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Some mod recommendations that aren't the same 12+ mods that most people on Nexus already know.
Good-to-know-beforehands: I don't care about vanilla quest expansions, quest tweaks, "(insert quest name here) for the Good Guys" mods--I don't give a rat's ass about Skyrim'sbraindead quests and I mostly pretend they don't exist. It's more of a me thing than a Skyrim thing (I feel the same about a lot of other games too). So there's not gonna be any of recommendations for that here.
... That said, I do appreciate Skyrim Cut Content Restoration by RoastGorilla439 (I'm a sucker for cut content!), that's my first recommendation I guess.
Most of these mods also have their own requirements--I'm not gonna waste time listing them out one by one. There's this beautiful, ingenious thing called reading the mod description that should answer all (or most of) your queries.
Locations:
1. Campsites in Skyrim SSE by jet4571, ported by fiskin1. Like the idea of camping in Skyrim, but can't be arsed to set one up immursivhly? Grab this one. I personally love this one as I don't have time for camping mods and/or survival gameplay, but I like having "break" spots around the world where my character and their follower(s) can just sit around by the fire, make dinner, sleep etc without the hassle of setting up every single tent and bedroll.
Downside: If you have a lot of mods that add new settlements, player homes, etc it might conflict. The plugin needs to be cleaned (and set as ESL if you're into that). There are barrels with free food at each campsite that I recommend renaming to something more lore friendly, or set as initially disabled if the idea of getting free food ruins your immersion.
2. Unmarked Locations Pack by GeraldMods. More small things to see around the world! There are also extensions for Solstheim, the Soul Cairn, Sovngarde, etc.
3. GKB Waves by GaKnomboe, and GKB Waves Reborn by kuroishitam. You can see it on the screenshot above; basically adds waves around Skyrim shorelines, new meshes and textures that don't require Dragonborn. I recommend installing it in a test save and check how it looks in your game before throwing it in a committed save, as they might look weird with certain ENBs, Community Shaders, whathaveyou. I personally don't use either and I don't give a shit about seams or clipping.
4. Whale Bones on Coasts by MihailMods. Surprisingly compliments the above mod well enough; it gives Skyrim a new sense of fantasy that's been lacking since Morrowind. Or something like that anyway.
5. Eternal Flames by CyberRumor. Do you want your Nordic ruins to have blue flame? No? Too bad because it looks SICK.
6. RAID Weathers by OlivierDoorenbos. Idk if weathers count as location but whatever. I'm a sucker for realistic dark nights (gives even more incentive to using torches or candlelight spell), and the extra attention to stealth gameplay is a very nice bonus. I personally pair it with Realistic AI Detection 3 - Medium Interior High Exterior and nothing else (I don't have any other lighting mods--your mileage may vary if you use LUX or whatever).
Follower-related:
1. Swiftly Order Squad, or Quick Follower Commands by OsmosisWrench. As much as I detest this insipid trend of giving your Skyrim mods the SoS abbreviation (ok that sounds harsh, but look at me in the eye and tell me naming your mod SoS is still funny. no it's not. the joke's not working anymore.), this mod is the backbone of my entire Skyrim SE experience. Basically makes managing multiple followers (opening inventories, telling them to wait or stop waiting, teleport them to your location) SO MUCH easier.
Downside: the UI is very much based on vanilla UI (black and white, modern-ish), so if you have something like Dear Diary it might not fit. There are unfortunately not that many UI replacers for this mod at the moment--I'm using this one currently that changes the icons to something more Skyrim-y.
2. Longer bleedout duration by huhwhat23921. How is this related to followers, you ask? Well, if you want to somewhat simulate Dragon Age or Mass Effect's companion party system where your companion can get "knocked down", but not dead, until you revive them, get this. Otherwise NPCs (followers and enemies alike) recover health too fast during the bleedout period, making the whole thing pointless. Pair it with...
3. Press E to Heal Followers by JaySerpa to ACTUALLY heal your followers. This also fixes NPCs perpetually stuck in bleedout period (either from a vanilla bug, or a side effect from using the above mod), as long as you have a healing potion (crafted or looted) in your inventory. Of course, if you're playing a healer you could just heal them the magic way.
