Overview

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M.U.G.E.N, (c) Elecbyte 2002

Documentation for version 2002.04.14

Updated 13 November 2001

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0. Contents

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I. Introduction

II. Running the game

III. The files

IV. Getting started

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I. Overview

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M.U.G.E.N is designed to be a 2D fighting game engine that lets you create your own characters and stages. Oriented 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.

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II. Running the game

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This is 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

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

Survival - See how long you can last in an endless battle!

Survival Co-op - Play survival mode with your friend as a partner

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 Survival mode, there is an endless stream of opponents. The

objective is to beat as many opponents as possible. The game is over

when your team gets KOed. You can choose to play alone or in a team.

Single player mode gives you highest hit points and healing (when you

win a round). The more players you have on your team, the less damage

each player can take, and the less each healing you get after each

round.

In Watch mode, first choose the team mode and characters to be on

Player One's side, then do the same for Player Two.

For more information, refer to readme.txt.

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III. The files

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A quick note: Filenames and slashes are Unix-style, ie. filenames are case sensitive and a slash (/) is the only acceptable directory separator.

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 System 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

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IV. Getting started

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Read our character tutorials in the docs/ directory to get started on M.U.G.E.N development. After you are comfortable with the basics, you can follow our background tutorial and learn to make your own stages.