Brumbek and all,
I have noted that the "HeartOftheDead.esp" is on both the list of Mods Needing Cleaning, as well as on the list of Mods Already Clean. Does anybody know which is correct?

Wouldn't it be helpful if the lists not only listed the .esp names but also the version numbers (if available), as shown in the WB List Modlist function ?

Update: I just checked. [HoD] It's clean. You can PM whoever is managing the list on that one. I don't know what the earliest clean version was, but at least v6 is.

A Community-Wide Effort
ElminsterEU rightly points out that cleaning mods should be a community-wide effort. The following is adapted from his statement on the subject:

It's NOT a good idea for everyone to just go ahead and clean their full load order and then forget about it.

The problem is twofold. First, to properly clean mods usually requires an understanding of the intent of the mod author. There might be implicit dependencies on other mods which are not part of the master list. Second, and following from the first, depending on how the cleaning was done, people end up with slightly different versions of these modules, which is going to make support in case of problems a nightmare for the mod author.

Also, this would (and currently does) lead to a huge waste of time as different people are cleaning the same mods over and over.

What is needed is more awareness of the issues.

For mod authors:
1.Clean your mods properly. All of them. You are the one who really knows the intention of your mod. Closely review all changes to make sure they preserve the intent of your mod.
2.Cleaning mods is NOT just limited to running the automated functions and be done with it. Manually review every override record your module(s) contain to make sure that that's really what you intended to do.
3.List in your documentation that you HAVE cleaned your mods and which version of TES4Edit you used for it. If there were any indirect dependencies that you had to observe while doing the cleaning, specifically list them and the rational for them.

For mod users:
1.Check your mods that do not specifically mention being properly cleaned (by basically doing a dry run of the cleaning process).
2.If any of your mods are dirty, inform the author. The mod authors are the ones that really understand the intention of their mods. They are the ones that are in the best position to properly clean them. And if they only publish properly cleaned mods, the whole community benefits from it.
3.If a mod has been deserted by its author or the author is unwilling to fix his mess, just leave a short note on the comments and/or in the RELz thread to save other mod users from wasting their time. Remember: stay civil; flaming doesn't help anyone.
Mod quality is a community-wide problem that needs to be properly addressed on a community level. And from the ground up, starting with the mod authors. Everyone doctoring around on the symptoms (by cleaning the mods in their own load order) is just wasting a huge amount of time and effort and actually makes support more difficult because different people will have different versions of the same mod.

This is primarily an awareness problem. Only in very rare cases are dirty mods a skill problem. And even more rarely an attitude problem.

A concentrated community-wide effort is required to raise awareness of these issues, and to make it clear that as a matter of community standards, it's not ok to release sub-quality modules which cluster bomb over everything else.

Great, thanks Tomlong!
Actually if you one has an account with TES CS, one can edit the list directly (Wiki principle). I'll take it off the "to clean" list and insert the version no. in the "cleaned" list.

http://cs.elderscrolls.com/constwiki/index.php/TES4Edit_Cleaning_Guide#List_of_Mods_Already_Clean

OK, wanted to see if Tarnesia is really as dirty as the guide says

Tesnexus download: http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=6372

Cleaning results:

• [Removing "Identical to Master" records done] Processed Records: 6304 Removed Records: 4440 Elapsed Time: 00:00
  
• [Undeleting and Disabling References done] Processed Records: 1864 Undeleted Records: 1 Elapsed Time: 00:00

I guess it is... and now one should still clean the "wild edits"... :cold:

Move Supreme Magicka off of the list too, or at least put v0.90b6 + on the clean list too, please.

Edit: It may be better to put Supreme Magicka on the don't clean list too.

Edit: Artefacts of the Ancestors needs much cleaning, and it needs to have a duplicate deleted record snipped out with a tool such as TESSnip as well.

Added, thanks What about the Beta 7 dated 09 Jan 2011 ?



Done and added a small comment. I hope it makes sense.



There are a couple of respective comments already in the "to clean" list, reluctant to touch that.

Edit: I have moved Tarnesia to my "Maybe do later" folder... :laugh:

Could you move these too? They have been updated and included in 0.90b6.
SM_COBL.esp
SM_DeadlyReflex.esp
SM_ShiveringIsles.esp

As one of the chief editors of the Wiki, I encourage everyone to sign up. Tommy_H, since I don't have any real knowledge of load ordering or cleaning (or the specific mods), I'm likely to rely on you as a name I recognize to OK edits to the list, though.

Added, thanks.
How can PacificMorrowind keep doing this day after day after day...??? :teehee:

As one of the chief editors of the Wiki, I encourage everyone to sign up. Tommy_H, since I don't have any real knowledge of load ordering or cleaning (or the specific mods), I'm likely to rely on you as a name I recognize to OK edits to the list, though.

I was actually thinking that there might as well be a line in the masterlist to say whether or not a plugin is clean, ha-ha.

Hmmmmm.... that sounds like an intriguing idea.... let Boss put a simple comment like "needs cleaning" or "needs no cleaning". But then again I wonder how much more work they can handle at all... maybe contact him in private and ask how he sees it? Obviously the cleaning info must come from the community just like now with all the unknown mod names.

One thing is certain: Since Boss is now so much ingrained in us and a part of our "Oblivion life", the whole mod cleanup complex would gain so much more exposure and traction for the benefit of all, I'm sure....

PacificMorrowind is really an android we all built so we could have more time for other stuff.

Elminster's advice about contacting mod authors about CS dirt is good in theory, but in practice it usually leads to frustration as very few of the authors it applies to are even still around anymore.

I personally don't want to load it up with stuff that only has a few because you'd have to list practically every mod in existence.