PBW aid.

[Rich04]

I have seen a number of Posts asking how to keep the PBW stuff out of their regular unmodded game. I know a number of you probably do this already but for those who don't I have added a Mod called Blank to the mod directory.

"This is a vanilla (nothing added) mod to aid in playing PBW. Just rename the folder to whatever your PBW game is and add any custom ship sets. Now you can use the Modpicker utility to go straight to your different games. You will also be able to delete the game once it ends. This helps keeping your regular SE4 separate since not all shipsets on PBW are complete enough to run normally in the game. You can also add mods to this format though you may have to copy and paste the data folder to the directory."

[dumbluck]

is this really necessary? Just create a new folder "PBW" or whatever. Put in it Pictures/Races, and then put all your PBW shipsets and AI players in it. Add a "Savegame" directory for all your .gam and .plr files. That's it! Everything else defaults to the SE4 directory. This, of coarse, assumes you're running a stock 1.49 game. If you're in a devnulmod, P&N, or other modded game, then you're stuck putting them all in their respective mod's folders.

[Rich04]

Actually it is a bit more complicated.
Blank Mod includes the minimum you need. If you did what you indicate and anyone used a non custom shipset it would randomise one from what is in your new Pic/Races directory.
You must have the normal SE4 race folders in that directory also(Though nothing needs to be in them.
Blank cuts down the size to its tiniest no frills size. It will save HD space since you do not need to copy any Basic SE4 shipsets.
This whole process is very confusing to newbies. Whom often put shipsets (PBW ones are often incomplete) in their regular directory. I posted this with them in mind.
It also will save time for veterans since they do not have to remove all the unessary stuff (which is what I was doing previously).
Deleting the contents of 20 races takes a while and gets tiresome. Creating all the folders you need takes a few minutes too. With blank Mod all you need to do is unzip, rename, and add custom shipsets (if any). Three simple steps.
Any other opinions if people really don't like it I could remove it?

[dumbluck]

Oh, yea, I forgot to mention that one, huh? It's a good idea for newbies. I guess I'm just too hands-on to let someone else do the busywork. ;P