Overview
========
M.U.G.E.N, (c) Elecbyte 2001
Documentation for version 2001.04.01

Beta-release documentation (incomplete)
Updated 1 April 2001



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0. Contents
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I.   Introduction
II.  The Files
III. Running the game



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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 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.



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II. The Files
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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

See the document on creating characters for more details.



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III. Running the game
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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
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.

In "Watch" mode, first choose the team mode and characters to be on 
Player One's side, then do the same for Player Two.


Document is incomplete. Please be patient.
