Consists of supplication and/or entreaty of an incorporeal being. Can you really imagine a god who really cares if you (1) get the guy/girl, (2) cover your mistakes, (3) find a lost object?

While psychologically or emotionally comforting, praying is basically talking to yourself.

PRAY files are files used by the Creatures Evolution Engine to store agents and other information. The online functionality of Docking Station works via the simple mechanism of transferring PRAY files over TCP/IP.

It replaces the COB file format used in Creatures and Creatures 2.

The game engine is usually used to generate these files via CAOS, although seperate tools are available to generate them (the official PRAYBuilder tool and my own Zeus tool).

PRAY files have many different file extensions, eg .agent for agents, .family/.creature/.creatures for creatures, .blueprint for blueprints and .warp for files sent over the "warp" in Docking Station.

The file format consists of the four-byte id which is "PRAY" in ASCII, followed by a set of blocks. Blocks are comprised of a Block Header followed by Block Data (the format of which is specific to a certain type of block).

The Block Header is made up of:

If a program doesn't understand (ie can't handle) a certain type of block, it should just skip it (using the length provided in the block header) and continue.

There are two main types of block: a "standard" PRAY block and a "raw" PRAY block. They have lots of different four-byte block ids, depending on exactly what information is contained inside them.

Some common block ids (in ASCII) which use the "standard" PRAY block format are: AGNT, AUTH, EGGS, EXPC. Another useful block id is FILE, which is a "raw" PRAY block allowing you to embed whole files inside a PRAY file, where the block name is the filename, and the block data is the actual data inside the file.

The "standard" PRAY block consists of a number of pairs of "value names" and actual values (which can be integers or strings), and has a format as follows:

  • an "unsigned int" (4-byte) containing the number of integer values in this block.
  • the integer values, each one consisting of a CString followed by an "unsigned int" with the actual value.
  • an "unsigned int" (4-byte) containing the number of string values in this block.
  • the string values, each one consisting of a CString followed by another CString with the actual value.

(A CString is an "unsigned int" (4-byte) with the length of the string, followed by the string itself (non-null-terminated))


The information in this node was reverse-engineered by me a few weeks before the release of Creatures 3 and, while not guaranteed to be correct, has stood the test of time.

Pray (?), n. & v.

See Pry.

[Obs.]

Spenser.

 

© Webster 1913.


Pray (?), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Prayed (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Praying.] [OE. preien, OF. preier, F. prier, L. precari, fr. prex, precis, a prayer, a request; akin to Skr. prach to ask, AS. frignan, frinan, fricgan, G. fragen, Goth. fra�xa1;hnan. Cf. Deprecate, Imprecate, Precarious.]

To make request with earnestness or zeal, as for something desired; to make entreaty or supplication; to offer prayer to a deity or divine being as a religious act; specifically, to address the Supreme Being with adoration, confession, supplication, and thanksgiving.

And to his goddess pitously he preyde. Chaucer.

When thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. Matt. vi. 6.

I pray, ∨ (by ellipsis) Pray, I beg; I request; I entreat you; -- used in asking a question, making a request, introducing a petition, etc.; as, Pray, allow me to go.

I pray, sir. why am I beaten? Shak.

Syn. -- To entreat; supplicate; beg; implore; invoke; beseech; petition.

 

© Webster 1913.


Pray, v. t.

1.

To address earnest request to; to supplicate; to entreat; to implore; to beseech.

And as this earl was preyed, so did he. Chaucer.

We pray you . . . by ye reconciled to God. 2 Cor. v. 20.

2.

To ask earnestly for; to seek to obtain by supplication; to entreat for.

I know not how to pray your patience. Shak.

3.

To effect or accomplish by praying; as, to pray a soul out of purgatory.

Milman.

To pray in aid. Law (a) To call in as a helper one who has an interest in the cause. Bacon. (b) A phrase often used to signify claiming the benefit of an argument. See under Aid.

Mozley & W.

 

© Webster 1913.

Log in or register to write something here or to contact authors.