A New Base Genome: Discouragement

 Right when I thought I was ready to go ahead with making the rest of the RAS genomes, I get a testing report stating something to the effect that the latest test release has problems feeding themselves (more specifically, that they have a tendency to go to the brink, but starvation deaths are rare). 

So I figured that was likely an issue with RAS's ability to learn from the Disappointment stim. Considering I've seen something to that effect even in my own testing, I figured it was probably best to revert that change. 

Not long after that, I hit on the idea of privately journaling a wolfling run world, inspired by an old post of Aiko's. I figured it'd be a nice break between finishing the RAS ChiChi genome and moving onto the next RAS project. For the run, I decided to make a quick, RAS-based Grendel genome; in the process of making it, I found that the eat stims in 2017-based genomes have the secondary hunger stim silenced. I figured that might also have something to do with the earlier observation, and changed that for this grendel genome. 

With the world set up, I hatched a batch of grendels and went...only for the population to forget how to eat and start starving to death en masse before making it past gen 1, in a manner much more akin to my observations about vanilla creatures than anything CFE-based or beyond. This was in C1toDS and I had just ripped out the original elevators and replaced them with elevines, so I figured maybe that had something to do with it.

So I restart the run in a mostly-vanilla DS world, with some food sources added to the hub and workshop. Once again, the mostly first-gen population forgot how to eat and started starving to death; specifically, their hunger for fat was consistently getting maxed out, according to the medical monitor. So it was definitely something wrong with the genome. 

My number 1 goal with RAS was to create creatures who can take care of themselves pretty well, so that they're interesting to watch. If they're having this much trouble surviving in a mostly vanilla DS world, something is very, VERY wrong. 

But...I'm at an impasse here. I have no idea what's causing this, nor any idea on how to fix it. I do know it was a problem extending back to the original 2017 genome; it was why they only had one instinct relating to each type of hunger, and probably why the aforementioned eat stim change was made as well. So was it just because my base was flawed?

I don't know. But what I do know that this has basically shot any motivation I had to keep playing Creatures in the foot, at least for right now. It feels like every time I just want to play the game to relax, this kind of s-argh- happens and just makes me resent the game (this isn't even the first time I've had mass stupefying happening to CFE-based creatures).

So...this is to say that progress on RAS is being halted for the time being. I just don't have the knowledge necessary to get past this brick wall, nor the patience to keep bashing my head into it. 

And as much as I'd like to keep doing things for Creatures in the meantime, chances are that I'm not and this blog's going to fall back into silence once more, unless I have some kind of epiphany.

A New Base Genome: Tentative Conversion Plans

 I've been taking somewhat of a break from Creatures in the days since finishing the RAS ChiChi genome. I guess my brain's tired of thinking of dev and wants to do other things for a while. But nevertheless I'm still having thoughts about where to go from here and what to tackle next. 

In my breakdown of the final RAS ChiChi genome, I mentioned wanting to do a full set of RAS conversions for the official breeds. In this time of indecisiveness, I figured I might as well talk about what my plans would be for each breed. Maybe in the process I'll figure out where to go from here. 

First and foremost: when I first spoke about what my plans for RAS ettins were, I mentioned I'd be basing them on the RAS ChiChi genome as opposed to porting all the RAS changes onto the 2017 Ettin genome. Well, it's not just the ettins I'd do that for; it's my plan for all of the official breeds. It might be a bit more work, but in this way I can design the RAS versions as I see fit, avoid some of the pitfalls the original genomes made, and perhaps give them their own unique flair. 

 For the former mall breeds in particular (Bondi Norns, Hardman Norns, Treehugger Norns, Toxic Norns, and Banshee Grendels), I'd also put special focus on replicating their behavior from their respective chapters in the DS story and making sure they can make use out of all the agents in their respective packs. 

As for each breed individually....

A New Base Genome: The End is Never the End is Never the End is Never the End....

 After I posted the breakdown of the supposedly-final version of the RAS ChiChi genome, Dragoler offered up a criticism of it. Specifically, she pointed out that the way RAS consumed muscle tissue when breeding probably wouldn't be all that effective in adding a cost to creature breeding without also adding in a gene that prevented breeding outright in creatures who weren't taking care of themselves. 

As it was, RAS creatures can just keep kisspopping and laying eggs even when their muscle tissue is at 0, and not actually suffer all that much for it considering amino acid (and thus muscle tissue) isn't actually used for all that much by default; mostly the production of prostaglandin and also as an emergency backup should glucose levels be low but amino acid levels be higher (this setting aside the fact RAS also uses prostaglandin to heal wounds, which in my experience is a more frequent occurrence than just organ injury). 

Now, the reason I didn't stop RAS creatures with low muscle tissue from breeding to begin with was partially out of concerns over compatibility, but also partially because the levels of muscle tissue in RAS are much less stable than they are in TWBs. I monitored the levels of a group of first-gen RAS ChiChis with the Biochemistry Kit to double-check this, and sure enough they commonly had levels of muscle tissue below the levels that would prevent breeding in TWBs.

A New Base Genome: RAS ChiChi Breakdown

After I made my last post, I decided to make what I intended to be a temporary version of the 2017 ChiChi genome so I could get to making actually interesting breeds. I took the first released version of RAS as my base, replaced the old disappointment-gained activase with a "Muscle Energy" used emitter....

...And then I realized that maybe that rather than trying to reinvent the wheel as far as this biochemical balancing goes, maybe I should work with what the 2017s already had. That line of thought lead to more tweaking, and at last I reached a point with the biochemistry I could call myself happy with. 

Then one thing lead to another from there, and next thing I knew what I had intended to be just a temporary base had turned into what I'd call the final version of the RAS ChiChi genome. Funny how things work out sometimes, huh?

Of course, then it took me a couple weeks to muster up the spoons to write this post. You win some, you lose some. 

As with RAS Test Version 1, I'll be breaking down all the changes I made. If you just want some norns to play around with, you can check them out on Creatures Caves here and here (the first pack is missing some of the changes described here, since I was still waffling on whether or not to include the changes in question). 

Without any further ado, let's get started. 

A New Base Genome: A Different Approach

 When I first started playing around with the 2017 genome with the intent of turning it into my new base genome, I figured there wouldn't be much I had to do to turn it into something I'd be satisfied with. In my own words: "The 2017s feel about right to me. With any luck, figuring out their digestive system shouldn't be too big of a hassle, and everything past that point should be smooth sailing."

Ha. Ha ha. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

A month after I initially made that post...I'm still not at a point where I'd consider myself satisfied with their biochemical balancing. As it turned out, my initial test version of RAS was a lot more prone to heart attacks then I'd like, something I only really found out when I figured I was happy with that version and started working on my ettin genome based on it. 

And my frustrations with that got to the point where two weeks ago I decided to ditch working on the 2017 genome and base RAS on a CFE Gizmo genome instead. That didn't work either. Sure, the Gizmos had a lot of biochemical balancing done already...but they clearly didn't account for fixing the nonfunctional anabolic steroid emitter, because after I did that the result was norns with too little adipose tissue. And often too little muscle tissue on top of that. So I took a brief detour to experiment on a normal CFE genome instead. Once again: too much adipose tissue, AND too much muscle tissue too.

So ultimately I wound up back with the 2017s. Going off a hint from Verm that chemical reactions scale with the amount of the reactant chemicals involved in them, my new plan was to have activase (generated from a fixed version of the "muscle energy used" emitter in addition to the activity stimuli, removing the activase from the disappointment stim entirely) react with glucose/triglyceride to produce anabolic steroid as opposed to just getting consumed outright, in a way that didn't feel as "cheaty" as the way default 2017s just consume adipose tissue and glycogen outright.

...Once again, too little adipose tissue AND too little muscle tissue. Though at least this time heart attacks still feel possible, and it also feels like creatures are actually doing things, unlike the last time I tried biochemical balancing in 2017s. So it's an improvement...but is it enough of one? Or is it just a prelude to further frustration as I continue to bash my skull against a brick wall, all for something I'm not sure is even going to matter to the average player; I'm not even sure if the average player would even understand anything I just said.

The worst part about all this is that it's outright keeping me from working on the breeds I WANT to be working on. I'd much rather be working on, say, a new aquatic breed. Or maybe a RAS version of a breed that's otherwise TWB/TCB only. Or even just my base grendel genomes. But nope; I can't work on any of that while these stupid dumb boring -argh- ChiChi Norns have their biochemistry this out of whack. 

So...it's clear that my current approach to working on this genome just isn't working. I'm getting extremely frustrated, and I'm going to burn out and drop the game for months if not years on end again if things keep going this way. So...what can I do instead? 

Well, first things first, I definitely need a break from working on RAS. Maybe not necessarily from playing Creatures outright, though; I'm not sure I'd come back if that's my last experience prior to the break. So for a little while at least I'll just play the game normally and check out some cool breeds and other mods that I haven't really looked at before.

My other thought is that I'm trying to rush things. My original base genome was made over the course of years, as I made changes and added features from other breeds that I liked. I'm thinking maybe that's an approach worth taking again, if I can find a base genome that I feel comfortable working with that also won't need a ton of work to get back to the spot where my old one was. 

