[dumbluck]

What you are describing is the classic indication that you don't have the shipset for that player installed. When you don't have the shipset for player x in game y, the computer chooses a random shipset each turn.

However, you say that you DO have the shipset in /pictures/race. The only other thing I can think of is that maybe you have the PBW/PBEM game files in a mod folder AND you have a SE4/modfolder/pictures/race folder AND you put player x's shipset into the _default_ SE4/pictures/race folder. This would cause the changing shipset you have, even though you installed the shipset.

[ 09 December 2001: Message edited by: dumbluck ]