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