Help in loading maps into the game.

You need to put the map into a special GalaxyForge folder that's in the same folder as the mod folders. For me on Windows 7 its something like "C:\Users\User\AppData\Local\Ironclad Games\Sins of a Solar Empire\GalaxyForge". Note you'll need to enable the "show hidden folders" option in windows explorer.

and the full info (and for those rebelling beta 1 users the maps from sins/entrenchment/diplomacy do run)

assuming you have sins 1.193/entrenchment 1.053/diplomacy 1.34,  the galaxy forge maps NEED to be placed here for xp

C:\Documents and Settings\'user name'\Local Settings\Application Data\Ironclad Games\Sins of a Solar Empire\GalaxyForge

or for vista/windows 7

C:\Users\'user name'\AppData\Local\Ironclad Games\Sins of a Solar Empire\GalaxyForge.

these paths assume that your windows installation is on the C: drive and the user space(xp documents and settings,vista/7 users is also on the C: drive, just substitute the drive letter for your fully qualified path to your documents folder)

for sins 1.15/entrenchment 1.00 and earlier, the correct location IS the program files \galaxy folder, and you also NEED to edit the entrenchment's galaxy.manifest to include the maps and also the total count of maps

NOTE the first two folders after the 'user name' are hidden , so to see them you must first click on 'tools' then 'folder options', then 'view', then click on 'show hidden files& folders' then click ok, then you will be able to browse your want to the folder. I suggest when you find the folder that you create a shortcut to it on the desktop

NOTE 2 the 'user name' in the above paths is your WINDOWS login user name, eg Administrator

also the galaxy forge maps in the local apps galaxyforge folder only show up in the galaxy forge tab of map types in sins 1.16+/entrenchment 1.02+

if the map IS a galaxy forge and giving the instant win/loss screen then MAKE sure that EACH player has a home planet and is not for a particular mod that has extra home planets and stars

if the galaxy forge map is placed in the program files galaxy folder, then the map NEEDS to be manually added to the entrenchment & diplomacy galaxy.manifests(not recommended as EACH update will replace any files that are different or have been changed)

and if a map you want to play was released before 25th feb 2009 OR created with an earlier version of galaxyforge than version 3  then you will also need the sins map updater from here
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8023186/harpo%20sins%20map%20updater%20for%201.191%2Be%2Bd.rar.

there is a second type of map which SHOULD be placed in the mapdesigner folder, you can tell if it is by the eighth line reads randomizeStartingPositions TRUE', if this line is FALSE then it is a galaxyforge map and could be in an older map format. the current map format version is 3 this can be seen in line two of the file. if the map is a version 0,1 or 2 then the map updater will make it playable in current versions and expansions

the differences between map versions0,1 & 2 were only the addition of ONE line near the start of the file, BUT mapversion3 has 5 new lines PER PLANET/player & template and 5 changed lines per planet/player & template and WILL CAUSE THE minidump/freeze curse if you just change the version number.

harpo

hey thanks guys .....i should've included this is the first place but...i have the first sins game not the other newer ones like rebellion and diplomacy and i have windows xp... thanks

Ok now that I've figured out where i should try in ur guys instruction... for me the only way to get into appdata is though the cd in the drive and when i get into the folder there is no local or anything like that just DXSCRIPT2 Files and images, configuration settings and a script named SetRegistryValue....

Yeah that would be extremely important actually. In that case (I think, its been so long) you just put your maps in the GalaxyForge folder in your Sins directory (where the .exe files are), what we said only applies to later versions.

yea i just had a forgetful moment...but before i reply im gonna try it out lol......man i feel really dumb ive looked though the CD and u said the directory (where the exe files are) and i cant find any files that are exe unless its (this is what i did) explored the CD went to appdata and thats was a fail...went to data/checked mMSI.dll and there was one file still was a [.dll file] then went to DirectX thinking maybe he meant direct like directory...all i found was cabinet files all with dates and about 5 things in them none of them where .exe files... then the last one the SD plugins and there was one file in it (not a exe file either)...thank u for helping such a noob like me lol 

for sins (vanilla BEFORE v1.16 the correct location for maps IS the program files galaxy folder!!!!!!)

for version 1.16 and LATER, the correct location for maps SHOULD BE the user space galaxyforge folder UNLESS you want the maps to be selectable by size then you want to place them in the program files galaxy folder, BUT when the next update comes out ALL the maps you added to the programs files galaxy folder WILL BE DELETED by the updater, while the galaxyforge folder maps will still be there

unless there is a map version number change then the maps will NEED to be updated before they can be used

harpo

Oh yeah, I forgot they back ported that change to Vanilla. So yeah if you're original sins game is up to date, put it where Harpo said (C:\Documents and Settings\'user name'\Local Settings\Application Data\Ironclad Games\Sins of a Solar Empire\GalaxyForge).