this was originnally a comment that i left on a post, but what the hey. heres how you can change a major race (for example, the terrans) to your own custom race (for example, the ANTS)

actually, it is possible to add your own gif's. as well as its possible to add your own pic to a race. i did it, and it worked fine. heres what to do:

lets say, you want to change the humans tooooo... lets say "ANTS" for the sake of example. next, you'll want to make an extra folder to put backups in in case you want to return it to default. these are the files you'll want to copy and past to this folder, lets call this folder "BACKUP"; go to: C:\Program Files\Stardock\TotalGaming\GalCiv2\Data\English, and copy: "Mapraeinfo.xml", "RaceConfig.xml", and paste these files to "BACKUP". then go to C:\Program Files\Stardock\TotalGaming\GalCiv2\Movies. there, you'll want to actully MOVE (notice:NOT copy and paste) the following files to "BACKUP" (keep in mind, we're editing the terrans): "0_small", "0_trade00", "0_trade01", and "0_trade02" next, go to C:\Program Files\Stardock\TotalGaming\GalCiv2\Gfx\Race and MOVE the following to "BACKUP": "Raceimage00", and "Trade_Race0_Neutral"

also, heres a legend to denote what each number means in what:
0=terran
1=Drengin
2=Altarian
3=Arcean
4=Torian
5=Yor
6=Dominion of Korx
7=Drath
8=Thalan
9=Iconian
these are therace numbers found first in the gif's and the last number in the PNG's. the following numbers are the second number found in GIF name, and denotes the following:
00= neutral
01= pissed
02= happy
next, these are the ship types for changes in the xml:
0= terran
1= torian
2= yor
3= Drengin
4= Altarian
5= Dread lords
now, with all of that out of the way, its time to start the REAL fun;

first off the pic you want to add must be in PNG format (as everyone else has said already) then, move that pic to C:\Program Files\Stardock\TotalGaming\GalCiv2\Gfx\Race. to make it simple, name it ANT1 (where changing the terrans to ANTS, remember?). now, this is wehere the directions split; if you can make your own GIF, go to "A". if you can't, and just want to add a pic for the trade screen, go to "B"

A) move your chosen GIF to C:\Program Files\Stardock\TotalGaming\GalCiv2\Movies. (you might want to make 4, one small potrait which isn't necessary, one neutral ppotrait, one happy and one pissed off potrait) if you bhave 4 GIF's, move them all to that path. now, its time to rename them: if you have just one GIF, rename it: "0_trade00" if you have 4, denote appropriately (0_small for small potrait, 0_trade01 for pissed, and etc) after renaming these files, the GF part is done, but stay tuned to make the potrait wrok for ya and how to change the name of the species

B)move your chosen PNG to C:\Program Files\Stardock\TotalGaming\GalCiv2\Gfx\Race, and name it "ANTS2" next, go to C:\Program Files\Stardock\TotalGaming\GalCiv2\Data\English and right click on "RaceConfig.xml", and open with "notepad". go down to the partr where it says: "Gfx\Race\Trade_Race0_Neutral.png". replace "Trade_Race0_Neutral.png" with "ANTS2.png" save trhe note pad, and close it. to double check the change, open the xml and check the changes.

now, its time to blacken my lungs with a cancer stick, so i'll be right back and finish this.

ok, back.

next, time to change the potrait. follow the steps in "B", except use the png "ANTS1" instead of "ANTS2", and you want to change "Gfx\Race\RaceImage00.png" instead of Gfx\Race\Trade_Race0_Neutral.png. (replace "RaceImage00.png" with "ANTS1.png")

do the same if you want to change the logo. (look for Gfx\Race\RaceLogo00.png and change the logo to what you want, as well as Gfx\Race\Small\RaceLogo0.png)

to change the name, go to the same xml (RaceConfig.xml in case you forgot) and open it with notepad again. look for the part that says , and change Terran Alliance to ANTS. (remember, i'm using ANTS as an example, you can replace ANTS with anything you want) do the same with Terran Alliance. save this and close. next open MapRaceInfo.xml with notepad and do the same with and Terran Alliance. save the notepad and close it.

if i remember correctly after this step, you're done! in the case that i did forget something, leave a comment with anything that went wrong or didn't work, and or go through and revise this.enjoy!