Plugin's File name changing

[platinumranger 18]

This may be an odd question but I don't have the first clue how the game references files internally. I have found on several occasions that downloaded custom content sometimes has merge props into a single Dat file and never change the default naming that the program they used names them to. Most common is "merged.dat" and its extremely easy to overlook when using SC4 organizer to clean out duplicates causing "Brown Boxes". My question is do you need to use an SC4 editor program to change the names of these files re-indexing with each save or can you just simply edit the name and the related lot will find the content regardless of the file name? I'm sure I'm not the only one who has accidentally deleted one or more of these merged files. Way too many times I've installed new stuff and cleaned my plugins before repacking and found "Brown Boxes" where I had lots before and had to go back and reinstall files from backup.

[rsc204 21,869]

The file names as they appear on your hard drive are meaningless to SC4 and serve only one purpose, load order of your plugins directory.

 

Everything SC4 sees is internal to these files, it's always working from the Exemplar Names, TGI addresses and other properties in terms of how things are handled, meaning you are free to rename your files as you please. Bear in mind however that certain mods that override existing content must load after the originals, if you name the files in such a way that SC4 loads an override before the intended file to override, then it will no longer work correctly. This is usually not a problem for ploppable/growable lots and props/models, it's more typically an issue with mods that change things about the game, usually this will be clearly stated in the readme however.

[platinumranger 18]

Thank you. I just wanted to Know if When I scan my plugins with the Organizer and find multiple merged files all of different sizes if it would be safe to change their names to merged1 merged2 merged3 ... so they don't show up as duplicates and get deleated by mistake leaving missing props.

 

Again Thank You