.tbm files do not change the order things are loaded in. Table entries will always appear first followed by .tbm entries determined by load hierarchy.
I'm afraid you've lost me a bit there. What i want to change is the order the ships are listed in the tech room database or in FRED (so the Faustus for example appears lower down on the list, and so new entries can be between existing ones if they are arranged such in the tbm). Is that what you mean? If that's the case then i'll probably need to have a whole table file instead of a tbm in the campaign.
As for renaming ships why not just use alt name (or alt class or whatever that is) in the mission?
Because i wanted the different name to appear on entries in the tech room (for example, i wanted to call the Medical Faustus "GTM Deadelus", which if i remember right Dark had its name as on his website when he made the model).
If all you are doing is changing the name for the ship class in mission then you need to be doing what FUBAR-BDHR is trying to get at which is instead of using tbl/tbm what you want to do is place a Medical Faustus into your mission in FRED-> double click the ship to bring up the ship editor -> click the alt ship class button under the assist %, and player ship controls and use that editor to set up the alternative class in mission.
If it's critical to get the tech room entry and that it is in a certain position then you need to
1- create your own mod folder (\Freespace 2\T-Mans Port Mod\data\tables),
2- copy port's ship table into the tables folder your new mod folder,
3- add a mod.ini to the "T-Mans Port Mod" folder.
4- the Mod.ini needs to reference port (the game will follow port's mod.ini to load the MVP/PortMVP folders if I remember correctly, if not then add them).
5- Now you can edit the copy of the ships table in your mod folder to your hearts content inserting the new ship between the ships you want it to show up between without risking directly braking port or another mod that refers to port.
the new table file will override port's table but only when your new mod is selected as the mod in the games launcher.
I strongly suggest leaving all port files alone as this method requires no editing of any files within the port/portMVP mod folders and the team will probably not thank you if you come to them with a problem down the line and it turns out to be directly or indirectly due to your modification of their files.
