New Player looking to mod!

[Bhoopadoop]

Hi there!

Name's Bhoopadoop. TL;DR at the end! 
So for some background, I never really played open world games before. I was always a turn base kind of guy. I always heard good things about Skyrim, and the kick that got me to buy special edition about a year ago was one of DougDoug's videos. 

And I loved every second of it. I played it completely unmodded as my machine was kind of garbage. Literally the first time I walked into the Riverwood inn, the floor wasn't there. Guess my machine couldn't handle the game. 

I played through once. Definitely didn't do everything there was to do, and then left it alone. I tried starting another playthrough over and over but it felt boring. I tried some mods, mainly improved loot and live another life, but it wasn't enough. Anything more crashed my machine.

 

But now I'm here, with a new machine. I always used the built-in Bethesda mod manager on special edition.

I was wondering if there were any recommended mod packs for a legitimate second playthrough (for casual players)?
Or just recommended mods in general?
I understand mod managers are a thing but I've never used one. 

I'm completely new to modding skyrim special edition, so I was hoping I could be pointed to some type of tutorial/walkthrough of what are good quality of life mods. 

I've been watching a bunch of videos on youtube about it, and I keep seeing something called MCM and the layout of the UI is so much different than the vanilla Special Edition one, so I'd like some insight and input on whatever those are as well. 


TL;DR
New player has one unmodded playthrough, would like recommendations for mods, including quality of life UI stuff. 

Thank you for reading!

 

EDIT by TechAngel85:
Removed copy & pasted formatting

[z929669]

See the guide links at top of forums. That's what we recommend

[ButchDiavolo]

On 6/7/2022 at 2:52 AM, Bhoopadoop said:

[snipped for brevity]

TL;DR
New player has one unmodded playthrough, would like recommendations for mods, including quality of life UI stuff. 

Thank you for reading!

EDIT by TechAngel85:
Removed copy & pasted formatting

Well, you have come to the right place then! I guess the only thing you will have to decide before starting to use the STEP-guides is which version you want to mod: Skyrim Special Edition or Skyrim Anniversary Edition. If you have Skyrim SE and/or the free upgrade to AE, you should use STEP Guide SE v. 1.0.0. If you splurged the 20$ and got the full Skyrim AE version (version 1.6+ with ALL the Creation Club add ons), you should use STEP Guide AE v.2.0.0. Follow the guide, download the recommended mods and away you go in a brand new, MUCH better looking and performing Skyrim.

If you have questions or run into problems, post them on the Forums to get help. And have fun.