I have cried gallons of tears with skyrim modding, so i hope i can help you save some of that precious drinking water with this guide.

1. Base of the manor (Skip this if you think you know what you're doing)

Why mod? Should i mod? Is the effort worth it? What if im just learning?

Modding the game obviously enhances it in a way, but it also complicates the game and cripples the progression. If it is your first time playing skyrim, try to play without mods for as long as you can bear it, otherwise you can spoil something, modify the game in a way you didnt expect/want to (For an example, you found a popular mod that completely overhauls the way you play the game, maybe something too overpowered or something that makes the game harder. Play the game first to spot some potential flaws!) Perhaps you wont be able to appreciate those 4k textures, if you havent played with the default resolution.

If you are more modern fashioned when it comes to gaming, i guess its best for you to mod right away, otherwise you might get scared off by the old but gold game.

Modding is actually very easy if you keep below 40 mods, i mean VERY EASY compared to some other games. Step over a 100 mods and you will spend more time finding that one mod that makes the game crash than actually playing.

2. Setting the game up for modding

Is there a mod manager? Which one do i use? What should i acknowledge?

Lets start by downgrading the game. THIS IS A VERY IMPORTANT STEP!!! Find a downgrader online, one great can be found on a site i dont think i can specify here (just search fg rpck) TES V link in the comments. You need to downgrade because there are only two specific versions that most mods actually support- if you mod an widely unsupported version some mods are off the grid, and some wont work properly. The ones you actually want are 1.6.640 and 1.5.97 it's very simple to downgrade, so i wont go in itty details- Basically, you choose the .exe file for the version you want to downgrade to, run it, select your game directory and you have yourself a culturally appropriate version of the game.

Next, lets get that mod manager. IT IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT TO NOTE THAT THERE ARE MANY MANY MANY IMPORTANT MODS THAT CANT BE INSTALLED THROUGH MOD MANAGERS!!! This includes Skyrim Script Extender AKA SKSE, SSE Engine fixes pt. 2 and ENBseries. There are 2 main mod managers, Mod Organizer 2 and Vortex. I personally use vortex, (and i will explain mod installing as if you use vortex) because i find it a lot easier to use, and it just feels more immersive. This is extremely simple to download, just google vortex mod manager and install it like any setup.

Another important thing to keep in mind is that YOU NEED THE CORRECT VERSIONS FOR MOST MODS!!! THIS IS BEYOND CRUCIAL, AND BRINGS PEOPLE INCLUDING ME A LOT OF PAIN IF THIS ISN'T DONE RIGHT!!! PLEASE make sure that the mods you are downloading match the version of the game. To do this, when you found that sweet mod on nexus, click files, if none of the files display a version most likely all of them are good to use, if they do, make sure you download the ones for your version of skyrim (If none do, try to get the newest one or google the mod name + for (game version) and see if there isnt an old reddit post with the version you want.) I will put some VERY important mod correct versions for 1.6.640 at the bottom of the post.

3. Installing SKSE

Its actually a single mod, but it is basically the foundation of skyrim's modding, so i felt like it deserves a whole chapter.

First, MAKE SURE TO GET THE RIGHT VERSION!!!!!!!!!! For 1.6.640 it's 2.2.3 and nothing else. If you use 2.2.2 or 2.2.1 you wont have full mod compatibility. You can find these files on the SKSE webiste, and clicking archived posts.

Download SKSE and open it with either 7-zip or WinRAR (both are free) copy the contents of the compressed skse file, and paste them in your skyrim direcctory (the folder that contains all your skyrim game files and data along with skyrim.exe) this wont work if you upload this to Vortex or MO2 because you aren't supposed to install it like a regular mod. Run skse_64.exe as admin to make sure you installed it properly (The game should launch, but you wont notice any changes)

4. Installing Mods

Congrajulationes for making it to here. (Reminder that this is for vortex)

Step number one is to get vortex to find your game. Maybe it found it automatically, maybe it didnt. In case it didn't, click on "games" (should be on a tab on the left of vortex mod manager) and search for skyrim special edition (or just skyrim if you dont have AE or SE) click browse and find whatever hellhole of a directory you installed skyrim to (If you are on steam, it will look something like ...>steamlibrary>steamApps>common>Skyrim)

To install mods, head over to the "mods" tab and drag & drop whatever mods you donwloaded from nexus on to the bottom of vortex. The mods should appear roughly in the middle of the mods tab, and they say something like "Enabled/Disabled/Never Installed USSEP Survival Patch"

Always make sure that you have all mod requirements (a requirement is a mod that needs to be installed for another mod to work) and that they have the right version. If your game won't open, its due to mod incompatibility with the game version or other mods.

5. Most Important mods and how to install them

Starting with some of the more hard installs, that you dont use the mod manager for.

SSE Engine Fixes- Required to be able to use more than like 3 save games, also fixes some minor bugs and whatnot as well as improves performance.

Download both part 2 and part 1 of this mod on nexus. Part one you install like a normal mod, just drag the archive to the bottom of vortex and watch if it enables. Part two is a bit more complicated- install it just like SKSE- drag THE CONTENTS! of it on your skyrim directory.

ENBseries- YOU DONT NEED THIS MOD! This is basically like shaders for minecraft, if you want to install something that halves your framerate and makes the game look slightly better (or a lot better) install it, but otherwise dont!

This is installed just like SKSE again, but the difference is that the website is EXTREMELY hard to navigate, so thats literally all that i will be describing here. go to enbdev dot com and find the link to skyrim. Then, click on v0.479, it will take you to a very messy page, scroll to the very bottom and click download.

Next, some easier to install essentials- these are all installed by dragging the mod archive to vortex mod tab, all i will explain by them is the version to use for 1.6.640

Unofficial Skyrim Special Edition Patch- Required for many mods, and fixes various bugs. Google "USSEP for 1.6.640" and click on the reddit post that shows up and download it from there.

Address Library for SKSE plugins- Not sure what does it do exactly, but many many many mods require it. Download version 11 for it (All in one 1.6.X)

Backported Extended ESL Support (bees)- Basically a support for pretty much any version of the game except the newer ones. Just get the first download on nexus.

Powerofthree's tweaks- Tweaks for... uhh.. just get it, many mods need this. Get version 1.9.2 on nexus.

powerofthree's papyrus extender- Many mods need this... again... Get 5.8.0 (Currently newest v)

SkyUI- King of in-game mod config and just a overall great and heavily required mod. Get the newest v.

JContainers- many mods need this... Get version 4.2.3 for 1.6.640

Thats the main stuff!!! After all of this, make sure your game runs. If MCM or JContainers crashes, that's because you didnt get the right SKSE version.

6. Fores New Idles (FNIS)

Great but messy mod. Its best to avoid animation mods altogether in my opinion, but if you really need one, this will most likely be required.

The install is very complicated, i just wanted to put this on the list to make sure that you know this isnt a normal install mod. Its a bit too hard to explain it with text, so go watch a youtube video about it.