Recommended:
TextPad
v4.4 (Helios Software Solutions). I cannot recommend this
program enough. Take it as read, that almost every accomplished
mapmaker uses this, and those that don't use MissionMan. Its
free for unlimited evaluation so nothing is stopping you! Textpad
is fantastic for swapping between open text files, you can have
hundreds open at once and still be in complete control of the
situation. A mere 2.4meg download, smaller than most game patches
these day.
So why am
I pushing this so hard? I'll let Aged
field this one with a post I snagged from the OMO Map Editing
Forum:
Grumpy:
I just use wordpad. What advantages do the other programs
[Textpad] have?
Aged:
Why TextPad is great! It's kind of hard to explain why until
you use it. Basically, it does a great job of file management
along with the text editting capabilities. It also has smarter
cut and paste and find and replace functions.
When I
read the map making primer, I saw that and was skeptical -
until I started running into problems with keeping track of
the other-than-.txt files that maps require. So, I took Grunter's
advice and d/l'd TextPad. I can't go back. He's spot-on with
that recommendation.

MSExcel
Because
all the map files are simply text files, there is nothing stopping
you opening them up in Excel, a comma separates every value
and Excel uses these to differentiate between columns when loading
or saving. It allows sweeping changes to be made in seconds,
as you would expect in any spreadsheet package. (more)
Because
its so useful a small number of spreadsheets have been released
into the community; Dylov’s Strands, Rings and Distances Excel
Utility (The SRD-XL Utility includes TAKER’s Tilting Ring Maker
Utility - for more details on what it has to offer click here)
is by far the best. Create streams of asteroids or complete
rings in seconds, save the results as a *.csv file and copy
into the relevant map files. Its that simple. TAKER's Excel
Ring Maker utility is also available separately, but that version
does not support tilting rings. Also, new from Aged-OMO
is Aged's Sphere Maker XL Utility,
take a look at his map 'Azreal' to see what it can do.

Windows
Tycho's
Random
Derelict Placer and Tycho's
Random
Resource Placer are both simple windows programs that allow
you to create random maps in minutes. You copy the text output
direct into the resourcesphere.missphere files. The results
may look weird from time to time but they always work fine.
Jacelor’s
JUICY
Distribution Maker deals with the *.dist files and allows
you to see the changes that will incur while changing the *.dist
values of your maps resources. A bit tougher to get the hang
of but once you know what you are doing with it its invaluable.

Miscellaneous
Taleisin’s
Big
file viewer/extractor With this utility you can open up
the homeworld.big file and extract almost everything from the
game, useful for he single player missions so you can see how
Relic achieved aspects of the single player campaign and the
included multiplayer maps.
The
Background
Tool of the Geeks (Relic Entertainment Inc.) Using this
tool you can create your own backgrounds from scratch or starting
from a picture. A number of Backgrounds have been created, most
noticeably by /Downslope\ and Fox, both of whom can usually
be tracked down on the Relic
Forums or on mIRC should you require any help.

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