Some advice for new mod makers

[Daynarr]

Well here are some advices for you guys (and girls) that are just starting to play with the wonderful world of Space Empires .txt and .bmp files.
1) Graphics (.bmp) - the best free tools to make your own race is Pov-ray and Moray. Also, the best thing to view the pictures is ACD-See.
URL for Pov-ray is www.povray.org.
URL for Moray is www.stmuc.com/moray/mespace.html
2) Data files (.txt) - The BEST tool to use is UltraEdit 32. Now, this baby is really something. Just some of SE4 important features are: ability to open ANY file immediately regardless of size (no more wordpad), much better interface for editing, ability to compare files (!!!!), and lots more. The downside is that it expires after a number of days have passed (limited shareware).
URL is www.ultraedit.com.

Also, I have extracted all used family numbers for components in a .txt file. If you are interested, I will post them in mod section.

Hope you make some killer mods.

[greghacke]

Alternative to UltraEdit32...

Metapad: http://www.welcome.to/metapad/

- Freeware
- Persistent window placement
- Dirty file notification (see screenshot)
- Intelligent Find and Replace
- External viewer support (e.g. web browser)
- Freeware
- Usable accelerator keys (Ctrl+S, Ctrl+N, etc.)
- Dual customizable font support
- Optional Quick Exit (Esc key)
- Configurable tab stop setting
- Auto-indent mode
- Freeware
- Go to Line/Column
- Seamless UNIX text file support
- Block indent and unindent (Tab, Shift+Tab)
- Recent files list
- Freeware
- WYSIWYG printing
- Snazzy status bar & funky toolbar
- No file size limit!
- Hyperlink support
- MAC file support
- Favorites file
- cmdline interface
- And, did i mention it's FREEWARE...