How to Add Lifebars to MUGEN
Lifebars are the HUD during a fight: health, power, names, combo counter. They live in fight.def, not in select.def. A screenpack often includes a bar. You can also swap only the bar and leave the menus alone.
The files
A lifebar pack is usually fight.def plus fightfx.sff / fightfx.air and a font or two. Those go in data (sometimes data/fightfx, follow the readme). system.def is the menus. Leave it if you only wanted new bars.
1v1 Street Fighter bars and 3-on-3 KOF bars are different layouts. Putting a single 1v1 bar on a Turns team looks broken because the extra portraits have nowhere to go.
Steps
- Back up dataCopy
fight.defand the current fightfx files. Same habit as screenpacks. - Install the bar filesOverwrite fight.def and fightfx as the author wrote. If the zip also contains system.def, skip it unless you wanted a full screenpack.
- Check fight.def pathsOpen fight.def and confirm it still points at the sprites you just copied. A leftover
C:\Users\Author\...path is why some bars show empty boxes. - Pick a fight mode that matches1v1 bar: Options, team mode Single. KOF-style bar: Turns. Simultaneous / MvC wants a tag HUD, which most of the three listings below are not.
- Test in versus, not arcadeArcade intro screens can hide a broken bar until round 1. Versus shows it immediately.
Lifebars on the catalog
Only three standalone lifebar listings are live. Screenpacks such as Dragon's Rebirth and KOF Anthology include bars of their own.
When the bar is empty or huge
- fight.def loaded, fightfx did not. Copy both.
- Resolution. A 1280 bar on a 320 localcoord screenpack sits off-screen. Match the pack.
- IKEMEN GO can read a lot of 1.0 fight.def files, but some 1.1 OpenGL bars need the IKEMEN fight.def rewrite. If the HUD vanishes, restore the backup and stay on 1.1 for that bar.
FAQ
Does a lifebar change damage?
No. It draws health. Damage is the character.
Can I use a KOF bar in Single mode?
It will boot. The extra team portraits stay blank. Use a 1v1 bar for Single.