Cloaks of Skyrim, that's a massive but very simple aesthetic improvement. I can't recommend any ENBs, because I haven't dared try one on my laptop. Open Cities is a fantastic one. If you can convince one to work, Dual Sheath Redux or Equipping Overhaul are great, letting you display your left hand weapon, and change weapon positions. I couldn't get either to work, though.
First of all, welcome to the Master Race. In response to your question- I recommend getting Requiem and the Unofficial Patches. I am only recommending Requiem because you have played the game before, as it changes a huge amount of the gameplay. It basically makes it the Morrowind 2.0 that we all wanted. You can read more details on its page.
Skyrim Unlimited Rings And Amulets, by glock9mm - obviously you don't want to abuse it and end up OPing yourself, but it annoyed me from the start that I could only wear one ring per hand and one amulet. That's just senseless.
Better Dialogue Controls, by ecirbaf - BELIEVE me, you want to install this. Today.
Both from Nexus.
Thanks for all the recommendations.
I assume from the Nexus I'll need some sort of file decompressor, but I do not know where to put the unzipped files
Steam ones are easy enough, but they don't seem to have the unofficial patches or many of these other mods you all have mentioned
Well for Nexus, most use the NMM (Nexus Mod Manager) which helps you install them, and keep them in order. For recommendations it depends what you want. I usually stick with SkyUI, Skyrim Redone, and Windsong Character Overhall, and the Unofficial Patches no matter what.
Other mods I currently have:
A Quality World Map
Agent of Righteous Might
Alternate Start
Better Stronger and More Effective - Deadly Poisons
Civil War Overhaul
Complete Crafting Overhaul
Harvest Overhaul
Immersive Armors
Improved NPC Clothing
Inconsequential NPCs
Interesting NPCs
Moonwatch Manor
Practical Female Armors
Realistic Lighting Overhaul
Realistic Needs and Diseases
Skyrim Unlimited Rings and Amulets
The Dance of Death (only downloaded to get rid of enemies killcamming me)
A big thing to keep in mind when installing mods:
If you want to reduce the risk of problems or crashes down the line, try to choose what mods you're going to play with and stick with them for a given playthrough. Adding and subtracting mods throughout can sometimes cause problems or complications - if nothing else, it will add to the size of your save files.
don't forget to install "unofficial skyrim patch". It helps with a lot of bug. If you have dlc installed there's unofficial dawnguard, hearthfire, high res, or dragonborn patch. Also install "race menu" and "skyui" for better interface menu. Use better dialogue control and better messagebox control to help with the annoying choice bug.
Note: for racemenu and skyui you need SKSE
I have a different modlist for every different archetype I play, but my only solid, absolute "must haves", no matter what character I'm playing are:
- the unofficial patches, one for Skyrim, Hearthfire, Dawnguard, Dragonborn (bug fixes, but for builds that want these bugs I normally deactivate the patch, do the bug (ie. Fortify Restoration and Standing Stones), and then reactivate the patch. Since the bug is part of the save, so long as you don't change stones/switch equipment the bug will stick. And I've never had issues re-activating the USP)
- Left Handed Rings, allows a second ring on the other hand, the rings are craftable and found in general loot and sold by merchants, they end in (left) so you know which is which
- Convenient Horses, a lot of horse fixes, also allows follower horses, saddle bags, a horn to summon the horse, and other practical things (as well as epic horse armor)
- SkyUI, if you've never noticed it on console, you'll notice how irritating the UI is on PC
There are a lot of others, but I suggest listening to Gopher. He's a big guy in the modding community and a genuinely nice guy. He explains things very thoroughly and has a series called Modding Skyrim for Beginners, which is an excellent starting point and will set you up for installing and troubleshooting mods, and he'll walk you through everything. It'll take a while, but it shows all the major areas (meshes, textures, lighting, water, UI, bugs) that mods try to improve on. If you have the rig for it (and honestly, I used to run ENBs on my MacBook Pro with a steady 25fps), you could watch Gopher's search for his own perfect ENB in Skyrim ENB Mods.