I still feel the 2017s feel mostly right to me, biochemical weirdness aside. However, I've also considered going with the CFF genome instead. The reason, weirdly enough, is that the CFF go with the vanilla's way of handling hunger while still having the other fixes I'd want. At this point, I feel like trying to balance the amount of hunger from the original trace emitters and stimuli would be easier than the 2017s' way.

In any event...hopefully my next post about all this is a happier one. Until then, folks.

A New Base Genome: Picking My Battles

At this point, I think I've incorporated most of what I want for RA's Standard Genome 2.0 from the CFF and beyond. Watching my new testing feral run, I feel pretty satisfied with the direction it's taking so far. At the start they did seem a little reluctant to leave their hatching area for lack of need and most of them still haven't strayed far, but at least they're actually doing interesting things otherwise.

So now the question is: how much more do I want to incorporate from the CFF/2017s/TWBs/TCBs? Do I want RAS to be the ultimate combo of all the improved genomes that have been made over the years, striving to be the most realistic creature I can possibly strive for (seeing I still don't understand the brain very well and I'm not sure if I ever will, barring a "The Creature Brain For Absolute F-argh-ing Morons" guide being published in the future)?

Well...as I said at the end of my breakdown for the initial test release of the 2017-based RAS, I'm not setting out to push the boundaries of what the game can do. There's a breed that is doing that; they're called the TWBs/TCBs. And I'm definitely not setting out to make the new standard base genome.

My ultimate goal is to create a genome that I feel comfortable basing future genetic breeds on, but works just as well as a breed in its own right. I'm hoping to create creatures that are capable enough of tending to themselves, while being interesting and fun to watch (again, as much as possible without needing to make brain edits). I'm hoping to create a genome that's more compatible than my last base genome was.

Do I need my base genome to be ultra-realistic? After all, Creatures is a game that has the fandom it does in part because of how realistic it manages to be, especially for the time in which it was made. However...it must also be said that Creatures is a game. While it's setting out to replicate real-world biology, it's also not meant to be a super-complex simulation scientists use to help them study the real world and solve real problems. It's a pet/life simulation game that at the end of the day is meant to be entertaining.

So in a way, I'm looking at this like a game designer and not a biologist. I have a vision in mind for what I'm looking for with RAS and thinking hard about what will and won't help me reach it. If that means sacrificing realism here and there, so be it.

There's also my motivation to consider, too. Just how far can I push this while not burning out? How much testing and tweaking the same set of genes over and over again can I do without just getting frustrated? I already ran into that wall once; it's partially why I decided to restart RAS from a CFE/Gizmo base instead of pushing onwards with the 2017 base.

So with all this in mind...let's take a look at what I have so far, what I know I still want, and the things in CFF and beyond I haven't incorporated and might want to.

As of this writing, here's the full list of everything I've incorporated into RAS 2.0 thus far:

• The base, as I've already stated, was Darcie's Gizmo Norn genome. I plan on keeping most of this base as intact as possible, albeit with some changes here and there.
• I've incorporated almost all of the CFE edits, barring what conflicted with the Gizmo edits. The major thing I left out was the elevation lobe as that doesn't actually work, as noted in my last post.
  
• From the CFF:
• I've added in the Hunger Overwhelmsion organ (leaving it at the end of the genome this time to avoid compatibility conflicts).
• I've also added in the Lactate Cycle in its entirety this time; I did some testing with the 2017 norns versus norns that didn't have it, and decided that it was a preferable alternative to the issue of drowning to just making RAS 2.0 amphibious regardless of whether the breed was meant to be aquatic or not. Also, lactate-based mutations are very common due to lactate being chemical 1, and pre-CFF creatures have no way of getting rid of lactate whatsoever, so a lactate-based mutation more often than not winds up killing the muscles and results in permanently-limping creatures.
  
• I also added in the reproductive changes; I like the pace 2017 breeds at, so I kept it for RAS 2.0.
  
• And from the 2017s and TWBs I've added in the new hunger system that's based on nutrient levels rather than the old one that's based on permanently-active emitters and arbitrary stimuli. This way they're much less prone to eating themselves out of house and home.
  
• A new organ called the "Enhancement Gland" was created and put below the Hunger Overwhelmsion organ and used to hold all the CFF genes that originally were dumped in the brain, and will be used to hold any other genes . The name is a reference to the Enhanced ChiChi Norn, who have a very similar organ and who I've also been referencing quite a bit (I've been thinking about making a post breaking down their genome at some point).
  
• As opposed to going with an Activase-based system like the 2017s and TWBs/TCBs to help build muscle tissue, RAS 2.0 fixes the vanilla Anabolic Steroid emitter so that it actually functions.
  
• And anything that was unable to mutate in the original version of RAS is unable to mutate here.
  
• Based on some research done in the Norn Nebula Discord, RAS 2.0 has an instinct to return home when lonely, and the loneliness/other drive drop provided by the "Found company/Reached peak of <Species Smell>" stim has been silenced. With any luck, the combination of the two will help solve the problem of lonely creatures never thinking to go find each other when they're the same species; something that turned out to be a problem with C3/DS creatures in general and not just the 2017s like I originally thought.
  

And here's everything I know I'm going to implement at some point.

• While there's no need for Activase anymore, I still plan on adding the TWB's system of activity-related stims consuming a small amount of glucose. This is to serve the goal of making RAS 2.0 fun to watch and to better balance their hunger drives.
• I'm also re-adding the TWB/TCB facial expressions. They were helpful and also pretty charming.
  
• Rather than sticking with the base Gizmo's muted boredom instincts, I'm adding in a wide variety of boredom-related instincts ala the 2017s and TWBs/TCBs instead. This includes the 2017's tendency to use teleporters as well as portals (which are two separate things; DS's teleporters are classed as "teleporter" while the Warp Portals are classed as "portal").
• In a similar vein, I also plan on adding the 2017's wider variety of instincts in general, to help encourage more varied behaviors.
  
• I'm also adjusting the Gizmo's life stages as they feel a little wonky to me (for one, they effectively skip the Youth stage and age to Adult immediately after adolescence, and they spend a lot longer in the old/ancient stages than I'd like).
  
• Any original RAS edit that wasn't specific to the way 2017s handled things is also making the jump to RAS 2.0.
  

So that leaves the other things CFF and beyond added that were perceived as fixing errors. Let's take a look at that list again, and also this list of features across the common base genomes. Some of these, particularly requiring glucose for antibody production, might be interesting to have but will also take a while to test out for something that doesn't feel entirely necessary for what I'm aiming for (I never play with bacteria anyway, so the chances that'll be relevant for me personally are pretty low). Some of it also probably wouldn't matter that much in the long run but also wouldn't take much effort to implement. And some of it (the alcohol variants in particular) just feel outright extraneous.

So ultimately, I think my time's best spent implementing and balancing the features I know I absolutely want for right now. Once that's done, I'll see how I feel about adding in anything else.

Until the next one, folks.

A New Base Genome: Back to Zero

 While I was still waffling on whether or not to continue to try and make the 2017 genome fit my needs, I decided to just go ahead and start prepping the Gizmo genome as a new starting point. Said prepping involved converting it to a CFE genome, since Vampess's guide on how to do that is (as of this writing) still available via the Wayback Machine. 

(I am aware Kezune did a conversion already; I opted to make my own just for the sake of knowing exactly everything that's going into my version.)

I also decided to ask what parts of the Creature genome don't work because of engine bugs over on the Norn Nebula discord (random aside: I've updated my contact information on the left hand sidebar with my new username and Discord username). Verm, one of the most knowledgeable people I have ever known, replied with this list:

• Organ values always start out with maximum lifeforce regardless of their life force start value in the Genetics Kit.
• Mutation chance and mutation degree effectively do nothing (always a 0 or 1 chance out of 255).
• Neuroemitters don't work (and even if they did they wouldn't work like how you'd expect from the Genetics Kit).
• The brain organ doesn't actually exist (all genes below the brain are actually considered part of the muscles, or whatever organ it's immediately below). 
• The "Reaction" value in Stimulus genes does nothing.
• Which is because the Intensity value does nothing (it always returns 0).
  
• The "Modulate using sensory function" switch also does nothing.
• Also worth noting is a reference to a unused lobe marked "elvn," which you may recognize as the Elevation Lobe in CFE-based creatures. However, it needs an (unreleased, as of this writing) external script to actually function, so it doesn't actually work in the CFE and beyond.
  

The exact technical reasons behind all these is beyond my understanding. But did I mention C3/DS suffer a lot from "Had to rush it out the door" syndrome? Fortunately, none of this is vital, can be worked around, or both (even if both the neuroemitter and stimulus bugs are mighty unfortunate as far as a gengineer's toolkit goes).

However, you might notice that something I did call an engine bug once actually isn't one. Specifically, the emitter locus "Muscle Energy Used." In a past post I noted that it almost never fired. Well, Verm corrected me on this one, too. It DOES work; specifically, it triggers whenever the creature's skeleton updates (that is, things like changing poses, position updating, and collisions). The actual issue is that the values on it were set way too low. 

So I tweaked and tested until I got muscle tissue levels similar to what I was getting out of the Activase system in the 2017-based genome, and much more reliably at that. So...one of the biggest reasons to keep trying with the 2017s is gone. 

Between that and the Gizmo's other biochemistry changes making it so I no longer have to futz about with trying to balance that stuff as I talked about in my last post, my desire to stick with the 2017s is basically at an all-time low. But nevertheless, there's a new obstacle in my way: the fact that the Gizmos, as a pre-CFE breed, don't have all the edits the CFF and beyond introduced.

