This Tips sheet was put together by Rutger.
Thanks for this. And I hope it helps!
-bearclaw

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Dark Nova is configured to substitute alternative images for incomplete shipsets, so a stock shipset may be used. A neo-standard shipset will serve better, displaying more variety of images. You could leave it at that, however there are MANY additional class variants in Dark Nova and in putting together a dedicated shipset it's a question of how far you're willing to go.

An easy way is to take an existing neo-standard set (assuming it's complete) and make a few adjustments:

* Empirename_Portrait_Resourceship.bmp is not used in Dark Nova, and can be renamed to Empirename_Portrait_Tugboat.bmp for a suitable fit. (Also rename the related mini portraits.)

* Barge.bmp (not used) can be renamed to TugboatLarge.bmp

* CarrierMassive (not used) becomes Behemoth.bmp

* ResourceStation is unused, and good for OrbitalFacility or CHONFactory (or both).

* TroopInfantry is not used and should at least be duplicated and renamed to both TroopInfantryLight and TroopInfantryHeavy. 

* TroopHuge is not used, and can be duplicated and renamed to both TroopHuge1 and TroopHuge2 (more on troops below).

* Some sets will have images for DMH, Starliner, Cutter, Juggernaut, Jumpgate (etc) which may be suitable for Dark Nova classes.

That should get most people an acceptable Dark Nova shipset. For the brave and foolhardy among us, read on...

Ship images supported
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Classes are shown in size order, using the image filename. Classes in [brackets] are specific to Dark Nova and not present in Neo-Standard shipsets. It isn't necessary to provide extra images for all (or any) of these ships, but here they are:

WARSHIPS:

[ScoutLight], Scout, [ScoutHeavy]
[EscortLight], Escort, [EscortHeavy], Corvette 
[FrigateLight], Frigate, [FrigateHeavy]
[DestroyerLight], Destroyer, DestroyerHeavy
LightCruiser, Cruiser, CruiserHeavy, Battlecruiser
[BattleshipLight], Battleship, [BattleshipHeavy]
[DreadnoughtLight], Dreadnought, DreadnoughtHeavy, [DreadnoughtWar]

There are MANY carrier classes...

CarrierTiny, [CarrierPocket], CarrierLight, Carrier, [CarrierStrike], CarrierHeavy, [CarrierFleet], [CarrierSuper], [Behemoth], [MothershipLight], [Mothership], [Mothership Heavy], [MothershipHuge], [MothershipMassive].

And bases...

[OrbitalFacility], [CHONFactory].

[SpacePlatform], SpaceStation, [SpaceFortress], BattleStation, WarStation, Starbase, [UltraStation], [MegaStation], [GigaStation], [Superbase].

[BaseshipLight], Baseship, BaseshipHeavy, Worldship

Colony ships:

[ColonyShipSlug], [ColonyShipLight], ColonyShip, [ColonyShipHeavy], ColonyShipLarge.

Transports:

TransportTiny, TransportSmall, TransportMedium, TransportLarge, [TransportHuge], [TransportMassive], [Freighter].

Ancient Classes:

There are images present in RaceGeneric which will be used by default, but if you want something matched to your set, you'll need to include the following:

[ScoutOrganic], [ScoutCrystal], [EscortOrganic], [EscortCrystal], [CorvetteOrganic], [CorvetteCrystal], [FrigateOrganic], [FrigateCrystal], [DestroyerOrganic], [DestroyerCrystal].

Units:

The three standard weapon platforms are adequate, but if you want to finesse it, the images supported are: [WeapPlatformTiny], WeapPlatformSmall, WeapPlatformMedium, [WeapPlatformStandard], [WeapPlatformHeavy], WeapPlatformLarge, [WeapPlatformHuge], and [WeapPlatformMassive].

Same goes for fighters. Stock has 3 sizes (s/m/l), Neo has 5 (s/m/l/huge/massive) which are all supported, and Dark Nova has 11. At minimum one should include [ZeroGTrooper.bmp], to go further you'll need the following (additional to Neo-standard): [FighterOrbital] (5kT), [FighterFly] (10kT), [FighterTiny] (12kT) -- all smaller than Small -- and one very large (50kT) [FighterSquadron].

Troops will substitute well enough into the 3 stock sizes, but the Neo-standard TroopInfantry and TroopHuge will be ignored (see above for recommendations). If you want to go all the way, the supported images in Dark Nova are: [TroopInfantryLight], [TroopInfantryHeavy], [TroopSmall1], [TroopSmall2], [TroopMedium1], [TroopMedium2], [TroopLarge1], [TroopLarge2], [TroopHuge1], [TroopHuge2].

If assembling or building a set from scratch (rather than adding to an existing one), remember to include portraits and minis for the following: Drone, FighterGroup, Fleet, Mine, Minegroup, Satellite, and SatelliteGroup. And of course: race_portrait, pop_mini, pop_portrait, BigExplosion.bmp, Shields.bmp, and Main.bmp (extra nerd-brownies for your own custom flag). :)

A quick and dirty way to recolour images to match, is to tweak RGB balance (always reduce so as to preserve the black background) until you get something close.