Screwing around with Starter Families

Most players of C3/DS are aware of the Welcome Screen that greets you whenever you create a new world. One of the options on this screen gives you two adult, pre-trained norns to start off with. This was fine and dandy back in the day, but now with all the improved genetics running around, the default genomes the starters use is really outdated.

So I decided to look into the possibility that the starters could be messed with. This sounds simple, but the starter families use a unique file type (.family), which I wasn't certain could be edited. However, changing these files around is not difficult at all - the way the .family files are composed is almost identical to the way normal .creature files are composed.

A little background info first: Compiling a .creature file uses PRAY, just like .agent files do. However, the way the file's set up looks quite a bit different from an .agent file:

"en-GB"

inline GLST "001-mist-jru57-bwdgq-xp8h2-65prp.glist.creature" "001-mist-jru57-bwdgq-xp8h2-65prp.glist.creature"

inline CREA "001-mist-jru57-bwdgq-xp8h2-65prp.creature" "001-mist-jru57-bwdgq-xp8h2-65prp.creature"

inline GENE "001-mist-jru57-bwdgq-xp8h2-65prp.genetics" "001-mist-jru57-bwdgq-xp8h2-65prp.genetics"

inline PHOT "001-mist-jru57-bwdgq-xp8h2-65prp-2.photo" "001-mist-jru57-bwdgq-xp8h2-65prp-2.photo"

group EXPC "001-mist-jru57-bwdgq-xp8h2-65prp"
  "Creature Age In Ticks" 552
  "Creature Life Stage" 4
  "Exported At Real Time" 1367289044
  "Exported At World Time" 8007
  "Gender" 2
  "Genus" 2
  "Pregnancy Status" 0
  "Variant" 4
  "Creature Name" ""
  "Exported From World Name" "Engineering"
  "Exported From World UID" "ship-6v34z-wncpq-65jll-srkjr"
  "Head Gallery" "A40a"

I'm not quite sure what GLST and CREA are supposed to do - I'm guessing the former has something to do with life events, but the latter just seems recursive (considering the finished file is a .creature file). GENE and PHOT are the creature's genetics and photographs, respectively. This particular PRAY file came from a C3 standalone creature, so there's probably some additional information in the PRAY files for a DS creature.

What exactly all this means isn't important at the moment, however - what's important is how this relates to .family files. As it turns out, .family files also use PRAY and are compiled almost identically to .creature files:

 "en-GB"

inline GLST "001-time-6rja3-nmfrr-hsfgz-ubtj2.glist.creature" "001-time-6rja3-nmfrr-hsfgz-ubtj2.glist.creature"

inline CREA "001-time-6rja3-nmfrr-hsfgz-ubtj2.creature" "001-time-6rja3-nmfrr-hsfgz-ubtj2.creature"

inline GENE "001-time-6rja3-nmfrr-hsfgz-ubtj2.genetics" "001-time-6rja3-nmfrr-hsfgz-ubtj2.genetics"

inline PHOT "001-time-6rja3-nmfrr-hsfgz-ubtj2-4.photo" "001-time-6rja3-nmfrr-hsfgz-ubtj2-4.photo"

group SFAM "001-time-6rja3-nmfrr-hsfgz-ubtj2"
  "Creature Age In Ticks" 856
  "Creature Life Stage" 4
  "Exported At Real Time" 965732356
  "Exported At World Time" 1357
  "Gender" 1
  "Genus" 1
  "Pregnancy Status" 0
  "Variant" 3
  "Creature Name" ""
  "Exported From World Name" "Training ground"
  "Exported From World UID" "ship-hd4jj-kfwpp-7ts2c-3qxay"
  "Head Gallery" "A00a"

Literally the only difference between .family files and .creature files is the fact that the PRAY group for .family files is SFAM rather than EXPC. Which means that if you take the PRAY file of a normal .creature file, change EXPC to SFAM, and recompile the file, you get a file that the game can use as a starter parent.

