155 lines
8.5 KiB
PHP
155 lines
8.5 KiB
PHP
|
<!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="style/style.css">
|
|||
|
|
</head>
|
|||
|
|
<body>
|
|||
|
|
<?php include '../../_menu.php'; ?>
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
<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>
|