Thanks Annatar, I appreciate it.  Maybe if it turns out as something interesting I'll post it

Forge Tools is a pretty broad name for "bunch of stuff you can use to mod". In the archive is map maker, a particle maker, developer executable (lets you spawn ships/buildings on the fly and such).

The only thing you need for yours, though, is trusty ole Notepad for the GameInfo files (in the Reference Data folder in the archive). And the tutorial pdf that goes over how to set up the mod and all that good stuff

If you haven't extracted the archive yet, you can use something like WinRAR or 7zip to do it, and then you'll see all the stuff I'm talking about

No problem If you need more help don't be afraid to ask.

Just right click > Open With and if Notepad doesn't show up on the list you can browse to it in C:\Windows.

Or you can just open notepad and open the entity files through it (just select all files in the file > open dialog box so that it shows them).

Oops, ok I had to do it in a particular way, apparently my computer is picky.  I just bought it and im still trying to figure out all its idiosynchracies.  Thanks a bunch Annatar, I really appreciate it.