Overview
How to replace character costumes, .XML files, music and edit cheat options.
Starting off: What programs do I need?
- 7Zip – [link]
- Notepad++ – [link]
- Advanced File Renamer – [link]
- Image Editor (GIMP, Paint.Net or GameMaker) – [link]
- Sound Editor (Audacity is free, and easy to use). – [link]
Also, make sure to turn on File Name Extensions as you may need to change this at a few points.
This can be done in File Explorer via View > File Name Extensions. Check this box and you are good to go.
Unpacking sprites
MAKE SURE TO BACKUP THE DATA FILES BEFORE CHANGING
So to start, you will have to find your Fight N Rage game files.
These can be found in C:Program Files (x86)Steamsteamappscommon/fightnrage
Copy the data folders contents to a fresh, new folder, and then also create a destination folder for the sprites to be extracted to.
You need to highlight all the copied .dat files (Control+A) then right click > 7Zip > Extract Files. Choose the destination folder you made earlier in the extract to: box, and then click OK.
Now you should have a folder of numbered files with no extensions, which need to have .PNG extension to be opened in a Image Editor (Paint.Net/Gimp) so we are going to have to use Advanced File Renamer, which is quite simple, and once set up, will do the job for future updates.
All you really have to do here is to make sure to set the methods. To do this, add a new method, then select New Name. A box should now appear on the left.
In the New Name: Field, Type <Name><Ext>.PNG
That should be it ready to go, so add the all extracted files, then click Start Batch.
Now when you go to the folder you extracted the .Dat files, a large portion will show as images, allowing you to open them in a Image Editor.
Repacking sprites
Repacking the sprites back into .Dat files is actually very simple.
All you need to do is Right Click > 7Zip > Open Archive and then simply drag & drop the file into the archive. If it worked fine, the size and packed size will change.
Make sure the files are named correctly, so if its 150.dat, make sure to put in 150, or a similar sheet named 150. They HAVE to have the same positions, or the sprites will be garbled, unless you also edit the .XML file. (This is how getting Diane as a Gal costume works.)
A quick example is all Ninja mask Costumes for F.Norris have the same layout, but long hair has its own, or Ricardo and Hat-Ricardo having different layouts.
Editing 0.Dat
0.Dat is the file that manages all the data in the game, and if anything is changed, it has to be changed here, or the game will refuse to start up.
To edit 0.dat, simply right click on it, then 7Zip > Open Archive. You then need to right click on the 0 file in the archive, then click edit, which should open a Notepad document.
To find something in the data base, you have to look for the Packed Sizes of a .Dat file. These show up when you open .Dat files as Archives in 7Zip. You will then have to use Edit > Find to get the packed data number up on notepad.
Simply replace this number with another Packed Size number and this 0.dat file will recogize that mod. This will have to be done with every file that is changed.
MAKE SURE TO SAVE BEFORE EXITING NOTEPAD WHEN FINISHED, AND BACK-UP A 0.DAT FILE BEFORE MAKING EDITS.
Editing .XML files: Basics
.XML files decide what sprites apply to animations, and also the sizes of the sprite rectangle, so In theory it is possible to add custom sprites/animations.
However, this is rather complicated and will most likely need a section dedicated to it, so Im just going to go over the what everything means, and how to replace one costumes .XML with another, like replacing the Black Belt Gal with Diane.
.XML Sheet layout
1 – SpriteData keyName refers to the animation/action the character will perform.
2 – Sourceimage refers to the sprite the game will use for the animation/action. Changing this that allows you to swap costume animation data.
3 – axis refers to how the sprite is aligned (?) I need to find more info on this.
4 – sourceRect refers to the positions in which the sprite box is drawn. Changing this can give you more room to edit sprites, and may have an effect on collisions.
Basic .XML Editing
Ok, this is a bit of a nightmare to explain, but its easy to do when you know how.
