This is a tool I made in C that reads the tacticstypes.ini or efx.ini (or mod_efx.ini, makes no difference) and has as an output file a txt with the free slots for DEVICETYPE, SHIPCLASS, SHIPTYPE and EFX on said files. It can also make you a new tacticstype or efx.ini file with all the numbers of devicetypes, shipclasses, etc, in numerical order.
Usage: Open a windows terminal (either type "cmd" in the search tab or go to run and type "cmd" (withouth the inverted comas in both cases, of course)
Then navigate towards the directory where you placed the tool (type cd and the path) and then invoke it like this: (or just type tacticstype_tool.exe and this message will appear in the command promt)
Usage: first parametres: -t it means that you wish to read the tacticstype.ini file. -e it means that you wish to read the efx.ini or mod_efx.ini file
Second parametres: -r it means that you want to only check for the available numbers, not modify it. -m it means that you want to modify the file by placing all the tag's (SHIPCLASS, SHIPTYPE, EFX, etc) numbers in ascending order -mr or -rm you've guessed it, it'll do both of above things.
Third parametre: the third and last parametre is the path (absolute or relative) to the file to be read The newly created file\s will be dumped on the directory from where this program was called.
Example of usage: tacticstypes_tool.exe -t -r c:\Program Files\Nexus - The Jupiter Incident\mods\universe\tactics\tacticstypes.ini
This tool is obsolete now, you can find a newer version here: Moddb.com