ULTIMATE MOD 4 - BETA v2 BACKGROUND
I have not attempted to alter the feel and flavour of UM3 too much, so there have been no wholesale changes to rebalance the gameplay of trek.exe. This has mainly been because A). I have not encountered Gowron lately so have not had the chance to bend his ear on his modding techniques, B). Without that third party assistance I have not had the time to discover and test all his techniques myself.
So Ultimate Mod 4 remains, for now, Vanilla-ish in AI gameplay (Vanilla with a few choc-chips and nuts sprinkled in

BRIEF MOD NOTES
Ship-wise, UM3 players can expect to see all my old UM ships return to action, phasers firing. One new Federation ship makes an appearance, a non-canon ship I call 'Utopia-class', a modern Sovereign-era Heavy Cruiser, replacing the Galaxy-X class.

This was to replace the Galaxy-X, that it seemed many were not a fan of. This ship will do I guess, it's my own design even though I'm not a big fan of non-canon (Fed) designs being used in game. The texture job is not as ideal as I wanted, thus the Sovereign was used as a template, but all in all it seems to perform well in combat. For those that don't like it, simple: replace with old Galaxy-X and rename all necessary files hv__.xxx in accordance with UM4s shiplist.
The Dominion makes an appearance in this mod for the first time, as promised in the release notes of UM3. The Ferengi have been replaced. All Dominion ships except one are included with the thanks of Siggi (of Ultimate Dominion Mod). New models for the Federation Outpost and Starbase also appear from UDM2. The one new Dominion ship I've made for this mod is a Colony ship (replacing the reconditioned Acamarian cruiser of UDM).

*******************************
Multiple modifications have been made over the top of Ultimate mod 3 - structures, stats, images (im too lazy to rediscover and list all new content, some you will have to find yourself

But much of the new stuff necessary for this wholesale change is indeed new, and not taken from any other mod. As stated, the only material borrowed from elsewhere is Siggi's Dominion ships, Jigs Dy-100, Galor and Keldon (although I've retextured), and that's about it.
I nod my head in humble thanks and approval in the direction of messrs Jig and Siggi for their work and contribution to BOTF modding. It is a useful and lucrative arrangement, as much content of UM3 was leant to UDM, and now thus the circle returns. We share and share alike, and all are enriched...
IN ADDITION:
-Modified Ferengi GUI has been implemented for those playing as the Dominion. This was an important change, as I felt it imperative that a player differentiate a new gaming feel and experience for the Dominion. The GUI is convincing and looks adequate indeed I believe, and far better than if the Ferengi (and all gameplay elements thereof) were simply appearing as essentially the same entity as before, but renamed 'Dominion'. On top of myriad new graphics - icons, buttons, galactic map fonts/colours, and even a rotating Dominion cursor have all been made.
-There is nothing as yet to be found in the Ultimate Mod 'franchise' that reflects Gowron's great endevour to unscramble trek.exe. Much of the flavour of BOTF vanilla is retained. I've yet to discover all of Gowrons modding secrets, and did not wish to simply overlay UM4 with his .exe file. In time, perhaps, when more is known, fixes and rebalance amendements will be made.
-Two new minor races have been also included (on top of new races in UM3). The Ferengi now appear as a minor. The Bajorans aren't spacefaring now, (their ships in vanilla were useless anyway), but they are not quite passive like a normal minor - they do have something else to keep their militia busy . Also, the Gorn are now space-faring, and have a refitted and retextured Ferengi Raider as their warship (until I get round to making a new design for them).
-The mod has been made in accordance with the Hades combat mod, thus all textures (that are here included) have been reduced to the requisite 256x256 resolution. A slight degradation of draw quality is noted, but 3d runtime simulations are now considerably improved in stability, and virtually crash-free.
-The list of enhancements are extensive. It has been much work. One key point which you must however know in advance of playing is the 'division' of the tech tree. This was an idea I noted that was posted on the AFC forums - thank you for the idea whoever you are, let me know and I shall credit you. The concept is, that there are now significant gaps in the research process, designed to attenuate the specific Trek eras of [TOS] [POST TOS/TMP] and [TNG to beyond]. The tech 'epochs' are now: tech 0-3 / 4-7 / 8-10. Expect a much longer period with your TOS ships now. This has worked well in testing, and serves to enhance epic play.
-Another extensive change is the addition of more than 100 new Audio files, which represent various games sounds and voice-overs. These incorporate the file English.snd, and must be added to C:/BOTF. This file caters for not only for the diplomacy reports for new races, but to completely replace all Ferengi material (in some ship combat areas with reused Cardassian dialogue).
That's about it... Bottom line. If you like UM3, you'll like UM4 more

***************************************
INSTALLATION
You will need Winrar. Until a self-installer is implemented, use the good old fashioned method.
I have uploaded 2 files to 4shared. One contains game files, the other contains trek.exe and English.snd (and the readme.txt). You obviously need to download both. They are:
BOTF_UM4_GAMEFILES-Beta2.rar
BOTF_UM4_OTHER-Beta2.rar
Don't d/l the others.
Unfortunately I couldn't upload all as one RAR file, as the file size exceeds 100mb. This is mainly because of the 1,500 (believe it or not) modified image files used by UM4.
NOTE: Botf Standard for modders is required. The dlls for Hades are required (not the GIFs - they are included with UM4). A CLEAN (ie unmodded) 102 version of the stbof.res is required.
DOWNLOAD
KNOWN ISSUES
- The Bajorans when encountered are 'Enraged' by default for some reason. This bug has failed to resolve itself. Please let me know if anyone finds a way to fix this.
- The Dominion structure 'Anti-Proton Array' does not enter the build queue as desired when the tech is reached (awaits a fix). The structure is a reuse of the Cardassian 'Covert Sensor Array', (which was meant for both empires to build). It may be that it is similar to the Fed's Utopia Planitia, and is a special structure that cannot be modded for other empires to use...
-A problem with starabes which continues to mystify. For some reason I think Klingon starbases can't be built. Please list these problems in this thread, and/or any suggestion for fixes or workarounds.
-Crashes have been noticed when encounering certain minor race systems, notably the Corvallens. Have attempted to correct this but success remains unknown - further testing required.
***************************************
Thats about all folks. I'm taking all and any volunteers here to try the mod out - would love to hear from some UM oldskool players to check it out. Have fun, and please remember to post your thoughts, feedback, and any bug reports.
I hope I haven't rushed the mod before time and overlooked some glaringly obvious bug/flaw! But as best I can tell, almost everything works ok.
cheers