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Hello~ 
I just created a new animal, and Fern told me something need to be fixed~

6ae17057.uca date: Mon Sep 16 15:47:38 2013
*** Warning: Sum of family, genus, and animal id/type values are < 0.
*** Warning: uca/ai file contains the word 'Undefined'.
*** Warning: behaviorSet sections contain duplicate lines.
Animal Type: 6AE17057

I checked the uca.file, and found lot's of 'Undefined' from f = fPlayxxxxx~~囧
I don't know how to fix and edit these problems, what should I do?? Thanks a lot~ :)

Welcome to ZTCDD.

The APE program has a lot of problems with it. So those warnings are common. To get rid of the "Undefined" and "duplicate lines" problems, you would replace what APE did with what is in a ZT ".ai" file. So delete the following sections from your 6ae17057.uca file using a text editor such as with the WordPad program:
the entire [m/Animations] section, the entire [y/Animations] section, the entire [Sounds] section, the entire [f/Animations] section, any [f/iCharacteristics/Integers] section, any [y/iCharacteristics/Integers], all sections starting with "[m\BehaviorSet\", all sections starting with "[f\BehaviorSet\", and all sections starting with "[y\BehaviorSet\".

Then you look for the ZT ".ai" file that your animal used as a base. For example, if you used the cheetah as a base, you would look at animals/cheetah.ai that is in Updates/animalsa.ztd. Copy the following sections from that cheetah.ai file to the end of your 6ae17057.uca file:
the entire [m/Animations] section, any [f/Animations] section (but there is none for the cheetah), any [y/Animations] section, the entire [Sounds] section, all sections starting with "[m\BehaviorSet\", any sections starting with "[f\BehaviorSet\" (but there are none for the cheetah), and any sections starting with "[y\BehaviorSet\".

After you copy the [Sounds] section, sometimes you have to change it. Every line has to have either a number or "animals/" in it. That is already the case for the cheetah, but that is not true for some other animals. For example, if you make an animal based on the gorilla, the [Sounds] section would have "pant = gorilla1" and that would have to be changed to "pant = animals/gorilla/gorilla1.wav". Once this is done, any ".wav" files can be deleted from the ".ztd".

The "Sum of family, genus, and animal id/type values are < 0" warning means that the animal will have a frown when another is added. To correct this, you have to look at the cGenus and cFamily lines. For the cheetah, cGenus is set to 5108 (which means "Cheetah") and cFamily is set to 5206 (which means "Cat"). You then look for 5108 and 5206 in the [cCompatibleAnimals] section. 5108 is not in that section, but 5206 is. The next line after "v = 5206" is "v = -20", which is what makes the frown. There are 3 ways to correct this:
1. If you want your animal to like all cats, you would remove those "v = 5206" and "v = -20" lines. But I do not believe one type of cat would like all other types of cats, so I would not do this choice for a cheetah.
2. If you want your animal to not like all cats but to like all types of cheetahs, you would add the following to the end of the [cCompatibleAnimals] section for this choice:
v = 5108
v = 20
That "v = 20" will counter the "v = -20". I can see one type of cheetah liking other types of cheetahs, so I feel this option is the best for cheetahs.
3. If you want your animal to not like all cats or other types of cheetahs, then you would add the 8-character APE ID to the section. The above shows your 8-character APE ID is 6AE17057. So this is what would be added to the end of the [cCompatibleAnimals] section for this choice:
v = 6AE17057
v = 20
This choice only works if there is a letter in one of the first 3 characters of the APE ID, which it is in this case. Some people will go a little higher and use "v = 21" instead of "v = 20". For cheetahs, I feel the second choice is better than this choice.

The ZT expansion packs have a problem with preferred object tooltips. To get around the problem, we add cPrefIconID lines to [y/Characteristics/Integers] and [f/Characteristics/Integers] sections. For example, if your animal has the line "cPrefIconID = 7033" in the [m/Characteristics/Integers] section, add "cPrefIconID = 7033" to the [y/Characteristics/Integers] and [f/Characteristics/Integers] sections. You will probably have to create the "[f/Characteristics/Integers]" line as well, since that is not usually there.

Any changes you make to the ".uca" file can be messed up again if you open the animal in APE again. So if you make changes to the ".uca" file and need to go back into APE, save the ".uca" file before going into APE, then put the ".uca" file you saved back into the ".ztd" after using APE.

