My current workflow is typically ViewNX-i to Capture NX-D to Photoshop CS2 via TIF. In Capture NX-D I "Save all adjustments" to an *.nxd file which is not supported by NX Studio just as Capture NX-D did not read and apply the adjustments saved in NEF files by CaptureNX2.
....
"Huston .. we have a problem!"
Edits in CNX2 will be readable in CNX-D on the proviso that you haven't made any edits that creates a sidecar file(eg. VNX-i or CNX-D) in any way. The embedded edit data, created by CNX2 and VNX2, in an NEF is readable by CNX-D. It will be
denoted in the thumbnail with a pencil looking icon in the upper LH corner of the thumbnail.
VNX2 denotes a CNX2 edited NEF with a colour control point icon on the thumbnail to show it's edited via CNX2, and you can not further edit the image, only add keywording and rating info and convert it to another format.
CNX-D will show an icon that looks like a pencil or brush or whatnot, which indicates that it has previously been edited via either CNX2 or VNX2. There doesn't appear to be any differentiating method to separate them in CNX-D, only to show that they have been previously edited.
Any edit made in CNX-D on an already edited NEF by CNX2/VNX2 follows on in CNX-D, so it maintains any edit already made and if you do any adjustments in CNX-D only those adjustments are 'added' into the already edited images.
eg. I made some lurid WB adjustments on some test NEFs in CNX2 and VNX2. Those simple edits are obvious in the now out of whack colours of the images. Further editing in CNX-D was to increase/decrease exposure as a test again, and CNX-Ds' edits maintained the prior edits, just adding it's own.
Obviously CNX2/VNX2 can not render the images as CNX-D will as it can't read the sidecar files.
So the later software respects the earlier software's changes unless you change those changes in some way.
You can test this yourself: any image that you know has been edited via CNX2/VNX2, look for the sidecar file and either rename it or move the sidecar file and open it again in CNX-D. It should show the edit icon even tho you have technically reset it to an original state.
I do remember that in the original few versions of CNX-D it did not respect prior edits made in CNX2, and Nikon did fix it quite early on in the update process tho. Can't remember which version of CNX-D this change was made tho.
NXStudio also shows edit symbol in the thumbnail, and at least displays which previous program had made the edits. For CNX2 it will show a C near the brush(edit) icon) in the thumbnail, if VNX2, only a brush icon in the thumbnail. (lower left corner at the end of the filename).
Nikon deserves harsh and very public criticism for their abject failures with software. The Nikon D1 came out in 1999 and they haven't got their "stuff" together yet releasing a half backed NX Studio and calling it a finished v1.0.0. At each step there are compatibly issues with their own software. I don't care if they use an outside company to develop their software. They have an obligation to thier customers. Nikon seems to stupid to realize that each time the F up they loose customers.
* If the NEF has an XMP/IPCT area to save descriptions and why not use it?
* Why isn't the XMP/IPCT data in an *.nksc file saved as clear, ASCII Text so any program can find and use it? It appears Nikon doesn't give a damn!
* If Nikon software can't save the XMP/IPCT in a form available to the OS and other programs then why not save it in an *.XMP file? The *.XMP sidecar could be saved with the NEF in the same folder so it's easy to copy with the NEF when using the OS to manage files and folders.
How many customers has Nikon lost due to their failure to offer a contiguous and practical method of adding XMP/IPCT data that is reasonably available to the user, the OS and DAM software? It seems to me the only place where descriptions, keywords, GPS, etc. can be placed that one can expect it to be found by the OS and non-Nikon software is in the NEF itself.
Dave who thinks it's well past time for Nikon to give a DAMN about these DAM issues! 
Yes!.
As said before, Nikon had a pretty much usable method years gone by and thought it better to ruin that system for whatever reason they chose too.
While my method of DAM is not for professional purposes, and I don't pretend to be any expert on DAM, relational databases .. etc. .. as a simple user of software for various purposes, I want 'easy'.
As in easy peasy .. as easy foolproof and easier than that even.
Strangely, many years ago I thought the only way for me to do DAM efficiently for my own purposes was to teach myself 'programming' and basic database knowledge .. so started reading and doing some very basic research on those two topics to teach myself to program a small piece of software to do just that.
But then found the CODEC/Windows Photo Gallery method did exactly what I needed at the time(which is basic in that I only wanted to search for keywords I remember I entered .. for location data, even tho I have geo-tagged most images since about 2010, I still keyword the location for those images anyhow, and with Google and Wiki and the ability to auto generate those keywords into the image also helps.
But you're spot on, Nikon make some useful software that is so infuriating to use sometimes.
I still recommend do the VNX2(for keywording/tagging into ITPC) method for now.
Once the data is at least contained within the NEF file, it's trivial to then extract it back out again.
If the only benefit of doing this for now is that you have some data contained within the NEFs now, then thats a good thing.
I went on for a good 3 or 4 years with zero keywording input and ended up with many thousands of images that I struggled to locate 10 years later. I do go on a IPTC tagging spree sometimes and may do a few thousand images(in bulk) using, primarily, WPG for it's ease.
Once I see the untagged placeholder in WPG near to zero, I will be happy in having accomplished that feat!
But ... I think I will have reached the end of my own personal 'programming' and quite possibly have made myself redundant!
(maybe I will go back to that database programming I attempted about 7 or 8 years ago
)
