Okay, it's been about a week since I installed Skyrim SE and tried out a bunch of mods for it. The last time I played Skyrim would probably be about a year or so ago. Dunno. I've been avoiding SE until SKSE came out, but after some research, I figured the only real thing I would be missing would be SkyUI. Interestingly, SkyUI actually kinda works on SE but it's a bit of a faff getting it to run so I didn't bother.
Anyway, I loaded up about a hundred or so mods and gave it a few whirls over the week. Fiddling with the list as I went. I thought I'd review some of the big popular ones for you guys to save you the hassle like I went through:
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Actually, I'll just review the top files in Nexus that I have. Seems simpler that way:
1. Unofficial Skyrim Patch.
Mandatory.
2. Immersive Armors.
Same as always. I've always used it. No different from normal one. Adds a billion "immersive" armour pieces into the game.
3. Static Mesh Improvement
Makes everything prettier.
4. Total Character Makeover
Only for people who want to make all the characters looks like they're 20 - 35 years old. I don't like it, everyone looks too much like plastic (more than normal) and there are better compilation mods for characters out there.
5. A Quality World Map
The regular maps are fine, though the road layouts are not always accurate... especially in the mountains. The paper map is full of bugs so don't use it.
6. Alternate Start
I consider this mandatory unless you REALLY love the intro sequence. Even then you can straight up resume that in this. Choose from a bunch of different start options. Also comes fully voiced, which is a nice touch.
7. Immersive Citizens
Mandatory. Makes everything about NPCs better in every way. Also compatible with Run for your Life, Wet & Cold, and those other mods.
8. Skyrim Flora Overhaul
I like this a lot, but it will slam your FPS if your computer can't handle it. I have a 970 and an i5-2500 and it runs without FPS drop for me. What it does is make all the greenery better.
9. Realistic Water Two
Seems good. I wouldn't really call it realistic though, but that's probably more a limitation of the engine than any texture work this mod does. So waterfalls and rapids will still look strange. Nothing you can really do about that.
10. Ordinator
Adds a billion new perks. A lot of these new perks are... REALLY... specific. Like, you need to gather 10 bones and put these bones in a specific shrine to summon a skeleton that doesn't count towards your summoned minions limit. Other than that it's fine. Balanced for vanilla levelling.
12. Apocalypse
Same as it's always been. Full of strange spells you'll probably never use because they're too complicated or strange. Fun though.
13. Cutting Room Floor
Supposedly restores cut content back into the game. I'm not exactly sure what has been cut and what has not. Especially since I also run this with the next mod which also restores more cut content. So I assume it's working. Haven't noticed anything majorly different but I have noted some conversations which seem to be slightly cut and paste. Not like, reuse of lines but rather more like people creating new lines from existing dialogue.
14. Relationship Dialogue Overhaul
See above. I think it mostly increases ambient conversations as I've noticed people being more yappy everywhere. Like tavern keepers asking bards for songs or people flirting with others. It's nice.
15. Vivid Weathers
Makes better weather. It's alright. Nowhere near as atmospheric as the weather conversions in Fallout 4. Also the rain and snow textures are just... awful. Sound is meh-ish as well. I don't like how it includes a quest-locked book in your inventory that you can never remove as its way of doing settings. Also you might want to reduce the nighttime darkness when you load it.
16. Run for your Lives
Mandatory. Makes citizens run away during a dragon attack. Works with the Immersive Citizens mod.
17. Realistic Lighting Overhaul SSE
Supposedly makes lighting more realistic without sacrificing FPS. Don't need it. Doesn't do shit. Get Claralux. It's better in every way. Only use this instead of Claralux if you are running a potato.
18. Achievement Mods Enabler
Mandatory if you like achievements.
19. LeanWolf's Better-Shaped Weapons
I kinda like it. The swords all look more realistic and less derpy now.
20. Wet & Cold
Same Wet & Cold as always. Great mod for immersiveness as it introduces hoods, face masks, puffs of air when you breathe in cold weather, etc.. Works with weather mods and immersive AI which is really nice. I especially like how it makes NPCs take shelter from rain Witcher style.
21. Immersive Patrols
Same as always. Adds patrols. Simple.
22. Unique Uniques
I consider this mandatory. Changes the uniquely named weapons that use default models into having unique models as well.
23. Unread Books Glow
Really goddamn useful for hoarders. Highlights books that you haven't read yet. Blue is for standard books. Orange for skill books. Also works with other book mods I found.
