yes, i am sure that the esps or anything else are not loaded. i first noticed due to the lack of DarnUI and character overhaul.
right now, i just wanted to make sure again and the vanilla game crashes even before i can get to the menu...even after validating game cache..twice...needless to say i'm a bit pissed by the whole thing. i appreciate your help, i'll get back to you if there is any progress. tomorrow i intend to reinstall the whole thing and hope for the best. i'll get back to Morrowind for a while (because it works)