About to play KOTOR again for the first time in 3 years. What are some must-have mods?

I completely disagree with the two posters above. There's a huge array of KotOR mods out there, and while some are purely cosmetic, there are plenty which aren't. Personally, I think the KotOR I list found there is incredibly limited. Some of the more substantial mods which (IMO) enhance the game hugely:

KotOR I Restoration 0.9 by ZM90, Fair Strides, et al. (and the bugfix ;

Brotherhood of Shadow: Solomon's Revenge by Silveredge9 and v1.1 patch

ORD Mandell by RedHawke (NB: this one doesn't use the patcher, so install it before anything else if you're going to use it. The same applies to RedHawke's other modules, e.g., the Tatooine jawa shop mod.)

Tomb of Jesset Dal'Kest by Darkkender

Korriban Crystal Cave by Agent Xim

Recruitable Kay by Inyri

Sith Stalker 0.9 by jonathan7, VarsityPuppet, Marius Fett, Qui-Gon Glenn, Dak Drexl and redrob41;

Content Pack 1 v1.1 by TamerBill and UnknownJedi

All-in-One Force Power Mod by Darth333, Darth Khasei, etc. (N.B.: Install before everything else if you're going to use it, because it will cause a huge number of incompatibilities otherwise.)

Quanon's Temple mod (N.B.: Not compatible with the Korriban Crystal Cave)

Endar Spire Dialogue Enhancement by CarboCation

Kill Yuka Laka by Darth333

Kill Star Forge Jedi by Sareth154

Tatooine Spice Dealer by Inyri Forge

Force Pack 2.0 by Star Admiral

Personally, I find the following 'cosmetic' mods also massively enhance the game:

Weapon Model Overhaul by Toasty Fresh

Quanon's Lightsaber Pack

Praetorian Armour by Quanon

Weapons of the Old Republic by T7Nowhere

Lightsaber 7 Pack by T7Nowhere

Revan's Mask Plus by T7Nowhere

HV-88 by svosh

90SK's K1 Robes (plus patch )

MedHypo by Rtas Vadum

Darth Malak - Dark Lord of the Sith by Drewton

Vibrosword Replacement Pack by DeadMan

Saber and Melee Weapon Sound Mod by DeadMan

Ajunta Pall Unique Appearance by Silveredge9

Revan's Flowing Cape and Belt by SithSpecter

Male Head Pack by Inyri Forge

Bryar Pistol and Bryar Rifle by Inyri Forge

Ryyk Blade by Inyri Forge

KotOR Repulsor Shields by Inyri Forge

And finally, I don't think a good number of my mods would fall under "cosmetic" changes:

Four Force Powers

Lightsaber and Force Forms

Korriban Academy Workbench (N.B.: Install this first, if using it with the Lightsaber Forms mod)

Camera Angle Options

Granted, I've also released some which are cosmetic, e.g.:

Sleeveless "Starkiller" Robes

Subtler Lightsaber Blades

but most of my new item mods have, I like to think, something a bit more to them:

Sonic Screwdriver

Broken Bottle

Mandalorian Battle Blades

Halo Energy Sword

Jedi General Robe

Extreme Conditions Combat Robes

If OP really wants to check out what KotOR mods there are, though, I suggest he visit the DeadlyStream KotOR downloads page, as well as KotORFiles' K1 mod index. For completeness' sake, you could also check out Lucasforums' KotOR mods release section, and the KotORNexus, but anything in the first two is going to be in the last two as well, so finding stuff additional to that is going to take a lot of trawling.

/r/kotor Thread