And it's a long list. And that's just the CFF, to say nothing of the 2017s and TWBs/TCBs.

But...I believe it may be an effort worth making, even if the majority of what I wind up doing is just adding genes from the CFF/2017s/TWBs/TCBs. Because I have the new option of implementing these changes in a way that suits me better. For example: I'd prefer to create a new organ to store any new receptors, emitters, etc. rather than do as the CFF did and leave them in the Brain organ (actually the Muscles, as noted in the list above). And I can do some futureproofing as well, like having this new organ be underneath the Hunger Overwhelmsion organ as opposed to the other way around; a convenient spot to put new genes without having to worry so much about compatibility. 

(Both organs would still be at the bottom of the genome this time, though. My previous base genome had the Hunger Overwhelmsion organ grouped with its related organs higher up in the genome, which probably was a big reason why that genome had so many compatibility issues.)

So the journey continues. Until the next one, folks.

A New Base Genome: I CAN'T STAND IT!!! I THINK I'M GONNA HAVE A [[HeartAttack]]!

I have very mixed feelings on the gene that damages the heart when adipose tissue gets too high in CFF-derived genomes. 

On one hand, I don't think it's a terrible idea. It might in fact be a great way to punish creatures who eat themselves out of house and home, as vanilla creatures are known to do. On the other hand, it absolutely SHOULD NOT be the number one cause of death.

Unfortunately, the latter was the case for the testing feral run for my base ettin genome. Way too often they'd get caught up in hanging around sources of food, seeing no reason to abandon that spot, and not generating enough activase even with the disappointment stim constantly triggering from their failed attempts to push food (WHY they were constantly trying to push food in the first place is another extremely frustrating mystery I've yet to solve). As a result, ettin after ettin after ettin dropped dead of heart attacks. 

Eventually, I decided enough was enough. This wasn't something that's unique to the ettins; the fundamental flaw leading to it's also in my norn genome. So it was back to the norn genome to figure out a better way of balancing it. 

The first order of business before editing anything was hatching a norn of my base genome and watching it go about its business on a mostly-vanilla version of the Capillata. To my great dismay, I found my earlier observation about the disappointment stim being triggered constantly was flawed. The norn barely generated any activase and was constantly low on muscle tissue.

Based on this, my first thought was to throw out the 2017 Activase system entirely and replace it with the TWB's. And that's what I started doing...before I realized that the two systems didn't necessarily have to be mutually exclusive. With that thought in mind, I added the TWB version of the Anabolic Steroid emitter (which triggers when muscle tissue gets low) and tested it out. 

Working in tandem with the existing 2017 activase system, the results were actually pretty good. So I was free to ditch the activase from the disappointment stim and move on to the next step: properly balancing the adipose tissue. 

For this, I referenced Darcie's Gizmo Norns quite a bit. My old base genome took their digestive system edits wholesale, but I wasn't about to do that this time. This time around I tested what I felt was most relevant to what I wanted: for adipose tissue to build up slower and break down faster. As it turned out, I was getting good results only from tweaking the reaction that converted adipose tissue back into triglyceride (it was originally 1 adipose -> 8 triglyceride, I dropped it to 1 adipose -> 6 triglyceride).

Even more surprising was the good results I was getting from making the reactions that had activase consume glycogen and adipose tissue dormant. In my initial tests I'd assumed muting those would result in a lot of norns dead from heart attacks, but it didn't happen. In fact it seemed like the risk was significantly lower. My best guess is that since creatures are getting less hungry in general they're less inclined to overeat.

I ultimately left the adipose tissue reaction dormant, while changing the other reaction so that glucose was consumed instead of glycogen, mirroring how the TWB version of the Activase system had movement stims consume a little bit of glucose in addition to generating activase. Feeling satisfied with this outcome, I added a batch of the new norns to my norn testing feral run....

...And wound up failing a major fundamental goal in making creatures that are interesting to watch. As it turns out, it's possible to make creatures who are TOO good at taking care of themselves. These new norns had zero reason to leave their hatching area because they never got hungry and none of their other drives got high enough to warrant it. Out of the four I hatched, only one eventually did. 

I also eventually decided that now they had too little adipose tissue, in that the only way they'd have a heart attack was if I forced them to do nothing but eat food via CAOs. Otherwise, they simply never ate enough to even get close to having one, regardless of how fat-heavy their diet was. I solved the heart attack problem, but I still had the problem of creatures who didn't do much. 

Back to the drawing board it is, and if I'm honest I'm starting to get a little frustrated with this project. I'd very much like to be at the part where I've gotten all this stupid tweaking and testing and balancing done and am making cool new breeds like the ones I talked about in my last post instead. But nope; it just feels like for every problem I've solved another one or two raise their ugly heads, and that goal gets even further away.

It's for that reason I'm giving serious thought to just abandoning working with the 2017 genome altogether and restarting with a different one. In particular, I hatched a Gizmo Norn to observe its nutrient levels with the X Ray to get a feel for how they looked, and as I went about tweaking my base genome that Gizmo Norn took care of itself and died of old age in a manner that's pretty unusual for non-CFE creatures. So the Gizmo genome feels promising for such a task...if I don't mind having to add all the stuff CFE and beyond added that the Gizmos don't have, that is. 

Sigh.

A New Base Genome: Miscellaneous Musings

 Progress on my base ettin genome has been a little iffy, as I briefly touched upon in my last post. I've been making changes, even figuring out a couple things I've since backported to my norn genome, and some of them seem to be working out. Others, not so much. In particular I've been having a lot more problems with heart attacks than during the testing of the norns, and also having problems getting them to approach each other and thus breed, even when they get lonely (to a lesser extent this has been a problem with the norn genome too; it's something Arnout noted was a problem even in the original 2017 genome). 

One part of me wants to keep pushing forwards with the ettin genome, another part of me's wanting to put the ettin genome on the backburner for now and move on to the grendel genomes...yes, grendel genomes; I'm planning on making two versions, which I'll detail the how and why of in a future post. And then there's a third part that's saying "All this activase and these heart attacks and these dumb creatures that won't approach when lonely are annoying; let's throw everything out and restart with the CFE instead of the 2017s." Maybe it's just the tiredness as I write this speaking. 

 In the meantime, I'm just going to dump a ton of miscellaneous thoughts and future plans I hope to accomplish. Will any of it happen? Not making any promises. I know me. 

• First and foremost: aquatic creatures. 2017s, and thus RA Standards, have a gene that gives a creature that's underwater an increasing desire to go up (that is, call an elevator to go up), and like their CFF ancestors possess a stimulus gene that makes them afraid when they start drowning (as I briefly touched on in my last post). Fortunately, it's not difficult to make them amphibious and happy underwater; it's just a matter of muting the aforementioned up drive gene and setting the air emitter to permanently active, after which they're as happy underwater as any non-CFF based amphibious creature. 
• Swimming, however, is another matter. Previously I just took the easy route for swimming creatures and set an emitter to always emit chemical 63, plus adding the swim bladder edits to allow female creatures to lay eggs. However, thanks to Lurhstaap's musings about his Abyss Dragons, I've hit on the idea of making the production of 63 tied to the creature's nutrient intake, particularly of muscle tissue (which tends to be in excess in 2017-based creatures). On top of the realism factor, it's also a nice way of circumventing the issue with swimming creatures having trouble interacting with things; if a swimming creature is having enough trouble that it can't feed itself, it'll stop producing 63 and thus eventually stop swimming. Then it can interact with things as normal, and hopefully get full enough to start swimming again. The issue is balancing the consumption of muscle tissue with the activase system, since RAS creatures generally produce less of it than their 2017 ancestors. 
• Of the future breeds I'm hoping to make, I must give special mention to Jesseth's and CosmiSynthetic's remastered conversions of the C2 Bulbous and Boney Grendels, and also the Worker Ettins. They have some goobers here and there, but all in all they simultaneously scratch my itch for C2 aesthetics in C3/DS while matching C3/DS's style much better than the previous conversions. The Bulbous Grendels in particular have been something of a mainstay during my RAS feral runs; I added Bulbous Grorns to the norn run while the grendels proper make for good "dither" grendels (that is, grendels that can bring out defensive behavior while being mostly harmless, taken from the aquarium hobby term dither fish) for the ettin run. Naturally, they're all getting RAS versions, and I'm also thinking I might even use them to convert some C2 genetic breeds like Frimlin's long-lost Amphibigrendels and my own Great White Shark Grendels (which I'm going to rename "Shark Boney Grendels"). 
• Other breeds whose general aesthetics I greatly jive with are Dragoler's Basilisk Norns (who I keep wanting to call "Uglee Norns," probably confusing them with the grendel breed that uses their sprites) and PapuBuntu's Carna Norns. Both of these breeds have TWB/TCB-based genomes at the moment, though the Carna Norns also have a CFE-based version at last report. So I'm also hoping to give them RAS versions, though they might not be exactly like the original versions (for the RAS Basilisks at least, I'm planning on giving them the ability to "eat" creature eggs by picking them up, similar to how my Metallophagus Grendels V1 "ate" gadgets and machinery by hitting them). 
• Also on the list: Cyborg's Angler Grendels. Despite their problems (adult females crash the game without a Bigger Sprite Allocation patch and are also too big to fit in the Swimming Agent's vehicle), they're a breed I've absolutely fallen in love with. They already have a 2017-based genome, but I'd like to give them a RAS version that doesn't require the Sensorimotor Lobe script. I'd likely give my version the name "Ceratoid Grendels," after one of my older ideas for a similarly behaving grendel breed.
  
