Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

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Mutilate-a-Doll 2
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Q: What is Mutilate-a-Doll 2?

A: MaD2 is a highly customizable virtual stressball and physics sandbox about mutilating ragdolls in various ways using an overwhelming amount of weapons and tools.

A2: Marketing tagline aside, MaD2 is a game with a very simple premise (it's in the name) combined with tons of content and very deep sandbox features for the power users. It'll take a bit to get into it, but once you do, you'll be able to create pretty fancy things (see for example the Maker Environments in-game for examples of content created entirely in-game by other players.)

Q: How much content is actually in the game?

A: Dozens or even hundreds hours if you really really like the game.

As of writing, the average time played is 13 hours, with 22% of all players having played for more than 10h, 5% having played more than 50h, and 1% having played more than 100h.

Content-wise, the game consists of:

• Tons of physics sandbox features that allow for some pretty crazy customization and contraptions.
  
• Over 2000 Items, a third of which has some form of functionality, with the rest being plain props for creating levels or customizing dolls.
  
• 20 Tools and Joints to interact with items in various ways.
  
• 75+ Powers that range from setting things on fire, to turning things into cookies.
  
• 25+ Environments, a set of places to play in, with some unique twists (low-gravity Moon environment, windy Desert, and so forth.)

Q: What sandbox features are in the game?

A: Most of the content in the game is customizable to some degree:

• Destroy almost anything via a dynamic cutting system.
  
• Add properties and resistances to items, e.g. Anti-Gravity, or Shocking on touch.
  
• Modify the range, duration, or force of item functionalities and Powers.
  
• Change the colour palette of items and environments.
  
• Combine item functionalities together to build contraptions
  (e.g. push button to receive explosion.)
  
• Replace default particles and sound effects on items.
  
• Stamp items with the graphics of other items to customize them.

Q: What physics engine does the game use?

A: MaD2 runs on the Box2D physics engine.

• The engine handles general physics like gravity, throwing, collisions, and joints.
  
• Custom cutter system allows satisfying dynamic destruction and mutilation.
  
• Custom temperature system allows freezing, burning, and conductivity.

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TECHNICAL
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Q: Why are you charging money for a Flash game?

A: The download release exists to allow people who like the game to continue playing the game while supporting future updates, because web Flash End-of-Life is in effect, meaning the game can't be played on the web any more:

"Adobe is planning to end-of-life Flash. Specifically,
we will stop updating and distributing the Flash Player at the end of 2020"
(Full announcement: https://theblog.adobe.com/adobe-flash-update/ )

Other than that, the simple fact is that MaD2 is a good game that I've worked on for years and years, with potential for hundreds of hours of gameplay due to the sheer amount of content. If you like the game, support it.

That said, I very much know that the game is just not for everyone, especially if they're not aware of the whole web origins aspect of it, which is why I've included the very large disclaimer about the technical limitations on the store page for transparency, even at the cost of sales. If you don't feel like it's a game you'll enjoy, feel free to use Steam's refund system.

Q: What are the technical limitations?

A: Since the game was originally made for the web, there are some gotchas. MaD2 download is packaged using Adobe AIR instead of Flash which comes with quite a few upsides, but there are still some technical gotchas that will feel outdated compared to modern engines.

• The game will essentially run via standalone Flash Player when launched.
  
• The game is locked to 60fps, which should be reachable with a decent system,
  but unfortunately the performance is inherently not great due to the game being software-accelerated.
  
• The game can be scaled or fullscreened, but at the cost of upscaling performance.
  
• Raster effects are drawn on a 16:9 canvas. If the game window is resized to a different aspect ratio, they will stop drawing outside the canvas.

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IRRELEVANT
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MaD2 is a game that is meant to be played, unlike many games nowadays.

Q: Is there DRM?

A: No.

Q: Is an in-game account required to play?

A: No.

Q: Are there microtransactions?

A: No.

Q: Are there ads?

A: No.

Q: Does the game collect data or any kind of analytics?

A: No.

Q: Are there unskippable splash screens or cutscenes?

A: No.

Q: Are there mandatory handholdy tutorials that take an hour?

A: No.

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Local Files

MaD2 saves data via SharedObjects (aka ".sols"), which are then stored locally on your computer by Adobe AIR. Managing those files is your responsibility, since they're on your device.

The game will never delete items or settings without direct user input, but it also can't affect various things going on with the OS, any antivirus software, registry cleaners, or various other things. Keeping regular backups is much recommended so you won't lose any of it should something happen.

