Do DMLs with identical names supplant rather than complement one another? [NO]

[6667b392664a7Misaka Mikoto]

At https://www.systemshock.org/index.php?topic=106.0 I read “While DML mods are generally compatible, any two DML files with the same name and location are not compatible.”

Am I understanding this correctly as meaning that no matter what mod folder they’re in, two DMLs named, say, “eng1.mis.dml” can’t both be used? (So that I would need to manually merge the contents of one DML with the other to get the effects of both?)

Or would the contents of both DMLs be loaded and conflicts between them arise only if both tried to change, say, the same ObjProp, for which case load order would decide which DML governed? Obviously that would be the ideal approach, but the text quoted above makes me wonder whether that isn’t the case and DMLs override rather than overlie one another?

[6667b392666e3voodoo47]

it's the latter, so the wording is not quite right there - will fix.

you can have hundreds of DMLs with the same name loaded, if they modify different objects, there will be no conflict. however, if they modify the same objects, issues can happen, for example, the Pistol Hybrid mod is not compatible with the Santa Hats, as they both put fairly complex scripting on the hybrid archetype, and whichever has the higher priority will simply overwrite the other one.

[6667b3926683bMisaka Mikoto]

Excellent, thanks. I was surprised at the thought of its working the way the wording implied—it seemed like a pretty Philistine approach I wouldn’t have expected of our corvid friend.