I am officially switching from console to PC and would like everyone's advice on some great or "must have" mods to start out with. My system should arrive on Wednesday and I am very excited about it.

Graphics/Environment/Lighting Mods?

Bug Fix Mods?

Cool clothing/body/race/equipment Mods?

Thanks in advance guys!

I recommend the 'anti platform elitism' mod for IRL, just in case...

Other than that, unofficial skyrim patch and alternate start sound good and would be what I'd go for in your shoes.

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/19733/ immersive armor

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/18997/ monster wars

Those are two of my favorite mods my cousin runs on his PC.

Thanks guys. I heard the Unofficial Skyrim patch was great and that Immersive Armor one looks amazing. I never understood why Bethesda didn't put more clothing/armor variety into their games.

SkyUI.

The UI is horrible for PC, SkyUI fixes that.

Alternate Start is good too.

If your PC has some horsepower texture packs are nice. I like Skyrim 2K.

Improved Skill Books names what skill the book ups. Very nice.

Stones of Barenziah Quest Markers: for if you hate looking up the location of each one, like me.

Sounds of Skyrim adds tons of sounds and makes the game more vibrant.

Arrowsmith, though with Dawnguard impending it will soon be obsolete (unless you prefer AS's crafting version)

Bandoliers, Bags and Pouches let's you craft said items to put on your character, which increases your carry weight.

Project Reality: Climates of Tamriel is pretty damn complex, google it.

Longer lasting Mage Armor: I think vanilla is way to short

Amazing Follower Tweaks: GET THIS MOD. Oh god, it makes followers more then pack mules

Smash Locks and Doors: Why should big Orc have to get down on knees and pick tiny lock? Orc smash lock!

Improved Container Names: Names what's in the container.

Detailed Cities, and it's sidemod Detailed Outskirts: Trust me, once you see Whiterun with this mod, there's no going back.

Magic Scaling: Self explanatory.

RNG Guards: Makes guard outfits random.

Reduced NPC Greetings Distance: You have to practically bump into NPCs to get them to talk to you.

Belua Sanguinare Revisited: Dynamic Vampires: Makes playing a vampire fun. GET THIS MOD!

A Quality World Map, with Roads: Another essential. Makes the map usable, gets rid of the clouds, and handdrawn roads are added.

Aythera's Comprehensive Enchantments: Very complicated, google it.

Catogorized Favorites Menu: Makes the favorites menu organized and neat.

Deadly Dragons: Makes dragons a threat at higher levels!



That's most of what I use. You should be able to find most of these on the Steam Workshop/Skyrim Nexus.

Here's the list of all the mods I used in my last game:

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=19 by Kivan. I use this because, well, there are bugs thatBethesda hasn't fixed yet.

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=1175 by Elys. I use this not just to uncap my skills but also to adjust the speed at which my skills advance.

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=9557 by Arthmoor. I use this because 1) I've been through the Helgen start so many times I find myself watching clouds pass or banners flap out of sheer boredom and 2) because not all of the character I want to play are criminsal or suspected criminals. My current character is a Dunmer who grew up in Windhelm, with a rsentment at how her family was treated, which affects all of her actions in the game. I was able to use Live Another Life to start this character in Windhelm. The character then spent her first several levels inside Windhelm, which really made it feel as though she was leaving home, when she did leave. Live Another Life is one of the most useful roleplaying mods that has been made for Skyrim.

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=9694 by dogtown1. I use this mod because I thought there were a few too many rabbits and goats underfoot in the vanilla game and not enough enemies. This mod has given my Dunmer thief a run for her money a few times. It makes the game a bit more difficult, but without making it insanely, tediously difficult. I think most of the new monsters are pretty well done. As an old Morrowind player it's almost owrth it just to see Guar here and there.

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=2762 by Phitt. Playing the game naturally, without trying to get wealthy, my first character became wealthy way too fast for my taste. The mod comes in several degrees of difficulty. I'm using the Very Hard plugin with my Dunmer. At level 20 she still has only 1000 to 4000 gold at any given time.

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=4548 by Phitt. I use this because I dislike combat music. I consider combat music to be a kind of cheat. I, the player, do not want to be psychically alerted whenever an enemy has spotted my character. Because my character cannot hear combat music, I consider combat music to be a meta-game mechanic.

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=912 by Doublevil. I use this to 1) turn off my compass but more importantly 2) to turn off map markers. I think Skyrim's 3D map is actually pretty attractive and I really dislike seeing it be obscured by over-sized, ugly black-and-white icons everywhere. Turning off map markers keeps my map looking clean and attractive.

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=11414 by The Great and Powerful BaconCat. Not only disables fast travel but also rasies carriage fee (200 gold for existing routes, 500 gold for new destinations). The higher price, in conjuction with my other mods, makes carriage travel something I often have to plan for in advance, adding a strategic element to offset the greater convenience.

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=9544 by Ditre. Part of the "suite" of mods that affects gold and travel in my games. Now that I've taken fast trvel out of my game, this mod adds carraiges to towns like Dawnstar and Falkreath to compensate. This helps to cut down on the tedium that can sometimes happen when we run/ride over the same roads again and again. This mod also increases the fee for carriage travel.

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=1603 by Wolfmark. This mod adds an executable file that allows the user to easily configure four settings: player walking, player running, horse walking, horse running. I have used it to tweak player walking speed to be slightly faster.

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=746 by Cipscis. This eliminates most of the "arrow to the knee" comments. Enough said.

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=3084 by Corepc. This comes in a few variants that change the length of time Skyrim respawns, reducing it from its default 30 days. I use the 3 Day DeadBody Timer and the 3 Day Respawn modules. Be aware: there is a reason Bethesda set Skyrim's respawn to a higher number than was found in Morrowind and Oblivion. If you do the main quest you will be fighting through a brand-new encampment of Forsworn every time you enter Sky Haven Temple. This can get a little old after awhile, depending on how you feel about it.

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=10905 by The Great and Powerful BaconCat. This cuts down on Merchant pvssyr when you initiate the barter window.

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=10579 by LtMattmoo. Makes some very handy changes to horses in the game: it gives horses different colors and stats, you can also configure horses to not fight, to be essential, to adjust their stats, you can command your horse to come, follow or stay put, and they can "trample" NPCs when sprinting into them, causing damge.

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=12396 by Nicoroshi. Adds some really lovely swords and daggers to the game. I put the shortswords into the Dark Brotherhood Santuary and renamed them Shrouded Shortswords, as a "benefit" of joining. I started them out with iron stats and am increasing the stats to stay equivalent to weapons I loot. That way my Dunmer can keep these wonderful creations for her whole game and not fall behind.


http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/8451 by AliTheLord. Makes magic perks a bit more effective and interesting and scales spells as the player levels. One of the coolest features of this mod, for me, is that it offers a choice of starting spells. Having a conjured wolf at level 1 was great. This made me feel as though my character was not so much of a blank slate as in vanilla. I felt as though my character already knew a little bit about magic, which makes a lot of roleplaying sense to me.

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=16796 by Princess Stomper. A Skyrim house mod by legendary modder and moderator Princess Stomper. This is a modest, cozy home with a nautical theme. The downstairs is a refurbished sunken ship that comes with a view window through which you can see into Riften's canol.

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=16438 by Dragten. This mod does two things: 1) it gives you a way to add carry capacity through crafting and 2) it adds some cool-looking accessories, like pouches and bandoliers.

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=4708 by Psyke23 and oldholo. Triss Armor is one of the nicest-looking modded armors I've ever seen. There are several installation options, including colors and replacers. I chose to have it replace vanilla Dark Brotherhood armor with Triss Armor. What with Nico's shortswords and this Triss armor, my Dunmer thief/assassin is really stylin'.

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=13049 by MyGoodEye and Gopher. This is a handy mod that adds in-game color, hue and contrast customization. It is done through a spell. You can see the effect of your change immediately, which allows you to fine-tune the settings on-the-fly. I use it to remove desaturation and to give Skyrim a slightly redder, warmer tint.

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=4929 by IcePenguin. This mod adds roads to the 3D map, which is essential for someone like me who has disabled my compass and fast travel.

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=95 by Valistar. This replaces the vanilla block capital letters font with many attractive options. I use the Magic Cards font.

Alot of those sound awesome too. I am interested in many of the improved city/outskirt mods but heard they can really bog down the game. Do you think some of those would be ok with the following specs for my system?

• Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz
  
• 64 bit Quad-Core Processor
  
• 6MB L3 Cache
  
• 8GB DDR3 1333
  
• 1TB SATA-III 6.0 Gb/s 7200RPM
  
• AMD Radeon HD 7850 2GB PCI-e Graphics

Mighty Dragons- Deadly dragons is good, but this is my preferred dragon overhaul. Beware, these will challenge you! Author is VERY active with the community and will always respond to comments or suggestions http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/13423

Skyrim Redone- Total perk and gameplay overhaul. Probably my favorite mod. The perks are completely redone and there are more of them, so you have to go a bit deeper into trees to specialize, so it makes crafting a bit less strong because you cant really use all 3 (its hard to perk into more than 1). He also makes the AI in combat quite a bit smarter, it can be difficult to get power attacks off unless you set it up properly. Amazing mod, beware to have some struggles even on adept (but not overly so, it's very well balanced). http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/9286

Project Reality: Climates of Tamriel- You mentioned lighting, and this is the best one I've seen. Complete weather/lighting overhaul with hundreds of different settings, it's popularity has skyrocketed in only a month. The game looks phenomenal using it. http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/17802/ If you don't like that, some other people really enjoy the ENB mods.