iTunes: Use XML to update .itl library paths?

is there a way to get iTunes to use the XML version of the library to update the .itl version?

I have a lot of missing songs in my library (further details of the cause below). I am using turingtest2's FindTracks script to fix this. However, my library is in a cloud location & his script requires the files to be downloaded to work. I have about 100GB of files stored in the cloud but not locally & only about 15GB of storage space free locally. You can see the problem. I had hoped that an alternative solution would be to do a find & replace on the filepaths in the XML version of my iTunes library. However, it appears that this is a file that is written by iTunes, not a file that is read by iTunes, because when I start iTunes after editing the XML file, all changes are overwritten. Is there a way that I can edit the paths to the files in the library without downloading the files?

details of turingtest2's script: Any software that can rebuild iTunes song… - Apple Community

iTunes version: 12.13.9.1

Windows version: Windows 11 Home v24H2 build 26100.7462

the gory details of the problem:

way back in the dim dark past, iTunes changed the location where it puts all music (if you let it organise your library) from iTunes Media\Music to the iTunes Media folder. From then on, newly added music went into iTunes Media\<artist name> or "Compilations"\<album name>", whereas previously it was put in iTunes Media\Music\<artist name> or "Compilations"\<album name>". However, old music remained in iTunes Media\Music\<artist name> or "Compilations"\<album name>". Some process did cause the old music to be moved to the new location, I'm not sure exactly what, possibly edits to metadata

anyway, I plugged in an old external drive to add some old music to my current library. For some reason, iTunes changed the location of where it keeps media to the external drive! Thanks iTunes!!! So I changed it back. It asked me if I'd like it to reorganise my library in the new location. I answered no, because the files hadn't moved from their original locations

now, for some reason, at some point in this process, iTunes changed the locations of all files in the old iTunes Media\Music folder to the external drive, but not the files directly in other subfolders of the upper level iTunes Media folder. So now iTunes can't find any of those files. Yay! Please help :-/