How to manage ship designs over different games?

Use of ship directories

from GalCiv2 Forums
Can anyone explain to me the ship directory structure and the different ship files?

Currently I go about designing ships in the following way:
In game A: I create a new ship design without equipment, which I call 'Assault Frigate Mk0' for instance.
Then I create equipped versions as the game progresses: 'Assault Frigate Mk1, Mk2 etc.'
When I create Mk2, I delete the Mk1 version, because I don't need it anymore in this game, and I'm not interested in this specific Mk1 version for another game.

I expected then to have in the ships dir 1 file for each ship design to use in another game. I discovered however 2 types of files: .class and .shipcfg.
That wouldn't be a problem, but now I see that files are left (.shipcfg) from deleted ship versions, can I delete those without a problem?

AND after playing a game for the Metaverse score, I notice that there is a metaverse ships dir with my ship designs as well, with also 2 files per type, but one type is now .xml.

I find it all very confusing!!

All I want is to keep unequipped ship designs for use in new games (Metaverse).
Is there a straightforward way to do this?
Any help is much appreciated.
3,718 views 4 replies
Reply #1 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Help me! ..
Reply #2 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
If you've already deleted the designs in your game, deleting any associated files of either type for that ship will cause no harm.
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Reply #3 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Yes, thanks, I did that and no harm was done, it really bugged me that I had a whole lot of shipcfg files for versions I had deleted a long time ago.

Now I understand that shipdesigns can't simply be copied to the metaverse ship dir for use in metaverse games, but could there be another way to use regular game ship designs in a metaverse game?

I've got some simple designs which I'm quite attached to, so if nothing else works I might just start a new regular game and play it, until all the designs are available and write down the parts, configuration and sizes..
Reply #4 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I solved my problem!!!

Here is the solution for anyone who's interested;

To use shipdesigns from normal games in metaverse games:

Copy your ships .shipcfg file to the metaverse ship directory
Rename an .xml file from another ship in that directory to your moved ships name. Change the data in the .xml file with a text editor to match your moved ship.

I didn't even change all the data in the .xml file, there's a hullcode which I didn't change because I didn't know the right code for my moved ships hull. That didn't matter even though the old .xml was for a small hull fighter and my moved ship is a troop transport with a cargo hull.