Download the Cheesiest C1 COB Update
Apparently the updated cheese was just so mesmerizing that my test subject, a lively little Grendel chap, ate absolutely everything except the piece of cheese he was supposed to model. Cheeky! After diving into hex editing and walking through some CAOS, it’s finally time to celebrate with a perfectly aged cheese update! Creatures 1 never needed any major improvements to the cheese, yet this was a fun project that got me into looking at the doctor’s page file. Not exactly a picnic! But you can now have a cheese picnic with your Norns and Grendels with this COB, complete with the following improvements:
- Amount of Hunger Decrease: The level of hunger decrease is now 150, rather than the original 250 units
- Amount of NFP Decrease: The level of NFP decrease is now 30, rather than the original amount of 10
- Multiple Cheese Bites: Cheese now lasts for two entire bites, making them last longer and provide more nutrition
- Number of Cheese Pieces: There are now 6 cheese pieces in the kitchen and 2 cheese pieces in the jungle
- Dropped Cheese Pieces: Dropping pieces of cheese now includes a random variable so they can point left or right
- Sprite File: The download includes a new sprite file with improvements and several new poses
Most importantly, this download includes an update to the Health file, which is used in the Health Kit to inject individual items. Feverfew and morning glory have been slightly changed to allow for a maximum of 255 objects, rather than the standard 12. Just remember not to go too wild with adding these to a world! It is very important to follow the instructions in the Readme about how to use this COB and the Health file together. You must first inject the updated COB before injecting the updated cheese from the Health Kit, or the game will crash. Similarly, injecting an updated piece of cheese via the Health Kit without injecting the COB will cause a crash. Finally, it is recommended that you drop a piece of cheese after injecting it with the Health Kit. It actually is not being held by the hand, but will follow the hand. If a Creature takes it directly from the hand, it is actually in two places at once and will flicker. I have not experienced a crash, but simply dropping the cheese is the best recommendation! Or never use the doctor’s page. Ha!
Note that upon install, all cheese will be removed from the world and can then be found in the kitchen or in the jungle. Remember to follow the instructions carefully regarding the Health Kit file (“Health”) and how it works with this update!
Download the Creatures 1 Updated Cheese
Another shoutout to Lone Shee of The Shee’s Lost Knowledge for her help. And the Grendels of the world thank Malkin for pointing out that a few pieces of cheese should be added in the jungle near the Grendel Mother! This update does break other cheese COBs, yet I will be going through a few tutorials in the coming weeks explaining how to update existing COBs. If I can get in touch with the original authors, I may pursue a path of releasing these updates. But to be fair and to respect the original creators, tutorials will suffice for now. Editing COBs is much less scary when it seems… Especially when you’re working with existing items! Enjoy this newest fix for Creatures 1!
Are there any particular things to keep in mind when installing this in the GOG.com Albian Years edition of Creatures 1? I managed to crash mine recently when trying to update my chemical list, so five reinstalls later (no joke) I’m just a little cautious about messing with the less-familiar game files.
These files have been tested thoroughly in the GOG version of Creatures 1, if that helps any. It basically boils down to not mixing files: You either need to use the original Health file with the unedited cheese, or you’ll need to install the new COB and then use the new Health file. All crashes I encountered during testing weren’t world breaking, meaning that after a crash, I could still open up my world again.
I do recommend making a backup of the original Health file, and as I mentioned, you should NOT use the emergency kit to replenish stocks… This will overwrite the new version with an incorrect one. Luckily, it’s as easy as copying the file in this download again… Although I do hope it takes awhile to use up 255 pieces of cheese!
Hopefully you don’t have any more major issues. I know the pain of reinstalling, though, especially when you have modifications and COBs all set to go!
It’s more ‘where exactly do I put the new Health file?’ than anything else – in My Documents, or Program Files (x86)?
Dense Jessica strikes again. Ha! I haven’t seen the split installation from GOG in ages, as I got it all to install in My Documents. Is there an instance of the file “Health” in both locations? I would think that the My Documents location should be the right place. But if there are two files, I might need to look into it… You can actually tell where the game is pulling it from if you inject one item. The edited date will change on the Health file, which should tell you where the game is getting it from. I hope that makes sense! I’m happy to look into it more if you need more details: Just let me know!
The Health file (and HealthBU) only appears in Program Files.
Sounds like that would be the place to put this Health file: It’s meant to overwrite the one the game uses. I’m also going to be putting together a tutorial about how to edit the file yourself. It basically expands on an article from Lone Shee, but with some more details.
One thing that won’t crash the game is just looking at the doctor’s page in the Health Kit. If you install the file, the number of available objects should be 255 for everything. The original file uses a maximum of 12 objects. Hopefully that helps!
I followed the directions and still the Health Kit won’t open correctly. It says “No error message is available.”
This is actually a problem with the GOG version of Creatures 1 itself, and is not related to this download. You can find more information about it in this GOG topic. The two things to try:
– Run Creatures 1 as an administrator.
– Reinstall to My Documents, rather than Program Files.
Hopefully that gets you going! Good luck, and enjoy!
I already had it installed in My Documents and when I ran as administrator, the Health Kit opened up, but crashed Creatures when I tried to add cheese.
I’d already injected the cheese cob, exited the program, replaced the Health file and then attempted to use the Doctor’s Page. Oh well. I’ll just keep injecting the cob.
Hmm, that is an odd thing. When you go to the Doctor’s Page and before you inject it, how many pieces of cheese does it say you have remaining? If you’re still running into issues, please let me know and share a screenshot. That’s definitely not supposed to happen, and crashes are never good!
I do have plans to release an updated refrigerator COB soon, which will include a neverending supply of cheese. I suppose I should get moving on that a little quicker!
It said I had 12 cheese left right after installation. Then I used the Doctor’s Page, Creatures crashed and when I ran it as administrator it said I had 11, but I haven’t been able to use any more of them.
That indicates that the updated file is not installed correctly. You should see a value of 255 available to you. It seems to be crashing because the game is attempting to inject a piece of cheese using the old scripts, and this will create an issue when the new COB is injected. I believe I mentioned this in the Readme, but apologies if I didn’t!
In another comment you mentioned that you have a split installation, so be sure that the updated Health file is in both places (My Documents and Program Files). Make sure that the available number of cheese pieces is 255 before injecting, and follow the other instructions regarding the order (for instance, inject the new cheese COB before injecting a piece of cheese from the Doctor’s Page). I hope this helps! Feel free to let me know if you’re still having any issues, though. Thanks!
I put it in both places and it works now. I’ve been using the one directory for all of the cobs and they haven’t had problems being absent from the other. Strange.
I changed \Program Files to \Documents already and when I did the Remaster Patch I guess I didn’t realize it would redo that. So my split installation is right next to each other in \Documents….
I’m glad to hear it’s working for you! Odd that the Remastered Patch did that… For me, I have all of my Creatures 1 files in one directory under Documents. Only Creatures Exodus still ends up with a split installation, even in Documents. But it works, even with those oddities!
Have you ever considered making a ‘new Eden’ world file available with all your food items already installed in it?
I actually did this for someone who was having trouble with the Injector Kit, and it’s not a bad idea! I have something still in the works, but I think I can easily start with one download and simply update it as my major releases come out. There are a few other important COBs and updates I usually recommend, rather than going with a completely vanilla world, yet this seems like something to explore some more. Thanks for the suggestion, and I’ll look into it soon!