Feb 9, 2015 - The best way to sort out which one is for you is to spend an afternoon. Interesting NPCs may be the biggest Skyrim mod you ever install purely. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is as much a platform for mods as it is an open-world RPG about dumb dragons and dumber Vikings. Over the last seven years, an The best PC games ever Best PC games of 2018 Best graphics card 2019 Best free games 100 Apex Legends tips Fortnite Season 9 challenges.

• Skyrim Best Follower Overhaul
• Skyrim Se Best Mod Setup

Updated 06/25/2015

Parts of this post were taken from other posts by /u/insane0hflex and /u/Roggvir, and they have been changed and updated by request by me, /u/EbrithilUmaroth. Some mods have been removed, some have been replaced, and a lot have been added. The list is more than twice as long as it was before and I don't expect it to stop there so if you have any mods you think should be added to the list, please let me know.

Don't install conflicting mods. For example, I'm going to list 3 follower overhaul mods, but you can only install one of them. Make sure you research every mod before you install it to avoid conflicts. LOOT is also very good at helping you avoid conflicts, it can recognize a lot of conflicting mods and warn you about it when you use it.

This list will be far too long to fit into one post, so I'll probably need to use about 4 comments. Please upvote the comments so they stay next to the main post and do not comment on the comments that are for the main post below so everything can stay organized. If you need to comment, comment on the main post itself, not one of the comments below.

Note: I will not be covering any mods that are NSFW in this post.

First, you will need Skyrim Script Extender (SKSE). Download SKSE here. You will now need to start Skyrim with skse_launcher.exe in order for SKSE, and mods that require it, to work.

Next, to easily install most of these mods - get the Nexus Mod Manager (NMM). With NMM, you can download mods with a click of a button from the Skyrim Nexus website, then install/uninstall mods with NMM, as well as configure your load order. Not required, but highly recommended.

Then get LOOT - to keep your mods properly 'load-ordered', to improve performance and reduce CTDs due to improper mod load order. Install your mods with NMM, then after that run LOOT to sort the mods. Alternatively, you can use BOSS which is the old version of LOOT. LOOT is a beta version so there's some bugs, BOSS might be more stable but LOOT does a better job sorting.

Next is Wrye Bash. Wrye Bash creates a patch of some of your mods and merges changes from those mods into the patch. This reduces the amount of mods the game has to load and helps avoid conflicts in the game. It can be a little complicated to use though, watch this video to learn about Bashed Patches. This is only recommended for advanced users, as this can cause problems if done incorrectly

A commonly suggested alternative to Nexus Mod Manager is Mod Organizer. It's more stable than NMM, allows you to customize modding profiles for different saves and different characters and doesn't actually install anything to the data folder; Instead it dynamically loads the files every time you start Skyrim.

If you don't like the Skyrim Nexus, most of the mods in this post are also available on the Steam Workshop. (I highly recommend just using the Nexus though, many mods can't be installed correctly through Steam)

Also, if you're new to modding I highly suggest you read this post in it's entirety. It will teach you the things you need to know when working with mods.

Please remember to endorse any mod you download if you enjoy it - its a way of giving thanks to a modder's hard work. I bookmark the pages of the mods I download, that way I remember to endorse the mod after an hour.

These are pretty much essential mods, install them all.

Mod Name	Mod Description
Unofficial Skyrim Patch	A community made patch for fixing bugs/issues with Skyrim and other DLCs. May increase performance and reduce crashes. There are links to the other patches in the description of this patch.
Unofficial Dawnguard Patch	Install if you have Dawnguard.
Unofficial Hearthfire Patch	Install this if you have Hearthfire.
Unofficial Dragonborn Patch	Install this if you have Dragonborn.
Safety Load	Ever had one of those infinite loading screens? This fixes that. Heavy modders will need this more. Install after SKSE
OneTweak	This is an extremely highly recommended mod that fixes multiple problems and condenses several mods that used to be on this list into one, extremely useful mod. It features a Double Cursor Fix, Borderless window mode, Dynamic Process Priority and a RaceMenu Precache killer. I cannot recommend this highly enough. Install after SKSE
Better Dialogue Controls	Have you ever pressed the E (activate) key in a dialogue and it selected something else than you expected? Then you may find this mod useful. Think of it as a patch for the controls of the dialogue interface. Install after SKSE
3rd Person Dual Wield Animation Fix	No longer jitters when dual wielding.

These are all highly recommended for every Skyrim user.

Mod Name	Mod Description	Media
SkyUI	A User Interface mod that completely overhauls the UI of Skyrim's inventory menus & more to be/look a TON better. MUST HAVE!	N/A
iHUD	A mod created by Gopher. Hides the HUD when you don't need it, shows the HUD when you do need it! Simply amazing.	N/A
Less Intrusive HUD II	Allows you to customize every aspect of your HUD, offers altername Compass, Health Bar, and Sneak Meter, and is fully customizable. Very highly recommended and fully compatible with iHUD.	Video
A Quality World Map	Adds the roads, trails, and paths of Skyrim to the World Map.	Video
RaceMenu	Changes the character customization menu to allow more in-depth character customization. Another highly recommended mod.	Video
EZ2C Dialogue	A mod that fixes and adds a lot more features and functionality to the dialogue menu.	Video

These are HUGE mods that alter Skyrim as a whole or a large part of the Skyrim game. They serve different purposes, but none of them can be used together and they have conflicts with many other mods because of how large they are so installing one really requires you to learn about the mod.

