141 lines
9.1 KiB
HTML
141 lines
9.1 KiB
HTML
|
<!DOCTYPE html>
|
|||
|
|
<html lang="en">
|
|||
|
|
<head>
|
|||
|
|
<meta charset="UTF-8">
|
|||
|
|
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
|
|||
|
|
<title>2006 and later Catz and Dogz</title>
|
|||
|
|
<link rel="stylesheet" href="carolyns_creations_frames.css">
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
<!-- archive menu -->
|
|||
|
|
<script src="/menu.js" type="module"></script>
|
|||
|
|
</head>
|
|||
|
|
<body>
|
|||
|
|
<div class="center green">
|
|||
|
|
<p>.</p>
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
<p>
|
|||
|
|
<span class="big">
|
|||
|
|
<b>2006 and later Catz, Dogz and Horsez games</b><br>
|
|||
|
|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<br>
|
|||
|
|
As of late 2006 and beyond... Just a note to anyone who potters along to Petz.com or Babyz.net and sees
|
|||
|
|
the new games that were released recently.<br>
|
|||
|
|
</span>
|
|||
|
|
Most of you already knew that a bunch of virtual life games have been released by UbiSoft since 2006, for
|
|||
|
|
various consoles and for the PC. Hamsterz Life, Hamsterz 2 and Bunnyz are apparently only for the Nintendo DS,
|
|||
|
|
Horsez and Horsez 2 are released for NDS and PS2 as well as for PC, and there are some wildlife "petz" games
|
|||
|
|
also for the NDS centered around Tigerz and Dolphinz. various Catz and Dogz games have been released for mobile
|
|||
|
|
phone, Gameboy Advance, NDS, PS2, Wii and PC. Although most of these would be playable and, presumably, moddable
|
|||
|
|
on the PC using emulators, it's the native PC versions that I'm talking about here. If anyone wants to mod, or
|
|||
|
|
hex, the NDS or mobile phone versions of the games you'll find very active modding communities amongst the
|
|||
|
|
emulator scene. There is also a PS2 emulator for anyone who wants to try that, and there may well be a modding
|
|||
|
|
community for PS2 games, but I don't believe that there is any way as yet to play a Wii game on an emulator.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
<p>
|
|||
|
|
<span class="big">Although they are named Catz and Dogz or Catz 2 and Dogz 2, the latest "Petz" games for
|
|||
|
|
Windows are not really part of the Petz series we know and love.</span><br>
|
|||
|
|
They are not really a "Petz 6" although for convenience people have referred to them that way; the first two
|
|||
|
|
were also known as Catz 2006 and Dogz 2006 for a while. There are many differences between these latest games
|
|||
|
|
and the ones that we have so far enjoyed, the most obvious being that the catz and dogz are 3D and that you have
|
|||
|
|
to earn points, or coins, to get even the basics that your pet will need. I'm sure a lot of people will enjoy
|
|||
|
|
the games, but they are not a part of the original series and you will not be able to import your petz from Petz
|
|||
|
|
5 or earlier. If you enjoy these games, you might like to check out <a
|
|||
|
|
href="https://web.archive.org/web/20100223210547/http://www.lostsockgames.com/games.html">Lost Sock
|
|||
|
|
Games </a>titles -- Puppy Luv, Kitty Luv, Pony Luv and Hollywood Pets are very similar in many ways.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
<p class="big">
|
|||
|
|
As regards modifying the games, however, things have been made easy enough for us "hexers" apart from the 3D
|
|||
|
|
models. The files used by the game are:
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
<p>
|
|||
|
|
<b>LUA, INI,</b> and <b>TXT</b> files all of which are text files which can be edited in Notepad.<br>
|
|||
|
|
You'd have to get used to what all the various column headers and key words mean, but there's no harm in
|
|||
|
|
experimenting -- so long as you keep backups of everything of course. The saved-game files, which is where your
|
|||
|
|
pets are stored, are .sav files, also just text files, which can be edited. They are stored in your<br>
|
|||
|
|
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Ubisoft\Catz (or Catz2)<br>
|
|||
|
|
folder or<br>
|
|||
|
|
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Ubisoft\Dogz (or Dogz2).
