Yeah, my mod isn't compatable with existing games. Also, the only midgets you'll find are the Kobolds, and that's only because I haven't gotten along to replacing them yet.
Also: The new "deluxe version" is mainly designed to be compatable with Mike Mayday's graphic and tile sets. You can download a version of the game from his site with everything installed, then tweak in my stuff. Other than that, the "deluxe version" isn't much different.
Amazons are so getting spears, there's something really cool about that.
EDIT: Forgot to really address the problem.
Ok, the first thing I do when I play somebody's mod is make a copy of Dwarf Fortress.
Then, I don't touch my original version of Dwarf Fortress. Do the following with the copy.
First, I change the name to reflect the mod I'm turning the copy into. For example, I usually name my mod "SageVsSodom". Next, go into the save file, and delete any region folders you may have (I.E. Just keep the "current" folder). Everything else in the save file will just crash your game, so best to be rid of it. Then, find out what the files for the mod are. In the case of my mod, the files are the raw objects files. So, delete objects folder from the raw folder from the copy of DF, rename the file "objects", and place it in the raw folder. That's the safest way to do things, especially since Dwarf Fortress only take up around 5 MB, which doesn't seem alot to me.
I imagine most of this is already known to you, but maybe something is new and will help. Enjoy the mod!