If you want to include the names of objects in tooltips (if tooltip classifiers are enabled) or in the Magic Profiler, download this file and put it in your Creatures 2 folder:
ClassifierNames.txt (2023-05-09)
Q: Why is nothing happening when I open the launcher?
A: If you're using the Steam version, make sure you open it at least once from Steam. That will ensure that the proper registry entries get created.
Q: Why does it launch, ding, and then exit?
A: You may need to set compatibility options. Right-click on Creatures2.exe, go to Properties, Compatibility, check 'Reduced color mode', and choose 16-bit from the drop-down menu.
Q: Why does nothing happen at all after selecting a world from the launcher?
A: Are you using an older computer? If so, it may not support some of the optimizations. E-mail lisdude @ lisdude.com and we can hopefully figure it out!
Q: Why is everything so tiny?!
A: You may need to change DPI settings. Right-click on Creatures2.exe, go to Properties, Compatibility, 'Change high DPI settings', check 'Override high DPI scaling behavior', and choose 'System (enhanced)'.
Q: I'm on build X. How do I upgrade to build Y?
A: All you need to do it copy build_y.patch to your Creatures 2 directory and rerun PatchC2.
Q: Fixed graphical glitches? Terrible lies! My Eye View is going crazy!
A: Eye View is particularly troublesome. It sounds like you're using DXWrapper. You might want to try replacing it with DDrawCompat v0.2.1. You can either do this by downloading DDrawCompat and replacing ddraw.dll in your Creatures directory or by changing the DXWrapper configuration file. I'd recommend the former, but either should work.
Q: Can I use my old world and/or import my old creatures?
A: Technically, yes. It's recommended to start a new world with all new creatures, though, as a lot of bugs have been fixed that can cause subtle corruption of a world and its inhabitants. These aren't always obvious and can cause issues later down the line.
Q: Will you implement feature X?
A: Maybe. It's worth asking on Discord! I already have a lengthy TODO list, but we'll see.
Q: Why should I trust you?!
A: You shouldn't! I'm an internet stranger. I would advise, at the very least, checking the patched executable with VirusTotal.com.
Q: Creatures 2 for free?! Noice!
A: Erm, no. You still need to own a legitimate copy of the game. This is a patch that has to be applied to an existing purchased executable.
BUILD 12 [OFFICIAL BUILD 41] (2023-05-07) - Fix another tooltip crash. (This fix should be more thorough.) - Add the 'CDIE' macro to kill a creature when sending a message is just too much effort. - Updated ClassifierNames.txt with objects from Life Kit #1 and Object Pack #1. (Thanks again, Malkin!) NOTE: Due to the added macros, the official build number is now 41. This allows you to use 'VRSN' in your scripts to ensure compatibility. BUILD 11 (2023-04-29) - Fix a crash with messed up poses. (The pose is still messed up, but at least it won't crash!) - Fix crashes when trying to raise / reset the signal of a cell that doesn't exist. - Fix a crash when attempting to reduce a bogus drive. - Fix a potential crash / undefined behavior when a macro attempts to use DIRN on a non-creature. - Objects with the floatable attribute can no longer be seen or touched by other objects (e.g. with 'etch' or 'esee'). This should help them stay in place when using COBs like 'Underground Sweeper'. - Objects with the floatable attribute now maintain their position when the window is resized. - Moving toolbars no longer affects the positioning of objects with the floatable attribute. - Add keyboard shortcuts CTRL-1,2,3,4,5,6 to quickly jump to favorite places. - Updated ClassifierNames.txt. (Thanks Malkin!) BUILD 10 (2023-04-27) - Fix a crash when hovering over an object that is about to be destroyed. - Fix a crash when trying to pass an invalid stimulus to the sense lobe. - Fix another crash related to pickup handles. - Options for mute, creature footsteps, tooltip classifiers, and status bar world coordinates are now persistent. - Fix a crash where the game would try to plot objects beyond the maximum number of plottable objects. - Increase the maximum number of plottable objects. This minimizes the chances for weirdness when playing at large window sizes. - Added 'CTRL-SHIFT-M' to create an HTML file detailing the number and type of objects present in the world. In the future this will be similar to the DS 'Magic Profiler', but for now it's a simple count. The report is located in your data directory (Documents\Creatures\Creatures 2 or Program Files) and is called '_report.html' - Added the file 'ClassifierNames.txt'. You'll have to download this separately and put it into your Creatures 2 directory. This will make the CTRL-SHIFT-M output more readable. Also, if you have tooltip classifiers enabled, you will see 'friendly' names for known classifiers. BUILD 9 [Official Build 40] (2023-04-23) - Fix more world wrap issues. (Thanks Verm!) - Add the 'HOTS' macro command to return the ID of the object under the cursor. - Add the 'ERMN' macro command to enumerate through all objects in the same room as targ. - World / view coordinates can now be displayed in the status bar with the keyboard shortcut CTRL-SHIFT-X. - Classifier / moniker display in tooltips when hovering over objects can now be toggled with CTRL-SHIFT-T. - Fix an issue where importing a creature could freeze the game after warning that a voice file wasn't found. - Minor optimizations. Probably make no difference but they make me feel better. - Double the number of possible total lobes (32). - Fix the history path for users of Creatures 2 Deluxe. NOTE: Due to the added macros, the official build number is now 40. This allows you to use 'VRSN' in your scripts to ensure compatibility. BUILD 8 (2023-04-16) - Fix a potential crash when a creature is marked as carried but has no actual carrier. - Add 'Save' and 'Save as' to the File menu. - Fix an issue where objects with the floatable attribute wouldn't reappear when the world loads. (You may need to