Or is there a better method of making these changes?
This is my preferred method. Assuming we are editing name.esm
1. copy the name.esm to name.esp using Mash
2. load in MWEdit masters of name.esp, name.esp (be sure to have masters loaded first)
3. change/compile script(s) with MWEdit (strict syntax check on suggested)
4. if mod is big/more complex than a few scripts, DON'T SAVE the loaded name.esp from MWEdit, it can screw other things; it is safer to use MWEdit to fix the syntax, but compile/save from TESCS only.
5a. IF scripts changed are many AND you did not add NEW scripts, I find convenient/faster to:
- 6a from MWEdit, save the mod as name_edited.esp
- 7a select name_edited.esp in Mash, right click, Export/Scripts as name_edited_scripts.mws
- 8a select name.esp in Mash, right click, Import/Scripts name_edited_scripts.mws
- 9a. load in TESCS name.esp, recompile all. Note: if your mod does not have both Tribunal.esm and Bloodmoon.esm as masters, better load also Wrye's GMST Vaccine.esp to avoid generating dirty GMST
5b. else (alternative to 5a - 9a)
- 6b load name.esp in TESCS. Paste in TESCS the edited script sources from MWEdit, recompile scripts one at a time as needed
10. from TESCS, save name.esp
11. from Mash, select name.esp, right click, copy to Esm