Extract text from Starsector ship files (SHIP)
To convert SHIP ship files to another format, you need Starsector or other Game software.
To convert other file formats to the "Modding Data File" file type, you need software like Starsector or a similar tool.
A .ship file is primarily associated with Starsector, the open-world single-player space-combat role-playing game developed by Fractal Softworks. These files function as the DNA of a vessel, defining critical attributes such as hull integrity, flux capacity, weapon slot locations, and engine configurations. While they are the backbone of the game's modding community, the .ship extension is not natively recognized by Windows or macOS, leading to the common error "Windows cannot open this file" when users attempt to double-click them.
Practically, a .ship file is simply a standard JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) text file disguised with a custom extension. Users typically need to "convert" these files to editable text formats to tweak game balance, create new ship classes, or fix mod incompatibilities. The most pragmatic workflow is not a complex binary conversion, but rather treating the file as JSON or TXT. For modding purposes, users should open these files in code editors like Visual Studio Code or Notepad++, which provide necessary syntax highlighting. For broader accessibility or documentation, converting the raw data to PDF is possible but rarely useful compared to keeping it in a code-friendly format.
Convert.Guru analyzes your SHIP file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
Users also converted SHP, ANOM, KFP and HAT files.
If you want to convert SHIP file to CSV, JSON, XML, YAML, YML, TOML, INI, CFG, CONF, DAT, DB or SQL, you can use Starsector or similar software from the "Game Asset Configuration" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….
To convert DBF, XML, SQLITE, XLSX, SQL, TSV, ACCDB, YAML, MDB, CSV, ODS or JSON files to SHIP, try Starsector or another comparable tool in the "Game Asset Configuration" category.
The history of Convert.Guru began over 25 years ago in California with Tom Simondi’s file-format database. A former contributor to Space Shuttle development and a software pioneer of the 1980s, Simondi established a trusted resource for file type analysis that was even referenced by Microsoft Windows XP. Today, we use modern technology to process and convert thousands of file formats while continually improving our SHIP converter.