Okay, so I finished a rather nice mod, and now I want to clean it. Several people have said TESTOOL. I download TESTOOL and get the message "morrowind.esm cannot be found." I ask again. People say TESAME. I download TESAME, follow the instructions, and it erases my MOD (Thank GOD for backups). SO... how do I clean this mod?

use enhanced editor bro!
the other 2 need... intense skillz.

TESTOOL needs to be run from within the data files folder; if it does, then it find Morrowind.esm. TESTOOL is sometimes too zealous in its cleaning, but it shouldn't be a problem unless you try fancy things in your mod (empty cells which serve only as dialogue collectors, the like). Nevertheless it's still a good idea to test the mod in-game after cleaning. If you use TESTOOL, make sure to only use it on your mod, and _never_ press the evil "Just fix it" button.

Other tools are more reliable for cleaning, but require more knowledge of the game's internal data structure (Enchanted Editor, TESAME) or are more difficult to set up and use (tes3cmd).

Edit: Didn't you mention that you don't have Tribunal / Bloodmoon? If you're only using the Construction set that came with the base game, then you don't have to worry about the most common "contaminations" of a mod - these happen when using the CS that came with Tribunal or Bloodmoon to make plugins that don't depend on the expansion esm's.

If you're using resources like GDR, then the more likely problem is packaging the correct resources with the mod.

Got to go unfortunately, but will check back in a couple of hours.

TESAME works just fine if you know how to do. Obviously you can't highlight every change & remove it (This will erase all that you've done). You need to now what's been done by your mod & what shouldn't be there. For example: If you've added a NPC named "Bjarn", then you should find him in the list. Removing that entry will cause him to simply vanish from your mod.

One simple thing that might make it easier is if you put something in front of things used in the mod, for instance: MR_Helvia, MR_Small_Cheast. It makes it easier to keep track of what should be there & what shouldn't

I tested it with a new install, and there were no issues, so I'm releasing as is for now. If there are problems, I'll readdress this. There is an OV in front of most things (most. I'm a [censored]) so I can try that if I need to.

I'll have a look at it tomorrow. It's your first mod, so some dirtyness is to be expected - unfortunately, the Construction Set makes it _extremely_ easy to create dirty mods. The good thing is that there are safe and reliable ways to clean one's own mod, it just takes a bit of time to get accustomed to the process.