• Then there's revamps of older genetic breeds, whether they're my own or not. One big plan are a sort-of revamp of Trix's Shark Grendels; the originals are just colorful, amphibious jungle grendels right down to the "children make you old" gene, but nevertheless I remember enjoying them a lot in the days before I started gengineering myself. My planned revamp would combine them with my own Shark Grendel breed to become colorful, aquatic predators based off the Rainbow Sharkling...which is confusing because I've ALREADY made a breed based off rainbow sharklings, via screwing around with CRAG all that time ago. As it turns out it is possible to make a CRAG based creature capable doing things other than sit there, as Verm's Nurse Bots and GAIA prove, but I don't think that's something I want to mess around with right now. So the new Rainbow Sharkling Grendels would be a typical genetic breed that uses the C3 grendel sprites like the original Shark Grendels, but I'm hoping they'll be fun anyway.
• I'm also thinking of redoing the Potamogeton Grendels/Pond Weed Grendels V3. Knowing what I do know, I'm thinking I could do some fun stuff with their genome to make them even more plantlike. 

 Until the next one, folks.

A New Base Genome: The Essence of Ettins

 With my standard norn genome in a more or less good state, I decided to go ahead and start working on my ettin genome. Since it worked out pretty well for the norns, I decided to just do a feral run for the ettins from the very start. I made a docked world, set it up, and then went about creating the initial ettins.

As I said before, I'm not going about making my ettin genome by porting over all the edits I made to the ChiChi genome over to the original 2017 ettin genome. Sure, the 2017 ettin genome probably functions a lot better than the vanilla ettin genome, but the vanilla ettin genome is a rather shaky foundation to be building anything on. There's a lot of problems with it, including but not limited to a wonky biochemistry compared to norns, drives that are out of whack (especially fear), a supposed immunity to certain antigens that actually makes them a lot more vulnerable to bacteria carrying those antigens, and so on. It really feels like vanilla ettins weren't designed to be a fully realized species in their own right as opposed to just a recurring nuisance for the player to deal with.

So instead I'm starting from my standard ChiChi genome and making my changes from there. Which raises the question: what's an ettin, and what's just a norn in an ettin's skin? Is an ettin based on a norn genome a "real" ettin?

Back when I was first starting out in the community in general, I came across Alien's Frendels. On their page, they made note of Lis Morris's Peace Grendels, particularly of the fact that they were based on a norn genome. Was that really a grendel, they asked? Hence the Frendels, who are the same concept but based on the actual vanilla grendel genome instead. 

I'm not sure if there ever was a big stink raised about such things, but my dumb teenage self took it as serious advice as I started my development journey. I especially remember using that logic when creating my first friendly banshee grendels (not the ones that are available for download here at the Realm, who are more recent. I'm talking "released on the Gameware Forums" old); I considered them "real" Banshee Grendels since they were derived from the Banshee genome as opposed to Alien's (who were based on her normal Frendel genome and thus on the vanilla grendel genome by extension).

Regardless of whether it was a widely held opinion or just me taking something way too seriously, I eventually came to the conclusion that this was a stupid thing to raise a stink about. As far as the game itself's concerned, a creature is what its genus gene says it is. An ettin's an ettin, regardless of it's a vanilla ettin, a ChiChi norn in an ettin's skin, or an outright ChiChi Norn that just has "ettin" as its genus.

And let's be real here. Did the developers at Creature Labs really make a brand-new genome from scratch for ettins and grendels, or did they just base them on the norn genome? The former route sounds like too much work for little payoff; it's a development shortcut I'd certainly make. If nothing else they at least carried the brains over; there's no difference between a vanilla norn's brain and a vanilla ettin's or grendel's. It's true in the lore too; all three species are in the same genus lore-wise and were all created by the Shee (even if the grendels were an accident).

So the important thing isn't the genome I base my standard ettins on; it's whether or not I feel like these ettins are...well, ettins. What do I feel like an ettin should be?

Basically, I want my ettins to build upon vanilla ettin behavior. I'd like them to be independent sorts, who wander the ship doing their own thing and only really seeking each other out to breed. They still steal gadgets as the vanilla ettins, but they also enjoy playing with the gadgets they hoard and also with machinery they happen to find. I'm also thinking they'd enjoy travel for travel's sake even if they're not seeking anything in particular. And while they wouldn't be as cowardly as vanilla ettins, they're still very wary of the other two species.

The ettins I started the feral run with basically were ChiChi Norns in ettins' clothing, just with any gene related to species changed appropriately (the biggest initial changes were adjusting the points where they changed lifestages, with the intent of giving ettins an earlier start than norns but still aging at roughly the same rate past that point, and making the entirety of the fight-or-flight organ dormant). However, it didn't take me long to make my first changes to the instincts and stimuli to get ettins to prefer messing around with technology, and the next batches of ettins I added stole gadgets and dragged them home just like vanilla ettins do. 

How far do I want to go with this? Is just changing their behavior satisfactory for me, or do I want to go farther and mess with things like their resistance to toxins and their susceptibility to heat? Vanilla ettins do have differences there (if I remember right, they don't actually feel hot or lonely at all).

Well...in any event, I'll be sure to note anything interesting over the course of development.

On a completely unrelated note, there's something I must amend. Way back at the start of this journey, I stated that TWBs/TCBs without their titular feature didn't seem to exist. As it turns out, I was mistaken: they do exist in the form of Uranium's Intell ChiChi Norns. They also bring in some features from the Gizmo genome as well, namely the biochemistry system. Had I known they existed, I probably would've tried them first before the original 2017s, and it's possible my standard genome wouldn't exist (or at least not in the form it does now). As it is, I'll likely give them a try at some point in the future.

Until the next one, folks.

A New Base Genome: The Final(?) Results

 At long last, the time has come to share all the changes my new base genome made from the original 2017 genome. 

Though if you can believe it, I actually was thinking I'd have to lie again and give another major change its own post. It would've been the crowdedness/loneliness balance; I've noticed 2017 creatures tend to be pretty solitary and almost never get lonely. I made some changes, only to have them appear to have no noticeable effect. So I asked for help, and with the assistance of Dragoler (the creator of the TWB/TCB genomes), I found the cause was...Natural Learning and Natural Curiosity. Apparently speech bubbles still have some effect on creatures, even in the case of CFF derived genomes where the associated stims are silenced or just not present at all.

With that case settled, I figured it was high time to make this writeup. Since the name "2017" doesn't really make much sense for my base genome (that was six years ago, as of this writing...why am I so old?), I have decided to call this genome...RA's Standard Genome. Not very creative, I know, but hopefully it gets the point across.

Since this is a stupidly long post, I'll just say that if you want to play around with this genome I've uploaded a test pack of norns and the current version of the genome to Creatures Caves. What follows is a list of all the changes I made and why I made them.

This is a RA's Standard ChiChi Norn being compared with a 2017 ChiChi Norn. Other genomes (particularly ettins and grendels) are for another time.

Without any further ado, let's begin.

Brain Lobes

Gene Compare doesn't handle the brain very well; it can tell where there's a difference, but you're not going to be able to tell what that difference is in most cases. So instead I just decided to show the genes directly from the genetics kit; the original 2017s are on the left and RA's Standards are on the right.

This particular edit was created by Evolnemesis for his Evo Norns and was later incorporated into the CFF proper. It's one I've talked about quite a bit on this blog (even during this very series, in fact); it's the edit that's supposed to make CFF-derived norns more curious and willing to try new things, but I always found made them forget how to eat.

I can see why some people would appreciate this; one of the biggest complains about C3/DS creatures is how they can come across as being overly robotic with how easily they tend to their needs, especially with the combination lobe edit introduced in the CFE. I, however, would rather have creatures that can take care of themselves; if I see creatures dying younger, I want it to be for reasons beyond an inability to take care of themselves. So I reverted this change to how it was in vanilla creatures and the CFE.

That being said, RA's Standard Genome is still susceptible to Tryptamine (chemical 130), which makes them act very weirdly. That's a fun change I'm willing to keep.

Chemical Receptors

From here on out, the original 2017s are on the top (File 1), and RA's Standard Genome is on the bottom (File 2).

432 Different in file 1 149   0 Emb B MutDupCut        128   0 Organ# = 20, Organ, Organ, Injury, chem=61, thresh=0, nom=0, gain=34, features=Analogue  (0)
433 Different in file 2 149   0 Emb B MutDupCut        128   0 Organ# = 20, Organ, Organ, Injury, chem=61, thresh=1, nom=0, gain=34, features=Analogue  (0)

This is another thing Dragoler helped me with while we were trying to figure out what the heck was going on with the crowdedness/loneliness balance. I noticed that 2017 norns tend to take a bit of muscle damage when they're first born, and the cause turned out because Lactate Dehydrogenase (chemical 61) was building up before they took their first breath. So now it needs to be slightly higher before actual muscle damage occurs, thus allowing RA's Standard Genome to hatch with happy muscles.

