Conversions of my breedz to Petz 5.
+ +07 september 2003
+ ++ It has recently come to my attention that there is a problem with breedz of + mine that someone else has been converting. Specifically, the problem is with + breedz that have been converted to Petz 5 at Nicky's Petzfriends site. Quite a + few of my breedz are up there under the "converted" sections, and some that + look like mine are under the "created" sections. It turned out that things + were in a bit of chaos with them. ID numbers have been changed, furfiles are + missing, and in some cases the names have been changed. Also there was no + acknowledgement of my work on the originals, but that is really a minor issue. + The main thing is that these breedz will have been causing distress to many + downloaders because they will have crashed the game under certain + circumstances. +
+ ++ There is too much hate in the world, without allowing it to interfere with our + gentle hobbies of hexing, breeding and playing with petz! So let's not get all + screwed up with complaints or accusations; let's just tackle the definite + problem here, a problem which needed to be sorted out so that people could + enjoy the breedz. +
+ ++ The real problem was not that Nicky had converted my breedz to petz 5; + although I would have liked it if she had checked my site first to see if I + had Petz 5 versions, I am willing to accept her explanation that she did not + know that they were mine. I'm still amazed that people were silly enough to + send her breedz to convert such as my monkeys and ratz, which the downloaders + must have known I had Petz 5 versions of up at my site!! I released all + the versions at once for those breedz. It's particularly silly of them because + the ones here are carefully made so that they will speak "monkey" or "rat". +
+ ++ (A note here for anyone who's interested -- I prefer to convert my own breedz, + because I have a lot of complicated things in many of my breedfiles, not + simply the .lnz sections. If anyone wants a breed of mine converted to another + version of the game, please contact me in future; if it's mine and I've not + already converted it, I shall do it.) +
+ ++ The problem was also not that she had renamed some of them; I don't + like to see my breedz masquerading under different names of course, but that's + a personal matter. +
+ ++ The real problem was that her conversions all have a different ID + number from the ones that I gave the originals, also some of them were missing + essential furfile bitmaps, which means that people who like to import pets + from earlier versions of the game and breed them will see the game crashing + just as a "happy event" is about to be announced. So, this means that the + existence of two different conversions of any given breedfile causes + difficulties in the Petz Community, and I keep getting emails from people who + want to know how to fix their pets. +
+ ++ Aaaaargh!! That kind of interruption I do not need; my computer-time is + already too limited these days. +
+ ++ So a solution has been found that will keep breeders happy and my mailbox less + overflowing :-) +
+ ++ Nicky still has the files up at her site, except for a couple which really had + to be removed, so that people who swap pets which were originally adopted from + her files are not left unable to breed them. She has a link to my site under + any of the breedz which are obviously mine, so that people who have adopted a + pet from one of my older versions of the game or have downloaded one from the + Internet can find a proper conversion that will work at my site. + Finally, she has a warning "agreement" at her site about possible difficulties + using her conversions of other people's breedz. +
+ ++ Note that if you want my various species or fantasy pets (particularly for + instance the Horse) to have the correct sounds, you should really download my + proper conversions of my breedz. You can download the sounds for my breedz at + this site, "Carolyn's Creations", of course. +
+ ++ Note also that you will not be able to breed a pet from one of the conversions + from Nicky's site with one adopted from an original same-name breedfile at my + site unless you do a clever trick to fool Windows. For instance, take the + Monkey. If you want to have a pet adopted from the version downloaded from + Nicky's site in your game and you want to breed it with one adopted from my + proper one, rename the breedfile from her site to this: +
+ +Monkey.catNicky
+ +
+ (You can rename it by right-clicking on it in My Computer or Windows Explorer
+ and choosing "Rename". No need to open it in a hex editor or anything -- just
+ rename the file.)
+ Then you can run my Monkey.cat in the game as well as Monkey.catNicky. The
+ pets will both come out with no problems, and will breed -- at least, they do
+ on my Windows 95 system; if they don't on any different operating system you
+ have, then I cannot help you.
+
+ Finally, about the cat breedz which look like mine under Nicky's "created" + section. I am happy to accept her explanation regarding the Angora cat. The + Himalayan -- people, forget it. There are a lot of Himalayans on the Internet; + I agree that one of the ones at Nicky's site looks very like mine, but mine is + based on a Siamese and the ones at her site are not. +
+ ++ I hope this sorts things out and that we can all co-exist in peace, helping + each other out where necessary and having a good time. +
+ +Enjoy!
+ +Carolyn Horn
+ + \ No newline at end of file