Hint for Black and White 

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PHYSICALLY CHANGING THE LEVELS IN BLACK & WHITE

****  NOTE:   	I will take no responsibility for lost saved games, crashed
****		systems, or other unfortunate by-products of this text if you
****		use any of this information.  Back your saved games up.  It's
****		your own fault if something bad *does* happen, so don't come
****		crying to me or anyone who has supplied you with this text.

In the game's "scripts" directory you can modify the land text files to generate
more or less objects when the game will generate that game level.  For instance,
you can cause the game to create a worship site with the game's best spells in
level 1 (the tutorial island) by adding some commands to land1.txt.  Note,
however, that they are only effective if you then start a new game, since the
tutorial island is only generated during the game's intro movie.  Thus, this
trick is less effective for games you are already playing.  You can use it to
stock up more food and wood in your own village when the level starts by simply
creating yourself a new storehouse and making the final two numbers whatever the
amount of food and wood you want respectively.

Note that you can obviously also change stats or remove items entirely, if
you like.  I removed almost all the trees on the tutorial island, and it
sped up my loading and saving times a little.  You can change the locations
of things if you know where the coordiantes should be.  You can also change
your influence on other towns, and you might even be able to skip levels
entirely (though I haven't tried yet).  I set other town's beliefs in me to
99% to give myself an easier time converting them.  Experiment if you want,
but please make backups of your profiles if you do..  I take no 
responsibility with crashed games and ruined save games because of this.

If it doesn't work, please realise that I used game version 2.3, and I have
not thoroughly tested every aspect or possibility.  You might have simply
put a building in the water if it's not there when you try playing.  If the
game crashes when it's loading the level, it's probably a period where a
comma should be or some missed parameter in the commands, which are listed
below, so check what you have modified carefully.  There you are:

Useful Commands (your own town's ID is always 0, you are "PLAYER_ONE"):
	CREATE_NEW_TOWN_SPELL(townID, "spellName")
		Note that you might have to place these commands directly
		after the CREATE_TOWN command, I have not checked.  You can
		only have six spells I believe.

		Known Spells:
			BEAM_EXPLOSION
			BEAM_EXPLOSION_PU1
			BEAM_EXPLOSION_PU2
			CREATURE_SPELL_ANGRY
			CREATURE_SPELL_BIG
			CREATURE_SPELL_COMPASSION
			CREATURE_SPELL_FREEZE
			CREATURE_SPELL_INVISIBLE
			CREATURE_SPELL_ITCHY
			CREATURE_SPELL_SMALL
			CREATURE_SPELL_STRONG
			CREATURE_SPELL_WEAK
			FIRE
			FIRE_PU1
			FIRE_PU2
			FOOD
			FOOD_PU1
			FOOD_PU2
			FLYING_FLOCK
			GROUND_FLOCK
			HEAL
			HEAL_PU1
			LIGHTNING_BOLT
			LIGHTNING_BOLT_PU1
			LIGHTNING_BOLT_PU2
			NATURE  [Note:  This is really the Forest miracle]
			PHYSICAL_SHIELD
			SHIELD
			STORM
			STORM_PU1
			STORM_PU2
			TELEPORT
			WATER
			WATER_PU1
			WOOD

	CREATE_ABODE(townID, "coordinateX, coordinateY", "buildingType", #, #, #, 
#)
			The easiest way to use this is to look for a building
			that you don't care about in the file that will be in
			your town, and replace the building type by whatever
			you want, the building types begin with your town's
			nationality (Norse, Celtic, etc) and have an underscore
			and the building's name.  For instance,
			NORSE_ABODE_WORKSHOP, CELTIC_ABODE_CRECHE,
			INDIAN_STORAGE_PIT.  The first two # entries I do
			not know, but the second two are amounts of food and
			wood stored in the abode.  They should always be 0
			except for town centres and maybe in workshops.  I
			have set these to high values, 9000000 for instance,
			and it's perfectly valid, so you shouldn't have
			trouble with food or wood if you use these options.