There are 2 useful things when creating animals, both at Zookeeper's Lounge. There is a Uca Editing Guide:
http://www.lunamanar.com/zklounge/viewtopic.php?t=116
And there is an Animal Configuration Checker:
http://www.lunamanar.com/zklounge/viewtopic.php?t=1203
These are old, so they are not perfect. But they will help. That version of the Animal Configuration Checker might not work on 64-bit computers.

Quote from: Jay on September 17, 2013, 03:43:00 PM
Welcome to ZTCDD.

Thank you so much~~ I'll take a look and try to edit it again~~ :D

great to see you here Rinding FT! 

i'm looking forward to your next question because i am re-learning how to make things after a medical problem wiped my memory...  your questions are helping me a lot!

Thank you dr rick~ :)

---

To Jay~ I edited by your steps and ZKL's tutouial, then use Animal Configuration Checker to check the uca.file, then there's no Warning, only some descriptions, does it mean my file OK?? 

I tested my animal in game, I noticed one thing:
The animal can run, but when it run a while, it just contains a running Animations and doesn't keep running everywhere, I'm not sure this is the zt's problem or my animal's problem...

Thanks a lot~ :)

You should be able to use the pm system now so send Jay a link to the new file. Or send it to me. He has gone for the night.

Quote from: Rinding FTTo Jay~ I edited by your steps and ZKL's tutouial, then use Animal Configuration Checker to check the uca.file, then there's no Warning, only some descriptions, does it mean my file OK?

The Animal Configuration Checker does not check for everything. So it is still possible to have something wrong. But if the Checker does not show warnings or errors, then the most common problems that APE causes have been fixed.

QuoteI tested my animal in game, I noticed one thing:
The animal can run, but when it run a while, it just contains a running Animations and doesn't keep running everywhere, I'm not sure this is the zt's problem or my animal's problem.

If I understand what you are saying, your animal sometimes shows the run animation but is not moving around the exhibit when it does. There are many possible things to cause that. So I cannot answer that without looking at it. In general, though, you want your ".uca" to look similar to the ".ai" for the ZT animal used as the base, especially for the Animations sections and the BehaviorSet sections. Also, test the ZT animal used as the base. If that animal has the same problem, then it would a problem with ZT or a slow computer. But if the ZT animal does not have the problem, then there is probably something different about your animal's configuration.

Quote from: Jay on September 20, 2013, 08:00:01 AM
If I understand what you are saying, your animal sometimes shows the run animation but is not moving around the exhibit when it does. There are many possible things to cause that. So I cannot answer that without looking at it. In general, though, you want your ".uca" to look similar to the ".ai" for the ZT animal used as the base, especially for the Animations sections and the BehaviorSet sections. Also, test the ZT animal used as the base. If that animal has the same problem, then it would a problem with ZT or a slow computer. But if the ZT animal does not have the problem, then there is probably something different about your animal's configuration.

Yes this is what I mean~ seems like something block the animal... the screenprint pics and the test file I've pm to you~ :) zt animal doesn't have this problem... :(

it is quite a common problem with user made animals.

jay's suggestion is the best way to see if you can work out what is causing it.  if you compare the uca that you have made with the ai file for the zt animal you started with, you may notice some differences.  one or more of these differences may be causing the problem.  it will be interesting to see what you find out.

I compared your ".uca" with cheetah.ai. The reason your animal runs without moving is because you accidentally deleted the [AmbientAnims] section. That section tells ZT what behaviors the animal should do at different happiness levels when the animal is not busy doing anything else. So you want to add that section back into your ".uca", which you can do at the end of the ".uca":

Quote
[AmbientAnims]
a = 81
a = 100
a = 61
a = 80
a = 21
a = 60
a = -20
a = 20
a = -60
a = -21
a = -80
a = -61
a = -100
a = -81
b = bHappy
b = bFriendly
b = bCalm
b = bNeutral
b = bUneasy
b = bTense
b = bAngry

In the animal purchase menu, if you click on your animal, it shows the Quiver Tree as the preferred object. If the male animal is shown and you move the mouse cursor over the Quiver Tree icon, it will show the Quiver Tree name. But if the female animal is shown and you move the mouse cursor over the Quiver Tree icon, it will not show the Quiver Tree name. To fix that problem, add the following to the ".uca":

Quote
[f/Characteristics/Integers]
cPrefIconID = 7033

Similarly, to show the Quiver Tree name for the young animal in the Animal Info window, add the following to the [y/Characteristics/Integers] section:

