Questions & Answers

When I set the TIREDNESS level of my Chao to maximum and then evaluate it on the Sonic Adventure Gamepage, it tells me that it is ‘well rested’. What’s wrong?
Nothing. The evaluation program on the gamepage simply is buggy. :) If you don’t believe me, release the Chao into the Garden and see if it starts yawning or not.

When I set the FAVOURITE percentage for Amy to maximum and then evaluate my Chao on the Sonic Adventure Gamepage, it tells me that it likes Big and vice versa. What’s wrong here?
Again, nothing. The evaluation program on the gamepage has a bug here too. :) :) To test who’s right, activate the Chao’s drawing ability, then release it into the Garden and check whom it will draw (it always draws the person it likes most).

One of my Chao seems to have an AFFECTION of more than 100% when I evaluate it on the Sonic Adventure Gamepage, but when I examine it in your editor, the AFFECTION is listed as 100% only.
The editor automatically tries to fix values in the Chao Data that seem to be buggy or incorrect (although it’s technically possible to set certain counters higher than the allowed maximum).

I get the message CAN’T EDIT WITH TWO CHAO SLOTS OCCUPIED. Why is that?
A ‘normal’ Chao can only be in slot 1, while a Chao egg can only be in slot 2. When saving data, the editor first checks the selected Chao Type and then decides which slot to use. If both slots were occupied, a Chao or egg that the user might have wanted to keep could be overwritten when the Chao Type has been changed from Chao to egg or vice versa. To prevent this, the easiest solution was to simply not allow editing at all in such a situation. Just release one Chao or egg into the Garden, and all should work fine again.

I get the message ERROR - FILE CORRUPTED! What happened?
My editor has an integrity check included to prevent morons from modifying its code (I know from past experience that certain people think it’s funny to change the copyright info or menu texts with a Hex Editor). You can download the unmodified version from this here page.

Why can’t I change the facial features of the Chao, like eyes and mouth?
I haven’t yet found out how this data is stored (although I really really tried). If anyone wants to help and enlighten me, feel free to do so, and I will gladly add this feature to the editor. All I know so far is that the info for mouth/face is stored at offset 0x5c - 0x5f (4 byte). A list of example values (copied from Chao creatures from the game) can be viewed here. If you manage to derive any general rules from it, I would be forever grateful. :)

I’ve seen the picture of an invisible Chao / a Chao ‘Freak’ on a website. Can I create such Chao with your editor too?
No. Invisible Chao are based on a program bug (setting bit 30 in the Body Mod dword values). Chao ‘Freaks’ (huge & hideously deformed Chao) are done by using unsupported Body Mod values (0x3fc00001 to 0x3fffffff and 0xbfc00001 to 0xbfffffff). I don’t think it’s a good idea to support any of this.

Hey, this is really an outstanding program! You must be a genius!
I know… um, I mean, thanks for the compliment. :) If you think it’s useful, then please spread the news and let others know about this tool too.

VMU Chao Editor

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