A New Base Genome: The Starting Point

As I continue to play and rediscover what I liked about Creatures in the first place, I'm finding I'm already drifting back towards the developer mindset. I've been bouncing in and out of the Genetics Kit and the CAOs Tool, figuring out how things work and how to change them to make them work better. Turns out I do remember a little more than I was expecting, enough to change a few .cos files to better suit my preferences (in particular: I've changed the keyboard shortcut for pausing to Ctrl + P because my current laptop lacks a Pause/Break key).

So it's really not surprising that I'm already considering making a new base genome. As I've said in the past, the one I used to use has been getting pretty bloated and more importantly it's also not that compatible with other genomes. I distinctly remember sending in some grendels to a community wolfling run only to have most of the offspring turn out to be sliders.

My original plan was to start from scratch with a fresh CFE genome. Then figure out everything that outright doesn't work with it and fix it, all the while aiming for maximum crossbreeding compatibility and compatibility with the game as a whole.

So I started looking through old posts to track down everything that's been noted...and wound up coming to the conclusion that I'm trying to reinvent the wheel.

I guess increased compatibility isn't a bad goal to shoot for. But ultimately, there's genomes already out there that fix all the worst nonsense. Why should I put myself through a lot of tedious testing and balancing to fix things that have already been fixed? Is my ego really so big that only reinventing the wheel will prove my genius?

...Yes. Yes, it is. But I'm trying to be better than that. More importantly, I think I'm looking at it the wrong way. The genomes that exist now weren't created completely from scratch; they were built on what came before them. I'd just be doing the same with whatever I created based on them. Standing on the shoulders of giants, as it were.

So with all this in mind, I continued my research and saw what each of these brought to the table.

Like I said in my last post, I'm not going with the TWB/TCB genomes. They seem just a touch too finicky for my liking; I like to be a hands-off player, and all the temperature-related stuff feels counterproductive to that goal (even if only in a psychological sense).

But while I don't like the temperature-related stuff, everything else about the TWBs/TCBs actually sounds really cool. To the point that the temperature-related stuff is basically the only reason I haven't really checked them out.

There doesn't seem to be a genome that includes all the other changes without the temperature stuff, but there is a genome that comes pretty close to everything I'd want: the 2017 genomes. I've mentioned them briefly before when talking about making a new base genome in the past, but I don't think I've ever actually properly tried them out and see how they work on their own. It's time I rectified that.

So now I have a world for some 2017 ChiChi Norns, observing their behavior and seeing what I like and don't like about it. My actual conclusions will be for another post, but I will say that so far I'm liking what I'm seeing.

Until the next one, folks.

Let's Try This Again

After...what, a year?...I found myself looking at Creatures stuff and decided I wanted to try playing the Steam version of C3/DS again. I'm starting from scratch again with the game almost as it is (so far the one big edit I've done is adding the Activate 1/2 split from Vermidia's Agent Pack Big and Tiny slightly edited to be compatible with the Grendel Upgrade, and the only third party stuff I've added are the CFE breeds and Advanced Muco). 

My advice to anyone else using the Steam version: Do not outright replace files in that version. If you need to validate the files for any reason, Steam will replace your replacements with the original versions and undo all your hard work, making you have to remember everything you changed and do it all over again, potentially making you forget what it was you changed in the first place, completely kill your motivation for playing the game, and decide to stop playing completely. 

To make sure that doesn't happen again, I'm instead opting to make use of the Patches folder in the Steam version's bootstrap for .cos file edits. Sure, editing old third party .cos files so they're compatible with that change is going to be a little tedious, but the futureproofing's worth it. 

Now that I have a gameplan, the next trick is figuring out all the changes I actually want. I've already decided I'm not using the TWB/TCB breeds for the most part. They're an absolute marvel of genetic engineering, for sure, but they're really not compatible with the game as it is and also with all the mods (especially metarooms) created before them that don't account for them. I'm sticking with the CFE instead; they're more compatible with all that stuff while still being a massive improvement over the vanilla genomes. 

 So that just leaves fixing stuff that's outright broken in the vanilla games. The Steam version patches a ton of stuff just out of the metaphorical box, which as far as I can tell the Community Patch Guides on the Creatures Wiki don't account for. So figuring out what those do and don't fix is going to be a bit of a pain (it doesn't help that those .cos files crash the CAOs Tool; fortunately I can open them up in Notepad+ instead, but that's yet another inconvenience to deal with).

Which, beyond just allowing creatures of the same sex and creatures of different species to have friendly interactions with each other (seriously, C1 and C2 got that right...well, mostly right, C1 still had the thing where grendels always hit even if they try to be friendly, but still. It's something C3/DS should've had out of the box), is...uh. Um. I'm...not actually sure. Fixing the ecology? Giving a bunch of things navigable CA that should've had them to begin with (though I'm kind of reluctant to do that seeing as most patches for them just feel a little clunky to me. Might just be neurodivergency-induced stubbornness, though)?

Well, I do think I should add a Water Eggs patch. And a fix for the death script in DS so you don't need to scroll the camera over dead bodies to make them vanish (vital for me, who's normally a pretty hands-off player). And also change the Birth/Death/Near Death music in DS to the C3 music, because the DS versions suck. 

After I figure that stuff out, the next trick is to grab all the agents, breeds, rooms, etc. I want. And there's been a lot of them released since I last stopped playing frequently (special shoutout to the Angler Grendels, who are straight out of younger me's dreams). 

And after that...? It may be high time I got back into developing stuff. Maybe. While my motivation lasts. But those plans are for another post. 

How long will this Creatures kick last?...I don't know. Knowing me, I give it a week at most. But in a way, it does feel like coming home.