4. Erandur Dialogue Edits by AndrealphusVIII. If you don't have RDO (as I believe that mod also fixes the same thing, albeit differently) and have Erandur as your main follower, get this. It makes his dialogues more consistent to his personality.
Meshes/textures:
1. Mage Robes Without Satchels-Pouches by MeridianoRus. I can't stand the satchels. Why am I like this.
2. Believable Weapons by jg1. No-frills weapon replacer that still keeps the Skyrim feel (for example, Orcish greatsword is still crooked and funky looking... but slimmer!). There's also an extension for Creation Club weapons here, by TwoWeeks2Live.
3. SSEUT by Kartoffels. A modder's resource of high quality vanilla textures cleaned of compression artifacts.
4. Pillows by Xtudo. Changes bed pillows to be less like a block and more like... pillows. I know, shocker. Various patches included.
5. Animated Clutter SE by jackmorris21, ported by RumblestrutPig. Barrels that actually OPEN when you open them? Oh my. I recommend not installing the animated ships one if you have motion sickness (and besides, it clips like hell with everything anyway).
6.Improved Cursors by whyaen, ported by Ema02. If you prefer smaller cursors that still look like vanilla.
7. FYX - Nordic Doors and Trap Collisions by Yuril. This modder has some good mesh improvements, but I'm highlighting this one specifically because we should have been able to shoot arrows through those Nordic trapdoors since 2011, godfeckingdammit Bethesda.
8. Suitable Leather Boots by MadaoBlues. Because I hate the fur part thingies on the leather boots. Why am I like this.
9. Simple Steel Weapons SE by lordflawn. A retexture for steel weaponry--makes the steel part smooth and not... what's the word, carved? Idk, I just like the look. Compatible with Believable weapons, and most weapon remeshes.
10. Simply Original and Unadultered People (SOUP) by Owlessa. This is a base coat of paint for every single NPC in Skyrim (yes, including DLC and Creation Club)--install it before your fancy NPC overhauls so that the bandits and forsworns can look updated too. It doesn't actually make them pretty; it just updates their head meshes with high poly head and 1K tintmasks.
11. Some quality-of-life mesh fixes/adjustments for spell meshes: less visually obtrusive cloak spells, smaller realistic ice spike, less bright and no blur ward, no edge glow, and shout screen fx removed.
12. NO MORE RADIAL BLUR by Gorgulla. Skyrim's radial blur is just... bad. Whether you have motion sickness, you're a screen archer or you just hate excessive effects, grab this.
Misc:
1. Forget Spell by Parapets. HALLELUYER. Lets you declutter your spells menu.
2. 14 Shout Icons Overhaul by Genskicc. Different shout icons for each shout.
3. The World's Most Boring Black Loading Screen II by kaneone. Because I'm boring. Put the content inside Data/Interface.
4. Yes Im Sure by Fudgyduff. Removes lots of those "Are you sure you want to do this?" during crafting. Because it's annoying (to me). Customizeable.
5. opparco mfg Command for SSE by opparco. This is an alternative to MfgFix that's more widely used, it works a little bit better than MfgFix in my experience. You do NOT actually need to use the whole mod--just delete everything except what's inside the SKSE folder. If you don't know what mfg even does, it basically restores the ability to manipulate player/NPC expressions through console and is needed for several mods (some sex mods obvsly, but also Conditional Expressions by JaySerpa).
6. Simple Sit by Edryu. Sit on the ground, or on a ledge anywhere.
7. LockBash NG by FatalityGrogen. Oris, one of my OCs, is the kind of dude who would open a locked chest by doing a manual override (read: bashing it apart, plus screaming) on it. He approves. I would edit the .ini further and disable crime detection, because it's kinda not working right in my setup, but your mileage may vary.
8. Every cut content restoration by Exalderan. I think I got almost all of them at this point.
9. No Camera Collision (no fade out) by triplex2011. Might be useful for some screenarchers (aka me). Basically allows you to scroll/zoom in closer to your character or an NPC without fading out. You'll clip and see the inside of their teeth instead, but it's worth it imo.
