Finally got around to getting the pc version of this game. Are there any mods that are absolutely necessary to get?

Detailed Cities is pretty great.

@kashif1: There's a bunch of UI mods and inventory/loot sorting mods you'd probably want to get on top of, they'll make inventory management so much better.

If you like adding content, I think the best mod for absolutely new content would be A Moonpath to Elsweyr, which is almost like a DLC in itself but a free mod. It was really well done.

If you like to expand crafting/smithing, there's definitely a really nice, big mod for that called Tyantis.

It has been a while since I was really into Skyrim, though, so some of my suggestions might be a little dated.

I would say just get whatever you feel is missing.

Personally, I'm a fan of the Basic Needs and Hypothermia mods if you want to add a layer of realism to it. As far as the items as such, bandoliers and ... Fur Bags or whatever it's called are good since it's both beneficial and helps the immersion for me since it looks like you could conceivable have all the stuff in your inventory actually on your person. JaySuS' weapon pack is pretty good since it's pretty seamless in design with the core game. There's some good cloak mods, too.

EDIT: Oh and Better Horses is good too, since you can store stuff on your horse and tweak their behavior.

Head over to Skyrim Nexus and start sorting by popularity. usually the big core mods like SkyUI and such are in there all the time and they definitely are the most likely to enchance the games of the most people in the best possible way.

I've recently started playing again and I think this 'SkyRE' mod is great, does an overhaul of the way the game works, skill trees being the most awesome now (I'm actually very interested in skill trees now because of it). Check it out it's worth a look.

I like to use the official steam workshop for any mods that don't lose quality on there, and are actually on there, as much as I can. Some mods require larger file sizes and there's a limit there so I seem to use both it and the nexus site equally, maybe nexus more? Here's my profile on the workshop to see some of the mods I use there, handy cause it auto updates and seems easier, though the mod manager provided by the nexus site is basically just as good for different reasons.

Think you need to log in?

http://steamcommunity.com/id/djjoejoe/myworkshopfiles/?browsesort=mysubscriptions&browsefilter=mysubscriptions&p=1&numperpage=30

I don't think that the game really needs any mods. I suggest completing it without mods, as it should be played, and perhaps trying something out after that if you get bored.

What's that good UI mod? SkyUI or something? 
 
 
Basically you should get a UI mod.

Clean Bootys. You gotta have clean bootys

It's all about clean faces.

The big booty mod