[geoschmo]

No, SE4 doesn't require shipset images. You can run without the custom race folder at all. It will simply use the default AI files and then when you open your empire will still have your pics attached to it. If you open the turn without the pics on your computer it will pick another picset at random, but no permanent change is made. Once you get on a computer with the picset you used when setting up the empire originally, it will look right.

So the game needs the .x files for actual damage calulations? That's not just for display purposes during the replay? So I guess those files would be required then. That's the bulk of the race folder right there for most of the ones I've looked at. What does the game do if you have a shipset with no .x files I wonder.