more customisable maps

It's already available here on the site. Look at the top page on the right there's a downlaod section, where u can get the map creator for SINS v1.05, i played around with it and it is pretty intuitive, to bad i installed the beta 1.09. Haven't been able to load the maps into Game, but i think i'll be patient as the Beta kinks are being worked out for the next Gen of Galaxy editor to come out. But if you are still currently running SINS 1,05 here'S the link to that section. WWW Link

P.S.: Read the tutorials on where to install and check out the other tut on mapcreation. comes with example file and good explination. ENJOY!

Sorry for dual post but i forgot to add the name of the Galaxy Creator App. It's called Galaxy Forge in the download section.

thanks for the speedy reply matum
i dont want to create maps, but would rather a random generation of maps with the ability to choose the number of planets and number of stars as i like the "exploration" of what is out there
im a gal civ 2 player that likes the long tedium games, i want a universe that has lotsa stars with not so may planets .... and im sure that many players would like this and/or the total reverse
so i guess i am asking for a robust map creation system rather than an map creator

The Galaxy Forge allows you only to an extent to do this. You can set systems to be totally random, which means the amount of planets will be random too (as they might not be generated as planets but rather roids or junk).

There is a "Spawn probability" flag on systems but I have not tried it. Maybe it allows systems to spawn or not. You might want to experiment with that. But I agree, there should be some simple way to make totally random maps setup within certain parameters, like Civ or GalCiv.

isnt there also an in-game map creator? I mean it does not have a graphical interface, but it seems to me to be what the tc is looking for. basically you tell the creator how many stars you want to have, how many planets and what types. if you want you can play around how far apart and clustered they are and a bunch of other things. you can basically make your own map in a matter of minutes.

should be located in one of the left hand side tabs when you chose whether to play tutorial, new game, load game etc.

Note that Galaxy Forge-made maps will NOT auto-download to people, so in order to actually play them online, you're going to have to pimp them in-game and convince people to take the three or four minutes required to find the map file, download it, and then figure out how to add it to the game. (It's actually very easy once you know what to do, though sometimes folks have difficulty if they have Vista.)

Here's a link to the 24-pack Custom map pack (courtesy of P5yy) and my latest map, 3v3 Gateway to Paradise (which has been played a couple times and received accolades). Everyone who takes this game seriously should download and install all of these maps. You can find them here:

WWW Link

WWW Link

Custom map installation instructions:

1. Download the .zip files of the maps you want.

2. Unzip the files. (If you have Vista, unzipping properly and moving the files properly might be tricky or it might raise issues, as I understand it.)

3. Open your MAIN Sins game folder (NOT the Application Data Sins folder). To make adding custom maps easier in the future, I suggest creating a desktop shortcut to it or perhaps a Start Menu shortcut.

4. Move any .galaxy files into the Galaxy folder, which is where maps are stored. Move any .tga files into the Textures folder.

The .tga files are like .jpgs and just provide the title box that you see when you're setting up a game. Including one with a map is optional so don't panic if you have more .galaxy files than you do .tga files.

That's it! You don't even have to close the Sins game in order to do this. If you're playing online and someone is pimping a custom map that you don't have and you know where to download it, you can just minimize Sins, get the map, add the map, bring the game window back up, and you're good to go.

I really wish they would add auto-download for Galaxy Forge created maps too. Maybe they don't want to on account of the fact that you can actually make them unplayable and buggy, which I guess you cant with the in-game map creator.

By the way, has anyone else noticed that Galaxy Forge maps seems to sometimes come out mirrored from how they are laid out in the editor?

I suspect that the lack of auto-download for Galaxy Forge made custom maps was a conscious design decision, but that's just my suspicion. We can hope that they have a change of heart at some point; many people have requested custom map auto-download.

the map designer (in game) was pretty much what i am after, although a little more control over number of planets would be nice
maybe they should rename it to map generator? because it is not a designer!! just a generator, big difference imho
Galaxy forge looks like a pretty good program, i might end up playing with that one also