So it appears 1.8 changes the Tamriel worldspace, no doubt do the upcoming DLC. Is it safe to play with any mods before they're updated with the new CK if the only conflict is the change to the worldspace? I noticed this change when cleaning Update.esm and some of my mods. Fortunately, my mods are clean, but I'd like to avoid baking in any conflicts with my saves. For that matter, as a mod user and rookie modder what can get baked into your saved game other than scripts?

Persistent references, for one. This is a major issue that has been plaguing mods like Unique Taverns. Not sure what else can bake into saves beyond persistent references and scripts.

Scripts, persistent refs, map markers that have had their names removed, AI schedules for NPCs, navmesh data in some cases, clutter that's been blown from its original positions, you name it. Lots of stuff gets added to the save over time. A lot of it will clear out on its own when cells reset, but the default cell reset for Skyrim is now 30 days and not 3 days so it can sometimes take a very long time for things to self correct.

Persistent refs never get cleaned out though, otherwise they wouldn't be persistent.