First ever playthrough of Skyrim....any modding tips?

[StevieP]

I've only just realised that I have access to Skyrim through my son's Gamepass subscription and thought I'd give it a go!

Before I do, I know there are more than a couple of mods for the game so I was wondering if there were any "must have's" before I start??

 

[BubbySoup]

This is a massively loaded question!

First up, there is a thread on here which you should look through detailing Skyrim's mods. Be warned, you can spend way more time actually modding the game over playing it. It wouldn't surprise me if there are players who have never actually finished the game, yet they have hundreds of hours racked up modding it.

If you just want to play the game but with an enhanced experience and minimum fuss (you can get lost for days/weeks on end if you start looking through Nexus Mods) I would suggest something like Wabbajack which is an automated installer for Skyrim mods. It will save you a massive amount of time and actually let you play the game before 2026.

I would also recommend subscribing to Nexus for a month unless you want to leave your PC on for days on end whilst it downloads at a crippled speed.

 

[ne0]

Google Skyrim modding and follow a guide to get properly set up with the right tools and learn about load order.

Know that anything related to graphics such as texture packs are basically safe and unlikely to be problematic.

Be more cautious with mods that include scripts as these are much more likely to break something.

Read mod descriptions thoroughly.

Read comments and avoid where many users report crashes.

If you see a mod you like check when it was made - if it's old it's likely it's been superseded by something better, but not always.

 

[Octoplex7]

How much VRAM do you have at your disposal

 

[Rroff]

Honestly I wouldn't go too mad on your first play through with mods - it is awhile since I played it and some stuff has changed since depending on version of the game but personally wouldn't go beyond:

-Some kind of high-res texture pack.
-SkyUI w/ SKSE (or whatever the latest incarnation of that is) to improve the UI and mechanics for weapons and powers, etc. just to make things more streamlined rather than changing how the game works.
-Cartographers map markers and map updates or similar map improvement.

I'd also lean towards a sky replacement - something like "Milky Way Galaxy Texture" makes the night sky 10x better than the original game.

A lot of mods significantly alter the game which can be great for subsequent play throughs but personally think it better to play the first time around without going too crazy.