Stupid Newbie Question

[reinselc]

How do you use the various types of mods? There seem to be .dm & .tga files for most changes to the game engine or adding units. New maps seem to be .tga and .map files.

Where do all these files go in order to get them to work? Just plop everything in the mod directory? Then how do you get them to actually affect the game? Or do they affect all new games you start.

I am sure this is something that has already been posted, but I have not found it yet.