====== Graphics ====== Maybe you've gotten sick of textures being really blurry when you smoosh your telescopically enhanced eyeballs against your computer monitor. Maybe you think that there's not enough bloom and god rays for that "cinematic feel" you want. Maybe you think that what a small city out on the open plains really needs is more trees. Maybe Skyrim's women just don't look enough like Barbie Dolls or that one crackwhore you fapped to on Xhamster a week ago. Whatever the case, you want graphics mods! Well we've piled through the piles of alleged 2k textures (which is, honestly, just somebody resizing the existing textures in GIMP and using a sharpen filter), found the least-bad ones, and put them all here for you to peruse, choose, and relentlessly abuse. Most texture mods still work on Special Edition, mesh mods need to be updated, check this guide to see how to update meshes to work with Special Edition. The same program used to update mesh files also has a function that tells you if texture will have any problems. This is not the BEST guide to having the BEST looking game. This is just a LIST of mods that will make your game look better and not a step by step modding process. The guide can be confusing for beginners because of all of the textures, meshes, and in which order you install them. We recommend you fiddle around with some of these mods first to understand the basics. ---- ===== Texture Overhauls ===== These mods are MASSIVE texture packs that hold many refurbished, redone, and even reimagined textures. They can range from the smallest of things like a cup to the largest of landscapes like a castle wall! Here we have listed the best overhauls to start off with. You can customize and switch between textures to find the best looking one's that fit your taste. Don't forget that these are just general texture packs. There are smaller one's that sometimes look better than the overhaul's but don't have a lot included since the packs are only for a specific item or area. This means that these overhauls are mearly bases to cover most of the game's textures while the other smaller mods focus on improving smaller or more random objects such as only ingrediants or even just certain pieces of furniture. If you want the BEST results don't use the official 2k textures by Bethesda. |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/38775|Cleaned Skyrim SE Textures]]|Cleans up a lot of the compression artifacts from the base game textures helping with performance!| |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/21423|Noble Skyrim]]|My favorite base texture overhaul that adds a lot more color to the base game textures!| |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/83011|The Omnibus - Terrain Complex Parallax AiO]]|Collection of amazing Parallax textures!| |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/670|Nordic Snow]]|Snow... Can't get enough snow! This mod makes the snow look like snow. Grab the [[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/84540|Parallax]] patch!| |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/53653|Fixed Mesh Lighting]]|Fixes the lighting on a bunch of meshes.| |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/43864|Markarth - A Reflective Experience]]|Fixes a bug with vanilla Markarth meshes| |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/41368|Shadows Of Sunlight - In Small Exterior World Spaces]]|Fixes the lighting in certain areas.| |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/2357|Enhanced Blood Textures]]|Touches up and overhauls the blood textures in the game to be more meaty and better quality| |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/2636|Bellyaches HD Dragon Replacer Pack]]|Best dragon textures mod for base game dragons!| |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/6839|Bellyaches Animal and Creature Pack]]|My favorite greacher textures for the base game!| |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/63862|Water Effects Brightness and Reflection Fix]]| Fixes bright water effects at night and neon green reflections| |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/64524|Bright Falling Leaves Fix]]| Fixes bright falling leaves at night| |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/78772|Daedric Shrines - All in One]]|A collection of statues for every Daedric prince. Absolutely great quality and highly recommended!| |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/73735|Statue of Sithis]]|Statue of Sithis by the same person who made all the Daedric prince statues!| |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/91358|Statue of Kynareth]]|Statue of Kynareth by the same person who made all the Daedric prince statues!| |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/93909|Statue of Mara]]|Statue of Mara by the same person who made all the Daedric prince statues!| |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/80679|Daedric Shrines - Jyggalag]]|Statue of King Jiggywiggy by the same person who made all the Daedric prince statues!