reinject them once.) - Fix an issue where 3IHS would possess the mouse cursor when holding a floating object and moving the camera around. - The Creature menu now supports up to 1000 creatures. - Fix various memory issues in several DDE commands. BUILD 7 (2023-04-15) - When renaming a creature with CAOS, it now: - Updates the title bar if the creature is currently selected. - Double-clicking the event in the status bar will change the subject but not open the owner kit. - Fix a potential startup crash if a blackboard tries to display text before the graphics have initialized. - Objects marked as 'FLOATING' now consistently follow the camera, even after jumping to another point in the world. - Fix a crash when trying to use invalid pick-up handles when creatures are carrying objects. - Fix an issue with SWLDS where the death script wouldn't properly execute. Now it does. - Fix various potential rendering crashes. - Add a warning dialog if a previous crash was detected and auto-save is disabled for the current run. (Previously there was no warning and you'd be surprised to find that your world didn't save.) - Help now appears properly when invoked from the help menu or F1. - Objects with the floatable attribute can now be placed anywhere. - Fix an issue with creatures dropping objects slightly beneath the floor. BUILD 6 (2023-04-11) - Add 'Sudden World Loading Death Syndrome': Sometimes a Norn gets saved with an invalid brain state that crashes the game when you attempt to load it. Until the underlying cause of that can be found, this is a temporary measure to restore the world by killing the Norn with irreparable brain damage. - Fix a potential shutdown crash. - Fix a potential crash / memory mangling when dropping objects. - Add the world update speed to CTRL-DEL (useful in combination with CTRL + or CTRL -) - Various other potential crashes / memory corruptions, the specifics of which I'm too lazy to look up and you probably don't care about anyway... - Hovering over objects now shows their classifier. Norns additionally show their moniker. BUILD 5 (2023-04-05) - Add a 'Sound' menu to consolate sound-related settings and add a 'Mute' option for sound effects. - Fix graphical errors after minimizing. - The maximum number of Norns can now be configured from the Help - About dialog. - Increased the speed of smooth scrolling. - Fix a bug where the game might crash after the display goes to sleep. - MaxNorns is now a per-world configuration. - CTRL-DELETE pops up a game information dialog for various stats and debugging purposes. - Fix a crash when rendering offset tiles incorrectly. - Fix a bug in the recording of life events. - Add creature footsteps to sound options. BUILD 4 (2023-04-03) - The world update speed can now be controlled with CTRL - (slower speed), CTRL + (faster speed, up to 1ms), and CTRL 0 (return to default speed). BUILD 3 (2023-03-31) - Make eye view possibly work ever slightly better. (NOTE: DDrawCompat 0.2.1 required. It can be found in the Win10_11 directory.) [If you notice that the hand is invisible in the eye view, you may have to restart the game. Looking into it...] - Fix a bug that would cause the game to crash if the tips file wasn't found. - Fix a bug in 'dde: getb allr' that could cause memory troubles. (Ecology Kit) - ... ditto for 'dde: bioc' (Science Kit) - Improve reliability of GreenTea cheat mode. - REGISTRY STUFF: - All HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE registry entries are now redirected to HKEY_CURRENT_USER. (This includes settings for max kits and norns.) - The history directory is now written to the registry in two places when the game starts: The world switcher entry for the world and in the Creatures 2 section. The latter is, unfortunately, necessary for the Owner Kit to work. - Main directories are now derived from the path of the executable, NOT from the registry. The registry is now only used to determine user directories. - User directories are determined two ways: First, check "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Gameware Development\Creatures 2\World Switcher\YOUR WORLD\1.0". Paths listed here take priority. If no path is found, a path is created from your Documents directory. BUILD 2 (2023-03-29) - Fix potential crash / undefined behavior when speech bubble memory overlaps. - Fixed tearing in the eye view (NOTE: This requires switching to DDrawCompat v0.2.0). - The creature eye window can now be moved by clicking anywhere in the eye and dragging. - Fixed issues with the status bar not drawing transparent elements correctly. - Recreated the split directory patch, allowing the launcher to function properly again. - Fix an issue where Norns couldn't see properly at the world wrap point. (Thanks Verm and GimmeCat!) - Increase the maximum number of active scripts allowed to 1000. - Increase the maximum numbers of scripts in the scriptorium to 2000. - Add a new option for the Privileges registry entry: GreenTea. This is like Blueberry4$ light. It allows you to pick up creatures, activates all game states, marks all rooms visited, and enables the informational Log menu. NOTE: dxwrapper should be replaced with DDrawCompat or its .ini settings should be changed! BUILD 1 (2023-03-28) - Fix a bug in the cursor that would randomly crash the game, cause the cursor to be enclosed in a black box, make picking things up "weird", and any number of other odd cursor issues. - Fix a bug in goal action recommendation where a creature would, at best, not be nudged into going up or down, and at worst crash the game. - Fix a potential startup crash / memory mangling when unscrambling registry keys. - Fix a bug where macro updates could result in undefined behavior. - Fix a bug in gene counting that could result in a crash or memory mangling. - Fix a bug in 'DDE: getb rcpr' that resulted in missing / inaccurate data in the output. - Fix a bug that could crash the game when carrying a creature, its attention wanders, and it wants to be let go of. - Potential performance improvements with modern compiler optimizations.