10. QUI by Qudix. NO esp, quality of life improvements and a special menu that lets you get every single item from every mod you installed (kinda like AddItemMenu). I prefer it to AddItemMenu as it's lighter. Good for modders.
11. More Informative Console by Linthar. Essential for modders. Gives you more information on your console screen when clicking on an actor or object.
AI/NPC package enhancements:
1. Spouse's Freedom by Myania. I can't stand the vanilla marriage system and this mod makes it more bearable (somewhat). Makes your spouse actually sandbox around cities instead of staying inside your home 24/7. Only affects vanilla houses (Breezehome, Hjerim, etc). And yes, I'm linking the LE mod as there's a bug with the SE conversion--I recommend getting the LE version and porting it to SE yourself.
2. Scene Tweak - Roggvir's Execution - Restored Dialogue by AndrealphusVIII. This modder has some really good gems, and again, I'm a sucker for cut content.
New armor/weapon stuff:
1. Fulcimentum - More Staves and Wands of Skyrim by takozawa. More magical staves (and wands!) based on vanilla weapon meshes. I made an ESPFE-flagged patch that removes the MCM and shield staves (as I personally never use them) here. It replaces the original plugin, you still need to download the full mod.
2. Modular Clothing System by TheDalbak18. It only fits vanilla bodies, and it needs a bit more fiddling with patches and stuff, but once you get past all that it's a really good mod. If you really can't give up on your big boobied waifu though, you can still use all the added capes/belts/pauldrons/whatchamacalit from this mod. It's also open permission if you want to improve the mod further (as it's currently discontinued).
3. SkyWigs with Nynoire by northtexan95. HELLO! Give this modder a raise, or at least your endorsement because making 1,000 wigs is tiring work.
Animations/combat:
1. Large Stagger Animation by stuxjr. Replaces the stagger animation with "actually falling ass first on the floor" animation. It makes melee combat a lot more fun for me, idk. Disabled for player by default, and I recommend keeping it at that.
2. Serana Guarded Idle Adjusted by MANHUNTER69. This just fixes Serana's special idle animations with ones with less spiky shoulder.
Good-to-know-beforehands: I don't care about vanilla quest expansions, quest tweaks, "(insert quest name here) for the Good Guys" mods--I don't give a rat's ass about Skyrim's
... That said, I do appreciate Skyrim Cut Content Restoration by RoastGorilla439 (I'm a sucker for cut content!), that's my first recommendation I guess.
Most of these mods also have their own requirements--I'm not gonna waste time listing them out one by one. There's this beautiful, ingenious thing called reading the mod description that should answer all (or most of) your queries.
Locations:
1. Campsites in Skyrim SSE by jet4571, ported by fiskin1. Like the idea of camping in Skyrim, but can't be arsed to set one up immursivhly? Grab this one. I personally love this one as I don't have time for camping mods and/or survival gameplay, but I like having "break" spots around the world where my character and their follower(s) can just sit around by the fire, make dinner, sleep etc without the hassle of setting up every single tent and bedroll.
Downside: If you have a lot of mods that add new settlements, player homes, etc it might conflict. The plugin needs to be cleaned (and set as ESL if you're into that). There are barrels with free food at each campsite that I recommend renaming to something more lore friendly, or set as initially disabled if the idea of getting free food ruins your immersion.
2. Unmarked Locations Pack by GeraldMods. More small things to see around the world! There are also extensions for Solstheim, the Soul Cairn, Sovngarde, etc.
3. GKB Waves by GaKnomboe, and GKB Waves Reborn by kuroishitam. You can see it on the screenshot above; basically adds waves around Skyrim shorelines, new meshes and textures that don't require Dragonborn. I recommend installing it in a test save and check how it looks in your game before throwing it in a committed save, as they might look weird with certain ENBs, Community Shaders, whathaveyou. I personally don't use either and I don't give a shit about seams or clipping.
4. Whale Bones on Coasts by MihailMods. Surprisingly compliments the above mod well enough; it gives Skyrim a new sense of fantasy that's been lacking since Morrowind. Or something like that anyway.
