Described Difficulties [universal addon] (v3.1)

[Spaceman333]

DESCRIBED DIFFICULTIES
-Universal Addon-

Download:

DescribedDifficulties.pk3

ModDB mirror




Why:
As an analytical person, I feel annoyed when a game gives me a choice of difficulty options but doesn't fully explain them and their effects. This mod aims to correct that.




About:

• Featuring 8 difficulty options, each will provide a concise description of what it does.
• Each has a specific purpose, so its more about choosing what kind of playthrough you'll do next, rather than a ladder of increasing hardness.
• Everything has been balanced around Doom's three middle difficulties (HNTR, HMP, UV), while Nightmare and any respawning monsters have been completely removed.
• The Default difficulty level is titled "Hard" (same as Ultra Violence).
• The 3 difficulties after "Hard" are considered optional mutators/modifiers that add alternative ways the play the default "Hard" difficulty level.
• Accept in your mind that these alternative variants of "Hard" are not "better"; they're simply a flavor. If you beat the game on "Hard", then you can consider you have beaten it correctly and fully. Anything after that is just extra messing around.
• The first and last difficulty levels on the list are merely silly modes; one is for a relaxing walk where most thing can barely hurt you, while the other one is a ultra fast power fantasy where just want to burn on full adrenaline, feeling unstoppable against ruthless, yet brittle enemies.

Known Issues:

• While most gameplay mods will work fine - since they often just use Doom's original difficulty system as a base, which this mod is based on too - some more specialized gameplay mods and total conversions that may have special features or mechanics tied to custom difficulty levels can result in some of those features not working ingame. This happened to me with the total conversion Ratchet & Clank: Hot and Bothered. Most other mods I use, work excellent otherwise.
• Some gameplay mods that change the main menu may cause the difficulty options menu use the small font instead of the cooler big font. Just an aesthetic issue.
• Obviously, if a particular mod relies on different settings for default global enemy/ammo/damage scaling, this mod will overwrite all that. More often than not, this isn't an issue.

---

Code: Select all • Expand view

clearskills

skill goofytank
{
   AmmoFactor = 2.0
   DamageFactor = 0.1
   FriendlyHealth = 10.0
   HealthFactor = 2.0
   EasyBossBrain
   EasyKey
   TotalInfighting
   SlowMonsters
   textcolor = cyan
   SpawnFilter = hard
   name = "\cv Goofy Tank"
   mustconfirm = "Silly Mode: Player takes only 0.1x damage. Healing is doubled. Monsters are slow and also fight each other - even same species. Hard enemy spawns. Double ammo from pickups. Keys are visible on map. Just for fun. Very easy. Press Y or N"
}

skill easy
{
   AmmoFactor = 1
   DamageFactor = 1.0
   SpawnFilter = easy
   textcolor = green
   name = "\cd 1. Easy Spawns (HNTR)"
   mustconfirm = "Regular game: Easy enemy spawns. Same as: Hey, Not Too Rough! Press Y or N"
   Key = "1"
}

skill medium
{
   AmmoFactor = 1
   DamageFactor = 1.0
   SpawnFilter = normal
   textcolor = yellow
   name = "\ck 2. Medium Spawns (HMP)"
   mustconfirm = "Regular game: Medium enemy spawns. Same as: Hurt Me Plenty! Press Y or N"
   Key = "2"
}


skill hard
{
   AmmoFactor = 1
   DamageFactor = 1.0
   SpawnFilter = hard
   textcolor = orange
   name = "\ci 3. Hard Spawns (UV)"
   defaultskill
   mustconfirm = "Regular game: Hard enemy spawns. Same as: Ultra-Violence! Press Y or N"
   Key = "3"
}

skill hardfast
{
   AmmoFactor = 1
   DamageFactor = 1.0
   SpawnFilter = hard
   textcolor = purple
   name = "\ct Hard Fast"
   FastMonsters
   mustconfirm = "Optional game: Hard enemy spawns. Monsters are twice as fast. Press Y or N"
}

skill hardtough
{
   MonsterHealth = 2.0
   AmmoFactor = 1
   DamageFactor = 1.0
   SpawnFilter = hard
   textcolor = purple
   name = "\ct Hard Tough"
   mustconfirm = "Optional game: Hard enemy spawns. Monsters have double health. Press Y or N"
}


skill hardfasttough
{
   MonsterHealth = 2.0
   AmmoFactor = 1
   DamageFactor = 1.0
   SpawnFilter = hard
   textcolor = purple
   name = "\ct Hard Fast Tough"
   FastMonsters
   mustconfirm = "Optional game: Hard enemy spawns. Monsters have double health and speed. Press Y or N"
}


skill overkill
{
   DamageFactor = 1.0
   AmmoFactor = 4   
   MonsterHealth = 0.5
   Aggressiveness = 1.0
   FriendlyHealth = 3.0
   HealthFactor = 2.0
   FastMonsters
   EasyKey
   TotalInfighting
   textcolor = black
   SpawnFilter = hard
   name = "\cm Overkill Mode"
   mustconfirm = "Power-Fantasy: Hard enemy spawns. Quad ammo from pickups and doubled healing. Monsters have half health, but 2x speed and very aggressive. Monsters will infight with anyone, including same species. Keys are visible on map. Just for fun. Fast-paced and chaotic but not necessarily harder. Press Y or N"
}

---

23.1.2021 - Version 3.1
- added forgotten TotalInfighting tag for Goofy Tank difficulty, its fixed now. Now monsters will properly fight each other regardless of species.

Enjoy!

[Dr_Cosmobyte]

So uh, what happens if my mod has only one difficulty level?