And here's how you do that:
1. Export a creature of your choosing.
2. Decompile the .creature file into its component parts somehow (REVELATION works extremely well, and I believe the PRAY Decompiler at TCR can also break it down. Jagent can't handle .creature files as well as it can .agents files, unfortunately, so I wouldn't recommend using it in this case).
3. Find the .ps file and open it up (if you're using Windows, Notepad can open it and edit it without issues)
4. Find the line that begins "group EXPC..." Change EXPC to SFAM.
5. Now grab all the parts that decompiling the .creature file gave you (.creature, .glist.creature, .genetics, and .photo) in addition to to your altered .ps file and recompile it (I used PRAYBuilder for this - considering Monk's difficulty decompiling .creature files, I'm not sure if it'll work for compiling them).
6. You'll get a .agents file. Change the extension to .family (ignore any warnings your OS might give you about doing this).
7. That's it! You can now put the .family file into your "My Agents" folder (though I recommend replacing one of the default .family files - I haven't gotten around to testing what happens if you just drop it in there). When you create a new world, select the Starter Parent option and one of the creatures that gets dropped in should be the one you exported earlier.

More testing remains to be done concerning this subject (particularly if the choice of starter parent can be randomized), but the fact that it can be changed at all can make the early game a little more interesting. Let me know what you come up with!

Edit: So I just decompiled a .ds.creature file, and turns out PRAY files for those look a bit different:

 "en-GB"

inline GLST "001-star-tnhhf-mp5aj-nq88u-suksv.DSEX.glist.creature" "001-star-tnhhf-mp5aj-nq88u-suksv.DSEX.glist.creature"

inline CREA "001-star-tnhhf-mp5aj-nq88u-suksv.DSEX.creature" "001-star-tnhhf-mp5aj-nq88u-suksv.DSEX.creature"

inline GENE "001-star-tnhhf-mp5aj-nq88u-suksv.DSEX.genetics" "001-star-tnhhf-mp5aj-nq88u-suksv.DSEX.genetics"

inline PHOT "001-star-tnhhf-mp5aj-nq88u-suksv-2.DSEX.photo" "001-star-tnhhf-mp5aj-nq88u-suksv-2.DSEX.photo"

inline PHOT "001-star-tnhhf-mp5aj-nq88u-suksv-7.DSEX.photo" "001-star-tnhhf-mp5aj-nq88u-suksv-7.DSEX.photo"

group DSEX "001-star-tnhhf-mp5aj-nq88u-suksv.DSEX"
  "Creature Age In Ticks" 712
  "Creature Life Stage" 4
  "Exported At Real Time" 1367291960
  "Exported At World Time" 450487
  "Gender" 2
  "Genus" 1
  "Pray Extra Tint_Blue" 128
  "Pray Extra Tint_Green" 128
  "Pray Extra Tint_Red" 132
  "Pray Extra Tint_Rota" 128
  "Pray Extra Tint_Swap" 128
  "Pregnancy Status" 0
  "Variant" 4
  "Creature Name" ""
  "Exported From World Name" "Crystal Cave"
  "Exported From World UID" "dock-y8fwb-r7knm-65q4j-dja5a"
  "Head Gallery" "a40w"
  "Last Network User" ""
  "Native Network User" ""
  "Pray Extra Birthday" "29 Apr 2013 23:18"
  "Pray Extra Moniker" "001-star-tnhhf-mp5aj-nq88u-suksv"
  "Pray Extra Pregnant" ""

And here's what DS .family files look like:

"en-GB"

inline GLST "001-aqua-hgru4-5fevv-aaz32-7npj8.DFAM.glist.creature" "001-aqua-hgru4-5fevv-aaz32-7npj8.DFAM.glist.creature"

inline CREA "001-aqua-hgru4-5fevv-aaz32-7npj8.DFAM.creature" "001-aqua-hgru4-5fevv-aaz32-7npj8.DFAM.creature"

inline GENE "001-aqua-hgru4-5fevv-aaz32-7npj8.DFAM.genetics" "001-aqua-hgru4-5fevv-aaz32-7npj8.DFAM.genetics"

inline PHOT "001-aqua-hgru4-5fevv-aaz32-7npj8-3.DFAM.photo" "001-aqua-hgru4-5fevv-aaz32-7npj8-3.DFAM.photo"

group DFAM "001-aqua-hgru4-5fevv-aaz32-7npj8.DFAM"
  "Creature Age In Ticks" 1196
  "Creature Life Stage" 4
  "Exported At Real Time" 995030875
  "Exported At World Time" 1698
  "Gender" 1
  "Genus" 1
  "Pregnancy Status" 0
  "Variant" 7
  "Creature Name" ""
  "Exported From World Name" "Space camp"
  "Exported From World UID" "dock-rszby-82syq-c4an3-xpapx"
  "Head Gallery" "a00d"
  "Last Network User" ""
  "Native Network User" ""

