Article - Hacking for Dummies by Sideshow Bob

Hacking is a very simple thing to do, but it requires knowing your files and codes. In this article, I'll show you which files are which, and which codes are which. Please realize that these are more simple codes, and those that require editing .dll files I don't know how to do and require different software. All you need for this kind of hacking is an extraction program (WinZip, WinRAR etc.).

One more thing, this article may look long and confusing, skip down to the third chapter and read through that first if you're not into reading the entire thing.

[CHAPTER 1: FILE TYPES]
First off, we should now what each type of file's purpose is. Here are the file purposes below:

.ai: This almost always deal with statistics and data on a certain game item, staff member, animal etc. This is where almost all of your hacks will be made and are therefore the most important files in hacking.

.cfg: A lot of the time, this file acts a lot like the .ai file shown above. Sometimes, it redirects the computer to all the parts of an animal. This use pretty much only occurs in conifg.ztd.

.scn: This just is statistics for zoos, which are despite the name, for both freeform and scenario.

.pal, .ani: Both are or deal with in-game animations, or the icons, plaques and list images for things. If you want to replace these, you would most likely have to change some things with another program called WinHex. For beginner hackers, it's best to ignore these files.

.wav, .tga: These are the basic media files, the wav file being sound and the TGA file being a graphic. You could have a hack that changes sounds of things in the game by replacing a sound file. Stuff like terrain and the cursors could possibly be changed by editing the TGA file in an image program.

[CHAPTER 2: THE ZTD FILES]
Now, all the files you want to hack are in the main Zoo Tycoon folder (C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Zoo Tycoon). They are all .ztd files. The .ztd files in this folder hold tons and tons of info used for the game. Here is a list of what each hackable .ztd file's jobs are:

ai.ztd: Conatins .ai files for different features in the game and controls uniform statistics among common groups (eg. animals, objects, buildings etc.). The ambient file within controls the same things for things that are seen up in the sky (eg. biplane, witch, different birds etc.).

ambient.ztd: Contains more .ai files for ambient members, could come in handy if you wanted to make ambient things into objects, or animals.

animals.ztd: Conatins all the animal's animations, and some animal ambients (eg. blue jay).

animals2.ztd: Contains list, icon and plaque images for animals, as well as their .ai files (important for animal stat changes) and their sounds.

awards.ztd: Obviously, this controls the awards. Inside this file, there are the award images and the awards config file (this would be the place to change statistics for awards).

config.ztd: The "central processor" of all items in the game. In here are comfig files for all different members. The config files direct the computer to the .ai files, which hold all statistics for an animal, object, building etc. Adding expansion items to a config file (adding paths to them, that is) will let you get them in APE.

fences.ztd: Includes animations, icons and .ai files for some fences.

freeform.ztd: This file has stuff to edit the freeform games. The texts for descriptions and achievements in and for a freeform games are here, as well as the .scn files, which are basically .ai files for maps. There are .ani and .pal files as well, which are the layout of the map.

gobal.ztd: This is some more animations, icons and what-not for fences. However, there are no more .ai files in here.

guests.ztd: Everything you need for guests is here! The animations, sounds and one .ai and ini file (both have statistics dealing with guests) files are here for all guests.

items.ztd: This is configs with some stats in them, animations and graphics for anything a guest can aquire from stand, gift shops etc.

objects.ztd: Animations for all foliage, scenery, rocks and developer items. You can also get the animations for Easter Eggs in here like the X-mas Tree or the Jack-O-Lantern.

paths.ztd: Includes .ai files and icons for paths (includes Yellow Brick Path).

paths2.ztd: Animations for paths are in here.

research.ztd: There are config files in this folder that deal with research statistics. I wouldn't try dealing with the folders above, but if you're feeling adventurous, go ahead and play around with them.

scenario.ztd: Text files with scenario messages, scn and config files which hold statistics for scenarios, and the actual zoos of all scenarios are in this file.

scenery.ztd: The .ai files and sounds for Foliage, Buildings and Scenery are in this file.

sounds.ztd: All general game sounds are found here. There are also config files, which are used to redirect some background sounds for zoos to the zoos which use them.

staff.ztd: You can find the .ai files and sounds that staff use, as well as their plaque, list and icon images. If anyone were ever to atempt to make a new staff member, it would be partially a hack which would have to be added here.

terrain.ztd: Icons for the terrain, the actual terrain (in a TGA image format) and two config files, one dealing with stuff like lighting for the terrain images, and another just dealing with general statistics.

ui.ztd: This stuff is a general mish-mash of some general game stuff, some of the things I found while quickly browsing through were the in-game cursors, male and female symbols as well as some lists of stuff, like the Conservation things.

Don't even attempt looking at the last few files...they're nothing that means anything and will just confuse you.

[CHAPTER 3: IMPLEMENTING A HACK]
The above two chapters have just been resources for you. The following chapter will get you creating a hack sooner than you think! I guess I'll do a very simple example hack to show you how it's done. I'm going to make an animal, the Zebra, eat Insectivore Chow, just for the fun of it, even though it's completely pointless. I'l go through the steps I'll take below.

1. Create a new project folder somewhere. I've make a directory with all my downloads in it on my computer. My folder is called "Pointless Zebra Hack".
2. Now, I go to the main Zoo Tycoon Folder. I know I'm going to need to edit this in the zebra's .ai file, since it's a statistic about the zebra. Refering back to chapter two, I look for the file which holds animal's .ai files...and lo and behold, I find that all the animal's .ai files are in animals2.ztd.
3. Now, I COPY animals2.ztd into your new project folder (Pointless Zebra Hack). Now, since the only thing I need in here is the zebra's ai file, I delete everything else (when inside your extraction thingy). Now, when I go into the .ztd file, I see the folder animals, then only zebra.ai inside that folder.
4. One last thing I decide to do before I start my hacking is to name the .ztd file something else so I can recognize it when it's in a list of updates. I'm naming it stupidzebrahack.ztd.
5. Now comes the important part. I extract the .ai file and open it in Notepad (Wordpad works as well). Now, I know I have to look for something that has to do with food. The first thing I come along is this: cFoodInfoTextName = ZEBRA_ANIMAL Using my reasoning, I decide that this code has nothing to do with the tpye of food, but that it's rather a label or name (see, there's the word name in the code. Aren't I a genius?). Further down, I see something that looks like this: [m/Characteristics/Integers]
cKeeperFoodType = 0
It's under the header "Characteristics", and it says Food Type! this is exactly what I want! However, How should I know what that 0 means. Does it stand for hay, or what? Luckily, being very resourceful, I as a member of ZT Center am able to look at Sideshow Bob's article on editing UCA files. In this article, I find that there are codes for food, listed from 0-13...and 0 happens to be hay! Now, I look for the code which I wish to change it to, Insectivore Chow. The very handy guide tells me that the code for it is 6. Now I go back to my .ai file and change that 0 to a 6. It looks something like this:
[m/Characteristics/Integers]
cKeeperFoodType = 6
6. Now that I've sucsessfuly changed that, I put this .ztd file in the Updates folder and start my game...aand...it works (hehehe...they're eating bugs)!

It's just that easy to make a hack! Just remember that you should never edit an original file, but rather put the updated file in the Updates folder. It will always overwrite the other file in the game. If your looking to update expansion animals, the files you'll need are in the XPACK1 and XPACK2 folders (I think you can figure out which file is which). The Complete Collection is in the Updates folder. I don't know where exactly they all are, but I know at least that animalsa.ztd holds all the CC animals' .ai files. If you have any questions or comments on my article, please email zootycooncenter@yahoo.ca or post in the Feedback section of the forums.