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GEN files

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Revision as of 00:24, 31 December 2005 by 220.237.30.150 (talk)
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.gen files contain the genetic information for new breeds as well as individual creatures, identified by the moniker.

Format

Genome files start with the three characters 'd', 'n', and 'a', followed by the (textual) number representing the genome file version - '1' for Creatures 1, '2' for Creatures 2, and '3' for the Creatures Evolution Engine.

This is then followed by any number of genes, which consist of the four characters 'gene', a gene header and gene data, which differs depending on the contents of the header. There is more information about the differing formats of genes in the

When all the genes have occured, there is then a end-of-file marker consisting of the four characters 'gend'.

All numbers in the file are in little-endian form.

Gene header

A gene header starts with two 8-bit values, representing the gene type and the gene subtype.

There are then another four 8-bit values, representing the gene identifier (for reference by GNO files), the generation number of the gene, the age at which the gene should be switched on, and the gene flags.

In version 2/3 genomes, there's then an 8-bit mutability weighting value, and in version 3 genomes, an 8-bit variant value, used in Creatures Village to turn on different genes for different species without needing separate genome files for each species.

Related links

External links