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
<p><b>TGA</b> files which are a recognisable format for most paint programs.</p>
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
<p><b>WAV</b> and <b>MP3</b> files which are editable sounds.</p>
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
<p>
|
|||
|
|
<b>DDS</b> files, which are actually editable with the correct tools. They can easily be edited using a plug-in
|
|||
|
|
which works with either Paint Shop Pro or Photoshop, available for free from <a
|
|||
|
|
href="https://developer.nvidia.com/">Nvidia's</a> site -- the is dds.8bi<br>
|
|||
|
|
http://developer.nvidia.com/docs/IO/1176/ATT/dds.8bi
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
<p>
|
|||
|
|
GR2 files, which are "Granny 3D" files. These are not so easy to edit and are, in a way, the 3D "bones" of the
|
|||
|
|
game. Of course anyone who has the Granny 3D SDK would be able to edit them, but that's beyond the pocket of
|
|||
|
|
most of us I'd have thought! I have heard rumours that there is a Milkshape plug-in that allows these to be
|
|||
|
|
edited, but if not there is at least a tool that allows them to be viewed, obtainable for free from <a
|
|||
|
|
href="http://www.radgametools.com/gramain.htm">the Granny 3D site</a><br>
|
|||
|
|
<b>Update as of mid-2008 -- there is now a free way to extract the GR2 files so that they can be edited in a
|
|||
|
|
3D modelling program. A close friend of mine called Topper Carson has the games and he found that there are
|
|||
|
|
some amazing people who have been picking away at the Gr2 files which so many games use these days. For
|
|||
|
|
useful tools and info pop along to the <a
|
|||
|
|
href="https://web.archive.org/web/20111230075015/http://gr2decode.altervista.org/index.html">"Decode
|
|||
|
|
Gr2"</a> site. So theoretically you should be able to modify anything that you wish in these games.</b>
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
<p>
|
|||
|
|
<b>The Horsez game, as with Catz 2006 and Dogz 2006 and beyond, is not a real part of the Petz series. You're
|
|||
|
|
supposed to care for your chosen horse as well as enter it for shows and have some adventures with it, and
|
|||
|
|
the environment is a 3D one. For anyone who has the game and wants to edit it, the graphics are in the form
|
|||
|
|
of editable .tga files which you should be able to edit in a reasonable paint package, and the "bones" of it
|
|||
|
|
are in the form of .nmo files which will have been created via Virtools. If you have <a
|
|||
|
|
href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090115210846/http://www.virtools.com/">Virtools </a>of course
|
|||
|
|
you'll be able to edit them. I don't know if there is a cheaper utility for editing such things, but if
|
|||
|
|
you're keen you could have a look around Google. The saved-game files are in a directory off the Horsez one,
|
|||
|
|
called Save, and the files in there are .txt files and therefore should be easy to edit. You'd have to get
|
|||
|
|
used to what all the various column headers and key words mean, but there's no harm in experimenting -- so
|
|||
|
|
long as you keep backups of everything of course.</b>
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
<p>
|
|||
|
|
<b>Babyz players, the only new games available for you from Ubisoft now seem to be only for the NDS. So far
|
|||
|
|
there is "Imagine Babies" (also called "Imagine Babyz" in the US) and possibly due for release in September
|
|||
|
|
2008, "Imagine Baby Club". The first one is probably closer to the original Babyz experience, but in my
|
|||
|
|
opinion neither seems like a good replacement. They are part of the extremely girly Imagine series for
|
|||
|
|
NDS<br>
|
|||
|
|
A footnote for Babyz players -- there is a new game out called "Bratz Babyz", which starts up with a
|
|||
|
|
"Babyz.exe", which you might stumble across when looking for updates etc. As far as I know, it is not a
|
|||
|
|
UbiSoft game and it is certainly not in any way a new kind of Babyz game, plus the Babyz.exe will not work
|
|||
|
|
with your old favourite babyz game.</b>
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
<p>
|
|||
|
|
<b>I doubt that I'll be editing any of these newer PC games. Even apart from the fact that they aren't likely to
|
|||
|
|
work under my beloved Win 95, I don't really have the time even to play these days, and as for my skill in
|
|||
|
|
editing graphics, well... let's just say I'm "graphically challenged", LOL. Of course I'd have no trouble
|
|||
|
|
cheating in the catz and dogz games, as the saved-game (i.e. pet) files are just LUA files -- in other
|
|||
|
|
words, they are editable in Notepad.</b>
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
<p><b>Enjoy</b></p>
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
<p><b>Carolyn</b></p>
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
<p>
|
|||
|
|
<b>For people who are interested in such things, since 2006 the rather complex ownership of the games is as
|
|||
|
|
follows. The Petz titles are now trademarks owned by "Ubisoft Entertainment". The mobile phone versions of
|
|||
|
|
Petz, Catz and Dogz have been released by Gameloft. The DS Catz games were developed by Powerhead Games
|
|||
|
|
while the DS and GBA Dogz games and the Catz GBA game are copyright to MTO Inc. For the Wii and PS2 the Dogz
|
|||
|
|
and Catz games are copyright to YUKE’S Co. as well as Ubisoft. For the PC, the Dogz and catz games were
|
|||
|
|
developed by ImaginEngine which is a division of Foundation 9 Entertainment.<br>It's all a long way from the
|
|||
|
|
day in 1995 when P.F. Magic created and put up for download their own unique and exciting game "Dogz". You
|
|||
|
|
could download it and try it, and if you liked it you could buy a key online -- which also was a new concept
|
|||
|
|
back then. It was so popular that it was also then released for the Apple Mac in 1996.</b>
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
<p>.</p>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
</body>
|
|||
|
|
</html>
|