Originally Posted by
Cemana
An esp is not necessarily a script, an esp is an addition to the game. For example with mods that just change textures/meshes of existing objects you don't need an esp, you just need a data file of your new textures/meshes with the same path than the textures you want to replace (the bsa of the game are in fact just big data files). But if you want to add a weapon, a npc, a new event, change the original light radius of your torch ... you'll need an esp =)
You don't need tons of mods to make your game beautiful you can even just focus on a few mods
For example you can already have beautiful results with Skyrim 2k texture + Skyrim Flora overhaul + a good ENB if you play first-person.
Think that an ENB alone does ... 60% of the job when speaking about improving your game visuals x)
If you want more mods to make your landscapes/armors/npc/towns more beautiful I can give you a pretty solid list, but honestly the diffrence between an ENB and no ENB is gigantic.