Hello,

After years of replaying older games such as Daggerfall, Morrowind, Gothic 1-2, Ultima VIII, Baldur's Gate 1-2, The Witcher, and even King of Dragon Pass, I've purchased a very high-end computer and ordered Skyrim GOTY Legendary Edition (which includes all the official DLCs). Now I'm entering "research mode" to plan what kind of mods I should install. I realize that there's a mod jungle out there, so my hope is that there's someone here who share my mod preferences and can point me to a list of essential mods. It's important to me that they're compatible with all the official patches and DLCs.

Here's my plan so far:

1. Install all the official patches

2. Install the most recent version of the Nexus Mod Manager

3. Go through all the steps of the Tweak Guide

4. Install mods based on the following preferences:

I'm looking for mods that increase immersion, roleplaying, realism, survivalism, difficulty, and longevity. I'm an explorer and roleplayer first and foremost, and can easily spend months playing the same character. Games tend to lose their appeal to me when I feel overpowered, so it's important that my character won't become "godlike" even though I'll play him long-term. I never use fast travel, and I hate "quest arrows" always pointing me in the right direction. I love immersing myself in the little things. Gothic and Morrowind are my favorite games, so mods that can give Skyrim that kind of "old school feel and difficulty" will be very interesting to me. Last but not least, the mods must be high quality ones that have been tested extensively.

Thanks for your time! I'd appreciate any feedback you can give me, to help me get a solid "mod foundation" and a running start in researching compatible mods.

P.S. I realize that people are advised to play through the vanilla game before installing mods, but I know myself and console-compatible games well enough to know I'll need mods from the get-go.

Welcome. I too am a big fan of MW and Gothic and think you may find Skyrim enjoyable.

One problem right away though is that for many quests (almost all the "radiant" ones) map markers are absolutely required because the locations are not described verbally at all, nothing but the arrow. There is no way around this.

You won't need any official patches with the Legendary edition but I would recommend the Unofficial patches by Arthmoor. I've never found it necessary to follow the tweak guides especially with a high end computer but I guess it can't hurt.

For mods, I have mainly stayed with graphics enhancements. I have tried a few overhauls which purported to be "old-school" but to me, they change too much. Except for the quest marker issue, Skyrim is not too bad in its vanilla state IMHO.

Thanks for the feedback, Fragonard. Regarding the issue you bring up about quest markers, it appears this mod solves that problem:

Even Better Quest Objectives

I'm not allowed to post links here, but you'll find it if you search for it. It has very high review ratings.

Realism/Immersion:

• Realistic Needs and Diseases Hunger, thirst, sleep and more prevalent diseases.
• Frostfall Adds hypothermia and camping equipment, very high quality mod.
• Wet and Cold Adds plenty of effects that make the game feel like its really wet and or cold.
• Immersive HUD I'd recommend turning off enemy health indicators and such for a more immersive experience.
• No Enemies on Compass Immersive HUD doesn't remove enemies from the compass, so I'd recommend using this.
• No Empty Tag on Empty Containers You shouldn't know if a container is empty before even inspecting it.
• No More Key Prompts You 're not suddenly going to forget what key to use to activate objects. This is wasted screen space.
• Even Better Quest Objectives You will no longer require floating arrows and map markers to do quests. This is essential for me.
• Sounds of Skyrim (Civilization, Dungeons, Wilds) Being able to stand near the entrance of a dungeon and hearing the roaring snow storm outside is such a great feeling.
• Wearing Faction Armour Causes Aggression The title I think speaks for itself.
• No Combat Music Not essential for some, but essential for me. To me, combat music takes away a large portion of the game where I basically get this big notification saying theres a hostile enemy near me. I should be able to use my own senses.

Difficulty:

• Skyrim Unleashed I'd recommend reading the entire description to fully know what it does. As a summary, it makes the game unleveled for the most part and generally harder.
• Duel - Combat Realism For the extra bit of combat difficulty.
• Realistic Carry Weight Reduces carry weight depending on race.
• Gromits Potions Heal Over Time Mod ( Theres many mods that do the same thing, but this is the one I use) You shouldn't be able to just pause the game and drink a ton of potions and be back at full health ready to fight.

Other:

• Reduced Gold Rewards for Quests You receive way too much gold for doing very simple tasks, simple as that.
• Trade and Barter Money is far too easy to acquire. I highly recommend this mod, you can configure just about everything to your liking.

I don't have the permissions to post links, but these should all be easy to find on the nexus. I searched them up myself as I was writing this.

Sadly it doesn't cover everything, but I can confirm that it certainly helps when you're shooting for realism.

As for other mods related to your aspirations, I highly recommend http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/11163/? and http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/26228/?. They both make you feel like you're part of the world, and the camping part of Frostfall is a lot of fun if you're the exploring type. Another great one is http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/3222/? if you're interested in keeping the screen clear of distractions unless they're absolutely necessary. Other than that, it's just a matter of personal preference on what works best with your tastes. I would also suggest checking out my blog, since I'm a fan of the kinds of mods you're looking for. Hope this helps!

P.S.: Your restriction on posting links will eventually go away; that's just there to prevent new people from spamming.

If your planning on a lots of mods, I'd be picky on which ones you install that have scripts firing constantly in the background. If your not careful, they can easily cause ctds.

Sands of time http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/12452//? If your looking for a challenge, this mod makes things very interesting. Imagine taking a nap in a dungeon your clearing, only to be awakened with undead clawing at you. Or fast travel interrupts (Think fallout 1-2). Basically the mod makes the game feel much different, because you might be ambushed at any time. (The mod is also highly adjustable)

As another person suggested, the unofficial patches really are a godsend. They fix many small issues that beth didn't fix. Also, depending on how many mods you eventually install, you may want tes edit to actually clean the dlcs. Believe it or not, beth has some really horrible modding practices that can cause ctd, when used with other mods.

If you play a thief character, I'd suggest my own mods (http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/15178/?), if you flat out *hate* the way the game rewards you. 100 gold for fishing mission? I'd have been better off killing a couple leather clad bandits and hawking their gear. I also have mods that increase the prices for books/silverware (making them ideal to steal). And finally a mod that increases the costs of getting caught doing something illicit. (150ish for an assault and 4k for a murder at the extreme ends)

Finally just going from memory, didn't sounds of skyrim have some sort of really bad issue? Saved game bloat, if memory serves. If I am wrong, please tell me, I used to love those mods

edit: A few more ideas http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/31264/? for a bandit overhaul, making them more lethal in general. http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/8429/? makes lots of unique npcs, with unique voiced dialog. http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/36534/? adjust the various bounties given out for killing bandits to your taste.

Immersion and roleplaying can mean different things to different people: for example, is it more immersive to be denied obvious choices within a fully-voiced questline, or to be given choices with a mix of voices and silent dialogue, Baldur's Gate-style?

Personally I weigh in in favor of more choices, so that said, a few mods I would suggest (not all of which use silent dialogue, mind) are:

- http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/14157/ - makes it so you have to display an interest and ability in thieving before being approached to join the Thieves Guild.

- http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/18465 - gives the player an option regarding the fate of an important NPC that's missing in the vanilla game.

- http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/21700/ - prevents being railroaded in one of the game's quests.

- http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/22650/ (disclaimer: my mod) - adds configurable Morrowind-style advancement requirements to the game's guild of warriors, and through silent dialogue lets players make a key choice denied them by the vanilla game.