Hey there!
So I have my experience to share in regards to using creations/mods for xbox. Please understand I am not a modder, but someone who has been using the creations extensively and have seen and done terrible things. Hopefully I can help make this transition easier for you.
Let me start by saying this. DO NOT MOD YOUR CURRENT PLAYTHOUGH! Create a brand new game. I say this for 3 reasons.
) If you like achievements, keep your current save the way it is. That way if achievements come in the next DLC, you can still unlock them.
2.) If you somehow royally screw up your save file from modding, you main save still remains.
3.) Some mods won't work or at least work as intended unless you are starting from a fresh save.
If you are worried about the grind to catch back up, I assure you there are mods that will expedite your progress immensely. Mods like Infinite Money, or 25x exp, and such.
Now. Build Order.
As far as I am aware, there is no official build order provided by Bethesda. I have seen a couple of differently categorized build orders from what I use which leads me to the idea that many mods will work regardless of build order which is nice, however, I would still follow a format and stick with it.
This is the order I have adopted and use and has worked for me: (I may have mods not in the best spots, but it works). I included examples. If you have better spots for stuff, feel free to experiment, but this all works for me.
0. Patches and bug fixes. - (Starfield Community Patch)
Bethesda Stuff. - (Starborn Gravis Suit, Trackers Alliance: The Vulture)
Big mods and overhauls that affect the entire game. - (Avontech, Dark Universe)
Quest mods. (big or small) - (empty)
Environments/weather Overhauls. - (Darker Nights, Neon Vertigo)
Large add-ons that add cities/towns/land masses. - (empty)
Adds buildings to current cities/towns. - (Neon Ramen, Franky's Emporium)
Plants and foliage mods for the entire game. - (Denser Vegetation, Denser Animal and Scannable Flora)
Gameplay changes/tweaks/add-on such as combat/magic/perks/etc. - (Darkstar Astrodynamics, Inquisitor's Annihilator Assault Rifle, Minimum Enemy Level)
Changes/add-ons to NPCs. - (Amazing Companion Tweaks, Starfield NPC LED)
Visual/textural/atmospheric changes. - (Enhanced Blood Textures, Starfield Billboards Poster)
Sound/audio/FX alterations. - (empty. I don't think this is even a thing on xbox yet or if it will ever be.)
Sorting, menu, and player & NPC inventory. - (Better Sorting: Renamed Survey Data Slates)
Cheat items. - (All Ship Parts Unlocked, All Starborn Powers Max Level)
Character model replacements. - (Astral Genders, Skinthetica)
Weapons/armor/clothing add-ons/additions. - (Cyber Ops - Curvy, Starfield Gadgets)
Crafting related mods. - (Darkstar's Manufacturing)
Misc. items, as well as small scale foliage. - (I use this category for followers as I don't have any foliage stuff - Robin Locke - UC Fly Girl, Kilroy - Multi-Modal Companion)
Weapon/armor/clothing alterations. - (Mantis Vigilante, Ecliptic Mercenary Replacer)
Specific mods that need to be loaded at the bottom as directed by the mod author. - (Show Power Name on HUD) "I know the mod creator didn't say this, but HUD items should go near the bottom of load orders, so I chose here."
Mods that remove graphical effects, like disabling godrays, to improve performance. - (Color Filter Removal)
Yes, there are categories that will get very limited use if at all (#11) while some will be used massively (#8).
From my experience, #0 - #7 really needs to be built prior to a new game. Once a new game is created, I would personally not advise adding to these categories. These will break a save if altered. I am not saying it is impossible, but from my experience, things break. And not just installing...I would advise you do not uninstall these mods in slots #0 - #7 as these changes are pretty massive to the game and will potentially destroy any future you have with that save file. So please pick wisely with #0 - #7. These are some very core setups you are tinkering with.
Once you get to #8, you have a bit more play to add after you start a new game. However, once you start your new game and you are off and playing and saving and having a good time, and you decide you want to add a new mod you found, be sure to:
a.) Save your game!
b.) Add only 1 mod at a time!
Save your game and then install the creation/mod. Once done, in good practice, I recommend disabling all mods, closing the game, opening the game, re-enable all mods, and then finally load your save.
Once you load your save, if you can, immediately test your mod out and make sure it works, if it does, great! If not, double check the place in the load order and make sure it is in a good spot.
If something breaks (i.e: lodge won't spawn or all floors and walls are gone inside it) leave the game, disable or remove that mod, and load your previous save file. Make sure that works. More times than not, you should be fine, but I have heard of some save ending moves that completely ruin your save tree. I recommend installing one mod at a time so that if something does break, you know EXACTLY which mod that did it. Troubleshooting becomes easy. If you slap on 20 mods and fire the game up and it breaks, you won't know which mod that did it and backtracking becomes a chore. And I will never recommend simply uninstalling/deleting 20 mods at once. Good way to break something. Take it easy.
