BHE isn't all that hard to understand.
Ms. Talon try this with BHE, this is the way to manually install ships, I've only done it this way and never had any problems. I'm assuming this is the 1st new ship you are adding and that it is a fighter type, notes at the bottom if you trying to install a starship or shuttle.
1. Put the OPT file in your FlightModels Directory
2. Edit SPACECRAFT0.LST and add FLIGHTMODELS\name_of_file.OPT to the end
3. Open STRINGS.TXT, edit entry !KSPECFTR0!m: and enter the Name of the new ship (eg. TIE Fighter)
4. edit entry !KSPECFTR0_PLURAL! and enter the Plural name of the new ship (eg. TIE Fighters)
5. edit entry !KSPECFTR0_SHORT! and enter the Short name of the new ship (eg. T/F)
6. Open SHIPLIST.TXT and edit entry !SPECIES_184!*DontUseMe,Planet/asteroid,Nonflyable,Known,NoSkirmish, to read !SPECIES_184!name_of_fighter,Fighter,Flyable,Known ,Skirmish,
7. Open SPECDESC.TXT and edit the 1st available empty entry (SPEC_184) and enter the appropriate data in each of the five entries for SPEC_184 (Name, Manufacturer, Side, Description, Crew). Take note of which entry you are adding to, in this case 184, this number is used later.
8. Open BHE and load the XWA module, the first time you do this it will have an error saying it cant find XWINGALLIANCE.EXE. A FIND LOCATION window will open, just goto your XWA directory, click on XWINGALLIANCE.EXE and click open. BHE will be minimized so just click on it to open it.
9. Now that BHE is open you should see two selection boxes, the bottom one is called Select and Load A Section To Edit. Click on this to open a scroll-down list of things to edit.
10. You want to go to OPT File Location 1. Now go down the main list until you see Reserved Fighter #1. Double click on this ships row (any part) and the small window (the Online Help Window) will display some text to help you, telling you what this part is and what data you can input. Take note of the ID number for this slot (33) this is used later on. Enter 0 to make this slot point to SPACECRAFT0.LST as directed by the BHE Text window.
11. Save by going to File, Write to Binary File, Save Section Modifications Now!. This must be done every time before you change sections or the changes will not be saved.
12. Now load section OPT File Location 2. Quickly scroll down until you get to ID 33, Reserved Fighter #1. In this section you input the Line Number in SPACECRAFT0.LST that points to the new OPT file. The Online Help Window will say as much. The very first new addition to SPACECRAFT0.LST will be line 154, enter this in ID33's slot. Save.
13. Now load section Ship Type. Once again to to ID 33 Reserved Fighter #1. This is where you tell XWA what type of ship you are adding. Double click on ID33, you will notice the Online Help Window now has a scroll bar down the side. Scroll down the Online Help Window until you find the info you need to input for ID 33. Save.
14. Now load section Enable Ships, this tells XWA if the ship is being used or not. Goto ID 33. By now you have gotten use to double clicking on an entry to see what info BHE will give you about it. Read what shows up in the Online Help Window and enter the appropriate data in ID 33's slot. Save.
15. Now load section Species Table. This time the order of the ships has changed
as this is a list of all original ships in the game, not the list of available slots in the game. Goto ID 184 (remember from step 7). When you double click this time you will get a very long list of the availble slots, enter the data for the slot you are using (33 - Reserved Fighter #1). Simplified just goto the ID number associated with the number from step 7 and input the number from step 10. Save.
16. Load section Species Pointer. I'm not too sure about this one, it only appeared in the latest modules, but to be safe I changed the values for any slots Im using to the ID# of that slot. By default ID 33 (Reserved Fighter #1) has a value of 32 which is the Pursuer (SlaveII), so I changed it to 33 just to be safe. Save if you change things here, maynot be neccessary.
17. Now here's the tricky part. Load section (54/286) *Reserved Fighter. This is the 1st Reserved Fighter in the list, the one we have been activating.
Here is where you enter data that sets the stats for the ship you are adding. Hopefully all the tricky weapon parts (all Laser and Rack data) can be left alone as the built-in OPT data should handle this.
What you will need to edit is the Shield, Shield Strength, Hull Strength, Hyperdrive, Speed, Roll, Pitch, System Strength, Acelleration, Decelleration, Score and Recharge Rates if necessary. Recharge are the two very first entries in the list. Both say Unknown but the 1st is Shield recharge rate, the 2nd is Laser recharge rate. Also to change the number of warheads, go down until you find 1st Warhead Capacity, enter the number of warheads for each launcher (ie 4 would give you 8 missiles on a twin-launcher ship). Countermeasures are right down the bottom, above the turret data.
Hopefully this data will be in a text file accompanying your ship. Remember, double clicking on a field will load the available help for that section into the Online Help Window.
Well my fingers are gettin sore, so I hope this helps Ms. Talon, you'll excuse me if it's a bit long winded but I wanted to be as exact as I could, good luck.
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If you are adding a Shuttle or Starship, substitue ID 33 for the ID number of the 1st available Reserved slot of that ship type. Then where I've said to put 33 just put the new number.
Also where you set the Ship Type you will have to enter the appropriate data for something other than a fighter.
The last part, step 17, instead of going to the 1st Reserved Fighter slot go to the 1st Reserved slot of the ship type you are adding instead. Beaware that when adding capital ships, additional data should be added in some sections, I will inform you what parts if you're adding a starship, just post a message.
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This has got to be my biggest post ever.
http://www.xwingalliance.com/forums/biggrin.gif)
Did I leave anything out Steele? Darksaber?
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"No no son, you gotta hit 'em in the head so they stay down, like this! *WHACK*"
TK's OPT Factory (
http://www.ozemail.com/~richtersg/)
[This message has been edited by TK421 (edited June 01, 2000).]