Thanks for the thorough answer. I wondered if questions I was generating were going to get any answers - so thanks.

Yeah I'm fairly familiar with Mash (more so with bash) - Umm actually I was the first to write http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1084204-bain-mod-installation-projects/.

And have been using a lot of tes3cmd to prep a load order. More on that http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1184424-q-cleaning-mods-with-tespcd/.

BTB is doing good stuff - so yeah i was most likely going to go with his ASE and windows.

I plugged in every combo of mods that I called mutually exclusive into the conflict detector and a few had very minimal conflicts - still I'd imagine for a smooth game better that there were next to none - to minimize ctds.
Really those 4 would not be hard to change out and test but with BTB's ASE being the latest and greatest - that will likely be the one.

I found all the other mods you listed in the second list - except the quiet UI one - that is golden. Thanks.

...this is taking time. at this point tonight I've conquered visual replacers, bug fixes, sounds, NPC encounters, Monsters, UI and HUD mods, Bodies and faces, environment mods (grass and trees).

Next cities and infrastructure then I can get into dungeons, quests, and immersion mods.

Maybe in a few weeks actually play.