Skyrim - What HD mods do you recommend?

[anbello262]

Hello everyone!
I have recently upgraded my PC, and I want to play Skyrim on Ultra with some very nice looking mods!

So, what mods do you recommend?

I mainly want some mods especially for Water, Reflections, Sun and sky, and Trees/grass.

Basically, environment is the most important part for me. But, of course, hd texture packs for items/armor are important as well, and any other mod that you think it's worth it.
(I only want mods for hraphics, not gameplay mods)

What mods should I install?
I tried searching/googling myself, but I'm really a noob with mods, so I didn't really get it....



Oh, by the way, here are my PC specs:

i5-4690k
R9 280x
8 gb DDR3 2400
1080p Monitor

 

[VincentP]

Here is a list of the graphics mods I use and the order to install them:
Unofficial Skyrim Patch-19-1-3-2c.7z
Unofficial Hearthfire Patch-25127-1-1-1.7z
Unofficial High Resolution Patch-31255-1-1-2.7z
SkyUI_4_1-3863-4-1.7z
Ruins_Clutter_Improved_v2-5 NMM Installation-14227-2-5.7z
Better Dynamic Snow 2-20-10383-2-20.7z
SMIM v1-46-8655-1-46.7z
Skyrim HD v1_5 LITE - Dungeons-607.7z
Skyrim HD v1_5 LITE - Landscape-607.7z
Skyrim HD v1_5 LITE - Misc-607.7z
Skyrim HD v1_5 LITE - Towns-607.7z
Skyrim HD v1_6 LITE - Riften-607-1-6.7z
Skyrim Flora Overhaul Basic v181b-141-v1-81b.7z
Detailed_Faces-2_00-26-2-0.7z
No_More_Blocky_Faces-1_50-30-1-5.7z
jewels of the nord - high res-27038-1-2.rar
Detailed_Rugs_v1-3-29608-1-3.7z
Glowing Ore Veins 300 2_00-193-1.rar
Enhanced Night Skyrim v04 Low Stars-85-0-4.zip
Enhanced Night Skyrim v04 Color Galaxy-85-0-4.zip
WATER 1_71-13268-1-71.7z
Realistic Lighting Overhaul 4_0_7c NMM-BAINWizard Installer-30450-4-0-7c.7z

I use Nexus Mod Manager (NMM), BOSS and SKSE.
The graphics improvements are fantastic, and the user interface is so much better than out of the box.
I have tailored this to work on a GTX 770 2GB card at 2560x1440. MSAA must be disabled with mods like these on a 2GB card.
If you have a card with 3GB of VRAM or higher I expect you can enable MSAA and use the full versions of the Skyrim HD texture mods.

Note that a couple of these mods require changes to the ini files, so read the included readme files. I think the Flora Overhaul is the main one.
Note also that I have Hearthfire but not the other two DLC mods. You need to install the appropriate unofficial patches and some of these mods have install options depending on the DLC used.

 

[anbello262]

Ok, thanks!
I will download and install all of those.
Are the realistic sun/water/grass/trees included?

 

[mlga91]

You'll want to try enb series http://enbdev.com/download_mod_tesskyrim.html

You can get a lot of presets on the skyrim nexus, like this one:
http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/20781/?

Will look something like this:

 

[VincentP]

Ok, thanks!
I will download and install all of those.
Are the realistic sun/water/grass/trees included?

Grass and trees are included in Skyrim Flora Overhaul Basic v181b-141-v1-81b.7z
Water is included in WATER 1_71-13268-1-71.7z
I've seen ini tweaks to change the movement of the sun but no mods.
These sun tweaks are usually to do with shadows and I haven't seen much difference.
Other mods mostly cover the mesh used for different objects in the game and the textures used.
There is also a lighting mod there for more realistic lighting.

Note that there are many other mods out there but you have to be careful with compatibility. It took me quite a while to research these and get the install order right.

You will also want to add this line to the general section of skyrim.ini:
uGridsToLoad=7

You can find information about this here:
http://www.geforce.com/whats-new/guides/the-elder-scrolls-v-skyrim-tweak-guide#14