The Mugen Fighters Guild - Shin RyuKen's Official Mugen Guide

Welcome! This is just my in-depth guide to Mugen and its different features.

Table Of Contents

Chapter 1: General Mugen
a. What the hell is Mugen?
b. Where can I get it?
c. How do I use it?

Chapter 2: How to make Mugen work
a. Adding characters
b. Adding stages
c. Adding music
d. Adding screenpacks
e. Changing pallettes/how to choose the pallette you want

Chapter 3: Other stuff/Tips and Tricks
a. Making your own pallettes/changing colors of characters/lifebars/etc.
b. Changing stats
c. Fixing certain lifebars
d. What the hell is a warehouse?
e. Moving powerbars
f. How to extact DGC and GCA files
g. Other links

Chapter 1: General Mugen

A. What the hell is Mugen?

Mugen is a 2D fighting game engine created by Elecbyte in 1999. Since then, it has evolved to great heights. In Mugen, you can customize every feature; characters, stages, music(of several formats, too), screenpacks, lifebars, etc. The possibilities are nearly endless.

B. Where can I get it?

http://unofficial-winmugen.jpn.org/

Win Mugen. For Windows operating systems.

http://ironmugen.free.fr/1Mugen/mugen-2002-04-14.tar.tar

Lin Mugen. For Linux operating systems.

http://ironmugen.free.fr/1Mugen/mug10414.zip

Dos Mugen. For the older Windows operating systems.

C. How do I use it?

Click on the Win/Lin/Dos Mugen file, and it should open and you can play it. Does it look like it sucks? Hell yes. Let's learn how to make it better.

Chapter 2: How To Make Mugen Work

A. Adding characters

Now that you got Mugen, how do you add characters?

1. First, you find a character. Here are four great resources for that:

http://www.mugen-infantry.net/index.php?ind=database
http://randomselect.piiym.net/
http://www.calamix.tk/
http://www.mugenguild.com/

2. Then, you put your downloaded characters in the "chars" folder of the your No_limit_winmugen_patch.

3. Then, you go to the "data" folder. Open the select.def file in it. It should look like this:

; - includestage
; Set the paramvalue to 0 to avoid including this stage
; in the stage select list (in VS, training modes, etc)
;
; - order
; Set the paramvalue to the ordering priority to give the
; character. Valid values are from 1 to 10. A smaller value
; means you will fight the character sooner. You will never
; fight an order 2 character before an order 1 character,
; and never an order 3 character before an order 2 one.
; For example, you might want to set your boss character
; to have order=3. The default order value is 1 if you omit
; this param. See *.maxmatches under [Options] for how to
; limit the number of matches per order priority.
;
; Some examples:
; kfm, stages/mybg.def, includestage=0
; kfm, stages/mybg.def, music=sound/song.mp3
; kfm, stages/mybg.def, music=sound/song.mp3, includestage=0
; kfm, stages/mybg.def, order=3
;
;You can also add a randomize icon to the select screen. To do
;this, put the word "randomselect" on a line of its own, with no
;extra parameters.
;
;Insert your characters below.
kfm, stages/kfm.def
kfm, stages/kfm.def
kfm, stages/kfm.def

;-----------------------
[ExtraStages]
;Put extra stages here. They will be available in VS and Watch modes.
;For example, you can insert "stages/mybg.def".

stages/kfm.def
stages/stage0.def

;---------------------------------------------------------------------
[Options]
;Here you set the maximum number of matches to fight before game ends
;in Arcade Mode. The first number is the number of matches against
;characters with order=1, followed by order=2 and order=3 respectively.
;For example, for 4,3,1 you will fight up to 4 randomly-picked
;characters who have order=1, followed by 3 with order=2 and 1 with
;order=3.
arcade.maxmatches = 6,1,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0

;Maximum number of matches to fight before game ends in Team Mode.
;Like arcade.maxmatches, but applies to Team Battle.
team.maxmatches = 4,1,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0

You want to add a character, correct? Let's use Shin Gouki as an example.

