(loosely copied from my post in the Bethseda forum).
For a change, this is not a cry for help for a review of a load order but rather the opposite.
After about two years of trial and errors, tests and troubleshooting, I have reached what looks like a stable version of my load order, so I spent some time making a colored version of the list, with notes about the purpose of each mod and why they are in that particular order.
Annotated Load Order
Other mods (non-load order related)
As a rule of thumb, I tried to group related mods as much as possible. Patches are loaded after their respective mod (with the exception of the Unofficial Shivering Isle patch that can be loaded before the corresponding .esp file since that file is only a place holder anyway).
I left out some optional mods as well, most of the time for performance reasons on my system (for example, I kept only the Natural Weather mod from Natural Environment and left out all the other optional mods in that set).
Some mods are oddly placed before or after the area you would expect in the list – this is usually due to a reading of the mod conflicts with TES4View and a decision as to where the mod makes sense in that load order.
As far as color coding goes :
– Mods in green are cosmetic mods (sounds, textures, weather, water, scenery)
– Mods in blue are new content for the player (armors, weapons, accessories, quests, houses)
– Mods in yellow change the rules of the game (gameplay mods, spells, NPCs)
– Mods in orange and bold are the ‘absolutely necessary mods I could not play without’
– Mods in white and red are patches to other files in the list
– Mods in gold are official mods
I’m posting this in the hope it could help someone else with Load Order issues.