Lactate Dehydrogenase is part of a much larger cycle in CFF-derived genomes that, in short, help creatures survive longer while they're drowning. It takes the place of a vanilla chemical simply called Lactate. Lactate is the first chemical on the chemical list and did nothing in vanilla creatures except damage the muscles and never decayed, which was a problem since Lactate was by far the most common chemical to fill in otherwise empty spots in chemical reaction genes due to it being chemical 1.

443 Different in file 1  14   0 You M MutDupCut        128   0 Organ# = 20, Creature, Sensorimotor, Gait 14, chem=Sex drive, thresh=42, nom=0, gain=255, features=Digital  (0)
444 Different in file 2  14   0 You M                    0   0 Organ# = 20, Creature, Sensorimotor, Gait 14, chem=Sex drive, thresh=42, nom=0, gain=255, features=Digital  (0)
434 Different in file 1 106   0 Emb B MutDupCut        128   0 Organ# = 20, Creature, Sensorimotor, Gait 7, chem=Alcohol, thresh=16, nom=0, gain=239, features=Digital  (0)
435 Different in file 2 106   0 Emb B                    0   0 Organ# = 20, Creature, Sensorimotor, Gait 7, chem=Alcohol, thresh=16, nom=0, gain=239, features=Digital  (0)
444 Different in file 1  15   0 You F MutDupCut        128   0 Organ# = 20, Creature, Sensorimotor, Gait 15, chem=Sex drive, thresh=36, nom=0, gain=255, features=Digital  (0)
445 Different in file 2  15   0 You F                    0   0 Organ# = 20, Creature, Sensorimotor, Gait 15, chem=Sex drive, thresh=36, nom=0, gain=255, features=Digital  (0)
435 Different in file 1 105   0 Emb B MutDupCut        128   0 Organ# = 20, Creature, Sensorimotor, Gait 2, chem=Tiredness, thresh=141, nom=0, gain=207, features=Analogue  (0)
436 Different in file 2 105   0 Emb B                    0   0 Organ# = 20, Creature, Sensorimotor, Gait 2, chem=Tiredness, thresh=141, nom=0, gain=207, features=Analogue  (0)
436 Different in file 1 104   0 Emb B MutDupCut        128   0 Organ# = 20, Creature, Sensorimotor, Gait 3, chem=Sleepiness, thresh=128, nom=0, gain=207, features=Analogue  (0)
437 Different in file 2 104   0 Emb B                    0   0 Organ# = 20, Creature, Sensorimotor, Gait 3, chem=Sleepiness, thresh=128, nom=0, gain=207, features=Analogue  (0)  
437 Different in file 1 103   0 Emb B MutDupCut        128   0 Organ# = 20, Creature, Sensorimotor, Gait 5, chem=Anger, thresh=124, nom=0, gain=223, features=Analogue  (0)
438 Different in file 2 103   0 Emb B                    0   0 Organ# = 20, Creature, Sensorimotor, Gait 5, chem=Anger, thresh=124, nom=0, gain=223, features=Analogue  (0)
438 Different in file 1 102   0 Emb B MutDupCut        128   0 Organ# = 20, Creature, Sensorimotor, Gait 4, chem=Fear, thresh=128, nom=0, gain=223, features=Analogue  (0)
439 Different in file 2 102   0 Emb B                    0   0 Organ# = 20, Creature, Sensorimotor, Gait 4, chem=Fear, thresh=128, nom=0, gain=223, features=Analogue  (0)
439 Different in file 1 101   0 Emb B MutDupCut        128   0 Organ# = 20, Creature, Sensorimotor, Gait 6, chem=Injury, thresh=64, nom=0, gain=239, features=Digital  (0)
440 Different in file 2 101   0 Emb B                    0   0 Organ# = 20, Creature, Sensorimotor, Gait 6, chem=Injury, thresh=64, nom=0, gain=239, features=Digital  (0)
442 Different in file 1 100   0 Emb B MutDupCut        128   0 Organ# = 20, Creature, Sensorimotor, Gait 1, chem=Pain, thresh=33, nom=0, gain=239, features=Digital  (0)
443 Different in file 2 100   0 Emb B                    0   0 Organ# = 20, Creature, Sensorimotor, Gait 1, chem=Pain, thresh=33, nom=0, gain=239, features=Digital  (0)
445 Different in file 1 108   0 Emb B MutDupCutDor     128   0 Organ# = 20, Creature, Sensorimotor, Gait 15, chem=Alcohol, thresh=0, nom=0, gain=255, features=Digital  (0)
446 Different in file 2 108   0 Emb B          Dor       0   0 Organ# = 20, Creature, Sensorimotor, Gait 15, chem=Alcohol, thresh=0, nom=0, gain=255, features=Digital  (0)
440 Different in file 1 190   0 Emb B MutDupCut        128   0 Organ# = 20, Creature, Sensorimotor, Gait 8, chem=Downatrophin, thresh=77, nom=0, gain=255, features=Digital  (0)
441 Different in file 2 190   0 Emb B                    0   0 Organ# = 20, Creature, Sensorimotor, Gait 8, chem=Downatrophin, thresh=77, nom=0, gain=255, features=Digital  (0)
441 Different in file 1 189   0 Emb B MutDupCut        128   0 Organ# = 20, Creature, Sensorimotor, Gait 9, chem=Upatrophin, thresh=77, nom=0, gain=255, features=Digital  (0)
442 Different in file 2 189   0 Emb B                    0   0 Organ# = 20, Creature, Sensorimotor, Gait 9, chem=Upatrophin, thresh=77, nom=0, gain=255, features=Digital  (0)

A big long list of changes that boil down to "what gaits creatures use in a given situation is now fixed and cannot change as the generations go on." The actual gait genes themselves are already immutable in default 2017 creatures, but my dislike of gait-based mutations goes a little farther than that and so now there's no way for them to change at all (or at least it's much less likely).

Chemical Emitters

159 Different in file 1  41   0 Emb B MutDupCut        128   0 Organ# = 7, Creature, Sensorimotor, Crowdedness, chem=Loneliness, thresh=227, samp=11, gain=1, features=Inverted Digital  (0)
159 Different in file 2  41   0 Emb B MutDupCut        128   0 Organ# = 7, Creature, Sensorimotor, Crowdedness, chem=Loneliness, thresh=227, samp=10, gain=1, features=Inverted Digital  (0)
160 Different in file 1  32   0 Emb B MutDupCut        128   0 Organ# = 7, Creature, Sensorimotor, Crowdedness, chem=Crowded, thresh=26, samp=6, gain=1, features=Analogue  (0)
160 Different in file 2  32   0 Emb B MutDupCut        128   0 Organ# = 7, Creature, Sensorimotor, Crowdedness, chem=Crowded, thresh=77, samp=6, gain=2, features=Analogue  (0)

As mentioned back at the start, I noticed that 2017 creatures tend to be solitary, almost never getting lonely. Since that's not great for getting a population going, I went and did some tweaking to the crowdedness/loneliness balance so they'd get the urge to rejoin the herd after a while and take longer to get crowded once they've found a group (many thanks again to Dragoler for providing the latter change).

This is something I'd likely revert back to 2017 defaults for my ettin and grendel genomes as I'd like them to be a bit more independent than norns.

170 Different in file 1  38   0 Emb B MutDupCut        128   0 Organ# = 7, Creature, Sensorimotor, Upwards slope, chem=Upatrophin, thresh=48, samp=2, gain=255, features=Digital  (0)
170 Different in file 2  38   0 Emb B                    0   0 Organ# = 7, Creature, Sensorimotor, Upwards slope, chem=Upatrophin, thresh=48, samp=2, gain=255, features=Digital  (0)
171 Different in file 1  40   0 Emb B MutDupCut        128   0 Organ# = 7, Creature, Sensorimotor, Downwards slope, chem=Downatrophin, thresh=48, samp=2, gain=255, features=Digital  (0)
171 Different in file 2  40   0 Emb B                    0   0 Organ# = 7, Creature, Sensorimotor, Downwards slope, chem=Downatrophin, thresh=48, samp=2, gain=255, features=Digital  (0)

Out of all gait-related mutations that could happen, I found the ones where creatures start acting like they're going up/down hills even on flat floors to be the most annoying. These are the two genes primarily responsible for that, and now they're immutable just like with the gait receptors.

Chemical Reactions

41 Different in file 1  55   0 Emb B                    0   0 Organ# = 2, 6*Anabolic steriod + 4*Amino Acid => 1*Muscle Tissue + 1*<NONE>; half-life = 65
41 Different in file 2  55   0 Emb B                    0   0 Organ# = 2, 4*Anabolic steriod + 4*Amino Acid => 1*Muscle Tissue + 1*<NONE>; half-life = 65

This is a change I made over the course of reducing the amount of Activase in RA Standard creatures' systems. Since they had less Activase in their system and thus produced less anabolic steroid (mispelled in Gene Compare presumably due to a typo), I reduced the amount of anabolic steroid needed to produce muscle tissue.