So, lets say Diane is costume 8 (again lets say 168.dat), and you want her to replace costume 6 (150.dat), you would have to extract costume 8’s .XML (169.Dat), replace any reference of “Girl_C8” to “Girl_C6”, and also rename the file to match the other costumes .Dat (so 151.Dat.)
It really is as simple as that, but make sure to edit, rename, and repack, the new .XML file.
MAKE SURE TO EDIT 0.DATS PACKED SIZE FOR .XML FILES, OR THE GAME WILL CRASH.
Replacing Music *Works, Outdated List*
To unpack a music file, simply rename .Dat entension to .OGG.
Repacking is just as simple as renaming the extension back to .Dat, and Editing 0.Dat. The new audio has to have the same number as the old audio too.
I havent actually tried this out yet, but I reckon custom music *should* loop fine. If not, there is 365.dat which handles musical events. I’ll look the specific details at later date.
AS OF LAST UPDATE, MUSIC IS LOCATED IN DIFFERENT .DAT’S. WILL UPDATE IN NEAR FUTURE
Track .Dat List
WIP – Will include .Dat Number, Track Name, and Where it is used in-game when compiled.
35.Dat – Absolute Zero (Cutscene Music)
36.Dat – Fire BG noise
37.Dat – Ocean BG Noise
38.Dat – Rain BG Noise
39.Dat – Waterfall BG Noise
40.Dat – Wind BG Noise
41.Dat – Aquatic Shiver
42.Dat – A Fistful of Luck
43.Dat – Beyond The Sun
44.Dat – Borders
45.Dat – Boss Defeated
46.Dat – Breathe
47.Dat – Cannot Move
48.Dat – Choose Your Fate (Character Select)
49.Dat – Destiny
50.Dat – Different Trails
51.Dat – Dreaming
52.Dat – Eclipsed
53.Dat – Edge of Time
54.Dat – Falling Skies
55.Dat – Fire
56.Dat – Fragments (Truck Level)
57.Dat – Go for it
58.Dat – Gunny Sack
59.Dat – Gvarela Intro
60.Dat – Immersion
61.Dat – Game Over
62.Dat – Mirages (Desert. Alt Level 2)
63.Dat – Morning Sunlight
64.Dat – Nightmare (Bigger Boss Theme)
65.Dat – Nothing Left
66.Dat – No Boundaries
67.Dat – Pictures
68.Dat – Pumping It Up (Training)
69.Dat – Joel Steudler:Town:Mean_Streets (Unused? Sounds like a good Duke 3D midi)
70.Dat – Rising Force (Elevator)
71.Dat – Shattered (Boss Theme)
72.Dat – Shining
73.Dat – Something Lacking (Forest)
74.Dat – Spiders
75.Dat – Stalking Shadows (?)
76.Dat – Streams
77.Dat – Sunrise Mumba (Sunny Beach)
78.Dat – Survival (Game Over Countdown)
79.Dat – Through Space and Time
80.Dat – Undying Storm
81.Dat – Variety Lights
82.Dat – Vengeance (The Leader Boss Theme)
83.Dat – Wah Wah Blah
84.Dat – Waterdrop
85.Dat – Victory
Replacing Sounds *WIP*
To unpack a sound file, simply rename .Dat entension to .WAV.
Repacking is just as simple as renaming the extension back to .Dat, and Editing 0.Dat. The new audio has to have the same number as the old audio too.
The sounds are located from 411.Dat to 657.Dat.
Sound List
Coming soon. (Its over 250 .wavs to sort out -_-)
Making Custom Enemy Layouts *Coming Soon*
Testing and Composing at the moment.
Editing Text Strings (Dialouge etc) *Coming Soon*
Very simple, if it works. I am yet to test this though, so I dont know if it works properly.
The last two .dat’s have the games text strings, like dialouge and menu descriptions. I guess edit and replace much like anything else.
Editing move properties *Coming Soon*
I will try share the little amount of information I know, which is how to edit the properties of moves. I have tested changing a few flags, and found they work.
Editing cheats & dip-switch settings.
