a look.

Watch the video first because it also goes into detail on settings & what these two mods actually do for your load order and of course, most importantly, your game. (Video details for MO2 and Vortex users)

This is 2 mods working together - requires tweaks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXklRYVN7mE
SSE Engine Fixes [www.nexusmods.com]
skse64 plugin to fix various issues with the Skyrim Special Edition engine.

SSE Fixes [www.nexusmods.com]
Fix for a bug in Skyrim Special Edition that causes low fps.

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Support the Creators

Please remember to support our Mod Authors by Endorsing their mods and contributing when you can. Their work is a labor of love and there is no better way to show your appreciation.

Also, please support the creators of the YouTube videos like GamerPoets, Gopher and others.

Without these people we would not have the Skyrim experience that we have today so lets keep them motivated by showing our appreciation. Thank you.
https://youtu.be/SvEUrba9Ov0

I also want to say how grateful for having such a kind and understanding base using this guide which is constantly growing. I am also one of many that help some of you in Steam's Skyrim SE Forums on a daily basis and am proud to be on this journey with this community.

Thank you all

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More Guides by Vlad 254

my other Guides

Always do this before starting a new modding session
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2743619856
Load order guides

New load order guide coming soon (August 2022) it's complete and currently in testing & writing

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2636368499 https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1986067552 A small load order guide https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2738338974
Help guides
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2266129651 https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2225149260 https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1977191236
TES History & Lore
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2456651059

Stay tuned

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Thank you

any suggestions are encouaged and most welcome - feel free to comment below

[Sordros]

curious about a updated version of a dhampyr; similar to blade n selene!!! also weapons specifically dual type n armor!!!!

[twinte]

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3364299571https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3364299571https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3364299571https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3364299571

[Spirit3057]

@Vlad 254:
Hail and well met. Wonder if you can advise on an alternate UI besides SkyUI?

[Peppino's Pizza]

Wow

[Vlad 254]

@CaptainWybie - these are suggested mods to pick & choose from. For exact load order see one of the Load order guide depending upon which game version you are playing.

For the most current version of the game that would be this guide:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2636368499

[Wybie!]

Hi is this the exact load order for which you should download the mods? or just some suggested ones, thanks in advance

[SaintDiablo]

Finally went through entire list and so far it all works. now to add some other things i've been wanting to add after i finished setting this up as a base. I also saw a few interesting mods that you might be interested in. Obody or Autobody. Autobody is built on the core of Obody but with more stuff. It basically randomizes npcs with different body types. So can have unp, cbbe, etc all at once. theres a utility called easy npc which is handy utility when comes to npc appearance mods and helps shrink esps, but im not too familiar with it since i just got it. The people on xedit discord swear by it though.

[Vlad 254]

@SaintDiablo - yeah sorry about that but I do not want to give bad info. I might test Better Vampires for the updated guide. Not sure yet.

[SaintDiablo]

ok thanks anyway.

[Vlad 254]

@SaintDiablo - I have not visited the Vampire mods or night eye mods for compatibility since the big update on 11/11/2021. IIRC you are running 1.5.97 and to be honest I'm concentrating on 1.6.353 right now so it's been a while since I visited anything to do with 1.5.97 outside of the basics and fixes we all consider required. I would also add that even when I was using 1.5.97 I was never big on Vampire mods (although I have used them some). So I don't want to give you bad info on this. Again, I would open a thread in the Steam SSE Forums so that folks who use these mods for 1.5.97 can offer advice.