Petz Utilities

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Auto-Backup

Backs up your Adopted Petz and PetzAProfiles folders before running the game. Maintains 10 past backups (storage is cheap!) in a Backups folder inside your Petz folder.

You should still back up your Petz periodically onto an external drive or somewhere online. (You could link your Backups folder to Dropbox, for example.) This is only intended to help with those situations where you launch the game and find a pet has somehow gotten corrupted on last exit, or when you're hexing a pet and you realise you want to go back to an older version, short-term stuff like that.

Download PetzBackup.exe

Instructions: place into the folder containing your Petz exe. Works with Petz 3-5. Works with or without PetzA. To run the game, run the PetzBackup.exe instead of running the normal Petz exe. (You can rename PetzBackup.exe to whatever you want.) If you have multiple Petz versions and you want the icon to be correct, create a shortcut to PetzBackup.exe; right click and select Properties; click "Change Icon..." to select the correct Petz version icon; pin the shortcut to your Start bar or put it on your desktop or whatever.

If you're a smart person who doesn't download weird exes off the internet, you can grab the base ps1 script here and turn it into an exe yourself with PS2EXE.

Download PetzBackup.ps1



Petz Thumbnails

View P2-P4 and Babyz .pet, .cat, .dog, .clo and .toy files as thumbnails. Tested on Windows 10 and 11. Make sure you're viewing your folder with Medium icons or larger.

If you have a previous version installed, you must uninstall it from Add/Remove Programs and restart your computer before running the new installer! You may also need to delete cached thumbnails via Delete Temporary Files > Temporary Files in Windows.

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Download PetzThumbnailsInstaller.exe v5.5

View code on Github



P4 FLM image extractor

Extract images from toys/clothes as bmp or png. Put the exe into the same folder as the toys you want to extract. Run to extract a single resting image as bmp by default. Run from cmd for error output.

Args: -a to extract all images. -p to extract as transparent pngs.

Version: 2.0

Download PetzFlmExtractor.exe

View code on Github



PetzA Batch Breeding

A fork of PetzA with the following new features for P4:

Or the following for Babyz:

With batch breeding, a group of offspring will be born and exit the carry case as adults instantly. Go to the normal breeding menu and enter the number of offspring you want into the box. Hit Batch and wait for breeding to complete. This does take some time, since pets need to exit the carry case, so 5-15 is a sensible batch number.

Tree trim parents with large file sizes before batch breeding!

Do not keep your backup PetzA.toy in a subfolder within Toyz.

Report bugs on my discord server.

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Download PetzA.toy 3.6.0 FOR P3/P4 ONLY

Download PetzA.toy BABYZ-1.2.0 FOR BABYZ ONLY

View code on Github



How to make PetzA run with a modified exe

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 swap the palette in the game, or you might be hacking around in the exe or applying a memory patch to it or whatever. Changing any code or resource in the exe will make PetzA think the exe is one its not compatible with.

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 on the exe, 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.

  1. Run your base Petz/Babyz exe with PetzA installed. Ensure that it runs properly.
  2. 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.)
  3. 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.
  4. Download this bat script and rename to UpdateWriteTime.bat. 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.) If the bat gives you permission errors, your game is probably installed in Program Files. You'll have to run the bat as admin (google it).
  5. Run your modified exe (e.g. Petz 4.exe, NOT PetzA.exe). PetzA should work.

If PetzA says that you have an unsupported exe after following these instructions, or the bat gives an error, you made a mistake. Restore your original exe and start again from step 1. Please try these instructions at least 3 times before saying that it doesn't work. Read any error messages that the bat gives you.

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, ask for help on Petzcord. Then you can run your modified exe.