When you begin a game, it asks for you to make several choices.  When you get to the screen to set up your race, you choose the custom race option.  I have made several such races, and sometimes have them as opponents.

Have you tried settijng up a custom race, starting the first game turn, quitting the game, then coming back in again with a new game and checking to see if that race is an option at the end when you pick the other players?

sigh...but the person i saw didn't use mods and had the original game.....is there somewhere i can gt this Dark Avatar for free cause the only reason i bought this one was to play against my own opponents....

Also i don't do online shhopping with credit cards cause ive had bad troubles before

I had Dread Lords alone for quite a while before I got the expansions. It makes remembering things like that a lot easier then if I had bought all three at once.