What's your thought process when building mod list/deconflicting?

[khumak]

I'm curious what sort of method other people use for setting up their mod list and resolving conflicts.  My method has changed a lot over time with an eye towards minimizing the amount of time it takes me as my mod list grows.  Would love to hear if other people have come up with more efficient methods.

My method for setting up my mods:

- load small number of mods
- edit meta data in Loot to ensure each conforms to mod author recommendations
- filter for conflict losers in SSEEDIT and edit meta data again if needed to further minimize conflicts

- intentionally screw up load order and sort again to verify Loot knows where to put everything now
- run game and test at least 1 feature of each mod (Alternate Start highly recommended for this)
- repeat til all mods loaded

- generate bashed patch and make note of any mods Wrye Bash says are mergeable
- copy all NPCs from every mod into an NPC override file also merging any mergeable NPC mods or patches

- repeat above step if any were flagged as required masters and leave those mods out of the merged file

- filter for conflict losers in SSEEDIT

- hand edit to resolve conflicts and keep features from whatever mods I want

 

- merge all water, lighting, and weather patches, resolve conflicts as above
- merge all other mergeable mods as above (I keep 3 separate files for NPCs, Gameplay, and Weather/Lighting/Water)
- add note to each merged mod detailing exactly which mods were merged into it ****VERY IMPORTANT**** (I didn't think to do this originally)
- disable originals for merged mods
- tweak metadata in Loot to put all merged mods at the bottom
- generate bashed patch
- filter for conflict losers and create 1 final SSEEDIT patch to fix any remaining conflicts or override any undesirable bashed patch entries
- generate FNIS
- Play!

Initially takes a lot of work but once done, each new mod I install takes minimal effort.  Loot always puts everything in the right spot, I only ever have to make minor additions to my merged mods and my final conflict patch and just regenerate the bashed patch each time. 

 

The only annoyance I've found with doing it this way is that if I want to update a mod I've merged, I have to go check my notes to remember which mods I merged it with, reneable every one of those mods, and redo my merged mod again, but personally, I think they're less likely to conflict once merged.

The main issue I can't resolve yet are navmesh issues.  One of these days I need to break down and learn how to use the CK.