Nightmare with No Respawning Monsters

[Mr. Tee]

That really says it all, I think. Nightmare was a gimmick mode, a cheap way to be harder just for the sake of being harder.

It was apparently added as a joke. Naturally, it's still relatively easy to certain (insane) players.

... If by insane, you mean mostly lying, then I agree

Just to quote myself from a few years ago on this subject:

I'm so good that sometimes DOOM won't even start on my computer because it is afraid of my goodness.

[/sarcasm]

Ultra +Fast is definitely just like Nightmare without the respawning, and is loads more fun than Nightmare.

[shoober]

One difference between -fast and Nightmare is that the monsters will take a very quick step before attacking on -fast, but in Nightmare they will attack immediately. But the difference is tiny.

Would it be possible to play under nightmare mode without respawning? I tried sv_monsterrespawn "false" and sv_norespawn "true", but it still was spawning monsters. Is there any way possible?

[TimeOfDeath]

There's probably a better way for zdoom, but you could use this bex file to play on nightmare without respawning (except none of the monsters count towards kill%).

[shoober]

How do I install that bex file? Do I just put it in the ZDoom directory with the EXE?

[ChronoSeth]

Run it the same way you would run a WAD or PK3, if I remember rightly.

[Project Shadowcat]

How often do stock Doom maps go over the 128 visplanes limit?

Never.

Also, it is probably better to just turn on Fast Monsters (game options) when starting in Ultra-Violence.

[shoober]

There's probably a better way for zdoom, but you could use this bex file to play on nightmare without respawning (except none of the monsters count towards kill%).

Wow! Thanks for this bex file. To launch it, I simply just drag it onto the ZDoom.exe and it works. No respawning monsters in Nightmare mode. w00t!

Also, it is probably better to just turn on Fast Monsters (game options) when starting in Ultra-Violence.

I have an autoexec with various commands in it. One of the commands is sv_fastmonsters "true". So I have fast monsters enabled all the time.

[The Ultimate DooMer]

There's probably a better way for zdoom

A decorate lump that applies the +NEVERRESPAWN flag to a copy of every monster that replaces the originals would do the trick. (and would be fully accurate as you'd be able to run it in Nightmare as well)

[SFJake]

A redefinition of the difficulty levels would just be a lot cleaner...

[shoober]

I was looking at all the bits list settings for the monsters and noticed that "SOLID" and "SHOOTABLE" are not the only flags used for monsters. There's all of these as well. I was thinking of just editing the bex file TimeOfDeath wrote, but I also started to think that there must be a better way to do this. Could someone show me how to do the decorate lump with the +NEVERRESPAWN flag so I won't have to add all those flags for ever monster? Or could someone at ZDoom just add that special difficility level and make it like skill "5" to enable it or something like that?

[Gez]

[wiki]Skill definition[/wiki] -- have fun.

Not only can you make ultra-violence + fast, or nightmare without respawning, but you can do a lot of other silly things. Want to have monsters respawn only once, twice, thrice, or twenty-seven times? You can. Want to make "I'm too young to die" with fast, respawning monsters? You can. Want to have ammo drops contain as much as the normal things? You can. And so on.

[shoober]

How would I go about writing this? This would be my first ever thing I wrote for Doom. Would I simply make a .txt file, follow the directions on the skill definition wiki page, then rename the .txt to have a bex extension? Then just simply drag and drop it into the ZDoom.exe?

[Project Shadowcat]

Actually, I think having the file named MAPINFO.TXT is plenty good enough to drop it onto the EXE.

[shoober]

Okay cool, I'll give it a try. If I get it to work, I will post the file so anyone can try it out. Thanks a whole bunch guys, this is my dream come true lol.

This will be alot of fun to type up with my new Steelseries 6Gv2 keyboard I just got that has Cherry MX Red mechanical switches.

[shoober]

Okay, here it is! Nightmare with no monster respawning. I was thinking of a name to call this difficulty, and the only thing that could come to mind was "Bad Dream". I think it suits the difficulty mode quite nicely. I just played threw the first three levels of Knee Deep in the Dead, and it was really fun. I highly recommend you guys give it a try.

If you're like me, I personally like to gun down all the monsters I come across. A lot of the Nightmare playthroughs I have watched, are simply people just running threw the map, trying to get to the exit of the level ASAP, ignoring as many monsters as they can (which must be necessary to even beat the levels on Nightmare). I personally do not like to ignore the monsters and run past them. THEY MUST DIE! So I hope you guys try it out. This will be my christmas present to give to you all. Enjoy, and Merry Christmas.

If there's a setting or flag I forgot to add, or a value is incorrect, please let me know and I will update it. To play, simply drag and drop the TXT file onto your ZDoom EXE, and choose "Bad Dream" under the difficulty menu (its the last one under Nightmare).

I want to give a special thanks to:

TimeOfDeath
Gez
Project Dark Fox

Also, thanks to anyone else who has helped me in this thread.

EDIT:

I have decided to change the method of achieving Nightmare with No Respawning, and simply edited the zdoom.pk3 and added "+NEVERRESPAWN" to all the monster txt files in the actors/doom folder using Slade. I think this is a more authentic way to truly have Nightmare mode with No Respawning. Thank you The Ultimate DooMer for the idea.