870 Different in file 1  14   0 Emb B MutDupCutDor     128   0 Organ# = 22, 1*Coldness + 1*<NONE> => 1*Coldness backup + 1*<NONE>; half-life = 18
876 Different in file 2  14   0 Emb B MutDupCut        128   0 Organ# = 22, 1*Coldness + 1*<NONE> => 1*Coldness backup + 1*<NONE>; half-life = 18
871 Different in file 1  19   0 Emb B MutDupCutDor     128   0 Organ# = 22, 1*Hotness + 1*<NONE> => 1*Hotness backup + 1*<NONE>; half-life = 18
877 Different in file 2  19   0 Emb B MutDupCut        128   0 Organ# = 22, 1*Hotness + 1*<NONE> => 1*Hotness backup + 1*<NONE>; half-life = 18
872 Different in file 1  37   0 Emb B MutDupCutDor     128   0 Organ# = 22, 1*Tiredness + 1*<NONE> => 1*Tiredness backup + 1*<NONE>; half-life = 18
878 Different in file 2  37   0 Emb B MutDupCut        128   0 Organ# = 22, 1*Tiredness + 1*<NONE> => 1*Tiredness backup + 1*<NONE>; half-life = 18
873 Different in file 1  61   0 Emb B MutDupCutDor     128   0 Organ# = 22, 1*Loneliness + 1*<NONE> => 1*Loneliness backup + 1*<NONE>; half-life = 18
879 Different in file 2  61   0 Emb B MutDupCut        128   0 Organ# = 22, 1*Loneliness + 1*<NONE> => 1*Loneliness backup + 1*<NONE>; half-life = 18
876 Different in file 1 106   0 Emb B MutDupCutDor     128   0 Organ# = 22, 1*Sex drive + 1*<NONE> => 1*Sex drive backup + 1*<NONE>; half-life = 18
882 Different in file 2 106   0 Emb B MutDupCut        128   0 Organ# = 22, 1*Sex drive + 1*<NONE> => 1*Sex drive backup + 1*<NONE>; half-life = 18

Now this was a strange one. For one reason or the other, a bunch of reactions in the default 2017's Hungerly Drive Overwhelmsion organ (the organ that puts most other drives on the backburner when creatures get too hungry) were set to not express (still in the genome, but not functional). I could somewhat see the logic behind tiredness and loneliness, as sleeping is good for a creature's memory and not having loneliness get suppressed could potentially help the otherwise-solitary 2017 creatures find each other when they do get lonely, but the rest just confused me. Particularly the one for Sex Drive; personally, I don't want creatures who are starving to death breeding. So I just reverted these back to how they were in the original CFF (and how they continue to be in the TWB/TCBs).

432 New in file 2 122   0 Emb B MutDupCut        128   0 Organ# = 20, 6*CA smell 13 (Grendel) + 1*<NONE> => 2*Fear + 1*Adrenalin; half-life = 41
874 New in file 2 121   0 Emb B MutDupCut        128   0 Organ# = 21, 8*Boredom + 1*Wait => 1*Wait + 8*Boredom backup; half-life = 19

These are two new reactions not present in the default 2017 genome. The first of them is the replacement for the Grendel Frightening neuroemitter I talked about in my last post, and is now the first gene in the muscle organ like the similar gene is in vanilla grendels. The second, however, needs more of an explanation.

Years back, when the Gameware Forums were still operational, it was noted how vanilla norns were constantly addicted to pushing elevators. A user by the name of Ratboy (also known for helping with the Enhanced ChiChi Norns, and who I believe also assisted Vampess in creating the CFE) figured that the instincts responsible had to be there for a reason, likely to convince norns to travel. So instead he came up with this reaction gene, temporarily suppressing boredom whenever creatures waited to travel on an elevator or through doors. Hopefully, by the time boredom was restored the creature would be elsewhere and thus more likely to do something else.

It's a gene I've added to basically all my genomes since then, even as the instincts responsible were silenced in the CFE and beyond. I'm not sure how much it helps, but I've never really noticed it to hurt either, and I just like to think of it as a personal tag. Plus, I've also experimented with traveling creatures before, and it'll very much be helpful in any such genomes I try making in the future.

Half-Lives

26 Different in file 1   1   0 Emb B MutDupCut        128   0 [Wait] = 38
26 Different in file 2   1   0 Emb B MutDupCut        128   0 [Wait] = 31

Gene Compare is lousy at showing the user what's different in half-life genes. Instead of just showing the changes, it spits out the gene in its entirety and presents the user with a blob that's nigh-impossible to parse. It makes trying to figure out what the exact changes were much more of a hassle than it needs to be. Rather than subject you to that, I'm just showing the changes. Or rather the one single change.

Wait's half-life is reduced as a complementary change to the aforementioned reaction gene that has wait suppress boredom. So essentially RA Standard creatures won't be staring at elevators or doors for as long as other creatures should they insist on pushing one that isn't moving, though I haven't noticed it having any negative effect on regular usage of doors and elevators.

Stimuli

395 Different in file 1   1   0 Emb B MutDupCut        128   0 Disappointment (0) causes sig=0 GS neu=0 int=0, ,,,240 => 1*Boredom + 25*Punishment + 62*Brain chemical 1 + 4*Activase
395 Different in file 2   1   0 Emb B MutDupCut        128   0 Disappointment (0) causes sig=0 GS neu=0 int=0, ,,,240 => 1*Boredom + 25*Punishment + 62*Brain chemical 1 + 1*Activase
409 Different in file 1  16   0 Emb B MutDupCut        128   0 I have eaten (26) causes sig=61 GS neu=12 int=0, ,,,64 => -7*Boredom + -2*Coldness + 2*Activase + 3*Tiredness
409 Different in file 2  16   0 Emb B MutDupCut        128   0 I have eaten (26) causes sig=61 GS neu=12 int=0, ,,,0 => -7*Boredom + -2*Coldness + 0*<NONE> + 3*Tiredness

These are the stimuli genes I mentioned in my post about the 2017 digestive system and the changes I made to it. Not much to say that I didn't already say there.

However, I did remove the Activase from the Having Eaten stimulus; I decided I wanted to keep some risk of a heart attack present and thus made it a little more likely if creatures insisted on eating fatty foods to the exclusion of all else.

410 Different in file 1  17   0 Emb B MutDupCut        128   0 I have approached (periodic) (16) causes sig=29 GS neu=14 int=0, ,,,48 => 4*Activase + 1*Crowded + -13*Loneliness + 0*<NONE>
410 Different in file 2  17   0 Emb B MutDupCut        128   0 I have approached (periodic) (16) causes sig=29 GS neu=14 int=0, ,,,16 => 4*Activase + 0*<NONE> + -6*Loneliness + 0*<NONE>
412 Different in file 1  19   0 Emb B MutDupCut        128   0 I have retreated (17) causes sig=13 GS neu=14 int=0, ,,,160 => -11*Crowded + 2*Loneliness + -7*Fear + 4*Activase
412 Different in file 2  19   0 Emb B MutDupCut        128   0 I have retreated (17) causes sig=13 GS neu=14 int=0, ,,,128 => -11*Crowded + 0*<NONE> + -7*Fear + 4*Activase
532 Different in file 1  55   0 Emb B MutDupCut        128   0 Reached peak of smell 12 (67) causes sig=0 GS neu=0 int=0, ,,,16 => -3*Loneliness + 0*<NONE> + 0*<NONE> + 0*<NONE>
535 Different in file 2  55   0 Emb B MutDupCut        128   0 Reached peak of smell 12 (67) causes sig=0 GS neu=0 int=0, ,,,48 => -25*Loneliness + -3*Fear + 0*<NONE> + 0*<NONE>

These stimuli are changed as part of balancing the amount of loneliness/crowdedness. I realized that the approaching and retreating stims likely triggered on approaching or retreating from anything (not just other creatures), a thought reinforced by the fact TWBs/TCBs don't have these genes affect crowdedness/loneliness. So now those two drives are handled more by the aforementioned emitter genes.

2017 creatures also get considerably less loneliness reduced when they find another creature of their species. I decided to revert this back to how it was previously, as well as make it so it reduced fear as well in case they get scared by the presence of grendels in their midst.

531 Different in file 1  53   0 Chi B MutDupCut        128   0 Travelled through internal door (96) causes sig=0 GS neu=0 int=0, ,,,16 => -124*Enter + 0*<NONE> + 0*<NONE> + 0*<NONE>
534 Different in file 2  53   0 Chi B MutDupCut        128   0 Travelled through internal door (96) causes sig=0 GS neu=0 int=0, ,,,48 => -124*Enter + -124*Wait + 0*<NONE> + 0*<NONE>

So this is a change I'm not sure any other base genome's made. This gene refers to passing through internal doors. They're not the same as doors leading to other metarooms; this refers to doors leading to different areas of the same metaroom. Accordingly, internal doors are associated with the Enter drive as opposed to the Exit drive for metaroom/external doors.

I don't think the Enter drive is relevant anywhere in the base game of C3/DS, but it does come into play for certain third party metarooms as described here. And I don't think there's any reason why an internal door shouldn't use the Wait drive; without it it'd just lead creatures bouncing throw internal doors repeatedly. With it, however, most creatures would just wind up staring at the door they just used for a while before the Wait drive wears off and they realize they're at their destination.

So I made it so that the stim for using internal doors also gets rid of the Wait drive as is the case for elevators and external doors. Not sure how many internal door agents are out there, but it's futureproofing.

