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