FOSS gamedev and creative worlds

I've recently returned to Linux and I installed minetest using the Ubuntu one line script and it works great, but then I also have a MinetestTesting version/folder which is minetest with other mods and gametypes. I put the binaries for minetest in the MinetestTesting folder and tried even putting the minetest src in MinetestTesting and compiling from there but it doesn't load the MinetestTesting mods, only what is in .minetest How do I make the binaries load the MinetestTesting content and not the .minetest folder content?

I can of course put all the mods from MinetestTesting into the .minetest folder and they work but I'd really like to be able to keep them separate so that if I screw stuff up in my MinetestTesting folder it doesn't mess anything up in my default Minetest game. It also really helps for organizational purposes to be able to have separate installs of minetest that don't interact.

Thank you for your time!

-DRUN_IN_PLACE=1 as a cmake param

Wow didn't know it was that easy! Thank you sooo much!