Recommended Skyrim Mods

[Venomist]

Hello! I've decided to try Skyrim out but I wanted to get a few mods in before I start.

 

I've searched for awhile and gotten a couple nice looking mods but I feel like i'm still lacking.

 

I was wondering if any of you veterans could recommend any mods that deal with:

 

1. More variety in NPC's facial features / armor.

2. Increased detail to hair.

3. More customization options at character select.

 

 

If you feel like there is a mod that I didn't list that I MUST HAVE then please feel free to share!

 

Thank you for your time :)

[TheLeftenant]

ApachiiSkyHair might be what you're looking for.

[ilikecheese1337]

For your specific requests, try Better Females (includes optional files for makeup etc), ApachiiSkyHair and the Eyes of Beauty (you need an optional file(s) if you want the eyes for your player and/or have Dawnguard). I believe a user called Xenius has a character enhancement package mod whose name I'm unsure of.

 

General mods (my opinion of the "must-haves"):

 

Skyrim HD:

Better textures than Bethesda's official HD DLC.

 

Realistic Lighting With Customisation:

Exactly what it says on the tin.

 

W.A.T.E.R Water and Terrain Enhancement Redux:

Water looks much nicer.

 

SMIM Static Mesh Improvement Mod

Improves object's meshes (3D shapes) so that potatoes and tomatoes are rounder without jagged edges, circular door handles are circular, ropes look like ropes and everything looks much nicer. Sounds small, but when you remove it you see how terrible some things look without it. If you get one of these mods, get this.

 

Deadly Dragons:

For being apocalyptic, legendary, semi-mythical Aedra (probably), dragons sure are weak. Deadly Dragons makes them terrifying killing machines.

 

The Paarthurnax Dilemma:

Allows you to make a more moral choice in a quest than the game normally allows.

 

HERE BE SPOILERS

 

A dragon who renounced Alduin helps you save the world (again) and the Blades, a group of dragonslayers sworn to your service, order you to murder him. This mod lets you tell them where they can stick their genocide.

 

HERE END SPOILERS

 

Phenderix Magic Evolved AND Apocalypse Spell Package:

These two mods add hundreds of new, balanced spells. Extremely fun to play.

 

Happy modding.

[bben46]

Some mods have a problem with the intro section and can cause screen freeze or crashing. I would hold off on any mods beyond those that improve your player character appearance until after you exit the cave into the real game world. Then, make a permanent save there before doing anything else.

 

Look through the top 100 mods list. These are the most popular, and usually the most stable mods. And will be what most people recommend also.

 

Then don't make the Noob mistake of piling on a bunch of mods all at once and expecting them to just work - Install one or two at a time, test before adding any more. That way, you will know what mod actually caused the game to crash when it does.

 

Don't try to use 2 mods that change the same thing - they may or may not work together, but not all of the features will work on one or the other.

 

Very oversimplified example: Suppose you have 2 mods, one changes the iron armor to green, the other changes the iron armor to red. If you load either one alone, they work fine. If you load the red first, then the green, If they don't cause a crash, your iron armor will be all green. Conversely if you load the green first, then the red, the armor will be red. This is because as mods are loaded each time you start the game, any change added after another change has already been loaded will overwrite the changes made by the first mod.

This is why load order can be very important. :thumbsup: