Let me keep this short and to the point. I've been a console gamer for the better part of 15 years and today I finally bought a pretty serious PC rig for gaming purposes. After two plus years of playing vanilla Skyrim on the 360 and watching hours of YouTube videos that showed mods that I've always wanted, I simply could not take it anymore. Anyway, I should have (hopefully anyway) the PC up and running by this weekend if all goes according to plan. But my questions are many and my answers are few. And that's where I hope you guys can help me out a bit. Feel free to be as detailed as you want or just point me in certain directions but I definitely need some help here. I've watched many of Gopher's modding tutorials and will continue to do so but I have some general questions.

First and foremost, when I boot the game up with mods I want to be completely wowed by what I see. I've seen many YouTube videos that make Skyrim look 10 million times better than what I've been used to on the 360 so I want the best graphics possible. Now, I understand that there may be multiple types of graphics upgrades and depending on one's taste, it might be impossible to say one is better than another. But what are some of the best graphical mods out and available now?

Secondly, is there anything I need to know before installing mods in terms of order? I know of about 10-15 mods that I want right now (all of them are immersion-type mods) that I want to install before I even boot the game up. But do I need to install them in any particular order? Let me give an example of what I'm talking about...

If I install some kind of mod that is a graphical overhaul and makes NPCs, environments, etc. look better and then I install a mod that adds inns and taverns around Skyrim that create new NPCs, how will those new NPCs be affected? Will the graphical mod be compatible with the new NPCs or will they stick out like a sore thumb when I see them in-game. I know this is probably not the best example in the world but you get what I'm saying here. How careful do I need to be when installing multiple mods?

Any and all help is greatly appreciated. I'm very excited about getting into PC gaming but at the same times I'm pretty anxious because I've been used to the comfort of simply putting a disc in and playing for quite a while now.

Welcome to Skyrim modding!

You'll want to watch Gopher's youtube series on getting started with modding - http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLE7DlYarj-DdhDG41roBVJfNCqvO5MmKP

This series covers pretty much everything you need to know to get started.

Watch the video series in order, don't be tempted to skip ahead to a later video in the series just because you're more interested in it - you're likely to miss some important info in an earlier video.

Key things to bear in mind when modding:

1) Load order is very important. Use BOSS to make your mods load in the correct order. You'll need to use 3rd party software such as BOSS, SKSE, TES5Edit, Wrye Bash, etc. over the course of your modding - these are all completely safe to use, and are a necessary part of getting the best from modding.

2) You can't uninstall a mod and continue the same savegame, as data from mods gets baked into your save. If you want to remove a mod, you need to revert to a save from before you installed that mod, or start a new game.

3) Don't install a load of mods at once. Install mods one at a time, and test thoroughly (for hours, if not days) to make sure that you're happy with the mod, that your system can handle the mod in extended play, and that there aren't any bugs with the mod.

4) Always read the mod description and readme file for a mod. Common mistakes are crashes due to not reading the mod description with specific install instructions or requirements for another mod. If your game crashes on startup, you're missing a mod that another mod requires in order to work.

5) The only really essential mods are the Unofficial Patches (and arguably other bugfix mods such as Run For Your Lives and When Vampires Attack). Everything else is down to your personal taste. People will be quick to recommend mods they like, but don't rush to install anything...take your time to read up on the mods, and again - take things slowly.