Dirty References Questions

[Jaig]

Hey guys! Total modding noob here, looking for some quick advice from some Construction Set veterans.

Currently, I'm working on my first serious project with the CS, just a fairly straightforward house mod. What I've been doing is, after using the coordinates menu to move the static object into place, I press 'save'. Seemed like the right thing to do, but I recently came across a tutorial that explained that it was not only unnecessary, but also harmful. That doing so creates a 'dirty reference.'

 

My question is, can that be fixed? I'd been hearing a lot already about 'dirty references', and that you run it through a program like TESAME and/or Enchanted Editor to fix them. Is it that simple, or is there more to it?

Something else I've been doing is copying and pasting details from vanilla interiors to decorate my space. I'm finding the controls for placing objects to be really clunky and slow to use, so for smaller, fiddly objects like clutter for shelves or other things to make the space looked lived-in, I copy from places that already look lived-in. Bottles on shelves, piles of crates or sacks, that sort of thing. I find this helps my mod feel congruent with the rest of the game, as well. However, I have noticed that when I copy objects, it causes a an asterisk (*) to appear next to the objects' entry in the statics list for that cell. As far as I can tell, that indicates the object now being 'touched' by the new plugin I'm creating.

My question is, is that a problem? Could that lead to incompatibility with mods that might alter the objects I've copied? If so, is there a way to fix that?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

[Dragon32]

There's a lot of great information on abot's site, for example - http://abitoftaste.altervista.org/morrowind/index.php?option=content&Itemid=10&task=viewpost&id=53&-Morrowind-modding-for-smarties-part-3-tes3lint-tes3cmd-and-TESTool

[AIgnatiousS]

You need to create a new character. Put him in an interior near your house mod where the cell is separate from your mod (Arrile's Tradehouse, etc..).

 

Now save the game, make a NEW save that is NOT a quicksave so you don't accidently save over it. The one I use is literally named No Mod.

 

From now on when you are testing your mod load that save, you don't even have to walk to your house mod from where you are in the save, simply type in, coc <cellname>

[AIgnatiousS]

Now that I'm thinking about it, I missed something important. On your NEW save that you make make sure you have only vanilla game files (Morrowind, Tribunal, Bloomoon) checked, that is SUPER IMPORTANT.