Khanuk:
My 2 cents would be to (1) install the game from the CD (probably Version 1.01), (2) update it with the latest patch (Version 1.49 found in the patch section on the main SG site), (3) sit back and play the tutorials and a few small galaxy games to get a feel for how to do certain things like build ships, design and research, and then (4) look into some of the non-data modifying mods like the TDM-ModPack. Trying to install mods even before you understand some of the basics of the game, may be a bit overwhelming even if you have played a lot of 4x games before
-TG
[This message has been edited by Tampa_Gamer (edited 06 November 2001).]