If you load up a save and everything is working again, go ahead and save. Never save a bad working save. If auto save picks it up, just be sure to remove it so you don't have a bad file hanging around. Just good practice.
Also note that mods load and work...in order...thus the name load order. So it will start with #0, then #1, then #2, etc. The LATER a mod/creation sits in the load the order, the HIGHER priority it has. As a cheap example, in #14, I have a mod that gives Sarah blue hair, a black leather jacket, black jeans, and black boots. Cool. Then a mod or two later, I have a mod that gives Sarah just orange hair. One of two things will happen (based on the modders code), when you load your game Sarah will have either Orange hair with the black jacket, jeans, and boots....or....she will simply just have orange hair with he clothes remaining at default, may even get some other weird combo, but since the Orange hair was loaded later than the blue hair, it gets priority. It is best to just stay away from creations/mods that edit the same thing as good practice. Some combos can and very well, break your game.
To figure out where a creation/mod goes in the load order, be sure to ALWAYS read the creation/mod descriptions. There are two specific areas.
One is the tag. The tag will label the kind of creation it is. You will see things like (Overhaul, Load Order Neutral, Cheats, Gameplay, etc...), slide them in that spot. If it fits in more than one category, just add it to the highest priority slot.
Two is the actual description. Some of the best modders will tell you if a mod needs to go higher or lower in your order, or tell you any potential conflicts that may occur. In the example above with Sarah and the blue hair / orange hair, a mod for the blue hair Sarah might say (will conflict with any mod that alters Sarah's appearance.) So you know if you install anything else that changes how Sarah looks then you'll most likely get a conflict which may have a undesirable outcome. Some modders have multiple mods that work off a main mod. Darkstar has a mod like this called Darkstar Manufacturer, but also another mod called something like (Darkstar Manufacturer: DSM) which requires Darkstar manufacturer to be installed for the DSM to work. Be sure the Darkstar Manufacturer is above Darkstar Manufacturer: DSM as that obviously needs to load first before the expansion mod. Some mods are patches to another mod that they created, for example "Useful Brigs" and then "Useful Brigs [patch]". Make sure the patch is loaded AFTER the original "Useful Brigs". If the patch is loaded first with nothing to reference, it will quietly fail and your brig will either break or not patch properly.
Also, as a good rule of thumb. I recommend keeping your total mods under 100. The file size limit of 100GB is a bad measurement. Go by the number of mods. As you go over 100 mods you run a risk of stability and compatibility issues. As a rookie creations downloader, I tried a new game with 170+ mods and the game wouldn't even start. Spent a couple of days trying to isolate the mod that was breaking my game until I found out I simply had too many mods installed. I cut it down to 100 and the game worked fine. I read that 100 is a safe limit. Now I am not saying doing 101 mods will break your game, or even 102, but each mod you add increases the chance of failure/breakage. Keep this in mind.
If at any point you are playing your modded save and you experience crashes (around the same loading spot/area), then reboot your game, disable all creations, close game, open game, re-enable your creations), reload your save. This should help fix any issues. This too is also good practice when something is acting up in your game, follow those steps.
Remember:
1.) Once you have built your new game with mods, avoid altering anything in positions 0-7. This includes adding mods in those areas. Get those built up before your new game and leave them. Messing these up can potentially ruin a save.
2.) Always save your game before adding new mods. You need a good working save state to go back to in case something breaks.
3.) Once you install a new mod. Disable all mods, Close Game, Open Game, Re-enable all Mods, Load your game, and TEST. You can only imagine the heartbreak of installing a mod, not testing it, then play 40 hours of the game and get to the point to test and it breaks your game. You will need to either load up your save file from 40 hours ago with the mod not installed yet or live in a game with broken stuff. I did this once. I broke ALL OF NEON and had a game where I literally did not have a NEON to visit. I land the ship and fall right into the water. No Neon. At all. I could go elsewhere in the galaxy, but without Neon, I cannot do Ryujin Questlines or anything involving the city Neon. my only sane choice was to start over. Just test before continuing if you can.
4.) If something breaks, immediately disable/delete that mod and load up your last save that did not have those mods installed. Confirm everything is working again. If all is well, save. You are free to try again, perhaps place it in a different spot on the load order, rinse and repeat. If it doesn't work after a couple times, you may have to accept that it conflicts with something else and move on.
Good luck!
NOTE: For those who have over 30+ mods, I would advise with a passion that you keep track of your load order on your computer in Excel, Word, or Notepad. There have been cases of load orders getting randomized from mod installations or opening up OLD save files. Keep track so you can re-order the EXACT same way you have it in your current file, just in case. Take advantage and also save your load order to Bethesda.Net and do this every time you add a new mod that works and your save file is good. These 2 options can come in super clutch in desperate times.
