Question about cleaning merged files

[Snarkyfork]

I just forgot to clean the "one last merge" section before merging them... should I go back and clean each individual file THEN merge them or can I just clean the merged file itself?

[GrantSP]

Since you're at that stage, may I ask you to do a test for me about this step?

In my last setup I believe I noticed that when you select the mods that you want to merge and perform the "Check mods for errors" step, MergePlugins actually cleaned those mods. Easiest way to check is to examine the re-activated individual mods and see in LOOT if they are still flagged as dirty. I might be completely bonkers and imagining things but another set of eyes may see the same thing.

 

If LOOT flags them as clean then you're fine, your merged mod is good to go. If it comes abck as dirty then it is as simple as redoing the merge.

[Snarkyfork]

I actually went ahead and just redid everything following the guide while waiting for a reply here. I "removed" the mods from the left panel after making the merged file, then zipped up the merged mod and added it to my archive, in case I need it later. I tried redoing the entire step for "one last merge" over again to test it but the Merge Plugins application seems to remember which mods it check previously, even after deleting the previous merge... Strangely though, when I first installed all of the mods listed under "one last merge", even though several of them say they contain dirty edits in the guide, the only mod to contain dirty edits according to LOOT was the populatedcasinos.esp (48 ITM). None of the others had errors, this was before using Merge Plugins. 

 

I don't know how to clear the cache in the Merge Plugins application to do a complete re-test.

 

That does bring a question to mind that I have about LOOT, however. LOOT stores exceptions somewhere, like the metadata changes made to certain mods to correct the load order... Are those changes stored in the LOOT folder or somewhere odd, like appdata or somewhere else on the PC? I ask because I am a backup-freak and like to make sure I keep records of small changes made that I may forget later.

[GrantSP]

C:\Users\<user_name>\AppData\Local\LOOT\<game_name>\