24. SSE Fixes
Mandatory. This actually only fixes one thing, a nasty FPS bug if you have too many mods.
25. Realistic Ragdolls
Same as the original one. Makes it so characters don't ragdoll into the moon when they die. Nice unlike you like the nonsense ragdolling. Has a side effect of making bodies super heavy for carrying around.
27. When Vampires Attack
Mandatory. See Run for your Lives but for vampires.
28. RS Children Overhaul
I didn't think I'd like it but after seeing more varied children models, it's grown on me.
29. Lanterns of Skyrim.
You don't need this. It adds lanterns to more places in Skyrim. Claralux does this better. Easier to have one mod do it all if it can.
30. Breezehome
"Improves" Breezehome in Whiterun. Blergh. Cramped. Dark. And the AI pathfinding is broken if you use any modifications to Whiterun or even the Immersive Citizens mod. I don't know why this is so popular but I dislike it. There are significantly better homes out there. But if you do decide to get it, all the crafting stuff is in a trapdoor hidden behind your stairs. This house also completely lacks any automation like synchronized shelving, bookshelves with displaying books, etc. There are other houses out there in SE that do.
31. Rustic Clothing
Improves clothing models. It's okay? I don't even remember what the original models looked like so I guess it's doing its job.
32. Flower Girls SE x
Amusing title. It's decent as far as sex mods go. Works with some other mods like Amorous Adventures. Has a cute seduction system. I like the amount of effort that has gone into it but it has problems as well. For one, models have to be synchronized before they can get any action, this means before and after any sex, the game will insert your models into each other and make them the same height for about 5 seconds. It's incredibly jarring.
Additionally, you are still unable to control the camera to pan up or down in SE so it can get hard to get the camera angles you want. I think overall, the modder did a good job considering the resources available at the moment.
33. Book Covers Skyrim
Mandatory. Gives all book covers unique covers with fantastic textures.
34. SkyTest
Meh. It's okay. What it says it does is essentially making all the animals more realistic. That being said, having animals run away when outmatched seems nice at first, until you realize it breaks your follower AI and makes them chase the fleeing animals to the ends of the earth. Also you're stuck in "combat mode" until the animals die. Annoying.
35. Sofia
I was originally confused as to how this character is so popular until I realized the #1 demographic of Skyrim mod users are teenage boys. In which case, if you are one, this follower is for you. All she does is crack terrible sex jokes at every opportunity. Honestly, I think that's all she says. Constant, neverending innuendos. Hunting Draugr? "Hey, can I ask you a quick question? Do my boobs look strange? Hey! Don't look at me that way!". Meeting the Greybeards? "Don't you just hate it when you wake up with a cock in your face?". Accessing inventory? "Don't take advantage of me. Not in that way!" Yup. That's Sofia. Funny maybe the first few times, but gets really tiresome after awhile. Unless you're 12.
At least the voice acting is alright. It's not the worst, but nowhere near the best.
If you do decide to use her, I'd assume you'd want the nude patch for it too, in which case it's a separate download.
36. WICO
Another mass character texture replacer. It's okay? The photos in the mod page are so incredibly photoshopped though. Ingame they don't look anywhere the same as the photos. They're still decent though. It comes with a Witcher 3 Geralt armour.
37. Wearable Lanterns
Super useful if you use anything that darkens the vanilla game. Lets you and other NPCs including your followers wear a lantern around your belts. You can customize the brightness and location of the lantern. Compatible with other lighting mods.
38. Point the Way
I actually prefer Weathered Road Signs. Does the same thing but looks way better. Basically makes road signs more descriptive and easier to read. Useful if you prefer to actually walk the roads instead of fast travelling.
39. Skyrim Expanded Weaponry
Adds more weapons to the game using modifications to default models. Meh. All the new weapons are so goofy. They look like nerf weapons.
40. INIGO
Hands down the best follower on SE right now. No contest. Frigging amazing. Highly recommended. Superb voicework, superb coding, and so god damn many lines that actually fit the situation. Hell, you can actually ask him to sing improv songs and I lost my shit when he started singing about how I was standing too close to him. Get this.
41. Amazing Follower Tweaks
Hmm... on one hand it makes a lot of follower improvements. On the other, holy shit is it completely unimmersive. It doesn't give a flying fuck about your immersion. When you select followers with this mod enabled, the very first option is literally "Tweak Settings" or something like that. I also recommend turning off the skill synchronization or whatever it's called. Maybe also disable the follower stat boosting.
