I downloaded Morrowind Enchanted Editor yesterday as I found out that Saving objects is bad So I decided to DL it and see how it works. It's very simple and I understood right away what to do, but there is one question. I noticed that there is only a single ID mentioned, even if I saved 5 different objects. And I need to delete that one and all objects with that ID will be removed as saved, and that turned out ok.

However, I wondered what if I delete an object that is my own ID imported from outside? I was told that if there is an asterisk by the count number that the file is corrupted, but as soon as I make a new ID, even if the count is 0 (as in I only made a new ID and never got to save the object) there is an asterisk there. So what exactly does that mean? And of course, I tried to test that erasing of my own ID and what happened that it completely removed that new object from my mod and all used objects from the world that share the ID instead of "fixing" that (logically).

Is there a way to "clean" the mod if I saved one of my own IDs without erasing it completely from the cs plugin file? (since I've been saving for as long as I mod which is some 7-8 years, and it's a bad habit I won't easily stop doing )

I've never heard the phrase "saving objects is bad" in the context of the Construction Set. What does it mean?
(Just curious, I can't help you with EE, I never got it to run).

Just makes a "dirty reference."
Normally not a big deal, but you also might change every instance of that vanilla object appearing in MW.

What input form or operation in the CS would I use to "save an object" such that it creates a "dirty reference"?

In the terminology I'm familiar with, there are only objects definitions and object references (object instances put into CELLs). Are you talking about changing the object definition accidentally? The way I use the terminology, dirty refs cannot change other instances of an object appearing in Morrowind, you can only do that by changing the object definition.

By the words you used, clicking 'save' on a vanilla object would create a dirty reference as it changes the 'definition'. If you haven't changed any values of that object, ie; mesh, AR, value etc then it won't appear to make a difference. This would however overwrite any changes made to the same object by another esp loaded before it. If you did change one of those values then it will affect those 'definitions' for every 'instance' of the object appearing in game/CS although it won't ever affect the scale, rotation or translation of those objects but it may produce an undesirable change for someone else. This is my understanding of a dirty reference.

Okay, I would actually call that a "dirty edit", and leave the term "reference" to only mean "instance of an object placed in a CELL". But I think I understand the original question now, thanks.

Soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo now that we got basic CS stuff out of the way, does anyone have an answer?

Well, you could try http://code.google.com/p/mlox/wiki/Tes3cmd. One of the things that command will do is clean out duplicate object definitions, so if all you did was duplicate the object definition without actually changing it, tes3cmd can detect that and remove it.

Hahah, I know of this tool, you've advertised it pretty well. But that doesn't answer my question, so I'll pass for now. Thanks tho

I'm not sure I perfectly understand you, are you saying there's an asterisk in Morrowind Enchanted Editor or the CS? If it's the CS, the asterisk just means you've changed something to that ID. If it's a regular Morrowind ID, it's a dirty reference. If it's your own unique ID, it's not dirty, because the ID can only be found in your mod and presumably it has the values you wanted. So, no you don't need to clean out your own unique mod IDs, they're fine already.

Aah no need to clean my own IDs, that's what I wanted to know. Thanks man

Although what you say makes accurate sense, isn't "dirty references" part of the modding nomenclature? (To label an erroneously altered object.)
I've seen it used for as long as I can recall. And when I use it, the context is usually understood.

It might not be the most accurate definition in technical terms, but it does get the point across.

I always thought it was an erroneously altered object instance. For example, you move something in the cell render window, and then "undo" to move it back to its original position, this can leave a reference to the object in that cell you are working on even though it is unchanged from the original and you didn't mean to have it in your plugin. Seems to me that some of the terminology is used ambiguously, and I didn't understand the original post, so I thought that it might help me (and others) to get a clarification.

I always assumed everything you alter in the CS (especially not intentionally) was dirty.
Long explanation short, you clean everything out except that which you intentionally affected.
To me, that's the difference between dirty and clean. Keep it simple.

Agreed. I have never known it to be referred to as anything else.

The references to an object are listed in EE. There are also references to an object in the game world, viewed in the CS.

I recently asked some at GHF about the enchanted editor, and got back mixed reviews. I had heard it was buggy, and some of them at GHF backed that info (but some people don't think it is, so go figure)

Always back up your mods - use with care

ST

I've always used it, just because it's so simple. Never had any problems. It can even remove dependencies, which is nice.