Overview ======== M.U.G.E.N, (c) Elecbyte 2001 Documentation for version 2001.04.14 Beta-release documentation (incomplete) Updated 9 April 2001 ==================================================================== 0. Contents ==================================================================== I. Introduction II. Running the game III. The Files ==================================================================== I. Overview ==================================================================== M.U.G.E.N is designed to be a 2D fighting game engine that lets you create your own characters and stages. Oriented more towards flexibility, making characters with M.U.G.E.N may initially seem a daunting task, but once you understand the basics, learning the rest of the tricks should come naturally. M.U.G.E.N runs in DOS, and should work fine in a DOS box under Windows. ==================================================================== II. Running the game ==================================================================== Assuming you have all the files ready, just type MUGEN at the DOS Prompt to begin. Support may be added later for multiple game configurations. First of all, here is the default key configuration. Button Player 1 Player 2 ------ -------- -------- Up Up arrow Numpad Up Down Down arrow Numpad Down Left Left arrow Numpad Left Right Right arrow Numpad Right X L Numlock Y semicolon Numpad slash Z double-quote Numpad asterisk A comma Numpad - B period Numpad + C slash Numpad Enter Start Enter Numpad PgDn (a) The Main Menu Choose from the following selections. To make a selection, press one of the keys corresponding to a button of a player. Pressing the Escape key will quit. Arcade - Go 1 on 1 against the computer Versus - Go 1 on 1 against your friend Team Arcade - Play various team-up modes against the computer Team Versus - Play various team-up modes against your friend Team Co-op - Gang up against the computer with your friend Training - Try out moves and combos Watch - Watch AI-controlled characters fight Options - Set up basic game options Exit - Returns you to the DOS prompt For "Arcade" mode, the key you hit will determine which side you play on. If you chose with one of Player One's keys, your character will play on the left side. If you chose with Player Two's keys, you will start on the right side. For the "team" modes, you first choose what team mode you would like to play in. Press up/down to choose a mode. Some modes, such as Turns mode, allow you to set the number of players on a team by pressing left/right. Press a key to choose an option. In "Team Arcade", after selecting your players, you have a choice of your opponents' team mode. These are the different kinds of team modes: Single - Just you alone. Your character has 2 rounds. Simul - You and a partner at the same time. Your team has 2 rounds. Turns - You and up to 3 partners. When one character is KOed, the next will join in. Each character has 1 round. The characters' starting life will be adjusted according the number of players on each side. Team Co-op is slightly different. The only team mode allowed is Simul, which is automatically selected. Player One first gets to select his character, followed by Player Two selecting the partner character. When Player Two is done, Player One chooses the opponent's team mode. In "Watch" mode, first choose the team mode and characters to be on Player One's side, then do the same for Player Two. ==================================================================== III. The Files ==================================================================== A quick note: Here, we will use slashes (/) interchangeably with backslashes (\) when referring to paths and filenames. For example, "DATA/MUGEN.CFG" would be considered equivalent to "DATA\MUGEN.CFG". To begin, let us introduce the file types (denoted by their extension). AIR - Animation file; tells the program how to play back a sequence of sprites to form an animation. CFG - Configuration file (see mugen.cfg in the following paragraph) CNS - Character behavior file; defines how a character acts and moves DEF - Definition file; has various purposes SFF - Sprite file; contains one or more sprites SND - Sound file; contains one or more sounds (a) Files needed to run There are several files you will need to run M.U.G.E.N. Here is a list of important files you will find in the program-only distribution, and what they do. mugen.exe The executable file data/ common.snd Contains sound effects that all characters can access common1.cns Contains behavior information common to all characters fight.def Defines the way the "fight screen" looks and sounds fight.sff Sprites used in the fight screen fight.snd Sound effects used for the round announcer fightfx.air Animation data for in-fight effects, such as sparks fightfx.sff Sprite data for in-fight effects mugen.cfg Configuration file - preferences and settings select.def Defines what characters are to included in the game system.def Defines the look of the system menus, such as title screen system.sff Sprites used for the system menus system.snd Sounds used for the system menus font/ f-4x6.fnt System font. 4x6 pixels per character, variable width f-6x9.fnt Ssytem font. 6x9 pixels per character, variable width (b) Files needed for a character All files for a certain character should be placed in its own directory under the chars/ directory. For example, if you have a character named "fighter", it will go into the directory "chars/fighter/". Within each character's directory, you should have the following files. As an example, we will use the name "fighter". Substitute the name of your character for "fighter". Required: fighter.air Animation file for the character fighter.cmd Tells how you start a "move" fighter.cns 1. Important data, such as speeds and sizes 2. Defines how the character executes moves fighter.def Short file that has a list of filenames fighter.sff Sprite file fighter.snd Sound file Optional: fighter1.act Palette file (you can have up to 12) ... fighter12.act