When you install GWX3 into your existing SH3 game folder, it will install JSGME (a separate program) into it as well. This will create a folder inside your game folder called MODS.
Inside that folder, GWX3 will put all the optional mods that come with it - they will not be enabled and will do nothing to your game unless you open JSGME and have it enable them for you.
IIRC after the GWX install you will also have a shortcut to JSGME on your desktop. When you doubleclick on it, it will open the installation of JSGME in your game folder. There will be two windows, in the left one you'll see all the mods that are currently in your MODS folder. In the right one are all the mods that you have enabled via JSGME for use in the game. (The first time you run JSGME, the right window should be empty since you haven't enabled any mods yet.)
If you find other mods that you would like to try, you download them and extract them, then copy the mod folder into the MODS folder in your game installation. When you open JSGME, they will then appear in the list of available mods. In order for this to work properly, it's imperative that the structure of each individual mod folder is as follows - a main folder that usually bears the name of the mod, and inside that, a "data" folder in which are all the files that the mod will add or overwrite when it is enabled.
You will see this structure if you look in the MODS folder that is added to your game files after the GWX3 install. Each mod that comes with GWX is in its own folder inside the MODS folder. Within each mod folder is that mod's data folder.
When you enable a mod via JSGME, it overwrites the relevant game files with the alternate versions found in the mod and/or adds files that the mod uses that are not present in the game as is. From that point on, when you load the game, it will load with whatever changes/additions that mod made to it.
When you disable the mod via JSGME, it removes any extra files that the mod added to the game, and returns any overwritten files to the way they were before you enabled the mod in the first place. This is probably the #1 reason to use the program - it gives you a no-hassle method of undoing any mods that you decide afterwards you don't want to use anymore. It will also notify you if a mod you are trying to enable is going to make changes to a file that was already changed or added to the game by a mod already in use. This is very helpful in avoiding potential conflicts between different mods.
SH3Commander is a separate, stand-alone program that can also be used to add or change some game options and settings, but this only occurs when you load the game via Commander. As long as Commander is not set up to change things that were already altered or added by mods enabled via JSGME, they should not conflict with each other. However it is recommended that you select the automatic Rollback option in Commander, which means that every time you exit the game it will undo any changes it made to the game in that session. This seems to be the best way to avoid any possible problems that might occur from using both Commander and JSGME to enhance your game.
|