411 Different in file 1  18   0 Emb B MutDupCutDor     128   0 Heard creature speak (11) causes sig=0 GS neu=4 int=0, ,,,240 => 1*Crowded + -10*Loneliness + -11*Fear + -5*Anger
411 Different in file 2  18   0 Emb B MutDupCut        128   0 I have pulled (14) causes sig=55 GS neu=15 int=0, ,,,192 => -4*Boredom + -2*Coldness + 4*Tiredness + 4*Activase
533 Different in file 1  56   0 Emb B MutDupCutDor     128   0 I have said need (20) causes sig=0 GS neu=0 int=0, ,,,32 => -6*Anger + -2*Crowded + 0*<NONE> + 0*<NONE>
536 Different in file 2  56   0 Chi B MutDupCut        128   0 Discomfort (76) causes sig=0 GS neu=0 int=0, ,,,16 => 124*Comfort + 0*<NONE> + 0*<NONE> + 0*<NONE>

The TWBs/TCBs often repurpose previously dormant genes, changing them into completely new ones. In the interest of compatibility, I decided to do the same for a few genes. 

The CFF silenced the "Heard Creature Speak" and "Stated Need" stimuli and their corresponding instincts as it was basically a negative impact all around (they often resulted in feedback loops and creatures talking instead of actually taking care of themselves). Since they weren't being used anyway and I don't have any plans for them for future genomes, I turned the "Heard Creature Speak" stim into a Pulled Object stim (a copy of the Pushed Object stim except for pulling; for one reason or the other there wasn't one already) and "I have said need" into "Discomfort," taken from the vanilla grendel genome.

847 New in file 2  62   0 Emb B MutDupCut        128   0 Hit critter (87) causes sig=0 GS neu=0 int=0, ,,,0 => -5*Boredom + -13*Anger + 0*<NONE> + 0*<NONE>
848 New in file 2  63   0 Emb B MutDupCut        128   0 Hit machine (92) causes sig=0 GS neu=0 int=0, ,,,0 => -7*Boredom + 0*<NONE> + 0*<NONE> + 0*<NONE>

Alas, there weren't any more stimuli I felt comfortable repurposing, so two new stimuli genes were necessary to add these two stims. Like discomfort, they're from the vanilla grendel genome. Ettins don't have any stimuli genes unique to their vanilla genomes; if they did, I would've added them too.

Instincts

462 Different in file 1   3   0 Emb B MutDupCut        128   0 [03: stim] [Cell 3 (Seed)] + [Brain Lobe 255] [Cell 0] + [Brain Lobe 255] [Cell 0] and [Hunger for carbohydrate] => Cell 12 (Eat); unknown = 0.
462 Different in file 2   3   0 Emb B MutDupCut        128   0 [03: stim] [Cell 3 (Seed)] + [Brain Lobe 255] [Cell 0] + [Brain Lobe 255] [Cell 0] and [Hunger for carbohydrate] => Cell 12 (Eat); unknown = 31.
463 Different in file 1   4   0 Emb B MutDupCut        128   0 [03: stim] [Cell 11 (Food)] + [Brain Lobe 255] [Cell 0] + [Brain Lobe 255] [Cell 0] and [Hunger for fat] => Cell 12 (Eat); unknown = 0.
464 Different in file 2   4   0 Emb B MutDupCut        128   0 [03: stim] [Cell 11 (Food)] + [Brain Lobe 255] [Cell 0] + [Brain Lobe 255] [Cell 0] and [Hunger for fat] => Cell 12 (Eat); unknown = 31.
464 Different in file 1   6   0 Emb B MutDupCut        128   0 [03: stim] [Cell 8 (Fruit)] + [Brain Lobe 255] [Cell 0] + [Brain Lobe 255] [Cell 0] and [Hunger for protein] => Cell 12 (Eat); unknown = 0.
466 Different in file 2   6   0 Emb B MutDupCut        128   0 [03: stim] [Cell 8 (Fruit)] + [Brain Lobe 255] [Cell 0] + [Brain Lobe 255] [Cell 0] and [Hunger for protein] => Cell 12 (Eat); unknown = 31.
463 New in file 2  32   0 Emb B MutDupCut        128   0 [03: stim] [Cell 3 (Seed)] + [Brain Lobe 255] [Cell 0] + [Brain Lobe 255] [Cell 0] and [Hunger for fat] => Cell 12 (Eat); unknown = 62.
465 New in file 2  34   0 Emb B MutDupCut        128   0 [03: stim] [Cell 11 (Food)] + [Brain Lobe 255] [Cell 0] + [Brain Lobe 255] [Cell 0] and [Hunger for protein] => Cell 12 (Eat); unknown = 62.
467 New in file 2  48   0 Emb B MutDupCut        128   0 [03: stim] [Cell 8 (Fruit)] + [Brain Lobe 255] [Cell 0] + [Brain Lobe 255] [Cell 0] and [Hunger for carbohydrate] => Cell 12 (Eat); unknown = 62.

In the interest of making them trickier to care for, 2017s only have one instinct each for dealing with the hunger drives. EDIT: The 2017's description states that this change makes them require a more varied diet, which I interpreted as "it's to make them harder to raise." However, it's not stated as the actual reason, or even a reason ("to help prevent overeating" is a more directly stated reason). Some other reasons might've been out of an assumption that too many instincts could be confusing or just to make them only eat one kind of food item per type of hunger drive.

EDIT2: Dragoler did some sleuthing and found the discussion topic for 2017s on Creatures Caves, in which multiple people noted that 2017s tended to have trouble remembering to eat. Based on this, I'm inclined to believe that the reason was mostly to correct eating issues, both in remembering to eat and reducing "brain fog." Thanks, Dragoler!

In any event, they eat seeds when seeking cards, food when seeking fat, and fruit when seeking protein. However, since they're rarely hungry for protein on account of having a lot of muscle tissue, this tends to mean they almost never eat fruit. So a lot of those nice fruit agents out there just sit there unused. Not only that, but fruit's actually the best thing for a CFF-derived genome to eat if it's seeking carbs or protein, as it won't get fat on the side and thus won't get extra adipose tissue (and thus lower its risk of a heart attack).

Partially because of that and partially because I just wanted more variance in behavior, I readded the extra eat genes that are present in vanilla creatures (the CFF and prior) and weakened the genes already present. However, in the spirit of the original 2017 creatures, I also made it so the secondary eat genes are weaker than their respective primary gene.

468 Different in file 1  13   0 Emb B MutDupCutDor     128   0 [03: stim] [Cell 36 (Norn)] + [Brain Lobe 255] [Cell 0] + [Brain Lobe 255] [Cell 0] and [Anger] => Cell 8 (Say what you need); unknown = 93.
471 Different in file 2  13   0 Emb B MutDupCut        128   0 [03: stim] [Cell 36 (Norn)] + [Brain Lobe 255] [Cell 0] + [Brain Lobe 255] [Cell 0] and [Fear] => Cell 4 (come); unknown = 62.

A repurposed dormant instinct that I had no future plans for. The original instinct encouraged creatures to express themselves when angry, matching the corresponding stimulus; I instead turned it into an instinct to approach other norns when scared to match the change I made to that stimulus and to help counteract the Grendel Frightening reaction.

471 Different in file 1  15   0 Emb B MutDupCut        128   0 [03: stim] [Cell 28 (Machinery)] + [Brain Lobe 255] [Cell 0] + [Brain Lobe 255] [Cell 0] and [Boredom] => Cell 1 (push); unknown = 0.
474 Different in file 2  15   0 Emb B MutDupCut        128   0 [03: stim] [Cell 28 (Machinery)] + [Brain Lobe 255] [Cell 0] + [Brain Lobe 255] [Cell 0] and [Boredom] => Cell 1 (push); unknown = 62.
505 Different in file 1   5   0 Emb B MutDupCut        128   0 [03: stim] [Cell 21 (Toy)] + [Brain Lobe 255] [Cell 0] + [Brain Lobe 255] [Cell 0] and [Boredom] => Cell 1 (push); unknown = 0.
508 Different in file 2   5   0 Emb B MutDupCut        128   0 [03: stim] [Cell 21 (Toy)] + [Brain Lobe 255] [Cell 0] + [Brain Lobe 255] [Cell 0] and [Boredom] => Cell 1 (push); unknown = 62.

As you might've noticed, ChiChi Norns and norns in general love their machinery. Since that's kind of annoying, I weakened the strength of the instinct so they're more likely to try other things. In a similar vein, I weakened the instinct for pushing toys as well. Hopefully this results in more varied behaviors without the problems that come with getting rid of boredom-related instincts outright.

