dapper mudcrabs and randysavage dragon

Play for a bit without any mods,then search for what you want to see improved.
For me this is the must list:

All the unofficial patches(saves a lot of trouble.)
SKSE (install a lot of mods require it)
SkyUI (better menus,allows sorting by price/weight ratio,etc.)
iHud (invis hud for more immersion)
Better Dialogue&Message Controls (fixes conflict between mouse/keyboard priority)

You may also want a body replacer to make people look better,a combat overhaul,magic packs,ASIS(makes enemies use content from mods you install),animation replacers,vampire overhauls,follower overhaul,Achieve that(adds in-game achievements),sound overhauls,hair mods,and in general everything you fancy.

Skyrim GEMS has a big list that looks nice for a lot of things you may want.

Mod here, checking in.

Your first playthough you shouldn't add anything that adds or modifies the storyline.

But SkyUI is something you should always use. It overhauls the inventory and store menus to make playing on the PC nicer.

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/24666/?

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/25360/?

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/14308/?

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/35966/?

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/37994/?

Quick copy paste of some mods i recommended on some other forum. I also recommend a realism mod that will make you suffer from the cold, hunger, lack of rest etc, possibly leading to death via say hypotermia or some sickness. Limit yourself to a given level, so that playing with say 2 companions is still a challenge and you will run for your life when you see a dragon ( being able to kill a dragon kills the game for me ).

The unnoficial patches tend to improve the performance actually. Even some graphical mods can actually give you better performance while offering better graphics.

best ones u can find on nexus

Ok... Hope you read this. This will change your modding world. It takes time... but I recommend the following:

1. Start watching Gophers Mod Sanctuary series for Skyrim on Youtube.
   https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL96C073B0B8BFC01D I cannot recommend Gopher's site highly enough and his videos cover everything (and more) that what you have asked about. He teaches how to mod with Nexus Mod Manager from Nexus Mods.

2. Though there is nothing wrong with Steams Workshop. I recommend Nexus Mods and learning how to use Nexus Mod Manager NMM.
   http://www.nexusmods.com

3. Go slow with your modding. If you have never played Skyrim, I recommend a quick play through unmodded. Learn what you don't like before you start modding things. When you do start modding. Only activate 1-3 at a time and use them a few days before adding more. LEARN to use mods smart or you will destroy your Skyrim install and/or your savegames.

4. Look at nexus mods top files of all time and top 100. That will give you an idea of what is popular, why and what it takes to get them working well (compatibilities).

5. Game on! Expect Skyrim to stay on your hard drive for years. :)

I have like ~300 mods installed :D, it made skyrim so much fun.

This one for performance :D
Night sky :D
Yeah use the unofficial patches, they fix lots of bugs and you may want to try memory leak/crash fixes, can't bother to find them now.

Most important tools (must install):

Mod Organizer - Nexus Mod Manager is too slow and doesn't come with profiles (where you can mix and match Skyrim ini files/mods/saves according to profiles). It also uses VFS so that you don't need to mess up your Skyrim Data directory. Let me know if you need help in understanding what's going on. This STEP tutorial on enabling third party programs on Mod Organizer is good.

TES5Edit - Cleans the original Skyrim files to avoid conflicts (yes the original Skyrim files have conflicts themselves). Use this video guide
.

BOSS - BOSS sorts your mods list so that all of them will work together. Sorting is important in Skyrim because some mods might overwrite each other, hence they maintained a repository of sorted lists for most Skyrim mods to make sure the items overwritten are correctly done.

SKSE - SKSE is required for some mods for advanced scripting support. It also comes with a memory heap allocator that fixes crash to desktop (CTD) when your Skyrim memory exceeds it's allocated value. Get the latest beta (1.7) as only the latest beta has the memory heap allocator.

ENBoost - ENB is a graphical modification plugin that separates the video memory allocation from Skyrim memory allocation pool. It also comes with post-processing to make your Skyrim look different/better if your graphics card can handle it. ENBoost is a guide/mod of ENB to only enable the performance boost, but disable the post-processing to make your Skyrim CTD less.

SkyUI - SkyUI modifies your in game menus comprehensively. Once you see it, you'll never turn back to using your normal in game menus. i.e. Inventory sorting, favourites etc.

StableUGridstoLoad - Fixes Skyrim's UGridsToLoad to load the correct UGrids (less memory used overall)

Unofficial Skyrim patches

1
2
3
4
5

*These will fix game breaking bugs as well as improve performance

my problem with moddable games is, I spend more time modding than playing.

Hi. Aside from the unofficial patches and, maybe, the graphic mods, I HIGHLY recommend doing an unmodded playthrough for at least 1-3 hours. Anyway, seeing that many people have already suggested awesome mods, I strongly suggest you try out T3nd0s Skyrim Redone. Note, however, that this mod is a HUGE overhaul for most of the gameplay stuff.

Here is a quick summary of it and my comments about it:

Perk System Overhaul - It changes some of the perks and 'reorganizes' some of it resulting in a very solid and a much more flexible character development experience.

Race Overhaul - With the changes, choosing your race becomes more fun because racial abilities become more of an actual consideration and not just because of looks. Like what the author of the mod said, "In vanilla Skyrim, the only real difference between an Orc and a Breton is that one needs an additional piece of magic resist gear."

Combat Overhaul - Let's face it, Skyrim's combat isn't excellent but this mod (coupled with other mods) makes it that there's now a degree of strategy in combat (especially in weapon wielding builds).

Enemy Scaling - NOW THIS IS WHAT I LIKED THE MOST! Vanilla Skyrim makes it that wherever you go, the enemy scales to you. This makes the game less challenging and so in my case, less fun.

Other stuff - More awesome stuff, just check the link to see the author's full overview of it :)

GJ on getting Skyrim LE! Have fun!

I know you want performance mods but Falskaar is like an expansion DLC and worth checking out ;)

Winter Is Coming - Cloaks
Adds cloaks to the game

Immersive Weapons
Adds tons of new weapons. I think the vanilla game doesn't have enough weapons

Blaze Of Eventide
Adds a very cool summonable flaming horse (also check out his other mods)

Breezehome FullyUpgradable
Allows you to upgrade the vanilla home. The upgrades give the home more character and makes it much nicer

JaySuS Swords
Adds 51 new weapons for you to craft

ill have to remember this thread for when i can get skyrim on my pc, seems like alot of awesome mods here

there are mods for skyrim??? GO AWAY!!!! i dont believe you!