Overview
========
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.