Remember one thing when adding characters like him: THE FOLDER NAME AND THE .DEF FILE NAME HAVE TO BE THE SAME!

Ex:

Folder name: ShinGouki
.def file name: Shin Gouki

OR

Folder name: Shin Gouki
.def file name: ShinGouki

=NO.

Folder name: ShinGouki
.def file name=ShinGouki
=YES.

So, now we insert his name into the .def file. Go to the part where it says:

; - order
; Set the paramvalue to the ordering priority to give the
; character. Valid values are from 1 to 10. A smaller value
; means you will fight the character sooner. You will never
; fight an order 2 character before an order 1 character,
; and never an order 3 character before an order 2 one.
; For example, you might want to set your boss character
; to have order=3. The default order value is 1 if you omit
; this param. See *.maxmatches under [Options] for how to
; limit the number of matches per order priority.
;
; Some examples:
; kfm, stages/mybg.def, includestage=0
; kfm, stages/mybg.def, music=sound/song.mp3
; kfm, stages/mybg.def, music=sound/song.mp3, includestage=0
; kfm, stages/mybg.def, order=3
;
;You can also add a randomize icon to the select screen. To do
;this, put the word "randomselect" on a line of its own, with no
;extra parameters.
;
;Insert your characters below.
kfm, stages/kfm.def
kfm, stages/kfm.def
kfm, stages/kfm.def

Now, first of all, let's go over something; how it is inserted.

First, you insert the folder/.def file name.

Now, for other two details; stages and order.

To insert the specific stage for a character, put a comma after the folder/.def file name, then a space, then put stages/(whatever the .def file name of the stage is).def.

For order, make sure you put another comma and space after the specific stage you put. Then, you put order=whatever order you want to fight your character in, for example 1.

The finished result should look like:

ShinGouki, stages/kfm.def, order=1

Insert that and you're all set to use Shin Gouki.

B. Adding stages

Adding stages is pretty similar to adding characters.

First, get the stage, then get the stage into the "stages" folder.

Then, go to the select.def as shown before. Scroll down to:

;-----------------------
[ExtraStages]
;Put extra stages here. They will be available in VS and Watch modes.
;For example, you can insert "stages/mybg.def".

stages/kfm.def
stages/stage0.def

Put the correct stage .def file name. Make sure the .sff file is the same.

Let's say that the name is KenStage. Put this exactly in so that you get:

stages/KenStage.def

Save and you're ready to play in it in Mugen.

C. Adding music

Go to the stage .def file that you want to add your music into.
Go to the section that looks like this:

[Music]
;Put a filename for a MOD, MP3 or MIDI here, or just leave it
;blank if you don't want music. If an invalid filename is
;given, then no music will play. To play CD audio, put
;the track number followed by ".da". Using a track number of
;0 will play a random audio track. For example, to play
;track 3 from a music CD, use:
; bgmusic =

;Adjust the volume. 0 is normal, negative for softer, and
;positive for louder (only for mp3, mods and CDA)
bgvolume = 0

Let's say you want Ken's theme song into your stage. It'll be called KenTheme, and it'll be an MP3 file. Make sure you have it in your "sound" folder. Input it so it looks like this:

[Music]
;Put a filename for a MOD, MP3 or MIDI here, or just leave it
;blank if you don't want music. If an invalid filename is
;given, then no music will play. To play CD audio, put
;the track number followed by ".da". Using a track number of
;0 will play a random audio track. For example, to play
;track 3 from a music CD, use:
; bgmusic =sound/KenTheme.mp3

;Adjust the volume. 0 is normal, negative for softer, and
;positive for louder (only for mp3, mods and CDA)
bgvolume = 0

The "bgvolume" can be changed to whatever you want. 255 is loudest. Remember to also have an MP3 plugin if you want to run MP3 files correctly. EvE Battle screenpack has an MP3 plugin.

D. Adding screenpacks

Let us use DJ-VAN's EvE Battle screenpack as an example.

