PC Mods You Can't Live Without

If you had to reinstall Skyrim, mod free, what are the first 5 or so you HAVE to load up before you play?

Mine are a split between cosmetic and gameplay priorities.

I keep remembering when WoW got hacked, and how I simply could not log on until Curse got my Bartender 4, DBM and mini-map installed, lol!

Wet and Cold mod plus Winter is Coming. Together they really add to the immersion. I always felt odd wandering through cold climates without some protection and watching npc's do the same. Having to run the SKSE, though, seems a bit dicey on my system for some reason. I do get the occasional CTD, and I suspect one of these mods is at fault.

Immersive Armors. It's hard to imagine not having these additional choices. They really, really add to the visual aspects of the game.

Skyrim Map with Roads. I'm utterly dependent on it now.

Unofficial Skyrim Patch (plus USP for Dawnguard and Hearthfire). There are still bugs, but they deal with many of the most common ones.

Better Vampires
Crimson Tide
Real Vampire Lord Flying
Royal Bloodline
Vampire Royal Hood
Nightingale HD Armor

must have to play:
Unofficial patches (Skyrim, Hearthfire, Dawnguard)
SkyUI
A Quality World Map with roads
Dungeon Quest Awareness

nice to have:
Faster Mining
Localized Thieves Guild Jobs
Unique Region Names
Lore-based Loading Screens

Skyrim HD-2K textures
Ultimate flora overhaul
Rcrn v36 lightning and immersion mod
Immersive Armors
and of course, UFO (ultimate follower overhaul)

Most of my top mods are graphic enhancing mods, probably because after playing on Xbox for a year, I just want Skyrim to look as good as possible now that I have that option.

KattSand said:

Skyrim HD-2K textures
Ultimate flora overhaul
Rcrn v36 lightning and immersion mod
Immersive Armors
and of course, UFO (ultimate follower overhaul)

Most of my top mods are graphic enhancing mods, probably because after playing on Xbox for a year, I just want Skyrim to look as good as possible now that I have that option.

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Oh yes, the UFO mod is awesome. Forgot to add that one to my list.

Punz said:

Oh yes, the UFO mod is awesome. Forgot to add that one to my list.

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Dunno how I'd manage without that, there's just to many followers I like, why chose just one I kind of wanted to add sharpshooters ENB to my list but it doesn't really make my top 5 simply because I would never use ENB for actual game play, but I do love it for screenshots so that's the only time I enable it.

KattSand said:

Dunno how I'd manage without that, there's just to many followers I like, why chose just one I kind of wanted to add sharpshooters ENB to my list but it doesn't really make my top 5 simply because I would never use ENB for actual game play, but I do love it for screenshots so that's the only time I enable it.

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Yeah, having a ton of followers is awesome. With the Better Vampires mod, I can turn any NPC into a vampire and in most cases, have them follow me. I had my normal followers plus some guards help me raid the Dawnguard Fortress. It was fun!

I'll have to check out that Shapeshooters ENB mod.

Punz said:

Yeah, having a ton of followers is awesome. With the Better Vampires mod, I can turn any NPC into a vampire and in most cases, have them follow me. I have my normally followers plus some guards help raid the Dawnguard Fortress. It was fun!

I'll have to check out that Shapeshooters ENB mod.

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Now that sounds like fun, also sounds like something I would do
There's a lot of ENB mods at nexus but after trying a few of them, I came to the conclusion that sharpshooter was the most performance friendly, I'm already running a ton of graphic mods and they have my graphic card working But I get no lag whatsoever with that ENB+all the other mods. And like I said, you can just take screenshots to a whole new level with that, I actually replaced a lot of pics in my albums with new and better ones after starting to use ENB, they just look so much better and now I can't stand looking at my old shots haha.

I have like too many mods that I love.

But these are the best I feel, and can't see myself playing without them.

Enhanced Lights FX
aMidianborn Book of Silence
Footprints
Wet & Cold

And of course ENBs. A suitable one of course.

Unofficial Patches, Ultimate Follower Overhaul (UFO), and Convenient Horses. Close second would be skin retextures and hairstyles.

Skyrim UI
Hialgo Boost (Unplayable without it)
Unofficial Patches
Duel Combat
ACE Combat modules (One handed, Two Handed Etc..)
A Quality Map with Roads
Immersive Armours (for the Fur Hoods)

SkyUI for sure, don't think I could ever go back to using the default UI...

SuckaaPunch said:

SkyUI for sure, don't think I could ever go back to using the default UI...

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Ah I forgot to mention this one on my list I'd never go back to the default UI either.

Even though I played for a long time on PC without it, once adding the Realistic Lighting mod, skyrim just doesn't look the same without it to me now.

Add Dark Dungeons to that as well, completely changes the game when you can't see everywhere at night or in dark dungeons and caves.

I would probably choose a weapon mod to add depending on what I wanted to use at the time. Maybe Loner's Sword or Lord of the Rings weapons. I know Jaysus is popular, but swords without sheaths I can't stand.

aMidianborn Book of Silence, the armor retextures make the vanilla armors look actually really good and I'd be happy to use several vanilla armors after installing that.

And last maybe Immersive armors, mainly for the fur hoods they included now, but it also offers a ton more options if I want to go away from vanilla armors.

I guess that's my list.
I've never wanted to use SkyUI probably b/c I came from xbox and still play on pc with a controller, tried without it and can't stand it.
Never used any of the patches, game and dlc's work fine without them so far after 600 hours and 100 mods runnings.

KattSand said:

-snip- I actually replaced a lot of pics in my albums with new and better ones after starting to use ENB, they just look so much better and now I can't stand looking at my old shots haha.

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Would you give some before and after shots? I'm curious.

I can live without any of them, but there are a few I've gotten used to. First to load is my personal one "Towers of Whiterun", which I haven't uploaded yet. Basically, it's a bit more content around the plains of the Hold, where there's little to keep you interested beyong the occasional deer. Just like it says on the tin, these are mostly Towers of various design, filled with Guards, bandits, Draugr, and one even inhabited by Dwemer Automata. There's also places to sleep, leveled loot, and some workstations which there's a dearth of out there.

Of the pre-made (by others) I've got Luscious Faces to pretty up my characters Kill Them Generals for when the CW arc is over so I can actually clean out the camps, Ranger Cabins II, which are handly little waystations in every Hold, and Smash Locks because none of my PCs pick them. Also, Reall Tanning, which moves Hide, Fur, and Leather to the Tanning Rack, so you don't burn them in the Forge. (Also makes crafting in Hunter's camps possible, but not Improving Armor.)

And Lastly, I have Classic Classes, and Birth Signs, which allows you to start as a Nightblade, or whatever straing out of Helgen. It's Optional, there are selections that allow you to restart Vanilla (Though you have to console in the starting spells.) I intentionally didn't subscribe to any that alter game balance, so I can continue giving advice which actually works in the Vanilla game, regardless of Platform.

Rhubarb&Custard said:

Would you give some before and after shots? I'm curious.

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Well the easiest way to compare to before and after is the simply look in my album "random stuff" I still have 4 pics that are taken prior to me using ENB, it's the 4 oldest pic, so the ones on top are pre ENB and everything below that is from when I started enhancing the graphics, the 2 bottom rows are pics taken with ENB enabled

I don't even know what mods are out there, since I play on a PS3. When the computer is built, though, there will be mods. I hope I can find what I want. They will be things that allow me to customize my homes and play better, like more mannequins/shield plaques, custom armor, and a slightly more user friendly menu. Since there is a "take all" button, I'd really like to see a "give all" button, for when you just want to shove all your stuff in a closet or something.