| |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/91938|Solitude statue of muse Euterpe]]|Really neat statue mod for Solitude| |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/5436|RUGNAROK]]|Rugs for everyone... or rugs for no one... Great overhaul of the rugs in the game!| ---- ===== Nature Overhauls ===== How your game's scenary looks is key to making the rest of your game. Sure you can have the best looking 8k textured armor, but it will look awful while your character is in an ugly looking forest. It's all about balance so that nothing sticks out too much. |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/50961|Happy Little Trees]]|My pick for tree mod but there's a million options out there. I just like this one the best for performance.| |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/13909|EEKs Renthal Flora Collection]]|Great textures for the various flora around Skyrim!| |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/44899|Folkvangr - Grass and Landscape Overhaul]]|My pick for grass mod. There's no real reason why I pick this over other options but that I just like how it looks. Grab this [[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/45266|Grass must grow]] patch for more grass variety too!| |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/91311|Northern Vanilla Farmhouses]]|Mesh replacer for the vanilla farmhouse that makes it more in line with the cities of the north town mods!| |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/85694|Cathedral - 3D Dragons Tongue]]|Replaces the flower texture for Dragons Tongue!| |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/69415|Cathedral - 3D Snow Berries]]|New meshes for snowberries! Grab this [[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/77639|patch]] for more variety using BOS and [[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/69933|this patch]] for new snowberries in various planters and whatnot, and [[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/42033|this patch]] for new textures.| |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/68310|Cathedral - 3D Lavender]]|New meshes for Lavender.| |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/77922|Periwinkle Poison - Deathbell Replacer ]]|New Deathbell Texture. Grab the [[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/78097|BOS]] patch for more variations!| |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/90723|3D mushrooms]]|New Mushrooms| |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/91599|Diverse Foods]]|BOS mod adding new food variations to the game!| |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/100251|Diverse Bird's Nests]]|BOS mod for new bird nests| |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/79068|Dovahnique's Diverse Decaying Fungal Pods]]|New fungal pods!| |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/97713|FYX - Water Mesh Optimization]]|Fixes the water meshes!| |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/108442|Shrubbery Symphony - Enhanced Greenery]]|Adds a bunch of new foliage models to the shrubs in the game.| |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/101348|Rainbows over Waterfalls]]|Adds rainbows over waterfalls... Yeah kinda weird but I really like this one!| |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/97680|Gildergreen Is Really Thicc]]|Adds a really pretty Gildergreen model.| |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/72115|Splashes of Storms]]| SKSE plugin that adds splashes and ripples when raining| |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/113578|High Quality Ivy Replacer]]|New ivy model. You'd be shocked how much you see this one!| |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/81828|Dovahnique's Diverse Deadly Nightshade]]|New nightshade models and variations!| |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/56520|Simplicity of Sea]]|My pick for water mod. There are others with their own advantages and disadvantages but this is the one I like!| |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/68068|Cathedral - 3D Tundra Cotton]]|New tundra cotton| ---- ===== Lighting Overhauls ===== Lighting is a very important part of making anything look good. Here are the two most popular ways to overhauling interior and exterior lighting in Skyrim. If you want the TL;DR use ENB for screenarchery and Community Shaders for gameplay. (Note: [[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/111475 Lightened Skyrim]]|Increases FPS with no visual difference. Also it works with both these mods.) |[[http://enbdev.com/download_mod_tesskyrimse.html|ENB]]|[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/86492|Community Shaders]]| |ENBSeries is a graphical modification for many games, including Skyrim. It uses a modified d3d11.dll file, implementing new graphical options such as ambient occlusion, indirect lighting, Bokeh depth-of-field, lens effects, better bloom, HDR, tone maping, parallax maping, vignette, sun rays, detailed shadows, film grain, reflections and much more to come in later versions.The settings can be modified and adjusted to your liking. Many people have released their own ENB presets which they use and wish to share.And no, the creator won't tell us what the ENB name actually means. I'm serious, he won't. Don't attempt to figure out what it stands for and just remember what it does; it makes your games look pretty. Go to the official website for more information. ENB is super customizable and has a lot of options to tweak but is also somewhat confusing to set up and can make a huge impact on performance. The mod out of the box is meant to be used with various presets on the nexus. In the past the site has listed the best presets but since I no longer use ENB I can't really say what the best preset is anymore. I used PiCho for a long time. Cabbage is another popular one. Seriously research and watch videos on the subject if you want to go in depth. And please keep in mind the massive impact weather mods have on ENB and lighting in Skyrim overall!