Some important notes:
0. To make best use of all these goodies and see the .LNZ files as the text
files that they really are, you'll find that it's best to either use
my preferred method of External .LNZ files, or ResHacker (except for Oddballz, where
ResHacker is not an option). After you've done all your editing like that, you can
then work on making the .lnz fit over the original one's space in the breedfile if you
are not using ResHacker.
1. For the Key Texts which are in the [ ] brackets, you really really need
to take care that you have your lower and uppercase letters exactly as in the game's
originals, because otherwise the game will either ignore the section, or
crash, or produce something weird like the "robo-dog" effect.
2. whatever is in the breedfile's .LNZ sections will override the equivalent
sections in the Dogmaster.lnz or Catmaster.lnz; Similarly there are items not even in the "master"
.lnz files, but apparently created somewhere in the engine, which we can enter into our
breed's .lnz and control!
3. Don't forget that a breed actually contains two .LNZ sections -- okay,
the poodle and Alley cat have four, but the extras are only for a different kind of variation.
The point I'm making is that each breedfile has an adult .lnz and a puppy or kitten .lnz.
Where there are sizes, fuzz amounts, or defaults etc listed in the puppy/kitten,
if you change a ball size or fuzz or default etc in the adult only, it will not show
up in the puppy or kitten.
4. Just about anything in a .lnz file can be given a set of variations. Truly.
And if you take care with the format (see my howtos on variations, and look at the way
I made my Lips breed etc) you can "link" all the variations together if you wish, as
well as linking adult variations to variations within the puppy or kitten's .lnz.
5. The information in these sheets also holds true for Babyz .LNZ files and Oddballz .LNZ files;
although they might look a little different at first glance, the same basic
structure holds good for them also. Babyz has more ballz, a Polygons section, and more limited behaviours,
and Oddballz has other extra Key Texts as well as exciting emoticons options and behaviours;
that's really the only difference for the hexer.
A Summary:
A: PETZ.
=======
When creating a .pet at the Adoption Centre or as a foetus and then a newborn,
here are the things that the game will look for, either in the breedfile, or one of
the resource .dll files, or in a specified directory on your hard drive:
[Ear Extension]
[Eyes]
[256 Eyelid Color]
[Face Extension]
[Body Extension]
[Draw Small Balls]
[Force To Male]
[Force To Female]
[Z Shade Slope]
[Default Glue Ball]
[Line Render Mode]
[Circle Render Mode]
[Draw Linez Before Ballz]
[Species]
[Lnz Version]
[Num Ballz]
[Additional Frames]
[Little one]
[Default Linez File]
[Breed Name]
[Sounds]
[Default Scales]
[Feet Enlargement]
[Head Enlargement]
[Leg Extension]
[Head Tilt Limits]
[Head Rotation Limits]
[Paint Ballz]
[Whiskers]
[Ballz Info]
[Linez]
[Default Linez Thickness]
[Omissions]
[Project Ball]
[Move]
[Thin/Fat]
[Add Ball]
[Head Shot]
[No Texture Rotate] (not as useful as it sounds)
[Texture List]
[Outline Color Override]
[Fuzz Override]
[Ball Size Override]
[Color Info Override]
[Add Ball Override]
[Extra Head Balls]
[Extra Balls]
[Left Brow Balls]
[Right Brow Balls]
[Jowlz Balls]
[Whisker Balls]
[Tail Balls]
[Left Ear Balls]
[Right Ear Balls]
[Left Arm Balls]
[Right Arm Balls]
[Head Balls]
[Left Foot Balls]
[Right Foot Balls]
[Left Hand Balls]
[Right Hand Balls]
[Left Leg Balls]
[Right Leg Balls]
[Body Balls]
[Key Balls]
[Fur Color Areas]
[Fur Pattern Balls]
[Fur Markings]
[Marking Factor]
[Spot Factor]
[Adjust Clothing]
[Flat Clothing]
[Add Clothing]
Some of these are more important than others for us hexers. For instance, a
hexie will work fine without [Breed Name] being altered at all; on the other
hand, you can have a giggle if you change [Species]. The magical thing for us
is that anything we put in the breedfile's .lnz will override anything that is
in the "master" .lnz (which is in one of the .dll files) or even anything which
is created by the game engine. So we can insert all of these items into our
.lnz file and be sure that our breed will use them.
B: Babyz.
