Thanks to both of you
I can see that there is still a fair amount of work to be done, I wasn't sure how Files worked in relation to Mods, but this piece of information clears up a few things.
I will really have to think this over. It may explain what I thought was most odd when I moved from my old XP to a new 8.0.
Because of the trouble I've had with the objects, I made sure that all the objects were in exactly the same place on the Win 8 machine as they were on the old XP.
Nevertheless many objects didn't work anymore, so once again I had to move them around experimentally. This didn't exactly help my general confusion. And on the XP I was able to see most of the plates. Now just about none. I wonder if there is any connection here with the Files folder.
(One thing in common for XP and 8: No polar bear!)