|Community Shaders is an Open Source alternative to ENB with a slowly growing user base. The various features all have their separate mod pages and new ones get released frequently. The mod is also way easier on performance and has a plugin that can make use of upscalers for even more performance The biggest drawback is the lack of features when compared to ENB (this gap is shrinking) and a lack of easily installed presets. This is my personal pick on the debate but a person who is more interested in screenarchery probably wants to stick to ENB at least for now!| In the past a lighting overhaul was needed to fix how the game looked but modern advancements in ENB and CS have made the concept mostly placebo. That being said the popular ones are ELFX and Lux so give those a look if you don't believe me. ---- ===== Clutter and Creatures ===== Because everyone knows that every piece of random junk in this game needs to look like a masterpiece! |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/34782|Meridia's Luxon Beacon Replacer]]| Replaces Meridia's beacon with a Luxon Beacon from Wildemount / Critical Role!| |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/77586|Unique Red Wave]]| Uses Base Object Swapper to change the Red Wave to have its own design, rather than just being a copy of the Dainty Sload. | |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/62781|Security Overhaul SKSE - Regional Locks]]| Regional variant lock models for Security Overhaul SKSE - Lock Variations| |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/56361|Fluffworks (Fluffy Animals)]]| Enhanced fur on animals using shell texturing. | |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/58224|Security Overhaul SKSE - Lock Variations]]| SKSE based framework for replacing overused lock model with unique lock variants. | |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/47541|Bears of the North]]| Visual overhaul of the bears of Skyrim. Bigger, badder bears fit for the harsh northern lands they roam. | |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/2007|Aurbic Alduin]]| Fear the World-Eater | |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/64255|Fancy Sleeping Tree Replacer]]| A replacer for the Sleeping Tree with adjusted colors, a unique model and an animated light-up effect. | |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/59529|Security Overhaul SKSE - Lock Add-ons]]| Additional variant lock models for Security Overhaul SKSE - Lock Variations | |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/67386|Sconces of Skyrim - Markarth Braziers Improved]]| Fixes ugly Markarth braziers | |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/68115|Solitude Objects SMIMed - festival ropes]]| Higher polygon versions of festival ropes | |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/59961|Security Overhaul SKSE - Some More Locks]]| Adds some more individual locks to the game. | |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/43830|Unique Stros M'Kai Rum]]|New unique model and texture for the Stros M'Kai Rum.| |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/7849|Forgotten Retex Project]]|Big retexture of random cutter| |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/12029|High Poly Project]]|New models for a ton of things!| |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/52845|Skeleton Replacer]]|I've got a bone to pick with you!| |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/52962|A Battlespire Inspired Ideal Master Replacer]]|Battlespire lore brought into Skyrim!| |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/79883|Dovahnique's Diverse Vendor Carts ]]|New cart variations!| |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/73802|Immersive Vampire Clutter]]|Uses Dawnguard clutter to expand on base game vampire locations!| |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/92768|Alchemy Station Variants]]|New alchemy stations!| |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/5785|RUSTIC SOULGEMS]]|New Soulgems| |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/66261|Praedy's Soul Cairn]]|New Soul Cairn textures to make the realm of lost souls look sweet!| |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/74178|Bruma Clutter for Skyrim Imperials]]|Uses Beyond Skyrim to add clutter to Imperial locations!