X4: Foundations – How to Move Sectors on Map

First you will need X Tools which can be found in your steam library under tools as long as you own X4, or you can grab it on the Egosoft Website somewhere

(This is also the first guide I have ever written for anything on Steam)

Second you will need notepad or something similar

Open X Tools and Unpack the X4 Files into a new folder called “Core Game Files”

Should look like this when you are done

You use this method for unpacking any mod for X4 and will repeat this method for any mods

CAT Files will be read over loose files, you can just delete the CAT files and use the loose files and in that case you would just import directly into the folder without making a new one, BUT any updates will overwrite your changes and reupload the CAT files and for this you will need to overwrite the Content File with a new name/ID to prevent Steam from updating it

I would leave the DLC/Vanilla CAT Files as is though and use that method only for Mods

Change the Content Id and Name to anything of your choosing to prevent updates to your changes

Ok, Now that we have all the necessary files ready, we can start moving our Sectors

Open the mod you wish to change. Find the Maps/xu_ep2_universe folders

Open Galaxy with notepad

<offset>
<position x=”-30000000″ y=”0″ z=”51960000″/>
</offset>

You are looking for these numbers, x=”0″ y=”0″ z=”0″ is always the center of the map which is grand exchange, going down or to the left is always a negative number and the opposite is true for going up or to the right

Z = Left and Right
X = Up and Down

Now if we wanted to move this particular sector, what I do i cross reference the sector with a vanilla sector

Open a new folder for the vanilla files, find the libraries/mapdefaults and look for two sectors that align with where you want them on the map on the X/Z Plane

We need to grab and remember the cluster Id’s from here, (IE: <!–Grand Exchange–>
<dataset macro=”Cluster_01_macro”>)

Cluster_01 will be the reference for Grand Exchange in the files and how you will identify it

So now lets move this sector to above Second Contact where I have my Icon Sector

It shares X with Second Contact and shares Y with Memory of profit IX

<dataset macro=”Cluster_13_macro”> (Second Contact)
<dataset macro=”Cluster_03_macro”> (Memory of Profit IX)

Now open the same galaxy file that you opened for the mod

look for Cluster 13 and 03

Cluster 13
x=”-30000000″

Cluster 03
z=”17320000″

The new sector placement is

<offset>
<position x=”-30000000″ y=”0″ z=”17320000″/>
</offset>

and will move this sector right above Second Contact

There is an exact math to this, where you can skip cross referencing but this is the best solution both for learning to read game files and accidentally miscalculating the numbers since going diagonal and whatnot can throw the math off.