"Required" mods to make the game great

[KCJack]

Back in Oblivion there were a few mods that were almost a "must" to make the game great, such as midus magick (spelling?) and obscuros oblivion overhaul.

 

I was wondering if there were any mods like that for Skyrim that changes some aspects of the game to make it truly great.

[EnaiSiaion]

Heh. Midas is crap in Skyrim. The last straw was when he added popup ads during paid mod weekend in order to force players to pay up (or attempt a tricky uninstall in mid-playthrough).

 

Other than that we have various overhauls that all have their own strengths and problems.

 

That's a good thing I'd say. Choice!

[bben46]

Check the top files lists - every mod is there in order of their endorsements. The most endorsed are the most popular and most recommended.

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/top/?

[ZZZ02]

Well, the first respondents mods are top on my must have list. other than that, it is all about taste for example I like Better Vampires and Moonlight tales. You just have to try what you are looking fore. I find it is easier to search by categories. It also helps a lot if you have a RL friend who mods skyrim as well

[Satorinu]

Rarely post on forums.. account's old as dirt for the most part and this'll be my first post my 133 post .. I just had no idea I ever posted before! <.< still, suppose it's from going through the top 2000 mods yesterday and poking around the forums recently that made up my mind to post this short-ish list. Just got back into Skyrim about .. three weeks ago, all of which spent modding to make the experience I 'will eventually have' be perfect. Or as close as possible.

 

I can at least confirm they all work nicely together, had about a 24 hour long playtest with them and several others that don't quite make the cut for .. must have / animation mods that are personal choices more than must haves; these are just the "I wouldn't play a minute without these" list. Some might sound odd, like Better Vampires; why if I'm not going to be a vampire 'this playthrough' would it be required? Just is.. knowing it's there, makes the world go around ;3

 

Fair warning I don't list a lengthy set of patches, or the whole LOOT/Wyrebash/DuelWield Patch/FNIS/Real Shelter Patch hassle to get them all to work & still recommend to anyone reading really to always check the installation instructions & requirements / compability and for the list itself, this is just my personal opinion, hunt through the nexus yourself and I'm sure different mods will call to you as must have's whereas I had no interest in them or didn't even notice them at the time.

Also all these mods that involve people, are fully voice acted. Which to me is important anyway =3

I'm not including any EMB or 4k textures .. for one I'm using performance enhancer EMB's and INI tweaks since my system can struggle at times otherwise this list might include those and Expanded Towns and Cities along with Open Cities and .. probably more, but this is 'my' must haves for an immersive - epic Skyrim that stays lore friendly and as close to what can be assumed the dev's intended it to be.

 

 

Honorable Mentions;
Safety Load
Unoffical Patches
Brawl Bugs Patch
Wyre Bash (Used to change timescale, crime fees, ect.. and obviously fix things.. lots of things o.o)
TES5Edit (To clean.. to clean.. I really must clean.. clean.. clean!)
LOOT (Order is everything!)
FNIS (.. required for .. well at least duel sheath redux and immersive animations I think)
Racemenu (Because my character's would look like they were hit with bricks otherwise)


Animals/Creature Mods :
Birds of Skyrim - Functional Birds (usually anyway..) in Skyrim.. nesting, flying.. it's nice.
Skybirds - Together with Birds of Skyrim adds so much to the game.
Convenient Horses - Because it's convenient..
Monster Mod v4 Lore edition - Just yes
Skyrim Immersive Creatures - Also, just yes.
SkyTEST - Again, just yes.


Animations:
Immersive Animations (For Duel Sheath Redux - requires XP32 Skeleton & FNIS)
The Dance of Death - There are other altneratives, but to me this one works fine.. and never tried any others.


Audio:
Audio Overhaul 2 - An amazing addition! Don't go another day without it provided it doesn't make anything explode in your load order.


Clothing:
Winter is Coming - Cloaks
Cloaks of Skyrim


Combat:
Deadly Mutilation - Combined with The Dance of Death - tweaking both to 50% or more .. and you have more battles getting very bloody and gruesome. Without it happening TO often. Plus, burning a corpse to a charred bits goes so well with the CYUC


Gameplay
Alternate Start - Been required since .. well, feels like day one.. but .. for a very long time.
Better Fast Travel - Carriages and Ships - Even if you fast travel on your own, this is a nice mod to have.
Clean up your Corpses - Make a burning corpse pyre .. spear.. or toss them in a grave with a personalized stone.. or just for the fact you can up your grab strength to 2000 so those stubborn corpses can always be picked up.