5. Eternal Flames by CyberRumor. Do you want your Nordic ruins to have blue flame? No? Too bad because it looks SICK.
6. RAID Weathers by OlivierDoorenbos. Idk if weathers count as location but whatever. I'm a sucker for realistic dark nights (gives even more incentive to using torches or candlelight spell), and the extra attention to stealth gameplay is a very nice bonus. I personally pair it with Realistic AI Detection 3 - Medium Interior High Exterior and nothing else (I don't have any other lighting mods--your mileage may vary if you use LUX or whatever).
Follower-related:
1. Swiftly Order Squad, or Quick Follower Commands by OsmosisWrench. As much as I detest this insipid trend of giving your Skyrim mods the SoS abbreviation (ok that sounds harsh, but look at me in the eye and tell me naming your mod SoS is still funny. no it's not. the joke's not working anymore.), this mod is the backbone of my entire Skyrim SE experience. Basically makes managing multiple followers (opening inventories, telling them to wait or stop waiting, teleport them to your location) SO MUCH easier.
Downside: the UI is very much based on vanilla UI (black and white, modern-ish), so if you have something like Dear Diary it might not fit. There are unfortunately not that many UI replacers for this mod at the moment--I'm using this one currently that changes the icons to something more Skyrim-y.
2. Longer bleedout duration by huhwhat23921. How is this related to followers, you ask? Well, if you want to somewhat simulate Dragon Age or Mass Effect's companion party system where your companion can get "knocked down", but not dead, until you revive them, get this. Otherwise NPCs (followers and enemies alike) recover health too fast during the bleedout period, making the whole thing pointless. Pair it with...
3. Press E to Heal Followers by JaySerpa to ACTUALLY heal your followers. This also fixes NPCs perpetually stuck in bleedout period (either from a vanilla bug, or a side effect from using the above mod), as long as you have a healing potion (crafted or looted) in your inventory. Of course, if you're playing a healer you could just heal them the magic way.
4. Erandur Dialogue Edits by AndrealphusVIII. If you don't have RDO (as I believe that mod also fixes the same thing, albeit differently) and have Erandur as your main follower, get this. It makes his dialogues more consistent to his personality.
Meshes/textures:
1. Mage Robes Without Satchels-Pouches by MeridianoRus. I can't stand the satchels. Why am I like this.
2. Believable Weapons by jg1. No-frills weapon replacer that still keeps the Skyrim feel (for example, Orcish greatsword is still crooked and funky looking... but slimmer!). There's also an extension for Creation Club weapons here, by TwoWeeks2Live.
3. SSEUT by Kartoffels. A modder's resource of high quality vanilla textures cleaned of compression artifacts.
4. Pillows by Xtudo. Changes bed pillows to be less like a block and more like... pillows. I know, shocker. Various patches included.
5. Animated Clutter SE by jackmorris21, ported by RumblestrutPig. Barrels that actually OPEN when you open them? Oh my. I recommend not installing the animated ships one if you have motion sickness (and besides, it clips like hell with everything anyway).
6.Improved Cursors by whyaen, ported by Ema02. If you prefer smaller cursors that still look like vanilla.
7. FYX - Nordic Doors and Trap Collisions by Yuril. This modder has some good mesh improvements, but I'm highlighting this one specifically because we should have been able to shoot arrows through those Nordic trapdoors since 2011, godfeckingdammit Bethesda.
8. Suitable Leather Boots by MadaoBlues. Because I hate the fur part thingies on the leather boots. Why am I like this.
9. Simple Steel Weapons SE by lordflawn. A retexture for steel weaponry--makes the steel part smooth and not... what's the word, carved? Idk, I just like the look. Compatible with Believable weapons, and most weapon remeshes.
10. Simply Original and Unadultered People (SOUP) by Owlessa. This is a base coat of paint for every single NPC in Skyrim (yes, including DLC and Creation Club)--install it before your fancy NPC overhauls so that the bandits and forsworns can look updated too. It doesn't actually make them pretty; it just updates their head meshes with high poly head and 1K tintmasks.
