these are likely Galaxy-Forge made maps; these will go into the 'Galaxy Forge' map folder in your user data directory.

For Vista users it's here- C:\Users\[username here]\AppData\Local\Ironclad Games\Sins of a Solar Empire\. AppData is a hidden folder by the way.

assuming you have sins 1.16+/entrenchment 1.02+,  the galaxy forge maps NEED to be placed here for xp
C:\Documents and Settings\'user name'\Local Settings\Application Data\Ironclad Games\Sins of a Solar Empire\GalaxyForge

or here for vista/windows 7
C:\Users\'user name'\AppData\Local\Ironclad Games\Sins of a Solar Empire\GalaxyForge.

if you have an OLDER sins/entrenchment(before 1.16/entrenchment 1.02) then the galaxy forge maps should be placed in the program files galaxy folder and for the first 2 versions of entrenchment you also needed to edit the galaxy.manifest in the entrenchment folder adding each of the added galaxy's AND adding the number of galaxy's added to the number at the TOP of the manifest. this issue was one of the reasons for the 1.02/1.16 patch.

NOTE the first two folders after the 'user name' are hidden , so to see them you must first click on 'tools' then 'folder options', then 'view', then click on 'show hidden files& folders' then click ok, then you will be able to browse your want to the folder. I suggest when you find the folder that you create a shortcut to it on the desktop

NOTE 2 the 'user name' if the above paths is you WINDOWS log in user name, eg Administrator

also the galaxy forge maps only show up in the galaxy forge tab of map types for 1.16+/entrenchment 1.02+

and if a map you want to play was released before 25th feb 2009 then you will also neet the sins map updater from here
http://files.filefront.com/sins+map+updater+v201rar/;13585432;/fileinfo.html

hope this helps

harpo

the only assumption that I made is that the maps are created in galaxyforge. if a map give the victory/defeat then it is possibly a mapdesigner map and it could be tried in the mapdesigner folder next to the galaxyforge folder. if you want me to check the  map(s) to determine which location they should be in, you could email a zip or rar or 7zip of the maps to harpo99999 at hotmail.com and I will look at them and advise you.

harpo

I fixed the problem, it was a map I myself had made in Galaxy Forge, and I forgot to add ownership of homeworlds. Oops! Thanks for your help!

Hello all,

I am new to Sins and i recently downloaded several maps

(such as Solar System [https://www.wincustomize.com/skins.aspx?skinid=204&libid=70],

made posterior to feb 2009, so no need for updater right ?).

Unfortunatly, i am unable to find those maps in sins...

(i use sin + entrenchement + diplomacy v0.95 on a windows seven 64 OS)

After thourough search i am finally asking here as i cannot find any answer.

I stored (as mentionned in several posts) the .galaxy files in

C:\Users\my user name \AppData\Local\Ironclad Games\Sins of a Solar Empire\GalaxyForge

but the maps are nowhere to be found ingame! T_T

I even tried to store the galaxy files in the game folder

and manually modify the manifest but it didn't worked either.

Interestingly, a test map i created with the ingame map creator appear in the "map designer" section.

Any help or pointer ?

Thx for any answer.

It says only "versionNumber 1"

i guess that is it.

Unfortunatly the map updater program doesn't work (it requires sins version 1.1.5 whereas i got 1.1.8)...

Thx for thge reply, i will try to modify the galaxy by hand.

I just bookmarked your mod utilities page in case I ever need your map updater again.