	CREATE_TOWN_CENTRE(same as CREATE_ABODE)
			Again, it's easiest to simply replace a sufficiently
			large building with a town centre, although you usually
			have a town centre already.  The building type is the
			same scheme as in CREATE_ABODE, for instance
			GREEK_TOWN_CENTRE.

	CREATE_CITADEL("coordinateX, coordinateY", ?, playerID, ?, ?)
			Again the easiest thing to do is to change a planned
			citadel into a regular one.  In the tutorial island,
			this will still work, but you will still have to wait
			until the "build your citadel" quest is done.  You
			cannot have a worship site without a citadel!  The
			question marked entries I use are 0, 36000, 1000,
			and it works but I don't know what they mean.

	CREATE_WORSHIP_SITE("coordinateX, coordinateY", ?, playerID, ?, ?)
			You need a citadel to have a worship site, so make
			one.  The spells you can worship with are entered using
			CREATE_TOWN_SPELL above.

	SET_TOWN_BELIEF(townID, playerID, belief)
			This is a real treat.  Each town on the map initially
			has a pre-set belief value for each god that is on that
			level.  You can raise yours to a higher number so that
			impressing the pesky villages won't take as long.  The
			number for belief is a fraction, so 0.900000 means
			90%, and 0.150000 means 15%, etc.  You can have any
			number here, but I would recommend keeping the six
			decimal places after the decimal point just in case.
			Change the existing beliefs for you in the levels to
			help yourself out.


Thus, an easier start for the game on tutorial island is done by entering the
following lines in land1.txt and finishing all but the final gold story scroll
on the island (the one after you fight the giant guide creature). You will be
able to cast any of the miracles you want, even using gestures, to train your
creature.  You will also have 900000 food and wood.  Change the spells to
whatever you want if you are playing evil or just want to see the other ones:

- Right after the first CREATE_TOWN command, place the following:
	CREATE_NEW_TOWN_SPELL(0, "FOOD_PU1")
	CREATE_NEW_TOWN_SPELL(0, "HEAL_PU1")
	CREATE_NEW_TOWN_SPELL(0, "WATER_PU1")
	CREATE_NEW_TOWN_SPELL(0, "FIRE_PU2")
	CREATE_NEW_TOWN_SPELL(0, "WOOD")
	CREATE_NEW_TOWN_SPELL(0, "SHIELD")

- Search for "NORSE_ABODE_STORAGE_PIT" and change the last two numbers to
  9000000 for that much food and wood.

- Search for the line containing "CREATE_PLANNED_CITADEL", and replace it
  with the following two lines:
	CREATE_CITADEL("1915.05,2508.89", 0, "PLAYER_ONE", 36000, 1000)
	CREATE_WORSHIP_SITE("1980.01,2580.12", 7, "PLAYER_ONE", "NORSE", 8151, 
1000)

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I was messing around with some files in the Lionhead dir and came across the 
creature files. I then figured out how to change your current creature to  any 
other creature in the game. Even the Orge! All the files you need to mess with 
are in the Data\CRT\ directory. Make  sure you back it up just in case. Lets say 
you are the Cow. Your creatures file is bcow.CBN. 

Now lets say you want to be the Wolf. All you do is delete your current file, 
which is bcow.CBN and rename bwolf.CBN to your old creature, which was bcow.CBN. 
Start the game and you have a Wolf running around.

I'm going to explain it again. To be the Orge you do the same thing. Lets say you 
still have the Cow. The Orge's file is bgreek.CBN. Simply delete bcow.CBN and 
rename bgreek.CBN to bcow.CBN I have noticed one thing odd... The first creature 
I changed to was the Orge  from the Madrill. I have tried most of the other 
creatures and have noticed  that their foot prints no longer change. They are 
stuck at the Orge's foot  print.