First, download it and extract the folder. There should be a plugins, data, and font folder. Plain and simple; replace the old font, data, and plugins folder with the new one. There you go, installed easy.

But then you ask, "HOW THE HELL DO I CHANGE THIS SCREENPACK! I DON'T LIKE THIS ARRANGED LIST OF CRAP!" Simply go to the "data" folder, and check out "EvEvolve". There is another select.def and system.def file. Replace it with the arranged one, and you get the classic select system with arounf 700-800+ slots!

E. Changing pallettes/how to choose the pallette you want

Now, we'll go through rudamentary stuff.

Button 1= ,
Button 2= .
Button 3= /
Button 4= l
Button 5= ;
Button 6= '

A pallette for your character is assigned to those buttons, and can be selected by looking in the .def file in the character. If a character has more than 7 palletes, hold start to get the other ones.

Chapter 3: Other Stuff/Tips and Tricks

A. Making your own pallettes/changing colors of characters/lifebars/etc.

Thanks to ShaqHoward for the images.

Okay, let's go over how to change a lifebar color, since it is simple.

First, you get Fighter Factory. It can be gotten here:
http://www.freewarefiles.com/program_1_21_19675.html

Now, let's use MvC2 lifebars for an example.

Now, open Fighter Factory(assiming you downloaded it)

Go where the circle points, and then click "Open".

Then, open the .sff file of the lifebars. it should look like this:

Then, click on the Pallette Editor(looks like a, well, pallette)

Simply change the colors and use the presets to get the best result "From GREEN to RED", etc.

Once you're done, go and save it as any name.

Then, close the pallette editor and click "Open":

Then, locate the lifebar you edited and opened it.

Select it, and click "Save the current image".

For characters, it should work in the same way, but you don't have to save the current image, to my knowledge.

B. Changing stats
Go to the character you want to change the stats to. Locate their .cns file and open it with any word editor. Then, you should see something like this:

[Data]
life = 1000         ;Amount of life to start with
power = 3000      ;Amount of maximum power
attack = 100      ;attack power (more is stronger)
defence = 100      ;defensive power (more is stronger)
fall.defence_up = 0   ;Percentage to increase defense everytime player is knocked down
liedown.time = 10      ;Time which player lies down for, before getting up
airjuggle = 40      ;Number of points for juggling
sparkno = 2         ;Default hit spark number for HitDefs
guard.sparkno = 40   ;Default guard spark number
KO.echo = 0         ;1 to enable echo on KO
volume = 80      ;Volume offset (negative for softer)
IntPersistIndex = 50   ;Variables with this index and above will not have their values
FloatPersistIndex = 40 ;reset to 0 between rounds or matches. There are 60 int variables,
            ;indexed from 0 to 59, and 40 float variables, indexed from 0 to 39.
            ;If omitted, then it defaults to 60 and 40 for integer and float
            ;variables repectively, meaning that none are persistent, i.e. all
            ;are reset. If you want your variables to persist between matches,
            ;you need to override state 5900 from common1.cns.

Modify the defense, power, attack, HP etc. in any way you want. That simple.

C. Fixing certain lifebars

There are some lifebars like the Melty Blood, Guilty Gear XX, etc. that are high res and will look grainy and ugly, plus the text will cover up the whole lifebar.

To fix this, go to the data folder and open up the mugen.cfg file with any word editor.

Go to here:

[Video Win]
;Enter the width and height of the resolution you want to set here.
;The optimal resolution is 320x240, but if your video card has problems
;You may want to try 320x240
Width = 640
Height = 480

;This is the color depth at which to run MUGEN. You should set it to
;16 bit color unless your video card has problems with it.
;16-fastest, 24,32-slower, 8-slowest/worst
Depth = 16

;Set this parameter to 0 to disable screen stretching, and set it to 1 if
;you want to scale it up to fit the current resolution.
Stretch = 1

;Set this parameter to use a resolution-doubling filter. You will
;need a fast machine to use these filters. You will need to increase
;the screen resolution to at least 640x480 for these modes.
;0 - off
;1 - diagonal edge detection
;2 - bilinear filtering
;3 - horizontal scanlines
DoubleRes = 0

Set the DoubleRes to 4. The GGXX/MB lifebars, etc should look crisp and regular now.

