Yes! sorry! The easyslider (in case anyone is switching) requires the jscript files to be placed in the includes>modules>page>index folder rather than in the templates>custom>jscript folder. Just removing the 2 extra files did the trick. Now the plugin works the way it should.

For the ZX Slideshow like I said before, I didn't modify/upload the tpl_index_default.php page. Instead I placed the ZX slideshow code that was on that page in the defines_main_page.php which can be edited from the admin area (tools>define pages editor) and it works perfectly. One less core page that needs editing is even better.

Thanks for this wonderful addition!