[The Witcher 1] Questions about Flash Mod.

It's not all that long till February, so I decided to replay TW1 a second time. I played it at Medium or perhaps even on Easy the first time, and I really want to do an all out hard run of it this time through. I'm looking to recreate that awesome first experience somewhat, so I don't want to go changing the game way too much. Still, it's time for some changes! I did some homework and found that there "Flash Mod" and "FCR" are both highly recommended combat/difficulty overhauls. Here are my questions:

1. Is Flash Mod really an older "worse" version of FCR?

2. The Nexus Mods page on Flash Mod tells me that a lot of resistances have been increased for enemies, more immunities granted etc. Wouldn't this make the combat more tedious and more sign based play-styles much less fun? Maybe the character is supposed to be less specialized. Either way, I don't suppose I should decide by numbers alone. Any thoughts/experiences/advice?

Other than that, I've been wondering if I need to mod at all. The best mods for TW1 have been discussed a few times on this site, and I found the FAQ answer as well (one broken mod-link was in there, but I found it, lol). From that, it seems like I need to decide if I want Scabbards or Textures, maybe a few other graphics mods and that's it. Everything else, especially the convenience scrolls seem a pain. Item stacking changes would mean less interest in visiting an inn...Not sure I want those really. Any thoughts?

Thank you for your help.