the spawn locations CAN be fixed OR random, the default from galaxyforge is random,

and here is my standard advice for maps/mapping

assuming you have sins 1.191/entrenchment 1.051/diplomacy 1.011,  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 for vista/windows 7

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

for sins 1.15/entrenchment 1.00 and earlier, the correct location IS the program files \galaxy folder, and you also
NEED to edit the entrenchment's galaxy.manifest to include the maps and also the total count of maps

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' in the above paths is your WINDOWS login user name, eg Administrator

also the galaxy forge maps in the local apps galaxyforge folder only show up in the galaxy forge tab of map types in
sins 1.16+/entrenchment 1.02+

If the map IS a galaxy forge and giving the instant win/loss screen then MAKE sure that EACH player has a home planet
and is not for a particular mod that has extra home planets and stars

if the galaxy forge map is placed in the program files galaxy folder, then the map NEEDS to be manually added to the
entrenchment & diplomacy galaxy.manifests(not recommended as EACH update will replace any files that are different or
have been changed)

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.

there is a second type of map which SHOULD be placed in the mapdesigner folder, you can tell if it is by the eighth
line reads randomizeStartingPositions TRUE', if this line is FALSE then it is a galaxyforge map and could be in an
older map format. the current map format version is 3 this can be seen in line two of the file. if the map is a
version 0,1 or 2 then the map updater will make it playable in current versions and expansions
the differences between map versions0,1 & 2 were only the addition of ONE line near the start of the file, BUT
mapversion3 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.

harpo

Have you patched to the latest version?  Maps created with the current version of galaxy forge are not compatible with version 1.00 of the game.

have you placed the maps from galaxyforge in the user space galaxyforge folder?

assuming you have sins 1.191/entrenchment 1.051/diplomacy 1.011,  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 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

NOTE 2 the 'user name' in the above paths is your WINDOWS login user name, eg Administrator

also the galaxy forge maps in the local apps galaxyforge folder only show up in the galaxy forge tab of map types in
sins 1.16+/entrenchment 1.02+/diplomacy

the two paths above are for the galaxyforge folder location depending upon which windows version you are running on.

for windows XP use the top one

for windows vista and windows 7 use the second one

also replace the red 'username' with your windows login name, and the green folder names ARE HIDDEN folders as microsoft thinks that only the operating system needs to be able to access the files and folders under them(and as usual they ARE WRONG), you have differing methods for unhiding the hidden folders depending upon the windows you are using, for winxp the green paragraph above gives instructions, for windows 7(& I think vshita) you have to go to control panel and search for 'hidden files and folders' and in the options of the hidden files and folders remove the ticks from the tickboxes for hide hidden folders and put ticks in the show hidden file & folders.

hope this helps

harpo

Try zooming out.  The editor has a nasty habit of zooming in on a bunch of empty space.