How to make PetzA run with anything

Disclaimer

I'm not responsible for anything that happens if you run PetzA with an exe it wasn't designed to run with. Neither is Nick Sherlock.

Basic explanation

You might want to modify the Petz exe in some way. The most common reason is to swap the palette. You might also be hacking around in the exe or applying a memory patch to it or whatever.

PetzA checks against a registry entry to see whether it has already verified your exe. It checks that the exe size and last modified date match the registry; if so, if it thinks it has already run. The registry values are stored in HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Sherlock Software\PetzA.

If you do something that modifies either of these values, PetzA will refuse to run. Obviously, we just need to trick PetzA into thinking it has already verified your exe.

This will work for anything that PetzA runs with.

If the exe size doesn't change

Most common operations, like palette-swapping or memory-patching, will not change the size of the exe. It will only change the modified date (if that).

To make PetzA run with your modified exe, follow these instructions BEFORE you modify your exe.

• Run your base Petz/Babyz exe with PetzA installed. Ensure that it runs properly.
• Make a copy of your Petz/Babyz exe. Name it PetzA.exe. Right-click both exes and select Properties. Make sure both exes have the exact same Modified date. (If not, you've done something wrong. Go back to step 1.)
• Modify your exe in whatever way you want. Here is where you do your palette swap, patch, hacking etc. Do it on the main exe, not on your PetzA.exe backup.
• Download this bat script. Place it into your Petz/Babyz program folder. Double-click to run it. Enter the name of your main exe without quotes and without .exe, e.g. Petz 4. (If you don't like the idea of running random bat scripts, feel free to inspect it.)
• Run your modified exe. PetzA should work.

If the exe size does change

Then you have to be prepared to do some registry editing. Follow the instructions above, but do not run the modified exe. Instead, go into the registry location HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Sherlock Software\PetzA and update the filesize entry corresponding to the Petz/Babyz game you're trying to modify. If you don't feel comfortable doing this, then ask for help on Discord. Then you can run your modified exe.