How do I use custom made (dowloaded) shipsets?
 

Hi all,

Other newbie question:
I downloaded from this site many zip files with shipsets for star trek type races. I unzipped these into the ../Pictures/Races/racename directory.
(racename could be Breen, or Dominion, or whatever). I then have a bunch of bitmaps and txt files there. But when creating a new game I still cannot add these new races to my game, presumably because there is no .emp file for them in the Empires directory.

What do I do now? What am I missing?

Thanks,

Dragonlord

Re: How do I use custom made (dowloaded) shipsets?
 

Yep you need .emp files. If they didn't come with them you can do the following:
Start a new game, large quadrent
Un-check computer generates neutral empires.
Set the number of computer empires to high.
Choose your race.
Start the game.
Before taking your turn open the game main menu and click players.
Click on each green dot of a race without an .emp file to change player to human control.
When that player turn comes click main menu again and click save empire.
Save each empire this way. You can increase you odds of picking the star trek races by temporarily removing most of your existing races from your race directory.
There may be easier ways to do this but I know this way works.

Re: How do I use custom made (dowloaded) shipsets?
 

When I made the ship sets, I did not include EMP files because so many people like to set the races up themselves.

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"We've made too many compromises already, too many retreats! They invade our space and we fall back -- they assimilate entire worlds and we fall back! Not again! The line must be drawn here -- this far, no further! And I will make them pay for what they've done!" -- Patrick Stewart as Captain Picard
New Age Ship Yards

[This message has been edited by Atrocities (edited 20 June 2001).]

Re: How do I use custom made (dowloaded) shipsets?
 

.emp files are LOADED at game startup while clicking "Add Existing". These files are created by SAVING an empire at startup or in the game (not recommended). If you want to play any of the downloaded races you should click "Add New".

From there (Add New) you have accessed the "Empire Setup" and you should find the new pictures under "general details" - at the scrollbar.

The only hangup is that you hafta distribute your race's points by yourself.

See if you can find an *.emp file in the zip folder so you can click "Add existing" instead.

These *.emp files should be placed in the SEIV/empires folder. (SEIV=gamefolder)

And don't forget to remove all races from your pictures/races folder that you don't wanna play against - or there is a chance that the game will select them as computer opponents. This really sucks if these races lack proper AI files.

Regards,

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"The best way to seek help is to help the best seek the way."
-Philter

Re: How do I use custom made (dowloaded) shipsets?
 

Thanks a lot for the advice, that helps !

Dragonlord