Also the Rhino is there, but I have yet to try him. My Tortise running around 
land 1 is so cool! Changing creatures like this seems to have no effect on you or 
your  creatures alignment. Their current stats stay the same regarding damage 
and  food. Scars and bruises also seem to disapear.

As always, make sure to wrap your rascal if you try this (back-up your files, 
etc).

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Unlimited Food and Wood:

When having activated a wood or food miracle,
hold the Hand over the door of the village 
store (Not in the middle of it).
Then press the action button (right mouse 
button) very quick repeatedly over the Village
stores door. You get an insane amount of wood 
or food (20.000)for very low mana costs. Same
thing with the workshop. Click repeatedly over
the door and you get very much wood. With this
you wont have any probs managing your villages.

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FIRST LEVEL
This aims to introduce you to the game, its control systems and so on.  Baffling 
at first, as you advisors leave a lot missing.  At the basest level you have to 
do three things:

Find the three totem carvings & drop them on the pedestal by the giant gates to 
go select you creature.  That said, you do have to carry out a couple of Silver 
Scroll tasks to do this. 
Secondly C get you creature trained up by the giant beast abandoned on the island 
by Nemesis. 
Finally get in the vortex & move to level 2. 
Things that puzzled me or what you have to do follows in no particular order.  If 
you dont want some surprises spoiled, skip the next row of bullet points:

Farmer C Find his sheep, they are on the tops of hills, down by the sea (must be 
a lake or your creature drinks salt water come to think of it).  Drop the sheep 
in his field.  Just keep you eyes open when pottering around the place. 
Teacher C The children are in a cave to the North of the village.  Put your 
creature in the top left of the box canyon past the trees, keeping him on the 
leash.  When the pervert wanders out, let him move a fair way down the track the 
double click on him to attach the leash.  He squeals for a bit then you are 
rewarded. 
Stonehenge C Same as the sheep, keep your eyes open.  There are some in the 
quarry, a headland on the South coast, to the left of the giant gate in the 
trees.  A couple are quite close to the Henge itself. 
Totem Heads C One is in the quarry, the woman in the village has one (her brother 
is by the giant mushrooms South West of the village) and the final one is in the 
Quarry to the South, the village Stonemason carves it for you.  Pile all three on 
top of one another to open the get/get your creature. 
Beach Ball C Knock the rock of the tall rock to get the beach ball.  Located 
South East of the village.  You creature likes to play with it. 
Shipbuilders.  They want wood, grain & meat.  Dont give them a sheep though, you 
need them elsewhere. 
Beast that bars the way C Two choices here, beat him up with your creature after 
you have down fighting training with the giant beast or simply drop some food by 
him.  He goes to sleep & you can then get the second beach ball. 
Extra Beasts.  You may have seen the extra beast available online.  To use the 
Gorilla/Horse/Mandrill/Leopard you must first have got your beast 
(Cow/Monkey/Tiger).  Go to the far end of the beach that the sailors were on and 
use the silver scroll at the trainers hut. 
Make sure you throw all you food & wood through the vortex BEFORE clicking on the 
golden scroll.  Slap a few livestock & people through as well.

Level 2
Level two gives you an ally (although you can take him out if you like, he starts 
to steal your terrain near the end of this level).  The two of you aim to take 
out Nemesis chum in the frozen North.

This map allows you to take over 3 villages without resistance before you have to 
start working hard for further conquests.  Use the creature on the nearest 
village and use the fluffy leash to tie him to their store.  Once this village is 
captured you have access to more spells.  Do the target practise exercise on the 
two islands off of the Western shore and listen to all the advice your partner 
God gives.  You will need it.  You main effort is a slow march across the island 
capturing villages. When you earn the wood miracle, make sure you water it as 
soon as you have planted it.

In summary, a war of attrition with the chance to train your creature.

