Experienced mod-user for Oblivion looking to (finally) get into Skyrim, after another frustrating CTD loop on a char with 200 hrs. Been playing Oblivion since 2006, and have never finished it because of this, and my tendency to get distracted with mods...

Searching the forums was futile, but feel free to point some similar thread to me in case I missed it.

I have not played Skyrim before, so no spoilers please. I do NOT have Dawnguard, Hearthfire, or Dragonborn, just the base package.

Looking for basic mods (no new storyline changing mods) that improve the PC gaming experience, and are considered "essential" for most users. I will get into the storyline mods later when I have played this "minimal essential-mod setup" once. Some could be:

• Add a better UI (similar to Dark DarnUI for Oblivion)
• Tools (Wrye Bash?, TES5Edit, Tes4LL etc.)
• Fix bugs (like UOP)
• Fix major issues with level scaling, if it is like vanilla Oblivion

Thoughts? Is there a guide (like tescosi) for this kind of thing?

If you think I should go vanilla Skyrim without mods, please feel free to tell me so as well.

And again, no spoilers please! Thanks!