How to separate files?

[Guest VCTR]

Howdy. Sorry to make a new topic out of the blue like this, but I'm having a small issue I'm trying to figure out. I've gotten back into ZT over the last month or so, but at the moment, I don't want a whole lot of content added to my game. I'd figure I'd limit it to animals from ZT2 and such. My problem is that certain animals I've been wanting to download are only available in larger packs. I hope this isn't an issue, but how do I separate individual components from larger ZTDs?

[(Designer)Particle]

The instructions would sort of depend upon the type of item/animal and how the original designer made the ztd.  In general, you can take any item from a ztd and make it into its own ztd but, there would be a few parts to it.  the first would be the config file, usually named .ai or .uca or . ucb.  these files are essential, as well as the animations for that item, which could be in the same folder as the config file or a different one.  It's sort of confusing.  Also in the end you might need a .cfg file that points to the .ai file,  or you might not.  Also you might need a freeform unlock folder... or you might not.  Without knowing the pack you're talking about, it gets hard to give the instructions.

 

Usually people would want to do the opposite, which is combine ztds into a pack, for the reason that ZT1 only allows you to have a certain amount of ztd files loaded up, and if you use a lot of mods you might reach this limit.  Really there is very little reason to separate animals from packs, and probably it isn't even worth the effort, I would just use the pack, and not add the unwanted animals to the zoo.  If you're worried about your menus filling up with useless icons, then might I suggest you try some bigger menus.  :)  I know a mod that would work for that.  lol.

 

Meanwhile, if you have a specific request for a certain animal to be separated into it's own ztd, then by all means you can request that.  Someone here will probably be willing to help.

[HeatherL]

This link shows how to combine files. 

Separating files is essentially the opposite.  After much practice at combining, I taught myself to separate.  However, as Particle said, it is tedious & usually not worth the effort.

[Yellowrose]

To seperate a ztd file it is just the reverse of of combining as Heather mentioned. Watch my video on how to combine first so you have a general idea if the inner file structure of a ztd file. Then when you feel like doing the tedious part of seperating a file, extract the combined ztd file into a working folder. Make a new folder for the animal or object you want to seperate, go back to your working folder then open and look at all the  animal uca files(located inside the animals folder) or ucs files for objects(located in the scenery/other folder)  to to find the one you want. This will be located in a section of the uca file , in a uca or ai  file of an animal it can be located in a different spot in the file depending on the file's creator and how they edited the file when it was created. In a ucs file it is generally at the bottom of the ucs file.

 

Once you find this and know what the animal/object name is make note of the internal file name, usually an 8 character number at the top of a ucs file or in the m/icon line in a uca file. this is important so you can match the uca/ai or ucs file with it's corresponding numbered folder which can be found in the Objects folder or in the animals folder of an extracted Ztd file. Animals have more structure then objects and I have never worked with animals only objects like scenery and building paths and fences so not sure how hard it will be to seperate animal files. Object files should relatively easy to reverse the combining process.