Looking for suggestions for a set of mods to make Skyrim pretty

[Trickai]

I have been having a bit of trouble finding mods that don't conflict. I think it's because I don't really understand the idea behind textures and meshes and so on. Basically I am looking for a set of mods that won't conflict with each other that will make things pretty/more realist/more high def/just better

 

so land...basically water, rocks, ground, trees, flowers

cities and towns, buildings, objects.

 

now some of this I think I may have found....

 

Noble Skyrim

Static Mesh Improvement Mod - SMIM

Skyrim Flora Overhaul

Realistic Water Two

 

I think I have covered almost everything with these four, but not sure about rocks/mountains, or just generally buildings in cities...so if anyone has any suggestions to further improve the looks of the game I would really appreciate any suggestions.

 

Oh and I use open cities so nothing that conflicts with that either...I REALLY like Open Cities and don't want to get rid of it

[jones177]

Hi

 

I am getting the lighting down before I start adding textures.

 

So far I am using Vivid Weathers with RealVision Inspired Reshade. I am happy with the results.

 

In the old game I used Skyrim Flora Overhaul for a while. It conflicted with mods that add to the terrain, like player homes. Some authors made patches. Others didn't. In the end it had to go.

 

I also used SMIM for a while but it had to go as well. If you are planning to use tons of mods all those extra polygons add up. The good thing about it is you can run it until it become an issue & remove it without hurting your save. It was in my old game for over a year before it had to go.

 

I am using Realistic Waters Two now. I am not getting the look that I want. I did with it on the old game. It is early days so I will wait & see.

 

In the old game I used amidianborn landscape textures. They performed better at 1440 & 4k than the other ones I tried.

 

The great thing about textures is that you can add & remove them without hurting your save. I recommend trying a few packs. In the old game I used textures from several packs to get the look I wanted.

 

If you add textures to trees go 4k. These maps are long & skinny so the perform well. Terrain maps usually cover the whole map so 2k is fine even if you play at 4k resolution. I recommend using a DDS viewer so you can "see" the texture you install out side of the game.

 

Later

[Trickai]

hmmmmm.....thanks for all that info. Now I am re-thinking adding any of those I mentioned.

 

But I will do as you suggest and add them one pack at a time to figure out what works and what I like. I think I need to stop and think for a bit about what I really want to add. Do I really want or need the trees to look better...are they taking away from my enjoying the game as they are now? Same with buildings and cities....do I want to fix them so they look better....and I am already thinking that the things I want most to fix are the buildings and cities and not so much the landscapes and water and stones etc...

 

Really good response Jones, appreciate your time.

[thundrina]

Cinematic enb is pretty nice. the mods you mentioned are also good.

[QuagaarWarrior]

Hi Trickai

 

You say you don't want the mods to conflict but I'm not sure what you mean. Do you mean mods that don't overwrite each other? If you do then that's nothing to worry about. Whichever mod is loaded last will 'win' and have their textures displayed in your game. This is why it's best to load larger texture mods first (such as NobleSkyrim) and then load more specific mods after that (so a mod that just retextures Giants for example).

 

It's worth keeping in mind that many texture mods from Oldrim seem to be working on SSE (although I've not tested the long-term effects of this) which means that many of the graphics modding guides will also work when using SSE.

[Trickai]

hmmmm....I am probably thinking of two different things and using the wrong words for both...

 

I don't want the mods to overwrite each other yes, but I figure I can avoid that by just reading the descriptions and ensuring that I don't get two mods that do the same thing, but yes that is a worry. The main worry though is that I have one mod that will make another mod not work....like I know that some mods won't work if you have open cities mod which I really like. Also there is another mod that makes whiterun a really big forest but there are some mods that won't work if you have that mod running.

 

More than anything I guess it is just like I said, I have to really pay attention to the descriptions if I am searching on my own...I put that in my original post thinking that people who are much more familiar with the game and mods than I am would know which mods would not be good together and in particular with the mods I listed.