The Base
This is what I call the “base file” – it is literally what you get when you remove everything from the breed file and have all defaults at 0 (pixel) or 100 (percent), lines at 100, and no outlines. It’s a decently cute little petzy thing, whether dog or cat.
What is interesting is that it doesn’t matter which file you start with, they will all look identical once you remove all information (dogz and catz each different, of course). There is apparently some code hidden somewhere that tells the balls to start at these positions. But those aren’t currently accessible via LNZ Pro.
Hexing with Scales
Typically hexers use move, rather than scales. Now, hexers are exploring the limits more so than ever when hexing breedfiles. Having default scales out of a certain range would cause a second generation to have a different size and/or look so many hexers would be afraid to touch the scales, but they can actually be very useful.
Default Scales: Pet and Ball Scale
There are two numbers under the default scales: first is the “pet scale” and second is the “ball scale.” The pet scale moves all balls closer to or further from a central point. The ball scale changes the size the balls are overall. So, let’s play with these numbers and see what that means.
Setting the pet scale to 0, while leaving the ball scale at 100, results in what appears to be a single ball. It is actually every ball of the pet stacked on top of each other and the pet doesn’t show up in the game at all, though you can take pictures of it. The size is that of the largest ball.
If you reverse the options, with 100 pet scale and 0 ball scale, you end up with a “skeleton” of a pet with 1 pixel wide lines showing the basic outline. It shows up in the game, but you can’t pick it up with the mouse. Notice that while the balls are now tiny, they are still in the same position as the base dog.
Setting both scales to 0 creates a 1 pixel ball that you can’t do anything with or see (at least until you take a picture).
<- there is actually a picture of a 0 pet scale/0body scale dog right there, that tiny dot!
Changing the ball scale to a negative number does the same as setting it to 0. Changing the pet scale to a negative number creates a mirror reflection of the same dog over the horizontal plane. For example, -50 is an upside down fluff ball, -200 is an upside down skinny dog, -100 is an upside down, but otherwise normal dog. What is interesting is that all actions are also reversed, so the dog faces away from the camera while trotting, dal posing, and other interactions. Once the pet goes off the sides of the screen, it seems to get stuck and you need to either close the game or use PetzA to Send to Petz Door to get it back, so unfortunately they aren’t a lot of fun to play with.
Now, something interesting is that these almost seem to do the same thing – you can in fact get a similar effect (though differently sized) by fiddling with numbers. 200 pet scale /100 ball scale is almost identical to 100 pet scale /50 ball scale – other than size.
No matter how large you go with the pet scale though, it will never form a skeleton, but will continue making a larger and larger pet, and no matter how large you go with the ball scale, you will never get a perfect ball, you will get a puffier pudgier pet (rather cute ones).
Ball and Pet Scale Limits
As far as I can tell, there is no limit to what number you use for the pet scale or ball scale (though Pet Workshop may crash when you get into the thousands). Of course, setting it to 5000/5000 makes some weird stuff happen. The ball scale doesn’t make balls larger after around 500, but you can continue increasing the number. The balls continue to expand up to 5000 (highest I tested) with the pet scale however – at that point they just fly around the screen with most of the “pet” not visible.
If you want to have a file that will breed 2nd gens that look like the parents without brexing, you’ll need to stay over 75 and under 159 in adults. Puppies/kittens can be as small as 45 and the second gen puppy/kitten will be the same.
Here you can see that the offspring of those who have larger/smaller scales. You’ll notice that those who are larger than 159 get smaller as 2nd gens and those smaller than 75 get slightly larger and have larger eyes and other changes.
Using Default Scales in Hexing
In the original files, scales are most commonly used to make puppies and kittens small, fluffy, and cute. With a pet scale of 60 and a ball scale of 75, our base pet turns into a cute baby with two simple changes, no move required. You may need to tweak the numbers slightly depending on what scales were used in the adult, but using default scales is the easiest way to make a quick puppy/kitten.
If you are making a breedfile of a heavier dog, or one with a thick coat, just slightly decreasing the ball scale, even by 10 can have a pleasant effect. Adding these into a file as variations (ie. 90, 100, 110) makes for a subtle, but visible coat variations.
The pet scale, likewise, can be used to give some variation to the size of the file. A subtle change in just the ball size will give you a slightly taller/slimmer or more compact pet. This can especially be nice in breeds where there is a gender difference (especially when paired with the Force to Male/Female options).
Combining the Two
What gives really stunning results, however, is when you adjust the two together. In fact, we can turn our base dog into something that looks like some of the original breeds.
