Get the editor : Galaxy Forge[]
Galaxy Forge can be found at the following link:
SINS' Downloads
Make a small map playable in-game[]
When you start Galaxy Forge two Terran Home planets and a Star will be the default new map. To add a new planet you right-click inside the desired star's radius and choose "add planet", alternatively you may double click in the radius. To create a star you must right-click outside on the map and choose "add star". Simple isn't it? You may also double click in open space to add a new star. All new stars are automatically of the Random type, new planets are default to Terran but that can be changed in the movable window.
A planet can only connect through phase lanes (or wormholes) to other planets in the same star system.
Let's go for a tutorial map, at the end you will know how make a simple playable map with planets:
A. The first thing is to decide the number of players. Click on the "edit" menu then "players". You can see the two players by default. You can add new player by clicking on "add". Click on a player to change the name of the player and the starting resources (the others options are not important for the moment). Add a new player.
B. Now add a Terran Home planet. In the section "ownership" in the "toolbox" floating window select "IsHomePlanet" and change it to "true". Then change the "owner" to the new player you added. In "properties" you can choose the type of planet. Make sure it is "Terran Home". You now have three planets , one per player.
C. Now you have to link planets with "phase lanes" to allow players to travel on others planets. Select a planet, hold "ctrl" and click on the star. Do the same for each planet. This will connect each planet to the Star, click on the phase lanes to see their length.
D. The first map is done, at least its very simple and not very interesting, but you can now add new type of planet and link to the others. Now you have to save the map and make it playable. In the "file" menu, click on save (Galaxy Forge will NOT ask to save if you quit without saving). I recommend you to create a "map" folder in Galaxy Forge, to save your maps. After saving the map, copy it in the directory of the game, in the "galaxy" folder. It should be something like: C:\Program Files\Stardock Games\Sins of a Solar Empire\Galaxy
In order to make a map using a mod (mostly, a mod that adds planets), you must copy the mod's "GalaxySenarioDef" file into the Galaxy Forge folder. Recommend making a backup of the original before copying.
Wormholes[]
If you want to add wormholes in a map to link distant planets, you have to create first two "Wormhole" planets. Then link them with a phase lane. Click on the phase lane and in "properties" section in the Toolbox window change "connection type" from phase lane to wormhole. The phase lane should change from gray to blue indicating a wormhole connection. Wormhole connections are only valid when both ends are Wormholes. Though some mods may tinker with this.
Templates : How to define neutrals with buildings[]
With some practice you can probably build some fine galaxies to play in. But to add some life to your galaxy, you can add Militia Colonies (neutral worlds with more than just some star ships). To do this, you will need to open the map file with an text editor (like notepad).
Open the map file, then search the planets info (it look like this):
planet designName "Planet2" inGameName "" type "Terran" pos [ 223 , 149 ] owner "" isHomePlanet FALSE startingUpgradeLevelForPopulation 0 startingUpgradeLevelForCivilianModules 0 startingUpgradeLevelForTacticalModules 0 startingUpgradeLevelForArtifacts 0 planetItems templateName "" subTemplates 0 spawnProbability 1.000000 useDefaultTemplate TRUE
Then find a planet you want to add a militia to. First, change the owner of the planet to "RandomMilitia". You should have this:
planet
designName "Planet2"
inGameName ""
type "Terran"
pos [ 223 , 149 ]
owner "RandomMilitia"
To add a single template, you need to change the "subTemplates 0" to "subTemplates 1". Then add template "Template:MyTemplate" Where MyTemplate is the name of the type of militia you create. Then add a line with: "group 1" and change "useDefaultTemplate TRUE" by "useDefaultTemplate FALSE". You should have the following now:
planetItems templateName "" subTemplates 1 template "Template:MyTemplate" groups 1 spawnProbability 1.000000 useDefaultTemplate FALSE
Then go at the end of the file and add:
templates X //X is the total number of template template templateName "Template:MyTemplate" subTemplates 0 groups 1 group condition type "NoPlanetOwner" param "" owner "RandomMilitia" colonizeChance 1 items X //X is the total number of items item "Phase:Frigate:Light"
You have now a militia on this planet, and it controlled one Vasari light frigate. To know the others buildings and vessels name you just have to go in Galaxy Forge then double-click on a planet (or right-click, "edit"). You will have on the right all the names of the modules and ships.
If you want to add another Template, just add it after the last item. Remember to increase the number of templates too.