Skip the next bullets if you wish to be surprised:

Poisoning.  The plague in the 3rd village only occurs when you open the silver 
scroll near the choking Indian.  Food poisoning, check your grain store.  Then 
heal them. 
Temple.  The temple on the lake shore is a simple puzzle block game, it allows 
you to send people there to be healed afterwards, not that I bothered. 
Tree Puzzle. Find the tree puzzle to the right of the 4th village and solve it.  
Bookmark the bird miracle.  Avoid adjusting the middle tree, it alters four 
adjacent ones and makes life difficult.  Stick to corners and outer middles & 
cycle through the options. Solving this puzzle earns hundreds of points each time 
you use it on enemy villages. 
Drowning Kids.  Use your creature to rescue them. 
Destroy the temple.  Use loads of fireballs.  You eventually burn it down.  This 
is assuming you didnt go for the scroll immediately after your creature was 
kidnapped.

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Black and White
Hints and Tips
These hints and tips came from many people on the bwgame.com discussion boards, 
and at the lionhead.co.uk discussion boards, and from the 
comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.strategic newsgroup. Thanks in particular to Caton Little, 
Debaser, and Ollie from Lionhead. This page is maintained by Lucian Wischik: if 
you can contribute any extra hints, please email him. But don't email to ask for 
advice, because he won't answer. 