QuotecPrefIconID = 7033

There is a blank line at the top of your ".uca" that can be deleted. There are 2 "shake = shake" lines in the [m/Animations] section. You can delete 1 of those lines. Also, there are 2 "shake = shake" lines in the [y/Animations] section. You can delete 1 of those lines. There is a "jump_high = highjump" line in the [y/Animations] section, but there is no animals/6ae17057/y/highjump folder in the ".ztd". So the line in the [y/Animations] section should be "jump_high = run" instead. The [y/iCharacteristics/Integers] section is not needed and can be deleted. (Note: That is the [y/iCharacteristics/Integers] section and not the [y/Characteristics/Integers] section.) There are two [1033] sections in the ".uca". You should delete one of those [1033] sections. You can delete any line in the ".uca" that starts with ";" or with "//", since those are just comments.

cHappyReproduceThreshold is set to 100 in the ".uca". That means the animal's happiness has to be 100 before it will have a baby. Although it will have a baby with that setting, it might take longer because an animal's happiness is always changing a little. The highest cHappyReproduceThreshold setting for animals that come with ZT is 99 and the cHappyReproduceThreshold setting for the cheetah that comes with ZT is 97.

Inside 1033.txt, "theAhaggar" should be "the Ahaggar". Also, since the text comes from Wikipedia, you should add the following to the end of 1033.txt:

Quote
Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki
       /Northwest_African_cheetah

ZT cannot display a long line such as "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northwest_African_cheetah", which is why I split it into 2 lines.

The following files can be deleted from the ".ztd": iccheeta.pal, lsmcheet.pal, plcheeta.pal. That is because APE replaced those with "n.pal" files in their folders.

The following folders can be deleted from the ".ztd" because they are not used in the ".uca": animals/6ae17057/m/crchjmp2, animals/6ae17057/m/noisrun, animals/6ae17057/m/rubpole, animals/6ae17057/y/crchjmp2, animals/6ae17057/y/noisrun, animals/6ae17057/y/rubpole

It is also possible to delete things that are not used in the behavior sets, but one has to be careful with this because the ZT program can use some things even without behavior sets. In this case, though, the following lines can be deleted from the [m/Animations] and [y/Animations] sections: "claw_log = clawlog", "crouch_jump = crchjmp", "crouch_walk = crchwalk", "lie_paw = liepaw", "lie_rub_ground = grndrub", "lie_scratch = liescrch", "lie_yawn = lieyawn", "look_left = lookl", "pant = pant", "scratch_ground = scrhgrnd", "walk_noise = noiswalk". And then you can delete the following folders from the ".ztd": animals/6ae17057/m/clawlog, animals/6ae17057/m/crchjmp, animals/6ae17057/m/crchwalk, animals/6ae17057/m/grndrub, animals/6ae17057/m/liepaw, animals/6ae17057/m/liescrch, animals/6ae17057/m/lieyawn, animals/6ae17057/m/lookl, animals/6ae17057/m/noiswalk, animals/6ae17057/m/pant, animals/6ae17057/m/scrhgrnd, animals/6ae17057/y/clawlog, animals/6ae17057/y/crchjmp, animals/6ae17057/y/crchwalk, animals/6ae17057/y/grndrub, animals/6ae17057/y/liepaw, animals/6ae17057/y/liescrch, animals/6ae17057/y/lieyawn, animals/6ae17057/y/lookl, animals/6ae17057/y/noiswalk, animals/6ae17057/y/pant, animals/6ae17057/y/scrhgrnd

As can be seen, the APE program does a lot of things that it should not. It also does not do the icons correctly for the animal list and the purchase menu. But no one fixes those (other than me, sometimes).

Good luck with your creating.

that's great for a first animal - you have much less to do to make it perfect than i did on my first animal - well done!

i wish i could remember how to make animals but that has been accidentally deleted from my brain by a bad reaction to a painkiller, so i can't... i will have to learn how to do it all over again - oh well...

to Jay: Wow~~ lots of things need to be fixed!! Thank you so much~ I'll try again~
           btw, it's useless to use "Enter" to split the lines in APE, I don't know why, it was useful long~ time ago....

to dr rick: Ha yah lots of things need to be fixed~XD It's not easy to create a complete animal~ I only used to edit a new animal by APE and it worked, then I thought fine~ XD

You should not be doing any of this editing in APE as it will only mess up the file again.

Quote from: fern on September 22, 2013, 12:08:55 AM
You should not be doing any of this editing in APE as it will only mess up the file again.

Ha I know~ just forgot to say I can't use "Enter" in APE description anymore... I won't edit this file by APE. lol