Mods not activating

Check the mod path again. Should go something like:

Sins of a Solar Empire\Mods-Entrenchment v1.03\Dynamic\GameInfo

In there should be whatever entity files were changed and whatnot with other folders if needed in the mod's folder. 'Dynamic' in that example.

This problem usually results from using Winzip to extract the mod. It creates an extra mod folder, changing the mod path to (I'll use Kitkun's example) Sins of a Solar Empire\Mods-Entrenchment v1.03 (or Sins of a Solar Empire v1.17)\Dynamic\Dynamic\GameInfo. This extra Mod folder (in this case Dynamic) allows you to enable the mod, but the game only checks the first Dynamic folder, not the second one. Copy everything from the second dynamic folder into the first one, and the mod should work.

im in the correct folder, and i used WINrar, like i said, the mods are showing up in the game and i can apply them, but they arent having any effect

If there's no effect, then that's because it can't find the changed files and so applies the standard files as a kind of backup system. Either that, or the mod files aren't actually different.

I guess it might help to know what mod you are trying to install lol, maybe it is specific to that mod.