Editing Character Definitions

[[Category:M.U.G.E.N Documentation]]
The '''Definitions (<code>.def</code>)''' file declares simple information about the character, including the name, version info, author, source files, and palette configuration. M.U.G.E.N only reads four sections: Info, Files, Palette Keymap (1.0+), and Arcade.

= Info =
The <code>[Info]</code> section contains basic information about the character.

== Keys ==
<code>[Info]</code> declares the following keys:
=== <code>name</code> ===
The name of the character. This is not displayed in-game and is therefore used to uniquely identify a character. A common convention is to use <code>"systemchar"</code> e.g. <code>"cvsryu"</code>, <code>"sf3ryu"</code>, <code>"kofryu"</code>, <code>"sf2stryu"</code>.

=== <code>displayname</code> ===
The display name of the character. This is displayed in-game, so it is recommended to keep it short, unlike [[#<code>name</code>]], which can be arbitrarily long. Therefore, it is completely OK to use <code>"Ultra Instinct Goku"</code> for the <code>name</code> parameter, but the <code>displayname</code> should be <code>"Goku"</code>.

=== <code>versiondate</code> ===
The version date of the character. This is used nowhere in-game, cannot be read in CNS, and seems to allow for any date or version format so M.U.G.E.N most likely does not read this value at all and exists merely for user convenience. Some authors update it with their characters, and others use it to keep track of when they started working on the character.

=== <code>mugenversion</code> ===
DOS and beta versions of Windows M.U.G.E.N used a date for this field, but as of 1.0, was changed to a decimal number. M.U.G.E.N will read and work with both, though M.U.G.E.N 1.0's backwards compatibility only goes back a few versions.{{Citation needed}}

=== <code>author</code> ===
The author name. This can be read in-game and is used to more uniquely identify characters.

=== <code>pal.defaults</code> ===
Default palettes, in order of preference. When a player chooses a character and palette on the select screen, if that palette has already been selected by the player or their opponent, then it will fall back on the next value in the pal.defaults.

=== <code>localcoord</code> ===
Local coordinate space width and height for the character. Please see [[M.U.G.E.N Documentation:Coordinate Space Notes]] for more information. In official M.U.G.E.N versions, the ''y'' parameter is ignored and just scales by the same value as ''x''. Clone engines, on the other hand, such as IKEMEN Go, have fixed this.

= Files =
The <code>[Files]</code> contains a list of source files for the character, including sprites, sound, animations, constants, and states.

== Keys ==
The following keys are declared:

=== <code>cmd</code> ===
Character command set. See [[M.U.G.E.N Documentation:Commands]] for more information.

=== <code>cns</code> ===
** Constants. See [[M.U.G.E.N Documentation:Character Constants]] for more information.

=== <code>st_</code> ===
Character states. <code>_</code> may be either blank or any number from 0 to 9, which means a character can have at most 11 <code>st</code> files listed in their <code>.def</code>. These files contain the source code for the character, written in the CNS language. Common file extensions are <code>.st</code> and <code>.cns</code>, though M.U.G.E.N does not care about the file extension. For more information about coding states, please read [[M.U.G.E.N Documentation:CNS Format]].

=== <code>stcommon</code> ===
A special state file that is loaded last in order to provide any missing states for the character from the character from the specified file, looking in the <code>data/</code> or motif folder.

=== <code>sprite</code> ===
The character SFF file.

=== <code>anim</code> ===
The character animations, written in the [[M.U.G.E.N Documentation:AIR Format | AIR Format]].

=== <code>sound</code> ===
The character sounds, in the M.U.G.E.N [[SND Format]].

=== <code>ai</code> ===
The AI hints data. When this tag is added, MUGEN writes data to the file, though according to line 24 of <code>kfm.def</code> from M.U.G.E.N 1.0, it never seems to read the contents back as it says it is unused in the engine.

== Character ST File Loading Order ==
When MUGEN is loading a character's states (''[Statedef XXX]'', ''[State YYY]''), the following file types designated in the char's ''definition'' file's ''[Files]'' section are loaded in the following order:

* st
* st0
* st1
* st2
* st3
* st4
* st5
* st6
* st7
* st8
* st9
* cmd<nowiki>*</nowiki>
* stcommon

<nowiki>*</nowiki>The ''[Command]'', ''[Remap]'', and ''[Defaults]'' sections of the ''cmd'' file are loaded '''prior''' to the state data/code loading process, probably so that MUGEN can tell which uses of the ''command'' trigger are valid or not:
 <nowiki>
[Command]
name = "ValidCommand"
command = ~D, DF, F, x

[Statedef -1]

[State Trigger Example]
trigger1 = !AILevel
trigger1 = ctrl
trigger1 = command = "ValidCommand"         ; Checks if the "ValidCommand" command has been inputted
trigger2 = command = "CommandThatIsInvalid" ; Causes an error since "CommandThatIsInvalid" is not a specified command</nowiki>

MUGEN ignores duplicated states, which is why the notion of 'overwriting' the common states usually found in the file designated as ''stcommon'' exists. The notion that MUGEN 'overwrites' states is incorrect though. 

Specifying ''[Statedef 0]'' in say the file designated as ''st9'' would make MUGEN ignore the one in ''stcommon'', and a ''[Statedef -1]'' designated in ''stcommon'' would be ignored unless you remove the one in ''cmd''.

Every one of the above files, if put in the ''[Files]'' section of a character's ''definition'' file, must contain at least one state, including ''cmd''. Which is why ''[Statedef -1]'' is put in ''cmd'' to fill that hole and make MUGEN happy.

MUGEN doesn't load state code in the ''cns'' file in ''[Files]'', as in it ignores the ''[Statedef XXX]'' and ''[State YYY]'' sections entirely. However you can do what Kung Fu Man does and use the same file path for multiple file types:

 <nowiki>
st   = kfm.cns ; Parses the '[Statedef XXX]' and '[State YYY]' sections of "kfm.cns" to load state code for the character
cns  = kfm.cns ; Parses the '[Data]', '[Quotes]', '[Movement]', '[Size]', and '[Velocity]' sections of "kfm.cns" to load constants for the character
anim = kfm.cns ; Parses the '[Begin Action XXX]' sections to load animations for the character and their corresponding hitboxes
</nowiki>

It is currently unknown where and when in the loading process MUGEN loads the ''anim'', ''sprite'', and ''sound'' files specified in the ''[Files]'' section.

= Palette Keymap =
The palette keymap maps character selection buttons to palette numbers. In official M.U.G.E.N builds, only the palette index is mappable; the group is always fixed at 1. So for instance, in the following example, when the player selects kfm with the ''a'' button, palette <code>1,4</code> is mapped to the character.

= Arcade =
This section contains links to the character storyboard files. There are only two parameters, <code>intro.storyboard</code> and <code>ending.storyboard</code>, both of which may be linked to a [[M.U.G.E.N Documentation:Storyboard Documentation | storyboard .def file]].

 <nowiki>
x = 1 ;Press button X to select palette 1, etc.
y = 2
z = 3
a = 4
b = 5
c = 6
;x2 = 7 ;Hold Start and press button X for palette 7, etc.
;y2 = 8
;z2 = 9
;a2 = 10
;b2 = 11
;c2 = 12
</nowiki>