Anyone modding Skyrim? | Hey there! Just started playing and looking for some recommendations on mods — anything that doesn't break everything but still adds flavor would be awesome. I'm a total beginner to this side of gaming, so pointers are welcom

Opening thread commentary.

Skyrim modding is actually super approachable if you start with just a few things and don't try to install every file at once, which I learned the hard way back when my friend Mark insisted on letting me use his Nexus account and then we ended up breaking Skyrim beyond repair in like twenty minutes. Anyway for your situation I'd say grab SKSE first because half of what you want will need it, then look into SkyUI as a base and maybe just start with things like Immersive Worlds or the RLOF pack which are stable and don't require any deep knowledge about load orders. That reminds me actually we were supposed to go camping that weekend instead of modding but Mark got pulled away for work last minute so it was just me standing in the driveway with a cooler full of hot dogs I'd already bought and I can never forget how absurd it looked — there was this neighborhood kid watching from his window pointing at me like I was some sort of homeless person who'd been abandoned by society which made me walk back inside faster than any mod ever could. Anyway yeah for Skyrim definitely get a mod manager instead of manual installation because that saves so much headache and you should probably install the address library stuff too just in case things start conflicting down the line since I learned to do that the night before my brother's wedding when something went wrong with his character build and we spent four hours troubleshooting it.

Welcome! Modding Skyrim is one of those rabbit holes that sounds intimidating but actually becomes second nature after you get your first few working. For a beginner I'd recommend starting with SkyUI and SKSE — they're basically the foundation for almost everything else. Then just grab some texture packs, maybe Unbound Armor Wigs if you want new equipment looks without changing gameplay too much. Definitely