I am creating this thread for the purpose of troubleshooting MES clean up settings. This is because I am currently still having issues with MES cleaning up and despawning things that I don't want it to, and overwriting my changes to the config files with default settings.

For references, here is the link to the wiki on Clean up: https://github.com/MeridiusIX/Modular-Encounters-Systems/wiki/Admin-&-Configuration:-Clean-Up

Lessons I have learned so far:
1. <UseCleanupSettings>false is not adequate to deactivate all MES clean up behaviors. This was not explained anywhere in the information I could find online. I had to figure it out on my own through studying each and every section of the wiki, specifically pertaining to each type of encounter, after realizing that there was a DespawnDistanceFromPlayer setting in each of the encounters' config files.

2. So, as far as I can tell, these are all settings that are necessary to change to disable ALL MES-related clean up in your game for just the Planetary Cargo Ships category of encounters:
..i:<UseCleanupSettings>
..ii:<CleanupUseDistance>
..iii:<CleanupUseTimer>
..iv:<CleanupUseBlockLimit>
..v:<MinPathDistance>
..vi:<MaxPathDistance>
..vii:<DespawnDistanceFromEndPath>
..viii:<DespawnDistanceFromPlayer>
..ix: <DespawnAltitude>
(ix: Not mentioned on Planetary Cargoship wiki, but present in my .xml file)

3. Each Encounter type has similar setting parameters to these, with some slight differences for each encounter relevant to its environment, etc. Thus, turning off the MES clean up behaviors completely in your game requires you to fine tune each of the Encounter Types. This can either be done in game through the /MES.Settings chat commands or by altering the XML config files in your \AppData\Roaming\SpaceEngineers\Saves\...\...\Storage\MES file folder.
All 7 of the encounter types are summed up on the wiki here: https://github.com/MeridiusIX/Modular-Encounters-Systems/wiki/Encounter-Guide

4. These .xml files are not always present in your save file, but can typically be automatically generated by running one of the /MES.Settings commands in your game and reloading, and/or may be triggered by other events in your game as you play. Generally speaking, this means that only new save folders on your computer will be missing the .xml config files for MES. The files are added automatically by the MES mod activity in your game, as you play, so typically once you have a few back-ups saved under the same name, thos .xml config files will always be there. The implication of this seems to be that MES is storing its config settings somewhere else other than that location on your computer. But I am not sure about this, and this is where I'm stuck.

Leading into Questions:

1. Why do my .xml config files keep getting deleted? Is it because the .xml files are unique to each save folder on your computer, and because I play single player and save my game under multiple different save names (e.g. World Save 1, World Save 2, World Save 3, etc.) the MES mod has to keep recreating them?
2. Does MES revert the config settings to defaults every time it does this?
3. Do the MES settings in your \Storage folder apply to all other iterations of your save file present in your \Backup folder in each \World_Save folder you create?
4. Will MES stop deleting my changes to the .xml config files if I just use 1 save folder and set my Backup save limit to something absurdly large like 100?

And ultimate, the burning question is
5. What is the quickest, easiest way to turn off all the clean up going on in my game, if not following the procedure I have described above? I have, obviously, also suspended all of the trash removal activity through SE Admin interface in game.

I've spent more time rewriting my config files over and over in the last week and editing them than I have actually playing Space Engineers because I simply cannot get this mod and all of the modded content that it enables to work to my liking in my game.

I am playing single player, and want things generated in the world by MES to remain in the world indefinitely, so that I can explore, and procedurally generate content in my own custom solar system, that I can then choose to engage with, or come back to later at my own discretion. If I start having an issue with performance, I can start manually cleaning things up. I do still have limits on voxels and floating objects turned on.

I understand why these settings exist, and why they are necessary to some extent, but they seem way too aggressively tuned to my liking. Basically the default settings keep despawning everything I have discovered while exploring my first planet early in my play through with all the planetary installation, ship wreck, and abandoned settlement mods I have enabled. They have also despawned drones that I have shot down before I could salvage what was left of them, and whole mod generated NPC trading stations.

Essentially MES default cleanup settings is stopping me from enjoying all of the cool MES mods that I installed.

If anyone has any suggestions or advice on how to manage all these settings so that I can stop the mod from deleting everything, I would greatly appreciate your help.
I would also like to make the suggestion that there should be a much simpler way of handling all of this. A simple on/off switch for clean up of any kind would be helpful.