A Practical Guide to Creating Eggs
==================================


You Will Need
-------------

1.  A party, including Quenton, a gargoyle or any other flying creature

2.  The Avatar, STAMPed with a bug so we can find out which file he's in.

3.  A multi-tasking system (Windows 3.1, Windows 95 or DRDOS Taskmgr)

4.  An up-to-date copy of the OBED Object Editor, with Tag Search support
    (http://ithe.cjb.net)

5.  The List of Objects (On paper, or in an editor you can task-switch to)



The Method
----------

1. Open two DOS sessions.  Start Ultima 6 in one, and change to the SAVEGAME
directory (or whatever it's called, if you're using U6MGR).

2. Decide where you want to create the Egg, and move the Avatar nearby.

3. Switch to Quenton (or your winged companion) and fly to to the Isle of the
   Avatar.  Stand him near the Codex.  Make sure he isn't carrying anything,
   just in case we have an accident (and lose his posessions!).

4. Move Quenton South to where the gargoyles are and wait there.

5. Switching back to the Egg-site, talk to IOLO and create a Leather Helm
   (#1) with a Quality of 255.

6. Make the Avatar drop this special helm in the exact spot where you want
   the Egg to be.

7. Save the game, and switch task.

8. Using finder, get the filename of the OBJBLK file where the Avatar is.

9. Copy the file OBJBLKHG to a backup file, for example OBJBLKHG.EGG

10. Now edit the file where the Avatar was found (for example, OBJBLKCC)

    obed objblkcc

11. Look for your special Helmet.  If you have the new version of OBED,
    you can use the Search feature.

    Press '?', and enter FF.  If it finds something else, press ? again
    and enter 0, to repeat the search.

12. Ok, so the Helmet is now highlighted.  Press ENTER, and write down
    the values for 'UNKNOWN H', 'UNKNOWN D' and the second 'UNKNOWN D'.

    I usually write them down in the form:

	FFF7	<- Unknown H
	FFAB	<- Unknown D
	5	<- Unknown D-2

13. Press ESC and quit the editor, don't save changes.

14. Go back to the game, pick up the helm, and move the Avatar away from
    the area where the egg will appear.  About 32 paces should be sufficient.

15. Save the game again, and switch task.

16. Start the object editor again, and edit OBJBLKHG, which is the Codex
    room, where Quenton was before he moved.

17. Now, at the top of the file are two Eggs, a Drake and a Squid.
    There is also a bird lower down.  Select the EGG object ABOVE one of these
    and change the values for UNKNOWN H and the two UNKNOWN D values to what
    you wrote down in step 12.

    You may also change the probability of the egg hatching a monster.
    To do this, change the value of Quantity in the egg.
    This is a percentage, but you must convert it to hex.
    64 is 100%, 42 is 66%, 32 is 50%, 21 is 33%, 19 is 25% and 0C is 12%.

18. Press ESC once, and edit the second object, the one BELOW THE EGG.

    You can now change it as follows:

    Type:     Enter the appropriate number from the List of Objects.
              It doesn't have to be a living creature, it can be an object
              too, for example, money or magic armour.

    Quantity: Maximum number of objects that appear.
              For Silver Snakes, this determines the length of the snake.

    Quality:  If you set this to 9, a creature will be docile and runs away.
	      If you set it to 8, they will be aggressive and violent.
	      (This was sampled from a comparison between the 'Death Deer' I
               created accidentally in Doug's Castle, and wild deer outside
               Trinsic way.)
               There are other values but I don't know what they mean.

19. Now, press ESC again and quit the editor.  SAVE THE CHANGES.

20. Switch back to the game, and RESTORE your position.
    Switch to Quenton, and move him North, up to the Codex Room.
    This action will force the eggs we've changed to move themselves to the
    new location, where the helm was.

21. Switch to the Avatar, and walk him to the spot where the Helm was.
    Your shiny, new monsters should be there.
    If they aren't, Restore, walk the Avatar far, far away and come back.
    If all has gone well, it should be there now.

22. Now, to finish off, we need to bring back the Egg that was taken from
    the Isle of the Avatar, so it can be re-used to make a new creature.
    
23. Switch to Quenton, and move him back South to the Shrine.

24. Save, and switch task.

25. Copy the backup OBJBLKHG.EGG over OBJBLKHG.

26. Switch back to the game, RESTORE, and everything is ready for you to
    do it again!