The Must-Have Mods of Skyrim

I'm lmfao at that video!!!! I just picked this game up, can't wait to play it!

From now on, any time anyone asks me what Skyrim is, I'm just going to point them to the Pinkie Pie video.

This is one of my favorite ones:

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=13268

It improves the water, turning it from the weird gel of the original into...water.

Sackyhack, 

I also looked at that mod, but ran into a few too many issues with other mods that impact water textures to feel comfortable recommending it. I've also had a problem recently with water rendering on the NV card I used while writing the article (specifically, with water turning opaque). 

Still, it's a good project. Thanks for contributing. :) 

3vi1:

From now on, any time anyone asks me what Skyrim is, I'm just going to point them to the Pinkie Pie video.

Bronies?   

Thanks for not posting any of the nude mods/texture packs. 

I must get a copy of this game :P

I considered some of the mods that added geometry and allowed for a wider range of body types. Such work isn't automatically a bad thing. Ultimately, I decided not to include it for two reasons: 

1)  Nudity is enabled by default. While I don't have a problem with that, it changes Skyrim's rating and could thereby create problems with parents who are unhappy with such content. 

2)  The mods, without exception that I could find, are exclusively female. Combined with #1, this was enough to tilt my verdict on the merits of including such work. There are mods available that improve character geometry or allow for taller/heavier/curvier women than the vanilla models. Players who want such mods can find them. They are not just "nude" patches of the sort that existed for classic Tomb Raider games. Ultimately, however, they are aimed more at providing sexual eye candy than a more generic mod that seeks to improve the rendering of in-game content. 

If there was a mod that included such options for both male and female characters, and kept to the ESRB's rating, I'd have recommended it (assuming it was worth recommending).

Been awhile since I played. Going to get back in when school slows down abit.

I applied a majority of all these mods over the weekend in combination with the recommended mods from Kotaku on how to get its looking as best as visually possible.

That combined with the gameplay fixes and improvements from this have resulted in a refreshed Skyrim experience (I left out harder dragons and the difficulty adjustment mods as I'm low level and at the moment haven't felt things to be too easy)

This is an awesome post, thanks for taking such an in depth review and analysis of not only a game but its mods and troubleshooting the ones that work best together.

Earlier in the year when the game first out I dabbled in modding and screwed up my save games from incompatible mods.

this game is a must have for all those who are into single-player rpg games!

some of the extra mods are awesome!!!!

Thanks for the mods. My husband loves Skyrim therefore he is always on the look out for new ones. Espically Mods that help his vampire character more relastic.

when my daughter goes back to middle school and start playing Skyrim i'll use Pinkie Pie

Nexus - the same site where we got mods for Morrowind and Oblivion remains the best place for Skyrim

I've gotten way over my money worth putting in over 500 hours into the game through exploration of mods and glitches. It's hilarious how immature some of these mods are.

And yet somehow, you've kept enjoying them. ;)