Well, theres a few methods, depending on when the mod was released.

The early mods mean you had to unpack the .pack files, then replace them, while renaming the extension of the .pack files.

Now we have mod manager, what that does is modify the order in which the .pack files are loaded.

Imagine the game comes with file a, b and c at release.
They then patch a with some balance infomation (so instead of a 5, its now a 6 for example)
You then download a mod which adds stuff to the file (new unit for example)

Now, the game by default loads in order of release packs, patch packs then mod packs. If a file is in a later pack, it overwrites previous ones.

Aside from that, there is simple editing like a new startpos.esf, which is simply a backup and replace.

Im not sure of a lot more, or even if that is 100% correct, I havent had any time to even play a mod yet, apart from my own testing.

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I ran the game with the Royal Family mod, then found out later I couldn't play online while that mod was on, as the other players' games were of a different "version" than my own. I have to deactivate that mod to play online.

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The standard thats emerging is if its just sound/music/texture changes they come in patches. If its gameplay changes/additions etc, those come in mods.

For MP if your mod is a .patch then you'll be fine, if it's a .mod, you'll have to disable it to play MP. It's highly recommended you get the Mod Manager so you can easily turn mods on and off.

You don't need to unpack the files anymore so the risk of screwing up your game now is very low since now if you have a mod that is conflicting with something else; just turn it off with the Mod Manager and problem solved.

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It seems that the Steam client, as part of it's automatic update process, blithely ignores date/time stamps on files. I had removed the annoying ca.bik, corei7_intro.bik, game_intro_01.bik, and sega_logo_sting_hd.bik files from movies.pack ... next "patch" update simply overwrote the .pack file with the old version.

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