11. Some quality-of-life mesh fixes/adjustments for spell meshes: less visually obtrusive cloak spells, smaller realistic ice spike, less bright and no blur ward, no edge glow, and shout screen fx removed.
12. NO MORE RADIAL BLUR by Gorgulla. Skyrim's radial blur is just... bad. Whether you have motion sickness, you're a screen archer or you just hate excessive effects, grab this.
Misc:
1. Forget Spell by Parapets. HALLELUYER. Lets you declutter your spells menu.
2. 14 Shout Icons Overhaul by Genskicc. Different shout icons for each shout.
3. The World's Most Boring Black Loading Screen II by kaneone. Because I'm boring. Put the content inside Data/Interface.
4. Yes Im Sure by Fudgyduff. Removes lots of those "Are you sure you want to do this?" during crafting. Because it's annoying (to me). Customizeable.
5. opparco mfg Command for SSE by opparco. This is an alternative to MfgFix that's more widely used, it works a little bit better than MfgFix in my experience. You do NOT actually need to use the whole mod--just delete everything except what's inside the SKSE folder. If you don't know what mfg even does, it basically restores the ability to manipulate player/NPC expressions through console and is needed for several mods (some sex mods obvsly, but also Conditional Expressions by JaySerpa).
6. Simple Sit by Edryu. Sit on the ground, or on a ledge anywhere.
7. LockBash NG by FatalityGrogen. Oris, one of my OCs, is the kind of dude who would open a locked chest by doing a manual override (read: bashing it apart, plus screaming) on it. He approves. I would edit the .ini further and disable crime detection, because it's kinda not working right in my setup, but your mileage may vary.
8. Every cut content restoration by Exalderan. I think I got almost all of them at this point.
9. No Camera Collision (no fade out) by triplex2011. Might be useful for some screenarchers (aka me). Basically allows you to scroll/zoom in closer to your character or an NPC without fading out. You'll clip and see the inside of their teeth instead, but it's worth it imo.
10. QUI by Qudix. NO esp, quality of life improvements and a special menu that lets you get every single item from every mod you installed (kinda like AddItemMenu). I prefer it to AddItemMenu as it's lighter. Good for modders.
11. More Informative Console by Linthar. Essential for modders. Gives you more information on your console screen when clicking on an actor or object.
AI/NPC package enhancements:
1. Spouse's Freedom by Myania. I can't stand the vanilla marriage system and this mod makes it more bearable (somewhat). Makes your spouse actually sandbox around cities instead of staying inside your home 24/7. Only affects vanilla houses (Breezehome, Hjerim, etc). And yes, I'm linking the LE mod as there's a bug with the SE conversion--I recommend getting the LE version and porting it to SE yourself.
2. Scene Tweak - Roggvir's Execution - Restored Dialogue by AndrealphusVIII. This modder has some really good gems, and again, I'm a sucker for cut content.
New armor/weapon stuff:
1. Fulcimentum - More Staves and Wands of Skyrim by takozawa. More magical staves (and wands!) based on vanilla weapon meshes. I made an ESPFE-flagged patch that removes the MCM and shield staves (as I personally never use them) here. It replaces the original plugin, you still need to download the full mod.
2. Modular Clothing System by TheDalbak18. It only fits vanilla bodies, and it needs a bit more fiddling with patches and stuff, but once you get past all that it's a really good mod. If you really can't give up on your big boobied waifu though, you can still use all the added capes/belts/pauldrons/whatchamacalit from this mod. It's also open permission if you want to improve the mod further (as it's currently discontinued).
3. SkyWigs with Nynoire by northtexan95. HELLO! Give this modder a raise, or at least your endorsement because making 1,000 wigs is tiring work.
Animations/combat:
1. Large Stagger Animation by stuxjr. Replaces the stagger animation with "actually falling ass first on the floor" animation. It makes melee combat a lot more fun for me, idk. Disabled for player by default, and I recommend keeping it at that.
2. Serana Guarded Idle Adjusted by MANHUNTER69. This just fixes Serana's special idle animations with ones with less spiky shoulder.
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