Fresh install, would like mod recommendations

[Bellex87]

Hello everyone. As topic says, I'm looking for mod recommendations. I've been looking around and there is so much that affect the same item that I really don't know which to pick. I would like to have as few mods as possible. Just to note: I'm not looking for pc armors or weapons, nor any follower mods. I've decided to use CBBE and bodyslide, I'll be using Vortex. Let me know if there are better mods.

 

Retextures:

Landscape...Seasons Of Skyrim - Springtime Edition, Vivid Landscapes - All In One, SMIM, Skyrim 2020 Parallax

Trees...Skyrim 3D Trees and Plants, The Great Forest of Whiterun Hold,

Grass...Origins of Forest - 3D Forest Grass, Skyrim Flora Overhaul, Cathedral - 3D Mountain Flowers,

Wind...

Water...Water For ENB, Depths Of Skyrim, GKB Waves

Mountains/Rocks...Blended Roads, Majestic Mountains - Cathedral Concept

Weather...Cathedral Weathers, Cathedral Weathers - Diverse Seasons,

Lighting...Realistic Lighting Overhaul, Dynamic Volumetric Lighting and Sun Shadows, Window Shadows, Tamriel Master Lights,

 

Animations:

Idle...FNIS

Combat...First Person Combat Animations Overhaul,

Death...Realistic Ragdolls and Force, Enhanced Blood Textures, Maximum Carnage,

Cloth...

Effects...Ultimate HD Fire Effects

Others... XP32,

 

Body PC/NPC:

Hair...Multi Colored KS Hairdos, KS Hairdos SMP,

CBBE 3BBB Body...All Shapes Bodygen Randomizer, Enhanced Character Edit,

Makeup/Tattoos...Female Makeup Suite,

Eyes...Eyes of Beauty,

 

Character Modification:

Classic Classes and Birthsigns, Sneak Tools, Ordinator, Aetherius - A Race Overhaul,

 

Professions:

Tables...

Enchanting...Summermyst,

Alchemy...

Smithing...

 

Mobs:

Population...High Level Enemies, Populated Skyrim Hell Edition, OBIS, Skyrim Belongs to the Nords,

AI...Realistic AI Detection, Relationship Dialogue Overhaul, Immersive Citizens,

 

Animals:

Birds of Skyrim SSE, Diverse Dragons Collection SE,

 

Cities:

Realistic RS Children, RSSE Children Overhaul, Dawnstar - The Pale Capital, Winterhold Restored, Magical College of Winterhold, Enhanced Solitude SSE, Enhanced Solitude Docks, Riften in High Definition, Ravengate, Riften Docks Overhaul, Immersive Fort Dawnguard, CleverCharffs Castle Volkihar, Castle Volkihar Rebuilt, A Whiterun Expansion, Capital Windhelm Expansion, The Great City of Falkreach, Cities of the North - Morthal,

 

Dungeons:

Unique Loot, Dynamic Dungeon Loot, Dungeons And Ruins SE, Ruins Clutter Improved,

 

Races:

RaceMenu's, Race Compatibility, Realm of Lorkhan, The Ancient Falmer, Faerie Race, Faerie Elves, Succubus Race, Aasimar Race, MysticLands Races, Half Dragon Race, Daedra & Aedra Race, Sun Elves Race

 

ENB/Others:

ENB...Enb Light, Rudy HQ - More Lights For ENB SE, Rudy ENB SE For Cathedral Weathers

Particle...

Audio...Voices EN, Music HD

 

 

 

 

And any others you might think I would like.

 

Thank you for your time in reading thisâ¤

Edited February 23, 2021 by Bellex87

[anjenthedog]

I use Seasons of Skyrim - Springtime Overhaul SSE to green up Skyrim (and by green up, I mean it really greens it up... there's barely any snow any where)

 

I use Realistic Lighting Overhaul v5.0.4 for lighting improvements

 

I use Realistic Water Two SE v3.0.4 for improvements to terrestrial water

 

I'd also recommend both the beyond skyrim bruma and beyond skyrim reach extensions

 

Not sure what "physics for everything" means. I would interpret it to mean you want 3bbb, since it has the most developed physics model, but you specifically said "I've decided to use CBBE" which has limited physics in comparison, so I'm at a loss to advise you on physics (or most anything else)

 

As for the rest, check the mod categories, and most endorsed mods from the top most "Mods" dropdown. Nothing beats doing one's own homework when it comes to personal choice. That's generally what the rest of us schlocks have to do.

