Adding custom Ships to X-Wing Alliance

Adding Ships (Basic)

This is for the average person who doesn’t want to bother with editing the .exe file, but would rather just add a new ship

Something to keep in mind before you start is that you have to use the same type of craft when replacing, i.e.fighter for fighter, shuttle for shuttle, etc. If the ship has turrets, you must put it in as a shuttle or starship

What changes when replacing the opt is the weapons and size. What stays the same is the hull strength, shield strength, weapon firing order, speed, maneuverability, etc. So you’ll want to replace a craft with similar stats to the new one

There's a couple downsides to this method. Number one, the weapons may not be set up right, so you'll see things like your laser cannons firing missles. Another bad thing is you're limiting yourself as far as stats go. The new craft is somewhat different, but when it comes down to it, it behaves virtually the same. Lastly, you can't replace any ship that has a separate external opt. These include the A-Wing, X-Wing, and others.

In this example, we’re going to add the IG-2000 in the place of the Tie Interceptor. This should be easy.

Let’s keep the previous opt, just in case we want to use it again. Go into the FLIGHTMODELS folder, find the old opt (TIEINTERCEPTOR.OPT), and rename it. The system I use it to keep it the same, just add an exclamation mark at the end. So now we have "TIEINTERCEPTOR.OPT!".
Now to add the new opt to FLIGHTMODELS. Add the IG-2000.opt file and rename it to TIEINTERCEPTOR.OPT.
Open up Shiplist.txt. Go to the reference for Tie Interceptor (Species #6) and rename it to IG-2000 (keep everything else the same). Save it.
Open Strings.txt. Do a search for "Interceptor". You’ll see the reference line for the Tie Interceptor is "!KSPECTI!m". Now change the search to look for that reference. Change every "Tie Interceptor" to "IG-2000", and change the "T/I" to "IG". Save it.
That’s basically it. If you want to have your Tech Library show the IG’s information, just edit the Specdesc.txt listing for the Interceptor.

Adding Ships (Intermediate)

Basic - Intermediate - Advanced

This is the next level for adding ships, which involves a bit more work. We're still replacing an existing craft, but this let's you assign your own ship type and stats. So if you never use a Container Type "Y", you can stick in a new ship in its place. We'll also make it so that the opt file keeps it's name (which makes it easier to know what's what). You'll need a copy of BinHexEdit to do this method.

In this example, we'll replace the Authority IRD fighter with the Hound's Tooth.

First, add the Houndstooth.opt file to the FLIGHTMODELS folder. We'll leave it with that name.
Next, we need to open the Spacecraft0.lst file in FLIGHTMODELS. Making sure that the box "Always use this program to open this file" is UNCHECKED, open it with Wordpad.
Find the name of the opt we're replacing. In this case it's "IrdFighter.opt". Replace that with "Houndstooth.opt". Save it.
Open Shiplist.txt, and find the IRD Fighter in there (they call it Authority IRD, species #10). Replace "Authority IRD" with "Hound's Tooth". Change it from Fighter to Shuttle/Light Transport. We do this because the Hound's Tooth uses a laser turret, and fighters don't have turrets. Save it.
Open Strings.txt, and do a search for "IRD". The reference for this is "!KSPECIRD!m". Change the search to look for that reference and change all instances of "IRD Fighter" to "Hound's Tooth", and change "IRD" to "H/T". Save it.
If you want to have your Tech Library show the Hound's Tooth stats instead of the IRD, open Specdesc.txt and rewrite the listing for the Authority IRD and save.
Next, we want to open up BinHexEdit. I'm not going to go into how to use that program other than as it concerns us here. Load it up for xwingalliance.exe like normal. (See Michael "Steele" Boewes' Help Guide - Andy)
Go to the section for "Ship Type" and go to the Authority IRD line. Change the setting to "1". This tells the program this is now a shuttle, not a fighter, so the laser turrets work. Write to file.
Then go to the section for "Authority IRD" and set up the proper stats. I include these with my opts to make it easier for you. Write to file.

That's it!

Adding Ships (Advanced)

Basic - Intermediate - Advanced

Welcome to the Dark Side! Here I'll show you how to add ships to reserved, unused slots. This gets really complicated at certain points, but if you keep track of what you've done, it should work great. The first reserved slot you use will be the easiest to do. As you add more and more, that's where it gets hard to keep straight.

In this example, we're going to put the Ssi-Ruuvi Battle Droid in the Reserved Container #1 slot. It's important to understand what exactly we're doing with this. We're connecting references in the Shiplist file to the Strings and .exe files. Shiplist uses one number for its species, but strings and xwingalliance.exe use a different number. The first "unknown" in Shiplist does NOT correspond to the first "unknown" in BinHexEdit. But you should understand how it works after going through this example. (Also have a look at my Graphical Summary! - Andy)

To start, add the srbdroid.opt file to the FLIGHTMODELS folder.
Next, open the Spacecraft0.lst file in FLIGHTMODELS. Be sure that the box "Always use this program to open this file" is UNCHECKED, and open it with Wordpad.
Add the line "FlightModels\Sbdroid.opt" to the end of the list. This is adding a new opt reference, so we need to note what number this reference is on our list. This being our first of these, it will be #154. Make a note of that, and save it.
Open Shiplist.txt, and find Species #222. Replace "*Don’tUseMe" with "Ssi-Ruuvi Battle Droid" (be sure to remove the asterisk!). Change it from "Planet/asteroid" to "Shuttle/Light Transport". Change "NonFlyable" to "Flyable". Change "NoSkirmish" to "Skirmish". Save it.
Next, we want to open up BinHexEdit. I'm not going to go into how to use that program other than as it concerns us here. Load it up for xwingalliance.exe like normal. (See Michael "Steele" Boewes' Help Guide - Andy)
Go to the section for "OPT File Location 1" and go to line #86, which is reserved container 1. Change the setting to "1". This indicates that the opt can be found in the FLIGHTMODELS folder. Write to file.
Now go to the section for "OPT File Location 2" and go to line #86. Change the setting to "153", which is telling the program that the 154th line (153+1) of Spacecraft0.lst is where this opt is referenced. Write to file.
Next go to "Ship Type", line #86. Change the setting to "1" for Shuttle/Light Transport. Write to file.
Go to "Enable Ships", line #86 (see a pattern here?). Change the setting to "3" to enable. Write to file.
Go to "Species Table", line #222. The id number indicates the species number in Shiplist.txt, and the value number (let's call it N) is the Nth line in the craft lists in Strings.txt, for future reference. We're going to use Reserved Container #1, so change the value to 86 (BHE gives the equations). Write to file.
Go to the section for the first *Reserved Container (98/276). Put in the stats you want for the Ssi-Ruuvi Battle Droid. This is included in the srbdroid.txt file that came with the opt. Write to file.
Finally, open Strings.txt. We need to update Strings' references, so we need to locate the first unnamed container. It happens to be "!KSPECCON0!". If you're unsure if you got the right slot, you can always count the lines down starting at "X-wing". So bring up every reference beginning with "!KSPECCON0!" and add "Ssi-Ruuvi Battle Droid", "Ssi-Ruuvi Battle Droids", and "S-R B/D" in the appropriate spots. Save it.

You're done! Test it out, because a lot of files were changed. If it doesn't work, go back over this checklist and make sure you entered everything properly.

Top of Page

- Back -