Now that's a more significant difference than the C3 versions. I haven't tried making a DS .family file yet, but it's lesser priority for me since DS gives you the option to just go into the game, but I'm going to give it a shot eventually. If you want to give it a shot yourself, let me know what comes of it!

The Rise of the Forged

If you've been reading my bibbles at Creatures Caves and/or been poking about on TCR, you might now that I've been working on a version of the Grendels of Minimordor.

First, some backstory - the original GoMs were not my creation, but Minisauron's. In stark contrast to my own habits (where I make multiple breeds), Minisauron took a single breed and refined it over the course of many years and in-game generations. The ultimate result were the Arimeides Grendels of Minimordor, and later on the Ueber-GoMs (who are more of an update to the Arimeides). If you haven't tried out either of these, you should - they're an absolutely amazing breed, and a very unique one at that. Both the Arimeides and the Ueber-GoMs are available at Minisauron's section at the Norn Adoption Center, the Mini-Blackgate.

Now, onto my own GoM variant. For a while before making these, I was scrounging about trying to either find a breed to use for a wolfling run or trying to come up with an idea for my own. Eventually, I settled on the Ueber-GoMs, as they are one of my favorite genetic breeds. They worked for the world I set up for them, but I couldn't help but notice how stupid and idiotic the males were - in a few generations time, they were outnumbered by the females, with a breeding script that strongly favored male eggs.

Since the Uebers didn't work out as well as I hoped, I decided to make my own variant. I originally wanted to base their genome on the Ueber genome, but Ueber brains crash the genetics kit, and I've yet to find another genetics editor that can even open their genome. So instead, I went back a breed and based them on the Arimeides, where I came up with the name and backstory for them....

The word "Facticius" means "Artificial" or "Man-made" in Latin, which reflects upon these GoMs' history of being artificially enhanced as opposed to (mostly) naturally bred like the Ueber-GoMs were (a history also reflected by their alternate name: The Forged). They share many features both with the Arimeides and the Ueber-GoMs, but also bring a new set of features to the GoM gene pool (most notably Vampess's CFE edits).

I tried contacting Minisauron about this new variant and seeing what he thought of them, but unfortunately the e-mail address I had for him was apparently defunct, and the only other way to get a hold of him was through DS (which is no longer a viable option since the server's been down for practically a year). However, the readmes for his GoMs said he didn't mind people distributing or modifying the packs...so I'm hoping he won't mind me releasing an edited variant of them.

Download the Facticius GoMs!

Creatures: Repercussions of Violence

 

Emily waited. The pulse switch next to her blinked and sparked out of the air. There were grendels on the ship. she didn't see them, but had expected them now for years. Her warnings to the Hand were not listenend to and now it was too late. Far too late for now, anyway.

 

Emily was a hardman norn for her entire life. When she was young she watched the jungle terrarium door and she said to dad "I want to be in the jungle terrarium daddy."

 

Dad said "No! You will BE KILL BY GRENDELS"

There was a time when she believed him. 

Then as she got oldered she stopped. But now in the jungle terrarium of the Shee Ark she knew there were grendels.

"This is the Hand" the Hand said. "You must fight the grendels!"

So Emily trotted over to the button and pulled the elevator.

"SHE GOING TO KILL US" said the grendels

"I will beat her up" said the banshee grendel and he swung his fists. Emily swung at him and tried to beat him up. 

 But then they both got stupid and they were trapped and not able to kill.

"No! I must kill the grendels" she shouted

The Hand said....

And then Emily was a dustdevil.

...And that's enough of the ripoff of a legendarily bad DOOM fanfic. Next time: I start a tutorial series.