Don't micro-manage your villagers
The villagers in B&W are more chilled out than other games. Idle villagers are 
not necessarily a bad thing. It's often best just to let them go about their 
business. 
Once a village has reached a happy balance, with food, wood and expansion desires 
at 30-50%, you can remove all your disciples (except the crafstman) and they'll 
manage fine on their own. Food+offspring desire together total 100%. 
Expansion+wood desire make 100%. That's why you should keep them all balanced. 
Disciples destroy the balance. 
If the village is disillusioned, people will sit around. If you keep doing 
everything for them, they'll become disillusioned. The nicer you are to them, the 
lazier they become, and the more micromanagement you have to do. Your job is to 
encourage autonomy! Don't given them food; give them fields. (One field per ten 
people, roughly). Don't give them wood; give them a forest. (When you've placed a 
scaffold, give them some wood, but not all! let them cut down trees and collect 
wood themselves!) 
If everyone's idle, check that there isn't a resource bottleneck. If there's no 
resource bottleneck, then it means they're simply lazy. Let them starve. After 
20mins or so they'll get the hint. Warning: letting them starve is an evil act! 
Best not to let them become dependent in the first place. 
To stop them whining about breeding: take away their excess food and give it to 
your worshippers. 
Starving villagers is Bad, so be careful. Healing villagers is Good. 
Building and expansion
Villagers want to expand if there is no space for adults. Also if there is no 
space for children. They go through a cycle of having children until full, then 
wanting more buildings, then filling them. It doesn't effect your alignment to 
ignore the requests. 
The villagers will happily build their own buildings; you don't need to do it for 
them. You need a disciple craftsman. But if you don't want them to, don't make 
any craftsmen. Having a good number of disciple builders and a huge supply of 
timber (and therefore scaffolds) makes building a fairly painless process anyway. 
Warning: Do not accidentally barricade your creature in with buildings  it will 
destroy them to get out. 
Workshops will have only 3 scaffolds out in the world at any one time. You have 
to place one, wait a short while, then the new building will be locked in 
position, then a new scaffold will begin. You can assemble scaffolds in the yard 
itself. This makes it much easier to assemble a wonder-sized scaffold without 
accidentally using the partially complete scaffold for something else. The 
scaffolds in the yard are in addition to the three in the world. 
Resources: forests and food
Planting trees and watering them quickly creates forests. You can get your 
creature to do this. When you plant a tree, there should be a puff of green 
smoke; this indicates that the tree will grow on its own. If there is no smoke 
then the tree might be too close to the village; the only way to make it grow is 
with watering. Having a creature water the forests is especially useful, since it 
takes no mana. Mature trees sometimes drop seedlings. You can force-grow those 
seedlings to maturity with a single shower. Also, trees will drop seedlings much 
more readily when they're being showered. This makes it fairly easy to maintain a 
good-sized forest anywhere you like (including the middle of town). 
Fisheries are an abundant source of food. If you're playing a map where the food 
miracle is not available (or hard to come by), make village near the fish with a 
bunch of disciple fishermen and continually swipe food from their supply. 
How to impress villagers and influence
Influence is based on the number of non-homeless people in a village, and their 
belief. 
The impressiveness of certain actions depletes when you first do it, and 
recharges over time. Two consecutive flocks are a waste of power. 
Here's a fun way to impress villagers. (more enjoyable than repeatedly throwing 
rocks around!) Have you creature set fire to them, so they're scared. Then get a 
storm to put out the fire, so they're impressed. 
Worshippers and miracles
To keep worshippers alive you have to feed them and also heal them. Every miracle 
you charge takes life from the villagers. Therefore, either heal them or let them 
go home to rest. Use the S key to see how well they are; if they're all hurt then 
heal them; if just one is, pick him up and take him home. This micromanagement is 
intentional; it is the price you pay for using miracles. 
There seems to be something like a 1:2 or even 1:1 relationship between food 
consumption and prayer-point generation. That is, if your bowl is full, 
worshippers will eat at the usual rate but while they're generating prayer points 
they consume much more. Casting a lot of expensive miracles will cost you a lot 
of food. (If anyone can figure out what determines the maximum number of points 
that can be stored, please tell!) 
Creating a one-shot dispenser  basically a miracle storage device  is a bit 
tricky, since they need 6 scaffolds. Some people have had the most success with 
them by placing them in built-up areas (where no other buildings are possible). 
Place the charged miracle from your hand into a spell dispenser. Then you can put 
the micracles through the vortex to give yourself a head start. (and villagers, 
and wood). 
Keys: R repeat spell. M cast spiral spell. P pause. Alt+1 slow down time. Alt+2 
speed up. B,V cycle leashes. L automatically attach leash to creature. TAB move 
to next town center. 
Tip on doing the heart gesture: the bottom is made of two straight lines meeting 
at a definite point; it is not round. 
Training your creature
If your creature eats when not hungry, "it will now be more hungry". (i.e. just 
like in real life!) If he eats when hungry, "he will eat more of this." Reducing 
hunger is in and of itself a reward. Apparently fish is so tasty that he'll 
always eat more! 
The message "your creature will now it more of this" doesn't tell you what you're 
creature has just eaten! This is intentional micromanagement. If you want to 
train your creature, you have to pay attention to him. However, you can see if 
he's just eaten a human by popping into the creature cave in your temple and 
checking the stats. So long as you remember where he's up to, you'll know if he's 
done it again. 
Sometimes, apes will happily eat trees (and like it)... considering how readily 
available trees are, perhaps a strictly herbivorous creature would work well! 
"Beating the hell out of your creature", past 100%, isn't good. If he's done 
something bad, punish him a little bit, but not all the way. Just like in real 
life. 
When training your creature, you must provide positive reinforcement. If you only 
ever punish him when he poos in the wrong place, and if you never praise him when 
he poos in the right place, then he'll get the idea that pooing is always bad. 
Result: self-constipating creature! Remember always to reward as well as punish. 
Fun stuff
You can grab fireballs out of the sky. 
To throw someone from a great height  bookmark with the camera zoomed in, then 
bookmark with it zoomed out. Pick someone up. Go to first bookmark, then second, 
then release. Ouch!

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Did you know, that if you search for the file names.txt in your Black directory, 
you will be able to edit this list of names that are allocated to your villagers. 
Make sure that you type how many names are in the list on the first line of the 
text file, so if you had 50 names in your list, the first line would read 50. Add 
the names of your friends, or the names of your enemies, it will add a new level 
of villager interaction.
