Some more questions...

[MFAnother94]

Hello. I'd like to ask some more questions if some of these things are possible:

 

1. Could I change properties of foliage (ex. their biome, location in the world, etc.) just like with animals? If yes, which folder contains their .ai or something?

2. I couldn't find the Yeti's .ai file. It's not in its own folder. Where could it be?

3. I was looking at Asian Elephant's ai files from folders "asian_elephant01" and "asian_elephant02", and it looks like they're exactly the same. Is there some difference I'm not aware of?

4. Can awards be edited? Like if I could remove/add requirements?

 

Thank you again!

[Fern]

From Jay:

Quote from: MFAnother941. Could I change properties of foliage (ex. their biome, location in the world, etc.) just like with animals? If yes, which folder contains their .ai or something?

Yes, characteristics such as Habitat and Location can be changed for foliage. Like animals, their ".ai" files are in many ZT folders. ZT's foliage ".ai" files are in ".ztd" files that start with "scenery" or "na_theme". When looking for ZT's animal or foliage ".ai" files, it is important to start with more recent folders than older folders because sometimes an object's characteristics were changed in later ZT expansions. So the folder order to look for ".ai" files is first Updates, then XPACK2, dupdate, ZUPDATE1, XPACK1, ZUPDATE, and finally ZT's main folder. Like for animals and ".dll" files, ZT's ".ztd" files should not be changed directly. Instead, the changed ".ai" file can be put into a new ".ztd" file that is put in the hacks folder (if you have one set up) or the dlupdate folder. Then they will override ZT's. And again, I pefer to create new things with changes than overriding ZT's things. But it is up to you what you want to do, since there are advantages and disadvantages to each approach.

Quote2. I couldn't find the Yeti's .ai file. It's not in its own folder. Where could it be?

ZT's Yeti uses a ".uca" file instead of an ".ai" file. It is in yeti.ztd inside the Updates folder.

Quote3. I was looking at Asian Elephant's ai files from folders "asian_elephant01" and "asian_elephant02", and it looks like they're exactly the same. Is there some difference I'm not aware of?

The asianele.ai files are different. The size for it in Asian_Elephant01.ztd is 22637. The size for it in asian_elephant02.ztd is 22736. Finding differences between configuration files is often difficult. To see differences between configuration or text files, I use the free and open source program WinMerge, which is at the following site:

http://winmerge.org

Quote4. Can awards be edited? Like if I could remove/add requirements?

Yes, awards can be edited. Like for anything else, ZT's ".ztd" files should not be changed. Removing existing awards would be extracting ZT's freeform/awards.scn and freeform/unlock02.scn from freefrm6.ztd, removing the appropriate "goal" lines, putting the changed ".scn" files in a new ".ztd", and putting that ".ztd" in the hacks or dlupdate folder. Adding requirements or new awards is extremely complicated. Even the creators of ZT made mistakes trying to create new awards. New awards involve creating new ".scn" files and new TEXT blocks in ".dll" files. scenario/example.scn in scenari6.ztd describes lines that can be used to create scenarios or awards. But for many things it is not detailed enough. So people have to guess at what is meant and hope for the best. Testing new awards is also difficult. Although it might work in a simple case, it might not work as expected in other situations.

[MFAnother94]

Quote

ZT's Yeti uses a ".uca" file instead of an ".ai" file. It is in yeti.ztd inside the Updates folder.

How do I save this one since it turns into a text document when I do?

 

Quote

The asianele.ai files are different. The size for it in Asian_Elephant01.ztd is 22637. The size for it in asian_elephant02.ztd is 22736. Finding differences between configuration files is often difficult. To see differences between configuration or text files, I use the free and open source program WinMerge, which is at the following site:

http://winmerge.org

Size? Does that mean the model from "asian_elephant02" was enlarged? You can change the size?

 

Then I have one more question after: Does changing an animal's Genus and/or Family do anything to the animal or the game itself?

[Truly_happy]

(I'm guessing anyone may post here?)

 

MFAnother94, I think you misunderstand what is meant by "size". Each file takes up physical space on a hard drive. The space is measured in units called "bytes". Jay said one .ai file had a larger number than another, meaning more bytes. I reason if a file takes up more space on a hard drive, it contains more information and, therefore, there must be a difference betwern the elephant files that you did not notice.

 

If the second file is larger, more lines of code have been added to it. More code means more functions. This would be consistent with an update.

[Fern]

From Jay:

Quote from: MFAnother94How do I save this one since it turns into a text document when I do?

".uca" files are text files, as are ".txt" files, ".ai" files, ".scn" files, ".cfg" files, ".ani" files, and ".lyt" files. So text editors such as Wordpad and NotePad can be used to look at them.

QuoteSize? Does that mean the model from "asian_elephant02" was enlarged? You can change the size?

The sizes I gave are for the asianele.ai files, which is the configuration file for the Asian Elephant. The size of that configuration file increased by 99 bytes.

QuoteThen I have one more question after: Does changing an animal's Genus and/or Family do anything to the animal or the game itself?

Yes, changing an animal's Genus or Family can change how it works in ZT. There is a section in the animal's configuration that says what an animal likes or dislikes. In addition to liking or disliking a specific object, animals are often also configured to like or dislike different families and habitats, and sometimes different genuses. There is a uca guide at ZKL that explains a number of things in the animal configuration:

http://www.lunamanar.com/zklounge/viewtopic.php?f=52&t=116