Hair/Face:
ApachiSkyhair
Superior Lore-Friendly Hair - An improvement for all of skyrim, without risking anything.. everyone's hair will look better.
The Eyes of Beauty


Immersion:
Duel Sheath Redux - Just required now, it's a bit of a hassle sometimes (remembering to run the patcher after changes) but worth it.
Equpping Overhaul - Just plain epic. I'd sacrifice a long list of other mods before this one.
Frostfall - If your into immersion, you can't go without this one.
Guard Dialog Overhaul - Can't say I notice this one much, but I started playing skyrim again after years; with this installed.. and the guards haven't annoyed me with repeat dialog, so I guess it's working? =P
Immersive Patrols - Win.
Immersive Wenches - .. Also win.
Immersive Weapons - Win.
Immersive Armors - .. yup, win.
Faction Crossbows - Archery win.
Real Shelter - An ABSOLUTE must have no if's and's or but's .. yeah you have to run a patcher, maintain it.. but you can now stand under a ledge, not get wet from the rain; and the rain doesn't clip through buildings.. immersive heaven.
Realistic Needs and Diseases - Another must have for the immersiveness of Skyrim.
Enhanced Camera - Started my first time in years playthrough with it, won't play without it. I mix 3rd and 1st person, and notice it often.
Skyrim Realistic Archery Bows & Arrows - One of few archery overhauls, it's worth looking at.
Take Notes - .. I ended up writing more in my new in game journal than I did playing the game like other people mention in the comments.. that's.. gotta mean it's good, or a distraction anyway.


Items / Objects:
Private Selective Quivers - Lets you choose what kind of quiver you wear with any set of arrows. Archery must.
Wearable Lanterns - Archer but like low-lighting gameplay? A must. Same.. for really anyone to be honest, it's just nice.


Magic:
Empowered Magic - How it sounds, default magic is now empowered.
Spell Combos - Combos with default magic (or modded in most cases) can inact combo's and do something special.
Animated Enchantments Overhaul - Just a nice one I wouldn't want to be without.

Apocolypse Magic of Skyrim - Diverse spells, a compliment to the rest; or the rest compliments this. I'm not sure which!


Models / Textures
Book Covers Skyrim - Another small-isk change that you notice time and time again while your playing.
Skyrim Flora Overhaul - Sells itself, better flora, more diverse trees, on and on..
Better Males (FavoredSoulMeshes) - I wouldn't normally say this is a must have but I (think) it's required for .. maybe the mutilation mod, not sure to be honest.
Smooth Male Body - Improves on the prior (imo)
CBBE - Since if I'm going to list the male counterpart..
Ultimate Spinning Arrows - Archer? You'll want this.
Vampire Lord Retexture - Dawnguard anywhere in your future? Then this is worth getting.



NPC Tweaks:
Amazing Follower Tweaks - UFO used to be my main go-to follower mod but this one is serving me well, works flawlessly and wouldn't go back.
Inconsquential NPC's - More NPC's wandering around that don't give a crap what the dragonborn is up to. They just want to live their lives.
Interesting NPC's - More NPC's wandering around that seemingly DO give a crap what the dragonborn is up to. Sort of.. there interesting!
Non-Essential Children - Because I'm a heartless bastard.. or at the least prefer not to see a child stare down a dragon and live.
Organized Bandits of Skyrim - You'll notice this one over time and it really makes each encounter just a little more diverse.
RS Children Overhaul


Overhauls:
Arrow Recovery System Overhaul - Just started using this one and it's frankly a lot better to find 'parts of arrows' sometimes and rebuilding them, or just selling the parts.
Better Vampires - One of those I won't play without even if I don't intend on being a vampire. It's something about having it and knowing, if I do become a vampire, it's there.
Climates of Tamriel - Preference, but still.


Lands / Questlines:

 

I've had these n my load order without issues but haven't 'reached' them as of writing this in my 24+ hour playthrough. Provided they don't explode on arrival, they are must have's in my mod list.

 

Moon Path of Elsweyr - Beautiful forest landscape, new creatures, professionally voiced questline; what's not to love?
Undeath - Think Vampire Lord meets Lich with it's own voice questline as well.

Falskaar - Entirely new landscape. More a expansionpack than mod.
Wyrmstooth - Much like Falskaar, it's more a expansionpack than it is a mod.

Thunderchild - A needed addition to the dragonborn questline with plenty of new shouts; utilizing the vanilla shouts & it's voices in a different order for a new shout; if you show enough devotion.

 

 

.. and that concludes my 'must have' list. Hope someone takes something out of it anyway. Back to the shadows of .. searching for more mods because it's like an addiction now.. save me...

Edited May 8, 2015 by Satorinu

[Zylice]

*SkyUI (Improved UI for PC + MCM)

*iHud (less cluttered & customisable HUD)

*Unofficial Patches (tons of bug fixes for Skyrim + DLC)

*Skyrim HD - 2k Textures (most textures are improved)

*Static Mesh Improvement Mod (SMIM) (better textures & meshes for static items)

*Pure Waters (better water)

*aMidianBorn Book Of Silence (improved retextures of vanilla armors)

*Ultimate Follower Overhaul (more followers)

*Convenient Horses (a must-have if you own a horse; very useful)

*Skyrim Audio Overhaul (better & more immersive sounds)

*Improved Horse Step Sounds

*Frostfall (camping, survival, hypothermia)

*Wet & Cold (adds wet & cold visuals such as cold breath & drip effects)

*Realistic Needs & Diseases (sleep, hunger, thirst)

*Cloaks of Skyrim + Winter Is Coming (normal + fur cloaks great with Frostfall & Wet & Cold)

*Immersive Armors/Weapons (more varieties of weapons & armors)

*Hunterborn (looting, skinning & butchering of animals overhaul)

*Climates of Tamriel (more weather systems)

*Enhanced Lights & FX (more realistic lighting)