The Newbie's Guide To Petz
Have you ever been like me? Wanting to get into Petz so badly, but never knew how to properly get it to work? Yeah, I was there once. Took me four whole years to get into it, as embarassing as it is to admit. Don't fall into the same trap as me! These sites were hard to find without someone pointing me to the right direction!
Of course, I'm here to show you how exactly you can get this god forsaken ancient game. As well as stuff you need to know getting into the community! But first, you might be asking: what game should I get first?
Many people will tell you to get into Petz 4. It's the most popular and has mods supported for it.
Petz 5 is good too, but as far as I know, less people play it because of how buggy it is? Less play Petz 1 to 3.
Not sure, but Petz 4 is just your best bet! Besides, almost all the mods here were made for that version.
Where do I download Petz?
That, in itself, is a mystery. Kidding, of course! I highly reccomend Mazzew and Yabiko, since they already come patched with PetzA! PetzA is a program that helps the game run smoothly on modern computers, since this is a pretty old game... It even allows you to do some cheats, like aging up Petz and breeding instantly if that suits your fancy!
What do all these words mean?
Ah, yes, the same question I also asked myself downloading hexes (you might not even know what that means!) for the first time. Don't worry! The most commonly used phrases here I can define for you, right here, right now!
Hexing: Basically, what the Petz Community calls modding here. Modifying game files to make new content, commonly breed files, but can also be used for toys, playscenes and clothing. A mod here is called a hex, and pet or breed that has been hexed is called a hexie.
OW: No, that's not the sound of pain! It's the shorthand for Overwrite, a file that overwrites base game files. They usually have the same ID as the files they're being written over. Useful if you don't wanna make your Adoption Center look like this:
Unibreed: A breedfile that can work for Petz games 3 to 5!
Breedfile: A .dog or .cat file.
PC: The Petz Community!
You can know more unfamiliar PC terms in here.
About the Petz Community...
Yeah, from what I've known, they're less a fandom, more of a community. Being a part of it is really fun though! You may notice that a lot of Petz fans host their own websites (such as well, this one), and that's because P.F. Magic actually encouraged it! Back in Ye Olden Days, AKA around the late 90's, people would host their downloads on sites such as Geocities and Angelfire.
But you don't wanna hear me talk about that! Instead, you should just read the Miraheze Wiki's article on it instead. In fact, the wiki is definitely something you should visit often!
Closing Thoughts
There's so much more to know about Petz, but don't you worry kiddo, the Resources page has your back! We'll update this often when we can, but it's really useful. If you need further help, you can join our Discord Server as well! Just follow the rules and don't be a dick.
Happy Petzing!
- Taz