Pigments and Pigment Bleeds

373 Different in file 1   1   0 Emb B Mut              129   0 Intensity of Red is = 128.
373 Different in file 2   1   0 Emb B Mut              255   0 Intensity of Red is = 128.
374 Different in file 1   2   0 Emb B Mut              129   0 Intensity of Green is = 128.
374 Different in file 2   2   0 Emb B Mut              255   0 Intensity of Green is = 128.
375 Different in file 1   3   0 Emb B Mut              129   0 Intensity of Blue is = 128.
375 Different in file 2   3   0 Emb B Mut              255   0 Intensity of Blue is = 128.
376 Different in file 1   5   0 Emb B Mut              129   0 Intensity of Red is = 128.
376 Different in file 2   5   0 Chi B Mut              255   0 Intensity of Red is = 128.
377 Different in file 1   7   0 Ado M Mut              129   0 Intensity of Red is = 128.
377 Different in file 2   7   0 Ado B Mut              255   0 Intensity of Red is = 128.
378 Different in file 1   6   0 Emb B Mut              129   0 Intensity of Red is = 128.
378 Different in file 2   6   0 You B Mut              255   0 Intensity of Red is = 128.
379 Different in file 1   4   0 Ado F Mut              129   0 Intensity of Red is = 128.
379 Different in file 2   4   0 Adu B Mut              255   0 Intensity of Red is = 128.
380 Different in file 1   8   0 Emb B Mut              129   0 Intensity of Green is = 128.
380 Different in file 2   8   0 Old B Mut              255   0 Intensity of Red is = 128.
381 Different in file 1   9   0 Emb B Mut              129   0 Intensity of Green is = 128.
381 Different in file 2   9   0 Sen B Mut              255   0 Intensity of Red is = 128.
382 Different in file 1  10   0 Emb B Mut              129   0 Intensity of Green is = 128.
382 Different in file 2  10   0 Chi B Mut              255   0 Intensity of Green is = 128.
383 Different in file 1  11   0 Emb B Mut              129   0 Intensity of Blue is = 128.
383 Different in file 2  11   0 Ado B Mut              255   0 Intensity of Green is = 128.
384 Different in file 1  12   0 Emb B Mut              129   0 Intensity of Blue is = 128.
384 Different in file 2  12   0 You B Mut              255   0 Intensity of Green is = 128.
385 Different in file 1  13   0 Emb B Mut              129   0 Intensity of Blue is = 128.
385 Different in file 2  13   0 Adu B Mut              255   0 Intensity of Green is = 128.
891 New in file 2  14   0 Old B Mut              255   0 Intensity of Green is = 128.
892 New in file 2  15   0 Sen B Mut              255   0 Intensity of Green is = 128.
893 New in file 2  16   0 Chi B Mut              255   0 Intensity of Blue is = 128.
894 New in file 2  17   0 Ado B Mut              255   0 Intensity of Blue is = 128.
895 New in file 2  18   0 You B Mut              255   0 Intensity of Blue is = 128.
896 New in file 2  19   0 Adu B Mut              255   0 Intensity of Blue is = 128.
897 New in file 2  20   0 Old B Mut              255   0 Intensity of Blue is = 128.
898 New in file 2  21   0 Sen B Mut              255   0 Intensity of Blue is = 128.

Since I make genetic breeds and genetic breeds really benefit from having nice colors, I changed around the existing pigment genes and added new ones so there's a set of red, blue, and green pigment genes for every life stage. The new pigment genes are at the end of the genome to maintain compatibility with the original 2017 genome.

For one reason or the other, C3 standalone changed how pigments and pigment bleeds worked in C1 and C2, where they kicked on at the lifestage they're set to and stayed that way for the rest of the creature's life. Instead, the genes only apply to the lifestage they're set to and switch off after that, requiring genes for all life stages if you want a creature to keep its color for its whole life (and even then they'll lose their colors after they die of old age, since "Dead" is technically a life stage itself that you can't set genes to kick on at in the Genetics Kit).

DS reverted this change to how it worked in C1 and C2, and I imagine most people aren't playing C3 standalone these days. However, there's another reason to have pigment and pigment bleed genes for all lifestages in DS. In the vanilla genomes and other genomes that don't have extra pigment genes for lifestages past baby, a single pigment or pigment bleed gene mutating to affect a later life stage will result in that gene dictating the entire color scheme at that lifestage. So even if it was strongly colored as a baby, it'll go back to looking almost normal when it ages and stay that way for the rest of its life. Having extra pigment and pigment bleed genes for the later lifestages keeps that from happening for colored creatures.

The original 2017 genome also drastically reduced the mutation rate of pigment genes, presumably for the same reason the Farbe genome disables pigment mutations entirely. Bright pigments tend to look less realistic and pleasing to the eye than pigment bleeds do. But out of personal preference, I kicked the mutation rate back up to where it is in vanilla creatures. 

 387 Different in file 1   2   0 Emb B Mut              255   0 Rotation = 128, Swap = 128.
387 Different in file 2   2   0 Chi B Mut              255   0 Rotation = 128, Swap = 128.
388 Different in file 1   3   0 Emb B Mut              255   0 Rotation = 128, Swap = 128.
388 Different in file 2   3   0 Ado B Mut              255   0 Rotation = 128, Swap = 128.
389 Different in file 1   4   0 Ado F Mut              255   0 Rotation = 128, Swap = 128.
389 Different in file 2   4   0 You B Mut              255   0 Rotation = 128, Swap = 128.
390 Different in file 1   5   0 Ado F Mut              255   0 Rotation = 128, Swap = 128.
390 Different in file 2   5   0 Adu B Mut              255   0 Rotation = 128, Swap = 128.
391 Different in file 1   6   0 Ado F Mut              255   0 Rotation = 128, Swap = 128.
391 Different in file 2   6   0 Old B Mut              255   0 Rotation = 128, Swap = 128.
392 Different in file 1   7   0 Ado M Mut              255   0 Rotation = 128, Swap = 128.
392 Different in file 2   7   0 Sen B Mut              255   0 Rotation = 128, Swap = 128.
393 Different in file 1   8   0 Ado M Mut              255   0 Rotation = 128, Swap = 128.
393 Different in file 2   8   0 Emb B Mut              255   0 Rotation = 128, Swap = 128.
394 Different in file 1   9   0 Ado M Mut              255   0 Rotation = 128, Swap = 128.
394 Different in file 2   9   0 Chi B Mut              255   0 Rotation = 128, Swap = 128.
899 New in file 2  10   0 Ado B Mut              255   0 Rotation = 128, Swap = 128.
900 New in file 2  11   0 You B Mut              255   0 Rotation = 128, Swap = 128.
901 New in file 2  12   0 Adu B Mut              255   0 Rotation = 128, Swap = 128.
902 New in file 2  13   0 Old B Mut              255   0 Rotation = 128, Swap = 128.
903 New in file 2  14   0 Sen B Mut              255   0 Rotation = 128, Swap = 128.
904 New in file 2  15   0 Emb B Mut              255   0 Rotation = 128, Swap = 128.
905 New in file 2  16   0 Chi B Mut              255   0 Rotation = 128, Swap = 128.
906 New in file 2  17   0 Ado B Mut              255   0 Rotation = 128, Swap = 128.
907 New in file 2  18   0 You B Mut              255   0 Rotation = 128, Swap = 128.
908 New in file 2  19   0 Adu B Mut              255   0 Rotation = 128, Swap = 128.
909 New in file 2  20   0 Old B Mut              255   0 Rotation = 128, Swap = 128.
910 New in file 2  21   0 Sen B Mut              255   0 Rotation = 128, Swap = 128.

As with the pigment genes, the existing pigment bleed genes were rearranged and new pigment bleed genes were added to ensure every life stage has three pigment bleed genes assigned to it. Why three? I found that was the number that ensured the most intense pigment bleeds and also provided the correct value for the Creature History's color sections.

Not much to say here that I haven't already said for the pigment genes.

Facial Expressions

460 Different in file 1   6   0 Emb B                    0   0 Sad, Weight 255 => 124*Pain + 71*Unknown drive number: 255 + 69*Unknown drive number: 255 + 69*Unknown drive number: 255
460 Different in file 2   6   0 Emb B                    0   0 Sad, Weight 255 => 124*Pain + 75*Hunger for protein + 75*Hunger for carbohydrate + 75*Hunger for fat
454 New in file 1   1   0 Emb B                    0   0 Sad, Weight 51 => 49*Unknown drive number: 255 + 31*Unknown drive number: 255 + 31*Unknown drive number: 255 + 0*Unknown drive number: 255

The facial expression genes have been changed to match that of the TWBs/TCBs, who look miserable when they get hungry. Since I thought was cute and also helpful to tell a creature's mood at a glance (especially postmortem, as 2017 creatures also take on a neutral expression when they're bored), I added it in.

I also got rid of the seemingly-extraneous "hungry" expression that's been present since the original C3 expressive breeds. I think that was something added that wound up not working and was never removed...like a lot of other things in vanilla genomes.

Conclusion

Despite the length of this writeup, RA's Standard genomes actually aren't changed that much from the original 2017 genomes. Most of the changes are in the stimuli genes, and a lot boil down to "this gene can't mutate/is more mutable." 

But at the end of the day, I'm not trying to reinvent the wheel and set a new standard in genetic development. The only standard I'm setting here is the standard I'm holding my future breeds to, hence the name of the genome. And I'm pretty happy with what I've made so far.

To save you a bunch of scrolling, here's the link to the test pack of norns and the genome I uploaded to Creatures Caves. There's no egg agent in this download; I'm saving that for the finalized version of the genome, which I'll release alongside my grendel and ettin genomes whenever I finish those up.

I'm not sure what my file hosting situation is at the moment. Trying to get to the place that hosted my downloads up until now just gives me a page stating "This website is being moved," and I remember getting something along those lines when I tried going there previously. To my knowledge the files already uploaded can still be downloaded (if not, EemFoo should have what you're looking for). So I'll need to figure something out when the time comes.

But for now, I think it's time I started work on my ettin base genome. I'll be certain to document that journey and the one for my base grendel genome as well, so until then, folks.