Mod Name	Mod Description	Media
Skyrim Redone	This is a MASSIVE overhaul for Skyrim that alters nearly every aspect of the game. Read the mods description for a better idea what the mod does. One thing to keep in mind is that this mod is completely modular, you only need to install the parts of the mod that you actually want.	Video
Requiem	This is another huge gameplay overhaul designed to give the game a more realistic roleplaying feeling. Read the mods description for a better idea what it does.	Video
Skyrim Unleashed	This mod is designed to alter the difficulty curve of Skyrim as you level up.	N/A
ACE - Combat Skills	A very large overhaul of Skyrims combat system and related elements. Like SkyRe it is modular so you can choose which parts of the mod you want.	Semi-related Video
SPERG - Skyrim Perk Enhancements and Rebalanced Gameplay	In vanilla Skyrim, some skills are much harder to level than others, and some perk trees are near completely worthless. SPERG fixes both of those things by adjusting skill leveling rates, adding a number of different sources of skill gain for some of the harder skills to level, and completely overhauling the perk trees.	N/A

Skyrim's engine has a very serious problem with crashing when you have too many mods installed. These patches help with that. Read the mods individual pages for technical information on how and why.

Mod Name	Mod Description	Media
CTD and Memory Patch ENBoost	This is an ENB patch that does wonders for how Skyrim manages memory and it virtually eliminated my CTDs.	N/A
Skyrim Startup Memory Editor	This implements Sheson's memory allocation patch to allocate more memory to Skyrim when it starts up to help eliminate crashes.	N/A

Skyrim Best Follower Overhaul

So while I know there are a lot of you out there that have those 3,000 armor and stuff like that through alchemy and enchanting, I don't like to 'cheat' the game like that. And yes, even to get to mine it takes some time and commitment, and still a little bit of 'cheating'. But the cheating is to a reasonable extent. Sp firstm your gonna want to beat the Dark Brotherhood, if you don't know how to join, you can find it somewhere on the internet.

After you beat it, you get 20,000 gold for killing the emporer, and save it. Your going to want to discover these four towns, if you already haven't, Solitude, Windhelm, Markarth, and Whiterun. All your going do for know it travel between these places, buying all the iron and leather strips you can, and if they run out, wait (by hitting select or back or whatever) and then their stock will replenish. Every so often, take all the iron and leather strips and just start making iron daggers, as many of them as you can. Once you run out of supplies, sell your daggers and continue doing the rotation. Now I know your all thinking how long this will take, but you don't have to do it all at once, just do say 12 smithing levels at a time, then go do a couple missions, then come back. Once you level your smithing up to level 90, you can stop with the daggers. Now your going to want to go and joil the College of Winterhold, then go into the dorms (Just to the left of the main entrance to the courtyard), go staright across and up the stairs, then go into the first room on your left. There should be a guy that, when prompted, asks you if you've got some coin. Say yes, then go to ingredients, and buy the two Daedra Hearts that he has, wait 48 hours, and do it again, and then again. You should get six of them, and then you can leave the college.

Go to the Windhelm Stables, and start heading South East to and Orc camp, and you may have to google this a little more to see exactly where it is. You can enter, and unless your an Orc, they ask you to leave, but you can just keep on walking. There should be a mine on the far side of the camp, and I believe that it is Gloombound Mine. Enter, and get all the Ebony Ore you can (there should be 16 spots, intermixed with Iron Ore). Once you get it all, fast travel back to Whiterun. . (Farkas)

Right off to the left there is a Blacksmith, and use the smelter to turn all that Ebony Ore into real Ebony. Go over to the forge and create (depending on your preference of gear setup) all Daedric Armor, and then whatever setup of Daedric Weapons you want (I go Dual Weild Swords). Now go over to either the workbench or sharpener and make your gear all Legendary. After that, go to the Companions Guild, which is a big upside-down looking arc in Whiterun. I think it is called Javvarsk, but don't quote me on that. Join the guild, and work on just beating all of its missions, then you should be able to get Farkas to follow you. Ask him to train you in Heavy Armor, and Spend all your money having him train you. Ask him to trade gear, and then you can take all your gold back, and repeat the process until you are level 90 in heavy armor. Then talk to Athis in the Companions, and do the smae thing but with Singe Handed Weapons, take your money back, and repeat, until you are level 70. And then you have the best gear setup without doing a bunch of crazy stuff.

Skyrim Se Best Mod Setup

P.S. After you level your heavy armor up, get the skill perk that makes it so it weighs nothing, and then it is like wearing just a tunic.