Replace_path will essentially remove the vanilla files from the game and replace them with whatever you have in your modded file location.
WARNING IT IS HIGHLY RECOMMENDED THAT YOU DO THIS TO PREVENT CORRUPTION WITH YOUR VANILLA AND OTHER MODDED SAVES. User_dir will create a different directory for user savegames and map files for your mod. Then you will define the name of the mod with To do this you will want to open notepad or its equivalent such as notepad++. This defines your mod as well as names it, initializes it, and lets you specify what files/folders you want to load/overwrite/modify.