diff --git a/Viewer/css/layout.css b/Viewer/css/layout.css
index dc2a61fd..d8e09196 100755
--- a/Viewer/css/layout.css
+++ b/Viewer/css/layout.css
@@ -728,6 +728,10 @@ stretching in width... */
 
 	/* XXX we are taking care of this in code -- see if we can use this */
 	image-orientation: none;
+
+	/* XXX does this affect gifs???
+	animation-play-state: paused;
+	*/
 }
 
 .image {
diff --git a/Viewer/features/base.js b/Viewer/features/base.js
index b7a12e5b..745485e1 100755
--- a/Viewer/features/base.js
+++ b/Viewer/features/base.js
@@ -35,20 +35,50 @@ var core = require('features/core')
 
 /*********************************************************************/
 
+// Merge indexi into the first/base...
+//
+//	merge(base, ...)
+//		-> res
+//
+// res format:
+// 	{
+// 		base: <index>,
+//
+// 		// sparse array (optional)...
+// 		conflicts: [
+// 			...
+// 			// conflict objects are at positions corresponding to its 
+// 			// input index in the arguments....
+// 			// for format see: Data's .join(..)
+// 			<conflict-object>,
+// 			...
+// 		],
+// 	}
+//
 var merge =
 module.merge = 
 function(base, ...others){
 	// XXX get deconfliction mode...
 	// XXX
+	var res = { base }
+	var i = 0
 	for(var other of others){
+		i++
+		// merge data...
 		base.data.join(other.data)
 		// deconflict...
-		for(var c in base.data.deconfliction ?? {}){
-			var n = base.data.deconfliction[c]
-			other.images.replaceGID(c, n) }
-		delete base.data.deconfliction
+		// NOTE: .data.join(..) deconflicts data internally, we need to keep 
+		// 		the deconflicted GIDs in sync with .images...
+		if(base.data.deconfliction){
+			res.conflicts ??= []
+			res.conflicts[i] = base.data.deconfliction
+			for(var c in base.data.deconfliction ?? {}){
+				var n = base.data.deconfliction[c]
+				other.images.replaceGID(c, n) }
+			delete base.data.deconfliction }
+		// merge images...
 		base.images.join(other.images) } 
-	return base }
+	return res }
 
 
 
diff --git a/Viewer/features/filesystem.js b/Viewer/features/filesystem.js
index 937a433f..f3f64683 100755
--- a/Viewer/features/filesystem.js
+++ b/Viewer/features/filesystem.js
@@ -367,7 +367,10 @@ var FileSystemLoaderActions = actions.Actions({
 							//console.log('MERGING:', k, part)
 							logger && logger.emit('merge index', k, res)
 
-							index = that.merge(index, part) }
+							var {base, conflicts} = that.merge(index, part) 
+							index = base
+
+							conflicts && logger && logger.emit('GID conflicts', conflicts) }
 
 						loaded.push(k) }
 
@@ -780,9 +783,12 @@ var FileSystemLoaderActions = actions.Actions({
 					var new_data = that.data.constructor.fromArray(gids)
 
 					// prepend to index...
+					// NOTE: we are ignoring conflicts here as we are 
+					// 		generating the index ouselves...
 					var index = that.merge(
-						{ data: new_data, images: imgs }, 
-						that)
+							{ data: new_data, images: imgs }, 
+							that)
+						.base
 					var cur = that.data.current
 					that.images = index.images
 					that.data = index.data