Here is a simple test you can copy and edit to be sure you don't lost anything :
TXT versionNumber 1 / 0 for normal patched game, 1 for mods isBrowsable TRUE / Appears in maps when starting New Game browsePictureName "" browseDescription "TODO - Add Description Here." / Description that appears when map is selected isFirstCapitalShipIsFlagship TRUE / First Capital ship is free planetArtifactDensity 0.150000 / Chances to find artifacts on planets (default 15%) planetBonusDensity 0.400000 / Chances for bonus (default 40%) homePlanetUpgradeLevel:Population 3 homePlanetUpgradeLevel:CivilianModules 1 homePlanetUpgradeLevel:TacticalModules 0 homePlanetUpgradeLevel:Home 1 homePlanetUpgradeLevel:ArtifactLevel 10 homePlanetUpgradeLevel:Infrastructure 2 recommendedGameTypeCount 0 metersPerGalaxyUnit 15000.000000 / Increase to augment time of travel pixelsPerGalaxyUnit 2.000000 useRandomGenerator FALSE galaxyWidth 300.000000 galaxyHeight 300.000000 nextStarNameUniqueId 1 nextPlanetNameUniqueId 4 starCount 1 / Total Number of Stars star designName "Star0" inGameName "" type "RandomStar" pos [ 150 , 150 ] radius 100.000000 planetCount 4 / Total Number of Planets planet designName "Planet0" inGameName "Terre" / Forces in game name of planet, leave blank to allow random name type "TerranHome" pos [ 50 , 150 ] / Position on map owner "NewPlayer0" / Owner of the planet isHomePlanet TRUE / This is the start location, causes planet development to match those defined above startingUpgradeLevelForPopulation 0 startingUpgradeLevelForCivilianModules 0 startingUpgradeLevelForTacticalModules 0 startingUpgradeLevelForArtifacts 0 planetItems templateName "" subTemplates 0 groups 0 spawnProbability 1.000000 useDefaultTemplate TRUE / Use Predefined Template planet designName "Planet1" inGameName "Mars" type "TerranHome" pos [ 250 , 150 ] owner "NewPlayer1" isHomePlanet TRUE startingUpgradeLevelForPopulation 0 startingUpgradeLevelForCivilianModules 0 startingUpgradeLevelForTacticalModules 0 startingUpgradeLevelForArtifacts 0 planetItems templateName "" subTemplates 0 groups 0 spawnProbability 1.000000 useDefaultTemplate TRUE planet designName "Planet2" inGameName "Venus" type "Terran" pos [ 148 , 104 ] owner "RandomMilitia" isHomePlanet FALSE startingUpgradeLevelForPopulation 0 startingUpgradeLevelForCivilianModules 0 startingUpgradeLevelForTacticalModules 0 startingUpgradeLevelForArtifacts 0 planetItems templateName "" subTemplates 1 / 1 means you use a template here template "Template:Military" / Name of Template used groups 1 / 1 group allowed for the template spawnProbability 1.000000 / Chance of planet appearing, 1 = 100% useDefaultTemplate FALSE / To use your own template planet designName "Planet3" inGameName "Pluton" type "Terran" pos [ 151 , 188 ] owner "RandomMilitia" isHomePlanet FALSE startingUpgradeLevelForPopulation 0 startingUpgradeLevelForCivilianModules 0 startingUpgradeLevelForTacticalModules 0 startingUpgradeLevelForArtifacts 0 planetItems templateName "" subTemplates 1 template "Template:Colony" groups 1 spawnProbability 1.000000 useDefaultTemplate FALSE connectionCount 8 /Total number of connections (phase lanes/wormholes) connection planetIndexA 1 planetIndexB 3 spawnProbability 1.000000 type "PhaseLane" connection planetIndexA 3 planetIndexB 0 spawnProbability 1.000000 type "PhaseLane" connection planetIndexA 0 planetIndexB 2 spawnProbability 1.000000 type "PhaseLane" connection planetIndexA 2 planetIndexB 1 spawnProbability 1.000000 type "PhaseLane" connection planetIndexA 1 planetIndexB -1 spawnProbability 1.000000 type "PhaseLane" connection planetIndexA -1 planetIndexB 0 spawnProbability 1.000000 type "PhaseLane" connection planetIndexA 2 planetIndexB -1 spawnProbability 1.000000 type "PhaseLane" connection planetIndexA -1 planetIndexB 3 spawnProbability 1.000000 type "PhaseLane" spawnProbability 1.000000 interStarConnectionCount 0 / Total number of star lanes playerCount 2 / Total number of players player designName "NewPlayer0" inGameName "NewPlayer0" overrideRaceName "" teamIndex -1 startingCredits 3000 startingMetal 800 startingCrystal 250 isNormalPlayer TRUE isRaidingPlayer FALSE isInsurgentPlayer FALSE themeGroup "" themeIndex 0 pictureGroup "" pictureIndex 0 player designName "NewPlayer1" inGameName "NewPlayer1" overrideRaceName "" teamIndex -1 startingCredits 3000 startingMetal 800 startingCrystal 250 isNormalPlayer TRUE isRaidingPlayer FALSE isInsurgentPlayer FALSE themeGroup "" themeIndex 0 pictureGroup "" pictureIndex 0 templates 2 / Total number of users templates template / Initiate a template templateName "Template:Military" /Name of the template subTemplates 0 / Total number of Sub-template groups 1 / Total number of groups group / Initiate group condition / String to active template type "NoPlanetOwner" / No players occupy this planet param "" / then : owner "RandomMilitia" / Militia will own planet colonizeChance 1 / 1 = 100% chance, for planet to be colonized items 2 / Total number of item created for owner item "Phase:Module:MissileDefense" item "Phase:Frigate:Light" template / Start new Template templateName "Template:Colony" subTemplates 0 groups 1 group condition type "NoPlanetOwner" param "" owner "RandomMilitia" colonizeChance 1 items 2 item "Phase:Module:CombatLab" / Last (do not type any character after item "Phase:Frigate:Colony" / the last item )
List of Items for templates[]
Here a list of item you can add in the Template (and their link to the wiki) Change the "race" by Tech for Terran, Psi, or Phase for Vasari example : item "Phase:Module:CombatLab"
Metal Extractor item "Race:Module:MetalExtractor" Crystal Extractor item "Race:Module:CrystalExtractor" Frigate Factory item "Race:Module:Frigate Factory" Hangar Defense item "Race:Module:Hangar Defense" Cannon item "Race:Module:Cannon" Missile Platform item "Phase:Module:Missile Defense" Beam Defense Platform item "Psi:Module:Beam Defense" Gauss Defense Platform item "Tech:Module:Gauss Defense"
I hope this little tutorial helped you in developing maps.