Made a patch to this mod to avoid the replacement of the default Matter Manipulator, to achieve this you have to unsub from the original Avali Matter Manipulator mod and just subscribe to alexsal979 mod (this one I'm commenting) and my patch.
here is the link: https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2851163983
No assets are present inside since Avali Manipulator for Purchasable Manipulator Pack have all the assets inside, just item descriptors and recipies.

the wiremode and paint mode seem to have missing graphics

Is... Is that how it works? Don't mean to be a bother, just trying to understand what this mod does before I subscribe to it.

...I am really not understanding how this works, which is not a good sign because this seems like it should be pretty easy to understand.

Correct me where I'm going wrong.
Nebulox&RaizyCas's Avali Manipulator : Changes default Manipulator to an Avali Manipulator.
PvtSkittles Purchasable Manipulator : Adds a store that sells alternate Manipulator Colors.
This Mod : Adds an Avali Manipulator to the above store.
Sum of all the above : The Default Manipulator is an Avali Manipulator. There is a store that sells alternate Manipulator skins and one of the alternate skins is the Avali Manipulator.

like you still need the mod that replaces the regular manipulator but with this you can change it to look the regular one

Kinda?

kinda

Is this some sort of wizardry that makes the Avali Manipulator not overwrite the default? Because that's one of my main turn-offs of the original mod.

I honestly wouldnt know i dont use FU sorry

Didn't mm configurator become a part of FU?

Personally*

Peraonally i would say this one but the other one is better if you dont want to install mm configurator

Do you recommend this or the other one?