@DevilishEggz No, there isn't an easier way. If you choose you use mods, you're going to have to deal at patch time with hunting down the ones that are messing up your game. Many, many people just wait for the modders to clear their mods or update them. CC (build/buy and CAS content) is a different story - it'll generally be obvious in game if it's broken.
On your second question, it is modders' responsibility to fix things on their end if the game code their mod speaks to gets changed by Maxis. They know this and support each other in the process. But it does sometimes take a while because changes can be complicated and modders have other things they need to do in life.
If you find that it gets too frustrating, honestly, the best thing to do can be to pare down what mods you use. I do this every couple of years -- literally delete ALL of them (well, move them out) and then add them back in only when I find I need/really actually want to use them.
