[hudfreegamer]

I'm new to Duke 3D modding.

How can I create a mod with edited stats for weapons and enemies?

I'd like to make MY weapons more powerful (or the enemies weaker) and I'd like the enemies to do far less damage to me. For example, I'd like the pig cops to die with one shot from a shotgun and 2-3 shots of a pistol.

In other words, I'd like to turn Duke 3D into a game that plays more like Doom but with the design of Duke 3D.

I don't want to change any of the weapon sprites.

However, I would also like to disable reloading so that it feels like one clip holds all the ammo for a gun. (Not to limit use of a gun to one small clip).

How do I get started with that? I just want to get it working as soon as possible on eduke32. I've read about con files, but also that con files apply more to old mods. So, I'm not sure where to go from here.

[Mark]

If the "user.con" file is laying around in your folder you need to load it into a text editor. About the first 200 lines contain the settings for enemy and weapon strengths and amounts. If that file is not present in your folder you will need to extract it from the duke3d.grp file. Someone else can explain how to do that.

[Darkus]

First, you need to extract the file USER.CON from DUKE3D.GRP (If you still possess the original CDs, it's already out, just check the ATOMINST directory). The problem is to find the tool that suits you.

There's a command line program named KEXTRACT.EXE that you can find there:
http://dukeworld.duk.../eduke32/tools/

If you're not used with command line programs, these ones comes with an interface (i've not tested them):
https://wiki.eduke32...i/Utilities#GUI

There may are other programs (some tools used by Doom community are also compatible with Build GRP), I personally use Dragon Unpacker, it's compatible with a lot of games.

Once you get USER.CON, just open it with a simple text editor, the rest should be self-explanatory.

[NightFright]

Be careful however, some settings can make the game pretty much unplayable. If you extend the blast radius of RPG rockets too much for example, it can be you get blasted into oblivion even if the rocket impact is located far away from you. But I guess you'll find that out by yourself in time.

[DNSKILL5]

It's not so much that CON files are just for old mods; it's more that a lot of the information regarding CON editing and CON files are old. With that being said, CON files are still supported by eduke32.

Spoiler

USER.CON can be opened with notepad. If you click "edit" and then in that toolbar select "find" you can type in the words below to take you to where you need to go to get the changes you want... (bold is what to search, "-" is explanation):

define MAXPISTOLAMMO 200 - defines how much ammo duke can have for the pistol in total (all the other weapons will be here too).
define PISTOLAMMOAMOUNT 12 - this is how many rounds the clip gives you

Modifying either of these for the pistol, or any gun, will allow you to change how much ammo Duke can carry for each weapon, as well as change how much ammo is given to Duke when he picks up the guns and the ammo items.

Next, look for:

define KNEE_WEAPON_STRENGTH 10 - The Mighty Boot's strength.

You will see the pistol is set to "6", try putting it at 75 and see if it gives the effect you want. 100 will make it as powerful as the RPG, and 200 blasts them about 10-20 feet away after being shot. You will want to test these and see what works best for you, but I think 75 would work.

For changing monster HP, just search for:

define TROOPERSTRENGTH 30 - Assault Trooper has 30 Hit Points

You can change the enemies HP to make them weaker by lowering the numbers. If you lower it too much, they will die in one hit always, so you will again want to play around with the numbers a bit to get a feel for what you think is the best variables. If you increase the current numbers, you will make the enemy stronger.

Also, if you want to edit Duke's health look for:

define MAXPLAYERHEALTH 100 - Duke's health

You can change this to give Duke more health when he starts the map. You can also change the health Duke can have with Healing Atoms.

For disabling reloads, I have never done it myself. I know it can be done using the "WEAPONx_CLIP 0" gamevar but I have no experience with that. I'm not sure if you just want to disable the reload for the pistol or if you want the shotgun to not be pumped either.

(I put the post as a spoiler because it is fairly long).

[hudfreegamer]

Once I figured out that I had to put the user.con file into it's own directory and run it as a mod with the launcher, I got it working.

I tripled the pistol strength, doubled the shotgun strength, increased the chaingun / machine gun strength, made the kick a lot stronger and reduced the health of the pig cop enough to be taken out with one shotgun blast.

Once I made those changes, the game played really well for me.

[necroslut]

Note that Duke and the enemies share many weapons, so that if you increase the player's damage, the enemies will deal increased damage too. I don't recall offhand which weapons are shared, but I think the pigcops and Duke both share the same shotgun damage, and Enforcers use the pistol damage.

[Danukem]

Battlelord also uses pistol damage and he does quite enough damage at default settings because he fires multiples. Then the fat commanders and bosses 2 and 3 use rockets, although I don't know if their damage is effected by the user.con setting.

[NightFright]

That's also what makes the game so hard. Doom for example had its own damage calculations for player and enemy weapons. While your own shotgun for example can take down a sergeant with one hit, a sergeant shotgun will do less damage to you. It can still be significant depending how close you are to the blast, but it's still weaker than your own weapon. Rockets from the Cyberdemon however are also quite unhealthy for you, just like your own.

[Danukem]

That doesn't make the game harder, it just means that you have to be careful if you are trying to change difficulty with a simple USER.CON edit. One easy solution in a few steps:

1) Make pigcops use the pistol shots. (Find where it says "shoot SHOTGUN" in GAME.CON and change it to "shoot SHOTSPARK1"). You can add an extra instance or two to make up for lost damage.

2) Change Duke's pistol so that it fires a chaingun round with the line "gamevar WEAPON1_SHOOTS CHAINGUN 1" which can be put in USER.CON. This has the side effect of making the pistol a better weapon, but no one should be bothered by that, it's not going to break the game.

3) Now you can increase chaingun/pistol and shotgun damage to whatever you want, and it won't change enemy damage.

[Player Lin]

 Trooper Dan, on 16 April 2020 - 12:58 PM, said:

1) Make pigcops use the pistol shots. (Find where it says "shoot SHOTGUN" in GAME.CON and change it to "shoot SHOTSPARK1"). You can add an extra instance or two to make up for lost damage.

Doesn't this made their attacks will be more accurate than original? As pistol shots still more accurate in longer distance, unless I misunderstand something.

Pigcops' attack only dangerous in close range because of shotgun, isn't it?

[Danukem]

 Player Lin, on 17 April 2020 - 12:50 AM, said:

Doesn't this made their attacks will be more accurate than original? As pistol shots still more accurate in longer distance, unless I misunderstand something.

Pistol autoaim is tied to the player's pistol weapon slot, not the SHOTSPARK1 bullet.

[Player Lin]

 Trooper Dan, on 17 April 2020 - 01:18 AM, said:

Pistol autoaim is tied to the player's pistol weapon slot, not the SHOTSPARK1 bullet.

Okay, understood, this make sense.