=========
Babyz have other fields also which can be manipulated. For babyz, the
game accesses these, whenever available, when making a new baby:
[Num Ballz]
[Default Linez File]
[Lnz Version]
[Species]
[Draw Linez Before Ballz]
[Circle Render Mode]
[Line Render Mode]
[Default Glue Ball]
[Z Shade Slope]
[Force To Female]
[Force To Male]
[Draw Small Balls]
[Body Extension]
[Face Extension]
[Ear Extension]
[Sounds]
[Breed Name]
[Little one]
[Additional Frames]
[Leg Extension]
[Head Enlargement]
[Feet Enlargement]
[Default Scales]
[Head Rotation Limits]
[Head Tilt Limits]
[Texture List]
[Head Shot]
[256 Eyelid Color]
[Add Ball]
[Thin/Fat]
[Move]
[Project Ball]
[Omissions]
[Linez]
[Polygons]
[Ballz Info]
[Eyelash Info]
[Whiskers]
[Paint Ballz]
[Texture List]
[No Texture Rotate] (not as useful as it sounds)
[Default Linez Thickness]
[Color Info Override]
[Ball Size Override]
[Fuzz Override]
[Outline Color Override]
[Add Ball Override] (sounds interesting)
[Eyelash Info]
[Whiskers]
[Body Balls]
[Right Leg Balls]
[Left Leg Balls]
[Right Hand Balls]
[Left Hand Balls]
[Right Foot Balls]
[Left Foot Balls]
[Head Balls]
[Right Arm Balls]
[Left Arm Balls]
[Right Ear Balls]
[Left Ear Balls]
[Tail Balls]
[Whisker Balls]
[Jowlz Balls]
[Right Brow Balls]
[Left Brow Balls]
[Extra Balls]
[Extra Head Balls]
[Key Balls]
[Eyes]
[Key Balls]
[Fur Color Areas]
[Fur Pattern Balls]
[Fur Markings]
[Marking Factor]
[Spot Factor]
[Adjust Clothing]
[Flat Clothing]
[Add Clothing]
Some of these are obviously left-overs from the petz games, and actually do
nothing in Babyz, such as the [Force To Female], [Force To Male], [Breed Name].
Others, such as [Polygons] and [Eyelash Info], are new and specific to Babyz.
C. ODDBALLZ.
==================
Oddballz may be missing on all the paint ballz and on variations ("override" sections),
but they do have some pretty exciting fields which can be manipulated. For Oddballz, the
game accesses these:
[Default Linez File]
[Default Factors]
[Outline Type]
[Outline Color]
[Fuzz]
[16 Ball Color]
[Ball Size Diffs]
[Speckle Color]
[Body Area]
[Texture List]
[Ball Texture]
[256 Ball Color]
[Leg Extension]
[Body Extension]
[Face Extension]
[Head Enlargement]
[Feet Enlargement]
[Ear Extension]
[Skeleton Type]
[Draw Linez Before Ballz]
[Circle Render Mode]
[Line Render Mode]
[Vocal Type]
[Swat Type]
[Sing Type]
[Extra Sounds]
[Learning Rate]
[Num Tricks]
[Align To Food Offset]
[Locomote Types]
[Grub Love]
[Favorite Toy]
[Favorite Flavor]
[Poison Flavor]
[Clumsiness]
[JumpToCeiling]
[MinBallScale]
[MaxBallScale]
[MinMasterScale]
[MaxMasterScale]
[Feeding Times]
[Fasting Times]
[Awake Times]
[Sleeping Times]
[Farminator Switches]
[Head Rotation Limits]
[Head Tilt Limits]
[Z Shade Slope]
[Breed Name]
[OddLove Breed Name]
[Little one]
[Sounds]
[Eyes]
[256 Eyelid Color]
[16 Eyelid Color]
[256 Iris Color]
[16 Iris Color]
[Pupil Color]
[Default Glue Ball]
[Key Balls]
[Default Scales]
[Tongue Balls]
[Strings]
[Move Up]
[Move Foward]
[Move Sideways]
[Project Ball]
[Add Ball]
[Dont Layer Ballz]
[Right Arm Balls]
[Left Arm Balls]
[Right Leg Balls]
[Left Leg Balls]
[Right Hand Balls]
[Left Hand Balls]
[Right Foot Balls]
[Left Foot Balls]
[Head Balls]
[Omissions]
[Default Linez Thickness]
[Linez]
[Get Info]
[Ballz Info]
[Whiskers]
This is why so many of us find Oddballz so exciting; there is more special
stuff that we can manipulate than we ever can in the Petz games. We can specify
personality, emoticons, Transformations, type of movement (flying, hopping etc),
as well as all the things that we can specify in a Petz breed apart from Paint
Ballz and variations. The [Move] statements have been split up into three
separate sections instead of one; apart from that, all the sections that Oddballz
and Petz have in common can be entered in the same way.
I shall be producing details of the differences in Babyz and Oddballz .LNZ files
soon. No, really.