| |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/75972|Man-Eater Giants]]|Makes giants skewer the bodies of people! Kinda gross and not for people who like friendly giants!| |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/86338|Falmer Overhaul]]|Snelf meshes and textures!| |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/88290|Iconic's Spriggan Retexture]]|New Spriggan textures| |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/88484|Folded Rag Diversification]]|Why not!| |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/92797|Festival Flag Variety]]|Sure, festival flags!| |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/46564|My Road Signs are Beautiful]]|Other roadsign mods exist I just use this one.| |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/62969|Unique Markarth Doors]]|New doors for Markarth| |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/98321|Unique Festival Ropes]]|Even the ropes get unique meshes!| |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/92922|Festival Flags of Skyrim]]|Neat| |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/21726|Jankevdv's 2K Archery Targets]]|Looks nice I guess| |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/12530|Archery Target Retexture 2k and 4k added]]|More targets| |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/19867|Rudy HQ - Miscellaneous SE]]|Big clutter overhaul used in a lot of BOS mods.| |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/37085|Embers XD]]|For some reason a lot of mods require this one. It looks nice at least.| |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/94369|Diverse Candles]]|Diverse Candles| |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/98989|Diverse Catches ]]|Diverse Catches | |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/109731|Diverse Campfires]]|Diverse Campfires| |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/104990|Diverse Farm Fences]]|Diverse Farm Fences| |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/100870|Diverse and Lootable Firewood]]|Diverse and Lootable Firewood| |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/98142|Diverse Archery Targets]]|Diverse Archery Targets. Requires both previous archery target mods.| |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/78788|Diverse Dark Elf Lanterns]]|Diverse Dark Elf Lanterns| |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/80493|WeldingMans Enchanting Table Variants]]|New enchanting tables!| |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/111358|Chaurus Eggs Animated and Motion]]|Gross| |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/41198|Thrones of Skyrim]]|Did you know the thrones in Skyrim had their own unique models? Now you can actually tell that's the case!| |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/users/3165110|Johnskyrim]]|This guy makes amazing retextures and meshes. Also has some armor and weapons. A veteran of many fields you should just check out his mods and download everything that peaks your interest!| ---- ===== Atmosphere and Magic ===== What do these two things have in common? Nothing really, I just didn't know where to put them. |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/19456|Strange Runes]]|Adds Doctor Strange runs to hands when someone is casting a spell. Absolutely goofy but one of my favorite mods!| |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/44971|Iconic's Remastered Ash Piles Of Skyrim]]|Replaces the textures for dust piles| |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/5728|ETHEREAL COSMOS - Special Edition]]|Essential mod that changes the night sky into something else with new galaxies and stars.| |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/2393|ETHEREAL CLOUDS - Special Edition]]|New textures for clouds| |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/7292|Arri's Snow Elf Ruins Retexture]]|New Snelf textures| |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/54108|Sigils of Skyrim]]|New banner and shield textures!| |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/80832|ElSopa - Potions Redone]]|New potion models!| |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/83527|Night Mother]]|New night mother model.| ---- ===== Caves and Terrain ===== And rocks I guess. I couldn't fit the rest in the title. |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/56235|Simplicity of Snow]]| A light-weight snow mod designed to minimize conflicts. Uses your own snow texture and removes snow from under roofs| |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/84461|Gravunlom - a HD Riften Texture Overhaul]]|New textures for Riften| |[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/84318|My Walls of Kings are Beautiful]]|New textures for the Wall of Kings| ====== Skyrim Guide Index ====== * [[Essentials|Essentials]] * [[Gameplay|Gameplay]] * [[Creatures, NPCs and Players|Creatures, NPCs and Players]] * [[Immersion|Immersion]] * [[Quests and Lands|Quests and Lands]] * [[Graphics|Graphics]] * [[Armor|Armor]] * [[Armor Graphics|Armor Graphics]] * [[Weapons|Weapons]] * [[Weapon Graphics|Weapon Graphics]] * [[Animations|Animations]] * [[Fun Mods|Fun Mods]] * [[Unrecommended Mods|Unrecommended Mods]] * [[Paid Mods|Paid Mods]]