I need to know if I'm doing something wrong, because I can not use any mods that I've downloaded.  I've even tried making my own very simple mod to test it.  (change one value in one entity file)

I see plenty of people talking about where the mod directory is, but that's easy enough; after all, the game tells you where to put the files.  Of course, most of the posts I've seen don't exactly match my setup, for some reason.

They show the mods in:

C:\Documents and Settings\username\Local Settings\Application Data\Ironclad Games\Sins of a Solar Empire\Mods

but mine are supposed to go in:

C:\Documents and Settings\username\Local Settings\Application Data\Ironclad Games\Sins of a Solar Empire\Mods-v1.15

I'm not sure if that's a big deal or not, but either way, I can't use any mods located there.  I can see them in the game UI, I can highlight them, click Activate MOD, and everything seems to indicate that it's up and ready, but when I start a game, there's no mod behavior.

However, If I take the modified entity files and replace the original files in the GameInfo directory, the I DO see the effects of the mod.  But that's a PITA to constantly have to change in and out the entity files manually.

Any ideas?