Creatures Caves

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Creatures 2 was a disaster at launch. That's why it's been so historically unpopular. However, it's my favourite of the entire series, now that patches and cobs and fixed genetics have made it into the game it SHOULD have been all along. I was a huge C1 fan too, but C2 takes first prize in my heart now. It’s everything C1 was, and more. It’s also everything C3 isn’t: beautiful, simple, and focused on being a natural ecosystem for your Norns to inhabit. (Is my bias showing? I think it might be showing. Just a bit. [nlaugh]

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GoG's The Albian Years is the recommended version, and the one this guide will focus on. It comes pre-patched with the latest official fixes. However, this only covers a small amount of issues. It has always been left to the community to fix the rest. So, you will need to inject several COBs to fix the rest. So, without further ado...

0. Compatibility

Windows 10 user? GoG Albian Years user? My condolences. Normally, C2 runs horrendously on modern windows, but as of October 2020, there is an extremely good fix available, courtesy of DXWrapper author elishacloud. Click here to grab it, and follow the instructions on that page. After playing with this fix for a while myself, I've noticed that it can occasionally fail to launch. For best success, minimise/move aside everything else on your screen, so that C2's window launches on top of your bare desktop, without any windows, widgets, videos or anything behind it. And if it doesn't work the first time, keep trying--it will eventually!

Installation procedure:

- Install somewhere outside of the default Program Files folders. C:\Creatures is good enough.
- Download and run the Remastered patch.
- Do not use any compatibility settings or 'Run as Admin'. It's generally not needed and may even prevent the game launching.

When using dxwrapper, the game may fail to load several times in a row with various weird errors. Ignore these, using taskmanager to kill the process in between each attempt, and just try again. If it still doesn't load after 5-6 attempts, something else may be wrong.

1. Genomes

Most importantly, you will need to download an updated genome. Genomes are the genetic base of your norns. It's what separates the smarts from the stupids. Or, at least, the stupids from the even-more-stupids. One of the more egregious problems C2 shipped with was its broken-as-heck default genome, so this is a must-have fix.

There's a variety to choose from, but I reccomend starting with a Canny variant. There are several versions of the Canny genome floating around, but I like using JayD’s version, found here.

There are many other genetic (and sprite) breeds available. Take a look at the downloads area here at CreaturesCaves for many options.

2. Important Fixes and Updates

When you first launch C2, the Injector Kit will already have a few fixes you can inject into the game. Others can be downloaded from this site. These are the cobs I recommend injecting, and in this specific order (for reasons):

* Albian Updates v1.1
* Ball Update, BunchaStuff and More Updates
* From BunchaStuff, specifically these:
- Death Script Update
- Drinking Update
- Two Door Update
- Update Action 0 (Optional)
- Slap & Tickle Update (Optional)
* From More Updates, specifically these:
- Drop Update
- Button Update
- Shee Statue Update
- Lift Cabin Update
* Bees Update
* Fishing Rod Update
* Friendly Walls (Optional)
* Fungi Update
* Ocean Bridges 1.1 (Optional)
* Pump Fix
* Super Duper Purple Doozer

Note: DO NOT inject “Sleep Update”, as it’s actually bad for Norns! If you do by accident, re-inject Albian Updates 1.1 to fix it.

Once you have those, it's time to get Better Albia.

3. World/Room Updates

--Edit--
There's been some discussion on the merits of just providing a pre-patched World.sfc. I've gone back and forth in my mind several times about this, but have temporarily decided it's a good idea. So if the following section seems too long and daunting (and/or you can't get the Room Editor to install or run, which some people can't) then just grab...

This file (<- click link)

...and unzip it into your save location. Note that this .sfc file is based on a WIP version of Better Albia 1.6. Please keep this in mind if you encounter any unexpected problems.

If you take this shortcut, feel free to skip to the next section titled "4. Misc".
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Better Albia is pretty important. Simply put, it addresses a myriad little problems, oversights and unforseen issues in the base layout of the world. Trust me, you want it. Installing it requires the Room Editor application. I know, extra steps... but, it's better than distributing a pre-fixed World.sfc file, for various reasons.

Here's the license info you'll need to input during installation (don't worry, this is a public domain license provided by the publisher):

GamewareDev
301-5061A-1234U-WI

After applying Better Albia, there are a few more cobs and fixes you can install, which are included in the accompanying Better Albia - Extras cob. This is why I mentioned injection order is important. Inject the following after having done the above:

BA - Cliff Edge Remover (Optional)
BA - Ocean Bridges Fix (Optional, and ONLY if you injected Ocean Bridges before)
BA - Out Of Bounds Fix
BA - Stop Wallbonking!
BA - World Wrap Fix

...And you're done! At least in regards to the base game. All of these could be considered mandatory, but the ones I've marked Optional may come down to personal taste. For example, I think the Cliff Edge objects do nothing but hypnotize and drip-feed fear into norns who helplessly stare at them, so I like to delete them ASAP. But maybe you like the teetering animation they cause when a norn gets too close to a platform's edge, in which case you may decide to keep them around.

An important note: Please don't inject any "Room update" cobs that are not already included with Better Albia. Doing so may create odd compatibility issues. BA makes changes to things like floor levels, and even adds additional area designations, and other patches will get very confused by this. It might even crash your game!

(ANOTHER IMPORTANT NOTE, DECEMBER 2020: A bug was recently discovered in BA that caused issues with the incubator elevator. I have already pushed a fix to the archive, so if you're newly downloading BA right now, you can ignore this warning. Otherwise, you may want to re-download it and apply the room template again. Apologies for the oversight!

4. Misc

From this point, you can take your C2 experience in any direction you wish! There are countless cobs, breeds, and utilities available. I'll list a few here to get you started.

Genetics Kit - Examine the genomes of your creatures, edit their genes, or even create entirely new genomes of your own. License key included on download page.
Egg Sitter - A small external app from The Lair of the <Unnamed> Norn that monitors the paused status of eggs in the world, and unpauses any that are stuck paused.
Wolfling Monitor - An external app that provides a detailed overview of your Norn population, with several management features including a rudimentary autonamer.
BoBCob - For authoring your own cobs, or inspecting the contents of downloaded ones.

And if any of these links go down, check out eemfoo.org to see if it's backed up there. Failing that, ask around and someone will be sure to find you a copy of what you need.

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I'll stop here. Hope this helps! And if you get stuck with anything, don't be shy. You can ask questions on the forums, or join one of the Creature discords for more immediate feedback. Happy nornsitting!

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