MOVING THE SPOTS / PATCHES Here is an example sent to me a while ago; I was being asked how to move the [Paint Ballz]. What I say below applies also to [Add Ball] ballz' x,y,z positions, and it's also something that might help you to understand about the x,y,z shifts in [Move]. First off, what I was sent was a copy of data which showed that my questioner was editing directly into the hex editor. I edit in a totally different way, so what she was showing me makes very little sense to me. People who edit direct into the hex editor are trying to "paint by numbers", counting laboriously the number of dots or numbers or spaces until they get to the number they want. How can they possibly really _understand_ the files that way?? The way I do it, I get to see the thing laid out the way it's supposed to be, as a text file with columns that have handy headers (programmers' comments really, designed to help them but it also helps us hexers). Instead of > ..;paws.;belly p > atch..48, 80 - > 9, -.7, -5 > .109.35.4.-1. > 5.0..## we would then see it as [Paint Ballz] ;base ball diameter(% of baseball) direction color outlinecolor (etc) ;paws ;belly patch 48, 80 -9, -.7, -5 109 35 4 -1 5 0 ## See? Much clearer, and you can see that the base ball is 48, the diameter is 80, the x,y,z are -9, -.7, -5, the colour is 109, the outline colour 35, and so on. Okay, on to moving spots. Each ball on a pet or babyz has three co-ordinates, just as every part of your own body does. Your fingernail is on the top of your finger and centrally placed. So, relative to the centre of your finger-tip, its x direction is zero (neither to left nor right), its y (up/down) direction is "up" by a certain amount, and its z direction (forward/back) is slightly forward. In Petz and Babyz, these co-ordinates, or "directions", are shown by numbers. The x is more negative or positive depending on whether the added ball is to left or right, the y is more negative if the added ball is higher up, and the z is more negative if it's further forward. The same applies to paint Ballz, except that in this case the ball is always on the surface of the base ball, so the position is all to do with where on the surface it is -- to one side or the other, closer to the top, or closer to the front. Oh, and I can never remember whether more negative for the x position is more left or right -- even after all these years, I _still_ have to guess. One of these days I'll actually remember to note it down... I hope that helps Carolyn