Hello, this question may not be very easily answered by some as it does relate to programming somewhat.

I assume Load Order tools simply altar a string of bytes containing the last modified date set by the Construction Set to order the mods. If my understanding is right, Morrowind just looks at these dates and loads them in order from oldest to newest.

I am still wondering about the INI Game Files section, I really would like to know if the order of that plays any part in load order maintenance or if it is just to tell Morrowind which files to look at when gathering last modified dates.

Edit: Reworded the question.

As far as I know, in Morrowind all that counts is the timestamp of the file, so the mod with the earlier timestamp gets loaded first. Exceptions: all .esm files are loaded before .esps, even if they are newer. Changing load order with Wrye Mash means changing the timestamp of the file. The GameFiles section in the ini does not represent the load order and cannot be used to change it.

More on changing load order here: http://mw.yacoby.net/Tuts/LoadOrder/LoadOrderTut.htm

I'm not sure about the BSA files, but as newer BSAs even overwrite older loose files (a problem that Steam players often encounter), I could imagine that it pretty much works the same way.

Ah, thank you very much for answering those questions (even the one I edited out regarding BSAs as I thought it might be off-topic). Good to hear I'm on the right track to understanding this.

Also, thank you for the link to Yocoby's load list tutorial, I'll read it to see if I learn anything new.