D. What the hell is a warehouse?

A warehouse is basically a Mugen site which hosts many characters(usually rare/stolen ones) and hosts them all on one site without permission. These are a BIG problem in the community, and cause creators to stop making stuff, such as Moldredd. It is also why the Mugen community is often disliked by some people. You warehouse, and you'll be UNIVERSALLY REVILED by everyone in the community, with nobody to save your ass. So don't warehouse.

E. Moving powerbars

BIG thanks to Kujo for letting me use this tutorial in my guide.

Let's use Chronos' GGX Lifebars in this example. Now, open the fight.def of the lifebar you're editing with Notepad and find:
[Powerbar]
;Player 1
p1.pos=84,227
p1.bg1.spr = 11,4
p1.bg1.layerno=2
p1.front.anim=14
p1.front.layerno=2
p1.bg1.layerno=2
p1.range.x = -48,48
p1.counter.offset = -71,6
p1.counter.font = 1,0,0
p1.counter.layerno = 2

;Player 2
p2.pos=236,227
p2.bg1.spr = 11,5
p2.bg1.layerno=2
p2.front.anim=14
p2.front.offset = -1,0
p2.front.facing = -1
p2.front.layerno=2
p2.range.x = 48,-48
p2.counter.offset = 71,6
p2.counter.font = 1,0,0
p2.counter.layerno = 2

Like usual you numbers will vary. Only edit the lines I bolded unless you want a big mess. Only edit the second number. So if I'm moving the Player 1 Powerbars I want to edit the 227, and not the 84. The same goes for the Player 2 Powerbars. The 84,227 is where the axis is. The Powerbars are 84 pixels to the right, and 227 pixels down in the example. Now I'm going to move them from the bottom to the top. I'll bolden what I edited:
[Powerbar]
;Player 1
p1.pos=84,28
p1.bg1.spr = 11,4
p1.bg1.layerno=2
p1.front.anim=14
p1.front.layerno=2
p1.bg1.layerno=2
p1.range.x = -48,48
p1.counter.offset = -71,6
p1.counter.font = 1,0,0
p1.counter.layerno = 2

;Player 2
p2.pos=236,28
p2.bg1.spr = 11,5
p2.bg1.layerno=2
p2.front.anim=14
p2.front.offset = -1,0
p2.front.facing = -1
p2.front.layerno=2
p2.range.x = 48,-48
p2.counter.offset = 71,6
p2.counter.font = 1,0,0
p2.counter.layerno = 2

As you can tell I kept the first number the same, and the second number equal on both sides. I did this so they won't be touching each other or ne high, and the other low. You can move them pretty much anywhere. You do have to experiment with the numbers to find a position you like. It may cover your small portrait but do what you will.

Just remember the first bolded number(84 for p1, 236 for p2) is horizontal position(left/right) and the second bolded number(28/28) is the vertical position(up/down)

F. How to extract DGC or GCA files

First of all, you have to get the DGC/GCA extractor. You can get it here:

http://www.emit.jp/

Once you download DGCA on that site, open it. It looks like any ordinary extractor, like WinRAR. After that, simply get a character in a DGC or GCA extractor, like Kuri''s or 9's characters. Open DGCA, and then go to that DGC/GCA file. open it, and then you'll be inside of it. Simply get the folder out, and those cute Melty Blood girls are yours to play with.

G. Other Links
Kujo's Random Tutorials I: Has a lot of good information on moving/fixing things, etc. Very helpful guide.
Kujo's Random Tutorials II: The sequel to the previous one, and has as much helpful tidbits of info as the first one.
King Yoshi's Guide for Beginners: Excellent guide for general Mugen needs.
Modifying the AI of MB characters: Very helpful guide by Lyn to modifying the AI of Melty Blood characters.
...and that's pretty much it.

Have any questions? PM me.

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