@IncredibleRan Hi and welcome to the forums.
It is certainly possible to make mods which are compatible with CC, and other mods and many mods are compatible with CC/NMT.
The main thing is to name the RawMaterial files, which are the goods in the game, the same as CC.
If CC have for example Salt as RawMaterial and it is named RawMaterialSalt.rsc then name it precisely that.
The game will flag your mod Red if CC is enabled as mod too but it just a warning because your Mod shares the RawMaterialSalt.rsc with CC's
Best thing to get started is to download the latest Modkit from Luke (The Developer of Banished) site
Install the Mod in the root of any partition on your harddrive. For example C:\Modkit. I have mine on F and named it F:\Banishedkit as my F partition is my dedicated modding patition.
Installing it in the standard Windows Program Files Folder can give security issues.
The mod kit have a name with underscores and stuff but after Unzipping it just change it to Modkit, Banishedkit, or Modkit107, whatever but no underscores and other special characters.
Then you find a readme.html file in the root of the modkit folder.
Read that file thoroughly as it explains how to make batch files and how to run the resources and example files.
It looks daunting at first but just reread it a couple of times and it is not that huge to go through.
It also says you need to download two Libraries which are standard Microsoft Visual C Libraries and install those.
If all goes well and you are able to compile, without crashing the compiler, the resources and example files you are ready to go.
Luke gave us some examples like a building (Apiary), a tree, a chicken, and some more examples to play around with.
It is certainly possible to mod the game without designing any graphics, so just coding. But most mods contain buildings and other graphic 3D stuff made by using 3D modelling software.
3ds Max is used by some but unless you can get a student version it is expansive.
Blender is free and used by lots of modders here on the site. There are others as well.
Most of us modders started with no knowledge, or just a little modding experience from other games, but learned by example.
Just throw something simple at first together and try to compile it. The more you mod, the more you will learn.
And for questions there is always this forum.
I wish you and your husband a good ride in the world of Banished Modding.
Regards
embx61