42. Provincial Courier Service
It's kinda a fun little mod. It adds an office and home for the courier outside Whiterun. I like it.
43. Immersive Wenches
Despite the gigantic size FFFF boobs in all the preview images, this mod just introduces more wenches into the game. They're okay. Nothing special.
44. Bandolier
I've used this before but I think it gets kinda cheaty with how much additional weight you can carry so I stopped. Up to you how you wanna do it. Otherwise works reasonably well though there can be strange model issues.
45. Ruins Clutter Improved
See SMIM. Works with it.
46. SkyBirds
Actually pretty nice to see more birds everywhere. Another step into becoming Witcher 3.
47. Skyrim Better Roads
Adds fancy big bridges and prettier roads everywhere. Nice but not mandatory. Can fuck with some scripted sequences due to the added fences and stuff.
I think I covered what I've tried of the top 100 mods on Nexus for SSE.
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Here's some more that aren't in that list:
48. Beast Skeletons
Adds skeletons for the nonhuman races into the game. Interestingly it has also changed my conjured skeletons into Khajit ones.
49. Combat Evolved
It's a typical combat improvement mod. Makes it so combat is more visceral and whatnot. I think they're all mostly interchangable so get the one you prefer.
50. Elysium Estate
If you were to go for only one home, I'd get this one. It's the one I'm using right now and it's basically perfect in my mind. It's got plenty of space without being obnoxiously huge. Doesn't have giant tits everywhere, unless you count the two chickens. Has lots of bookcases, mannequins, display locations, and so on.
51. Fabulous Sorting
Renames vanilla items so they're sorted better. Has compatibility patches for book covers and awesome potions.
52. Gemling Queen Jewelry
Retextures all jewelry. Has a compatibility patch for left hand rings.
53. NPCs run and walk at your pace
Does exactly what it says on the tin so you're not constantly running and stopping to keep pace with these guys.
54. Recorder
Unbelievably annoying follower. Holy shit you will tear your ears off. Just simply refuses to shut up. Also completely and totally immersion breaking as this character straight up is a fourth-wall break. It's a dimensional traveller who warped into your world to document your actions as a protagonist. I think the only thing I like about her is that she sometimes sing the Dragon Age Inquisition theme song.
55. Amorous Adventures
If romance novels were written by neckbeards. This mod writes dialogue that uses the word "milady" liberally and non-ironically. I like that they put so much effort into making voice composites to make the adventures fully voiced but holy shit... the writing. It's so garbage. Trashiest of the trashy. It's so bad that it actually becomes good. The reason I uninstalled it isn't because I dislike it, but because I kept getting sidetracked by these awful questlines and had to remove it to stop.
To give you an example of the kind of writing that goes on here I'll try to describe one of the quests.
An extension to Ysolda's mammoth tusk quest, as you try and seduce her she keeps rebuffing you saying she's in love with Mikhael the bard. When you go and question him about it, he says "Fuck no that bitch be cray cray". He elaborates that she intends to fuck herself with the mammoth tusk and that the Khajit are involved somehow (sexually).
Yup. It's so awful it's good. There's incest, mind control, bestiality, and every kind of sin you'd like. Also plugs in with the aforementioned Flower Girls SE x mod for actual sex scenes.
56. Rigmor of Bruma
Words cannot describe how much I despise this follower. The questlines are so full of bugs. The voice acting is so fucking garbage. The plot is so dreary and boring. The follower is actually straight up awful as it doesn't behave like a normal follower and is, quite literally, a whiny bipolar emo teenage girl. While Amorous Adventures has "so bad it's good" writing, Rigmor's writing is just bad. It's so awful I actually deleted my savegames, uninstalled the mod, and restarted Skyrim just to escape the neverending tedium of these awful crappy shitstain quests.
57. Zim's Immersive Artifacts
Makes the Daedric weapons and artifacts not levelled to you and therefore terrible. Basically makes them actually stuff you want to use.
58. Claralux
All in one lighting mod. Puts more lights everywhere, changes the lighting of places, and has the ability for you to customize the intensity and whatnot. I like this one over all the other lighting mods.
There are more but they're mostly just minor things. I thought this should help give an idea of the modding scene for SSE as opposed to Skyrim normal.
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I currently highly recommend
INIGO and
Amorous Adventures.
Author
Topic: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (Read 1521573 times)