Files folder (Windows 10)

%appdata%\games.rava.mutilate\Local Store\#SharedObjects\#orava\mutilate

The folder where all the local files are stored. You can copypaste the above path into Explorer, or run it via [WinKey+R] to open the folder.

Files (.sol)

The game saves persistent data into .sol files that should not be directly modified with text editors, as they're a proprietary format that requires headers to match the data or it won't work.

Sol editors do exist, but I can't guarantee they won't mess up anything, so please back up your files before using any. If you need help with doing weird things like batch exporting save strings from your sols, feel free to contact me.

Settings

#orava/mutilate/settings.sol

Contains all the settings, and your favourited items. The file doesn't contain any personal data about you or your system. The file doesn't contain any secrets, all of it is things that can be modified in-game.
To reset your settings to defaults, this file can be safely deleted and it won't affect any of your created content. The game will automatically generate a new file if one doesn't exist.

Custom Items

#orava/mutilate/items.sol

Contains the names and saves of your custom items.

itemsBackup.sol

is the companion file of items.sol that contains all the custom items you've saved (even the ones that have been deleted or overwritten in items.sol). It is entirely used for backup purposes, in case the main file for any reason fails. See below post for restoring the backup file.

Favourite Saves

#orava/mutilate/saves.sol

Contains the names and saves you've stored.
Identically to items,

savesBackup.sol

contains all the saves you've stored.

Local Models

#orava/mutilate/models.sol

Contains any MaD Lab models you've imported into the game.

If you can't find the files manually, try using Windows search, or dedicated file search software like Everything[www.voidtools.com].

Backups & Migration

Perform a back up by simply copying the above files somewhere safe (not the same folder!), and copying them back if you ever need them. The filenames and their cases matter, so don't rename them.

If you change computers you'll have to migrate the files over manually by moving the above files in the appropriate new location. If you can't find the save location on a new computer, launch the game and change any setting to ensure that the settings file exists, then locate that file, and copy the backed-up files in the folder.

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Factory Reset

If you have an issue that persists even after reinstalling the game, there may be something wrong with your settings files. They are not removed by Steam when uninstalling.

You can reset your settings files to defaults in-game via [Settings > Menus > Reset].

If you can't get in-game, you can manually delete the settings files:

0) Locate the settings folder (see above post)
1) Back up all the files in it by copying them somewhere else (e.g. your Desktop)
2) Delete settings.sol and restart the game. If this solves your issue, you can skip (3-4).
3) Delete the rest of the files and restart the game.
4) Delete the whole save folder and restart the game.

If deleting the files solved your issue, please send me the files you backed up so I can find out what the underlying issue is and fix it! (DM on Discord or Twitter is the best way to do so. Links are in-game.)

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Restoring Custom Items

As mentioned above, MaD2 keeps a backup file of the custom items you create, itemsBackup.sol.

Should you need to restore content from the file, please follow the steps below. Restoring can be done either via the console in-game, or manually.

- Doing so will overwrite your currently loaded items, so only do it if everything is broken.

- Save backup functionality was added early 2019 so older content won't exist there.

- The backup file only stores items you've created via the Detail Tool yourself, not those loaded from anywhere else.

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Restore Backup File Via Console

0) Close the game and locate the files with your favourite file explorer, following the file paths above.

1) Back up items.sol and itemsBackup.sol files by
copying them in another folder in case you mess up everything

2) Open the console
([Settings > Menus > Console], or by pressing the [Home] key.)

3) Type itemsbackup and press [Enter]

4) Close console by entering close,
or by unfocusing it and pressing [Home]

5) Check [Library > Custom Items]

6) Use [Custom Items > Manage > Remove]
There you can delete any duplicates and items you don't wish to keep. The itemsBackup.sol file contains all versions of an item you've made and overwritten, so there may be duplicates.

7) Press [Custom Items > Manage > Save] to store the items in items.sol, overwriting the previous contents. Make sure you've backed up the original files in case something goes wrong.

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Retrieve Individual Items from the Backup File

0) Close the game and locate the files with your favourite file explorer, following the file paths above.

1) Back up items.sol and itemsBackup.sol files by
copying them in another folder in case you mess up everything

2) Open itemsBackup.sol using a SOL file reader (e.g. https://mariani.life/projects/minerva/)

3) Open "items" section

4) Save data is listed in the format "SAVESTRING|SAVESTRING|SAVESTRING" (separated by the pipe character "|").

5) Copy any of the individual save strings and store it in a safe place. Save strings usually start with "MAD" or "eN", and can end in anything. Don't include the pipe character "|" when copying.

6) Open the save string by pasting it in the Content menu in-game.