You can indeed use the Nexus skirmisher to try out those new models.
Go to the folder \mods\NEXUS Skirmisher SP Settings
There, create a folder named "meshes" and an other one called "textures".
I'll use as an example the kissaki destroyer.
So, lets say we download that file, "kissaki_destroyer.msh". Put that one in the folder named "meshes" you just created (if you want to keep things tidy you can make a subfolder and put it there, it makes no difference). Now, download the texture bundle from the dogsquad site. Before decompressing it, create an other folder named "meshes", but this time not inside the main "NEXUS Skirmisher SP Settings" but the "NEXUS Skirmisher SP Settings\textures" one.
There, decompress the .rar and place all the .tex files.
Ok, so now you've placed the raw models. Now it's time to add them to the base game. In this case the tactics tool can be useful for you.
Go to the folder "NEXUS Skirmisher SP Settings\universe\tactics" and open the file named tacticstype.ini.
You now have to make a "SHIPCLASS" and "SHIPTYPE" entry for the new ship. A shipclass is the entry used for each model of a ship in the game, and a shiptype stands for the configuration of that ship, so for example you can have multiple shiptypes for one shipclass (take for example the Noah battleship: it's class is named "cls_Battleship", but there are a lot of shiptypes that use that shipclass, the "styp_ep2_Athen_Battleship", "styp_ep2_Rome_Battleship", etc. Are all Noah battleship class ships).
For now we're gonna limit ourselves to just copy an existant class and edit some minor details, but if you want more info you can find a very complete and detailed
guide about the tacticstype.ini.
First part: Shipclass.
Go to the SHIPCLASS 43 in the tacticstype.ini you've just opened, it should display this:
SHIPCLASS 43
Name "cls_old_KSK_Kensai"
Mesh "earth\old\kissaki"
Serial "KSK CV.%03u"
GUIIcon "icons\tac_old_ksk_kensai"
Efx 5 1
ImpactEfx 1 0.6
FinalEfx 2 0.6
ChannelEfx 3 1
FinalTime 8
Civilization 1
Velocity 150
RotVelFact 250
RangeBehav 2 1
Behaviour 0
TargetType 22
SupportOutput 25
SupportIn 20
Armor 5
DevArmor 5
WeapCntFact 1
HPmax 4500
DeviceRepairHP 16
DetectBase 100
Security 4
Slots 31/35 31 31/32 31/32 39 ;
Slots 51/52 53 ;
Slots 61/63 61 61 61/67 66 66 ;
Slots 71/72 ;
Carrier 10
MaxCarried 4
Available
SHIPCLASS
Now, copy all that and paste it below, so that you have two of those entries.
As I've said, I won't be explaining here what every atribute does but the two first, "name" and "mesh".
The name is the identifier the tactistype.ini will use to link the shipclasses to the shiptypes and it has to be unique.
So, the first thing you have to do is change the name of the entry you've just created. The second part is the "mesh" atribute. This is a string with a relative path to the ship's model. in our case it would simply be "kissaki_destroyer" (or "<subfoulder you created>\kissaki_destroyer"). Change one of the entries so that it looks like this:
SHIPCLASS 43
Name "cls_old_KSK_destroyer"
Mesh "kissaki_destroyer"
Serial "KSK CV.%03u"
GUIIcon "icons\tac_old_ksk_kensai"
Efx 5 1
ImpactEfx 1 0.6
FinalEfx 2 0.6
ChannelEfx 3 1
FinalTime 8
Civilization 1
Velocity 150
RotVelFact 250
RangeBehav 2 1
Behaviour 0
TargetType 22
SupportOutput 25
SupportIn 20
Armor 5
DevArmor 5
WeapCntFact 1
HPmax 4500
DeviceRepairHP 16
DetectBase 100
Security 4
Slots 31/35 31 31/32 31/32 39 ;
Slots 51/52 53 ;
Slots 61/63 61 61 61/67 66 66 ;
Slots 71/72 ;
Carrier 10
MaxCarried 4
Available
SHIPCLASS
And done! Now it's time to add a shiptype. The process is analog. Lets search, for instance, the SHIPTYPE 65:
SHIPTYPE 65
Name "styp_ep1_Kissaki_frigate"
Class #cls_old_KSK_Frigate
Devices #weap_oliLaser #weap_oliLaser #weap_oMassDrv #weap_oMassDrv #weap_oFlak #weap_oFighter ;
Devices #eng_bChemEng #eng_secChemEng ;
Devices #supp_boWGen #supp_oSGen #supp_ores #supp_ores #supp_osensor #supp_osEcm ;
SHIPTYPE
And add a new one modifying the name and "class" attribute, like this, for example:
SHIPTYPE 65
Name "styp_Kissaki_destroyer"
Class #cls_old_KSK_destroyer //has to be the same name that our shipclass
Devices #weap_oliLaser #weap_oliLaser #weap_oMassDrv #weap_oMassDrv #weap_oFlak #weap_oFighter ;
Devices #eng_bChemEng #eng_secChemEng ;
Devices #supp_boWGen #supp_oSGen #supp_ores #supp_ores #supp_osensor #supp_osEcm ;
SHIPTYPE
And done!
You may've noticed that the new shipclass and shiptype have the same number as an other shipclass/shiptype, and that's not ok. However, that's where the tactics tool comes in.
Open it up, select your tacticstype.ini file with the "select file" option, then under the "tags" category un-click the one that says "DEVICETYPE" and select the "re-organize the file" option. it should end up looking like this:
Click on Run, skip the warning and done. All that is left is to replace the old tacticstype.ini with the one generated by the tool. You can now select your new ship from the skirmisher
