Sorry guys, when I got home I got a bit distracted having a quick workout and then getting stuff done around the house, never did get to that list. I am going to try again to do it here at work. What I may have to do though is base it around Skyrim Nexus and then if it's not listed as a Nexus exclusive, it should also be on the workshop.
Okay here is my list. As only graphical based mods were requested, I am only going to concentrate on "graphical" based mods. If I started going into mods that altered gameplay or added items/characters, I would be doing this all day.
Bethesda HD Texture Package - This one was rather obvious, get the package off Steam for free. However, you will also need to get
HD Textures DLC Fix, as it corrects a few of the errors that came with the updated textures.
Static Mesh Improvements - A mod that attempts to alter the meshes for nearly all the little items in the game. He goes a long way to remove much of the "blocky" look you see in many items. It's a very large upgrade in looks, though there are some choices he made I may have not agreed with, but not enough to make me not use it for the rest.
Skyrim Flora Overhaul +
Lush Trees - These mods work well together and really make the forests look more wild and alive. The person who made Lush Trees also made one for the grass, but I didn't find it as much of a drastic improvement. If you want it though, it's called
Lush Grass.
Skyrim Sunglare V3 - A simple mod that alters the sunglare, but holy crap what an improvement. It makes you want to stand and watch the sunrise everytime you see it.
Sounds of Skyrim (
Dungeon and
Wilds) - Adds a lot of new sounds to the game that boosts up immersion and really makes it feel a bit more alive.
Quality World Map w/ Roads - Increases quality and does a better job showing roads on the map, which helps a lot when you are attempting to plot out a pathway to a certain city you have yet to discover. Also has a version that looks like a real map rather then a birds-eye look.
Pure Waters OR
Immersive Water 3 - At first I used Pure Waters when it came out, but have since moved to Immersive Water 3, thus why I am posting both of them since I like both of them. There are other water mods around that alter the look and textures, but I always found these two to be the best.
Enhanced Blood Textures - I always felt the old blood looked more like liquid mercury then actual blood. This mod went a long way to improving it and making it feel like something I would see on the ground around a corpse.
Coverwoman - Improved the female face textures, making them a bit more smooth and attractive. Personally I go with Look 3, which is close to the original textures without excessive extras that attempt to make them into near glamour models. If you want to get as close to the originals as possible you would want to go with Look 4. Also,
Coverkhajiits.
High Res Face Maps for Men - Similar to what Coverwoman does, only for the Males in the game. The biggest difference is rather then smoothing out the faces, it attempts to keep as much of the definition as possible, thus keeping the men a bit more rugged, with things like stubble.
Enhanced Eyes - While the developer of Coverwoman has an eye replacement mod, I found it was overly bright and taking much out of the spirit of the characters. Enhanced Eyes increases the look of eyes, making them really stand out without overly taking over the frame. It also corrects the "eye glow" that can sometimes happen under certain light conditions.
Bellyaches Animal and Creature Pack - Greatly improves many of the textures used by animals. There are many variations allowing you to pick and choose how you want the animals to all look, or you can just use his personal package to have the textures he recommends. Also recommend his
Fur and Quilted Saddles mod.
This is pretty much it for the graphical mods I simply find myself unable to live without. I find none of the other then Lush Grass really altered my performance of the game, but obviously that may vary on system.