[openroadracer]

So uh, what happens if my mod has only one difficulty level?

From what the OP leads me to believe, this mod would override that difficulty setting with its own set.

I figure you're supposed to use this as a basis for your own difficulty settings in your own mods, as long as you credit its original creator.

[Spaceman333]

So uh, what happens if my mod has only one difficulty level?

It resets it, overwrites it and replaces with the 8 options this mod provides.

As long as your mod's difficulty level uses doom's native difficulty system and its values are set close to the default skill levels (Ultra Violence, Hurt Me Plenty, Hey Not Too Rough), then it'll work seamlessly. Issues only arise if you've set your mod to heavily rely its balance on values tied to difficulty levels, like DamageTaken, DamageGiven, AmmoPickupMultiplier, HealthPickupMultiplier... which isn't really good design practice, since balance should be done within the actual entities to achieve the experience you're trying to craft. Most mods thankfully do not do this.

[Spaceman333]

I figure you're supposed to use this as a basis for your own difficulty settings in your own mods, as long as you credit its original creator.

Nah, I just load it up along side any gameplay mod I want. I've used this with atleast these mods:
-Brutal doom
-Led's Generic Weapons
-Weapons of Saturn
-Project Apollyon
-Combined Arms
-Mechatron
-Lt. Typhon
-Thy blood consumed
-Guncaster
-Russian overkill (this one is sort of an exception, since it features options that go upto 10x health for enemies, but if I don't care for that and just want to powertrip on vanilla's Ultra Violence level of balance, then its cool.)
-Complex Doom
-Scalliano's Super Shuffle
-Johnny Doom

It works universally with anything as long as the mod doesn't tied actual scripting to the difficulty levels, which thankfully is very rare and only seen on total conversions that aren't meant to be played with addons anyway.

That said, this mod is CC0 / Public Domain / WTF public licence, so if you want to use it as a base for your mods, then do so freely, no permission or asking or even credit required. I just made this mod since I needed it myself and released it if anyone else was longing for something like this.

[openroadracer]

That said, this mod is CC0 / Public Domain / WTF public licence, so if you want to use it as a base for your mods, then do so freely, no permission or asking or even credit required. I just made this mod since I needed it myself and released it if anyone else was longing for something like this.

Well, thanks for the correction; but if I had the skills needed to make a mod off of this, I'd still credit you just to be polite.

[nes bros]

even if you don't need to credit, morals say you should if you can, just to be polite and not take credit for something you didn't make.

[JohnnyTheWolf]

You, Spaceman333, are my hero!

For so long, I have been looking for a mod that addresses Doom and Heretic's generally low difficulty and overabundance of supplies. Playing on Hard Tough has proven to be just what I needed!

Thank you so much!

[Spaceman333]

Tiny update: (v3.1)

- added TotalInfighting tag to Goofy Tank difficulty. Somehow I forgot to put it in previously. Its fixed now and monsters should friendly-fire even same species.

You, Spaceman333, are my hero!

For so long, I have been looking for a mod that addresses Doom and Heretic's generally low difficulty and overabundance of supplies. Playing on Hard Tough has proven to be just what I needed!

Thank you so much!

I'm very happy to hear that, thank you!

[Doctrine Gamer]

I’ve been following Spaceman’s mods for a few years and most of them I think are essential.

Now I can venture into Plutonia in Goofy Tank without stressing me out so much.

Does it work with Heretic?

[JohnnyTheWolf]

I believe it does, yes!

Personally, I was not satisfied with Overkill mode, so I decided to edit MAPINFO with SLADE to replace it with three new ones:

---

skill survival
{
DamageFactor = 1.0
ReplaceActor = "Medikit", "Stimpack"
ReplaceActor = "BlueArmor", "GreenArmor"
replaceactor = "ShellBox", "Shell"
replaceactor = "ClipBox", "Clip"
replaceactor = "RocketBox", "RocketAmmo"
replaceactor = "CellPack", "Cell"
textcolor = black
SpawnFilter = nightmare
name = "\cm Survival Mode"
mustconfirm = "Experimental game: Hard enemy spawns. Normal monster health and speed, but less ammo and supplies. Press Y or N"
}


skill hell
{
DamageFactor = 1.0
NoInfighting
ReplaceActor = "ZombieMan", "DoomImp"
ReplaceActor = "ShotgunGuy", "DoomImp"
ReplaceActor = "ChaingunGuy", "DoomImp"
ReplaceActor = "WolfensteinSS", "DoomImp"
textcolor = red
SpawnFilter = nightmare
name = "\cg Hell Mode"
mustconfirm = "Experimental game: Hard enemy spawns. No human enemies and no monster infight. Press Y or N"
}

skill hellsurvival
{
DamageFactor = 1.0
NoInfighting
ReplaceActor = "ZombieMan", "DoomImp"
ReplaceActor = "ShotgunGuy", "DoomImp"
ReplaceActor = "ChaingunGuy", "DoomImp"
ReplaceActor = "WolfensteinSS", "DoomImp"
ReplaceActor = "Medikit", "Stimpack"
ReplaceActor = "BlueArmor", "GreenArmor"
replaceactor = "ShellBox", "Shell"
replaceactor = "ClipBox", "Clip"
replaceactor = "RocketBox", "RocketAmmo"
replaceactor = "CellPack", "Cell"
textcolor = dark red
SpawnFilter = nightmare
name = "\cr 7. Hell Survival Mode"
mustconfirm = "Experimental game: Hard enemy spawns. No human enemies, no monster infighting, and less ammo and supplies. Press Y or N"
}

They work great with mapsets that give you too much ammo and mods that make you overpowered!