Much like changing the contents of 0.Dat or the .XML files, there are also various configuration files that be changed, enabling cheats, testing functions and even making custom enemy formations.
358 – 368 is roughly where alot of the Fight N Rage’s data regarding AI, Attacks, Sounds and Music are stored. Using 0.dat should make finding the relevant data easy, as it actually follows the same ordering as the data folder.
Example being the 69th entry is assets/bgm/absolute_zero, which is 35.dat. Double the .Dat number, then minus 1 to find anything in 0.Dat in NotePad++
LIST OUT OF DATE
358.dat = Enemy AI
359.dat = Cheats (Unsure what this is, but it maybe more cheats. 367 has Inf. HP/SP etc)
360.dat = Training Mode Combos, Training Dummy & Time Limit
361.dat = Debug
362.dat = Globals
363.dat = Hits Data, such as damage, launch and can or cannot explode enemies
364.dat = Misc Settings
365.dat = Musical Events
366.dat = Properties, such as Power and Endurance. (says VS mode, May work on all?)
367.dat = Dip Switches, Temp Dip Switches, Debug and Cheats
368.dat = Sounds
As always, make sure to edit 0.dat to reflect the changes.
Editing Save Data
You have to edit the data.sav file, which is found in ///. Simply right click to data.sav and extract it with 7zip. In Notepad ++, the entirety is one very long line of readable code, so make sure text wrap is on.
COINS
There you will find the “total coins”, which you can edit to have as many coins as you
want.
COSTUMES
When you reach the costume section, you’ll see that you’ll need to add the number of
the costume you want. There are 12 total costumes for the characters.
So it should look like this :
owned_costumes_gal=”2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12″
You can do the same for Ricardo and F. Norris.
*NOTE* F. Norris is named “Master” and Ricardo is named “Minotaur” in the
data. Gal is still called “Gal”.
Now after doing so, when you log back in the game, you’ll find the costumes
greyed out in the general selection, as opposed to being fully present like with
the character’s default appearance & their default bonus color. However, if you
select any game mode, you *should* be able to use the other appearances.
Evidently, the game technically recognizes that the costume hasn’t been unlocked
by normal means. But far as I can tell, there are no errors or problems as I’ve played
the game.
It should also be noted that doing any of these edits does not trigger any achievements
associated with them
VB’s Custom Skins
Nothing like a good bit of shameless self-promotion, ey?
I’d shared these before, so I may aswell link these here for anyone to play around with and edit.
I actually have a few skins planned for the near future, so if Im likely to link them anywhere, It would be here.
WITH LAST UPDATE, THE GAL SKINS ARE BROKEN. WILL TRY TO REPLACE THEM ASAP
Mortal Kombat Scorpion Norris
Mortal Kombat Reptile Norris (Custom slide)
Mortal Kombat Noob Saibot Norris
Mysterious Warrior Norris
Mr Karate F.Norris
Yuri Sakazaki Gal (Shorts)
Yuri Sakazaki Gal (Leggings)
Mortal Kombat Mileena Gal
Ricardo with scar
The Leader with the Golden Gun
Things I may add
- More on Custom Training mode, Hits, Cheats & .XML
- Youtube videos tutorial
- More on music, and looping if needed.
- A section on sounds after Ive extracted and compiled a list.
- Possibly a tiny guide on how to edit save games.
- Finish SEBA of America FnR version I am working on
(Ala Streets of Rage 3)
If theres anything that you can think of, feel free to mention it in the comments.
Credits
A big thank you to everyone in the small mod community FIght N Rage has for sharing cool skins, helpful tips and generally being a good bunch.
Special mention to Loli’s Revenge for finding literally 90% of this information, and to both Allsomedude & GLEclipse for sharing skins, helping people out with their mod issues, and generally being cool, friendly dudes to speak to about this game.
Also, a massive thumbs up to SebaDev for this fine game, and Gvarela for the fantastic Soundtrack
(which you can get on the old bandcamp *nudge* *poke*)