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.

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

also the galaxy forge maps only show up in the galaxy forge tab of map types

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+v200rar/;13585432;/fileinfo.html

but if you have a version of sins earlier than 1.16 then you should place the galaxy files in the galaxy folder under the sins folder

harpo

Assuming 1.16/entrenchment 1.02 are you placing the files in the ironclad games\sins\galaxyforge folder AND looking at the galaxy forge map group?

if sins 1.15/entrenchment 1.01 then it needs to be the stardock\sins\galaxy folder for sins 1.15 to see and for entrenchment 1.01 then you NEED to alter the galaxy.manifest by adding the numer of maps to the top of the file and the galaxy name(s) to the file. I have written a quick & dirty galaxy.manifest manager that is included with my sins map updater v1.18 and is called sins galaxy manifest manager.

hope this helps

harpo

the maps are the same format ie version3, and the map updater is to update maps from before entrenchment(ie sins 1.0-1.14) to entrenchment compatible. the latest version of the map updater is version 2.0.0 which will correctly convert all known earlier map formats to version 3 (which is for sins 1.15-1.16 entrenchment 1.0-1.02)

harpo

I've created a few maps, they're stored in the "...Stardock Games\Sins of a Solar Empire\Galaxy" directory, but the "Galaxy Forge" map tab in all 3 versions for Sins Trinity remains blank. I'm not sure which version of Galaxy Forge I have, but the one I downloaded two weeks ago isn't working and trying to re-download and re-install doesn't have any clearer indication. The maps that I make still never show in any of trinity's "Galaxy Forge" map tabs. Is there some setting or trick that I need to alter to make them playable?

I figured out how to put new maps on. But ever since I updated Trinity I can't find and edit older ones?

goafan that is for the STOCK maps ONLY, all the expansions use the user space galaxyforge folder as you mentiond.

juggernaught, the older maps are probably in an OLDER map format version (in the galaxy file line 2 tells sins which mapversion it is, BUT

the differences between map versions 0,1 & 2 were only the addition of ONE line near the start of the file, BUT mapversion 3 has 5 new lines PER PLANET/player & template and 5 changed lines per planet/player & template and WILL CAUSE THE minidump/freeze curse if you just change the version number, and if a map you want to play was released before 25th feb 2009 OR created with an earlier version of galaxyforge than version 3  then you will also need the sins map updater from here
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8023186/harpo%20sins%20map%20updater%20for%201.191%2Be%2Bd.rar.

hope this helps

harpo