 

I've installed around 600 mods so far, of which I kept about 320 so far. It took work on my part, thoroughly reviewing mod "advertisements", watching various you tube skyrim channels, and obviously installing those that met some basic threshold of interest so I could determine if a) they actually did what they said they did without causing problems, and b) they actually turned out to be useful. Clearly, almost half failed those two criteria. (for me)

 

my last two bit-advise is simple. Don't flood-install your mods. install them ~1 at a time, or very small batches at most, and ensure the game is still working as expected after installation before moving onto the next mod or very small group of mods. Too many people try installing mods in large batches and then come to the help forum to unravel the mess they've made, which almost inevitably results in the person having to uninstall most of what they installed to find the "bad " mod. hard way or easy way, it's up to you.

 

best wishes.

[Bellex87]

Thank you for your response. I saw the lighting mod last night after posting this. It has been bookmarked. Thank you for pointing me to the endorsed and top mods pages.

 

The seasons mod is almost what I'm looking for. The screenshot make it look somewhat bleak. I'll look for tree and plant mods.

 

By physics I mean wind, hair, cloth, jiggly, particle, water, fire, blood, effects and the such.

 

I thought the cbbe and cbbe 3bbb were the same. Thank you for telling me otherwise.

 

Good advice on mod installing.

Edited February 23, 2021 by Bellex87

[anjenthedog]

CBBE is breasts butt physics. CBBE-3BBB is an improved body model (which btw, requires CBBE to have been installed first, since CBBE is a dependency of CBBE 3BBB) which includes Breast (enhanced breast from normal CBBE btw), Butt, Belly, Thigh, and other "jiggly" and employs both SMP and CBPC physics (actually either/or but whatever,. CBBE is CBPC only)

 

The screen shots are deceptive. It makes the snowy areas green. For me, it's quite pleasant. But each to his/her own. I live with real winter and while I don't hate it, but tbh, I don't want to play a game that repeats me real life experience of the drudgery and colorlessness of winter perpetually.

 

There are other "greening" mods, I just can't cite them since I don't use them. As I recall there's even one that purports to turn Skyrim tropical. That's a bit too far for me at this juncture...

 

Hair. I have three installed (look them up using the search window when in the mods are, not in forums)

Apache sky

KS Hairdos SMP

Yundao Hair

 

Wind? I recently installed a mod (which apparently just sets an ini value) for a windy appearance to grasses.... called Windy grasses. There are others.

 

Cloth...hmm. literal cloth? Well... for that., I'd refer you to the Waterview homes. The author includes a spinner tool for making cloth in her homes. The homes are modest in size, but if you're into immersive crafting they are "the bomb" imo. Large veggie patches, some new growables, and several cooking (and food) and a few sundry crafting tools not found elsewhere. Also can make soap. I really enjoy her homes. I have many player homes and all the hearthfire properties and city dwellings, but those are my true favorites for my own use. (I have followers stationed at most of the others but prefer my autonomy)

 

You're on your own for blood and gore. I've been injured too many times in real life to want more blood and gore.

 

Again mod categories. And browse browse browse

[Bellex87]

I too live with snow, which is why I wanted greenery.

 

I'll update the post to better describe what it is I'm looking for as well as the ones I've found.

[anjenthedog]

If you're already starting to install mods, I'd recommend at least trying it before giving it the boot. wherever you are, install it. Open the game and see how it changes things. If you don't like it, exit, uninstall, and load the save before it was installed and it will be as if it was never installed (ie no potential leftover resources, scripts etc).

 

In fact, that's how I check out many environmental mods, player homes, weapons, clothing or armors, etc that aren't literally "game changers" (like quests and so forth) .

There are obviously other tree, grass, flower etc mods, but they're usually icing rather than foundational

 

Having said that brings to mind the name Blubbos. type the word into the mod search field. Blubbos mods do things like adding massive deciduous forest trees to certain cities. I have one for Riverwood that I'm quite fond of

 

Oh ... also, if this is your first playthrough, I'd recommend getting out of Helgen before screwing around with massive changes to the game.

 

ironically I noticed a new MXR Mods video a few moments ago and it reminded me of a mod I recently installed that is (IMO) truly "awesome"

 

Dynamic Volumetric Lighting and Sun Shadows

[Bellex87]

Oh wow, those look great.

 

Yes, I've already experienced a crash, I did 2 mods at once. Was a particle effect for weapons.

[anjenthedog]

tsk tsk. !!!! I done warned y'all dint I? ;)

 

Hope my blather has helped.

[anjenthedog]

oh, more:

 

watch this video by MXR mods

It has a few mods you might consider (Beyond the dynamic volumetric mod I noted)

 

PS> MXR mods, while often borderline NSFW, is a truly great resource for mods showcasing. (IMO)

 

just be aware that some of the mods he showcases take a reasonably "beefy" PC to pull off. And fwiw, warning: Henry (mXR mods) isn't all that "PC"

 

PS> Careful with the 4G and 8G textures...

[Bellex87]

Done Updating OP