SPAWN 2 by Charles Lawrence e-mail address: chanzg@sonic.net You may use these files to run Duke Nukem 3D but if you use them or any of the ideas in them in your own work please give me credit in a byline that is included with the finished product. To use these CON files first make backup copies and/or change the names of the original GAME.CON, USER.CON, and DEFS.CON files in the Duke Nukem 3D game directory. Then copy the "Spawn" CON files into that directory. If you have the "Duke does D.C." addon from Wizard Works I've included the USER.CON file for that too. "Duke does D.C." uses the same GAME.CON and DEFS.CON from the Spawn series, only the USER.CON is different. Just copy it into the Duke Nukem 3D directory after you activate the "Duke does D.C." add-on. Happy blasting! These CON files are for Duke Nukem 3D Atomic Edition SECTION 1 INTRODUCTION SECTION 2 DISCRIPTIONS OF THE ENHANCEMENTS SECTION 1 INTRODUCTION Welcome to version 2 of the Spawn CON files. I have added new effects and cleaned up a few minor bugs (oops!) since the original Spawn files were released. Many of the effects from the first set of Spawn CON files remain about the same with some improvements and corrections applied. Other effects have been changed to a greater extent. Like wise, parts of this text file remain relatively unchanged from the previous version, but there are other parts that are new or contain significant changes. I recommend a 133 Mhz Pentium or faster to play these files. I tested them on a friend's 50 MHz 486 and got a frame rate of only 5 fps at a resolution of 320 x 200. Another friend had a 100 Mhz 586 ( not Intel ) that delivered 11 fps at a resolution of 320 x 200. My venerable 133 Mhz Pentium with a Matrox Millenium video card ( 4MB of WRAM ) consistently delivered frame rates of around 30 fps at a resolution of 640 x 480 and often pushed well over 30 fps. I now have a Pentium 233MHz with an AGP Voodoo Banshee video card. This system is capable of consistently delivering frame rates of around 40 fps at a resolution of 600 x 800. I would appreciate comments and suggestions. Please alert me if you find any bugs. My e-mail address is chanzg@sonic.net Thanks to 3DRealms for this great game and thanks to Matt Tagliaferri and Sybex Publications for producing "The Duke Nukem 3d Level Design Handbook" where I learned the basics for hacking the CON file code. It became my most trusted reference. SECTION 2 DISCRIPTIONS OF THE ENHANCEMENTS General Changes More explosions and fires. Smaller enemies are thrown backwards when killed ( like the Shotgun in DOOM and DOOM2 does to the imps ). More guts blood and gore, but not rediculous or excessive. Some enemies have multi-color guts. The enemies move faster and are more aggressive. Enemy weapons fire faster and many are deadlier. Some of the sound effects have been changed, but the changes use sound effects indigenous to Duke Nukem 3D, not add ons. Enemies open doors faster and some are more apt to jump or fly through windows and other openings in pursuit of DUKE. When a BOSSPAL or a COMMANDER dies they may drop ROCKETS, DEVASTATORAMMO, a DEVASTATOR, or an RPG. Conservation of Power ups You must hit the space bar to pick up several of the power ups ( jetpacks, boots, armor, scuba tanks, portable first aid, atomic health etc. ). This prevents the waste of a large amount of a power up's potential benefit when you are only slightly depleated in it's resource. This does not apply to weapons, ammunition, steroids, holoduke, keys, and other less frequently encountered items. These are still picked up when DUKE runs over them. The +30 and +10 health packs can be picked up just by running DUKE over them provided DUKE's health has been drained by an amount greater than or equal to the value of the health pack. Otherwise they can be picked up by hitting the space bar provided DUKE's health is less than 100 %. Power ups and other items can be destroyed Most of the items that DUKE picks up can now be destroyed by weapons. Watch out where you blindly hurl those rockets and bombs! Atomic Health and keys are not effected by weapons. Making dead bodies interactive Dead bodies can be made solid to weapons fire. Just walk up close to a dead body and hit the space bar. This will change the character status ( cstat ) making it "solid" to weapons fire. You can now freeze, shoot, kick, etc. the dead bodies. When a dead body is hit it's cstat reverts back to "not solid" ( except when kicked or hit by the FREEZER ) so if you wish to make it solid to weapons fire again you must walk up close to the dead body and hit the space bar again. Why would you even want to do this you might ask. Well, its a great way to finish off an enemy who might be pretending to be dead ( aka the LIZTROOP in the original CON files; more on this next ), and it's also the first step toward invoking the "Spawn" effect using dead corpses. For fun try shooting a "solid" dead body with the EXPANDER, but stand back! Solid dead bodies can also be moved around by kicking them. If you walk up close to a dead body and hold the space bar down, then shoot or kick the corpse while continuing to hold the space bar down, the corpse will go sliding away from DUKE like a shuffle board puck. As soon as you let up on the space bar the hurtling corpse will detonate damaging anything close by. I call this effect "DABOMB". This works with dead DUKEs as well. Actors pretending to be dead All of the major actors with the exception of the end of episode bosses now occasionally go into PLAYDEAD mode when killed ( they pretend to be dead ), so watch your back. If you aren't hard pressed by other enemies you can change the cstat of a dead enemy as described in the previous paragraph and then kick or shoot him. If the enemy was pretending to be dead he will sound his death scream and die. The FREEZER will freeze a pretender, but not kill it. The SHRINKER will incinerate the pretending fiend who will scream as he burns up. The "Spawn" effect If you freeze an enemy, dead or alive, and then shoot the frozen body with the SHRINKER you will spawn one of the four BOSSPALS ( weaker versions of the end of episode bosses, but just as deadly in the fire power department ) on the spot. This is a fun thing to do if you're in a co-op game, death match with monsters game, or just plain hacking around in one of your favorite MAPs. If you shoot a frozen dead BOSS sometimes there is no effect and other times a full strength end of episode BOSS is spawned. There is one strange bug in this last case that I couldn't fix: If a Cycloid Emperor ( BOSS2 ) is spawned from a frozen BOSS he runs in place, not moving from the spot where he was spawned. If you hold the space bar down and shoot a non-frozen dead enemy with the SHRINKER it will have the same effect as in the above paragraph; a BOSS will be spawned. Creating a mini BOSS or a mini enemy 1) Shrink an enemy or a BOSSPAL (This won't work on the end of episode BOSSes). To shrink a BOSSPAL shoot the SHRINKER low near the feet and a little off to one side. 2) Wait for him to start growing up again. When he gets to be about two thirds of DUKE's size shoot him with the FREEZER ( make sure DUKE isn't close enough to KICK the frozen midget ). The BOSS ( or other enemy ) will freeze and stop growing. 3) Walk up close to the frozen mini BOSS ( but not too close or DUKE will KICK it ) and hit the space bar. The ice covering will shatter and the fiend will crumple and die, going into PLAYDEAD mode in the process. In about eight to ten seconds a pint sized BOSS with one sixth the hit points of an end of episode BOSS will get up and start chasing DUKE. If an enemy corpse is frozen with the FREEZER ( see the "Making dead bodies Interactive" paragraph above ) and you walk Duke up close to the frozen body ( not too close or DUKE will KICK it ) and then hit the space bar, the ice will shatter and the corpse will go into PLAYDEAD mode. Flight Algorithm The flight mode has been changed. With the original flight algorithm a LIZTROOP in jetpack mode would slowly spiral upward until he reached the ceiling of the sector ( check this out in the first two levels of the LA episode ) where he would remain until you shot him down. I have changed the flight algorithm to make it more interactive. With this new algorithm the enemy will fly up or down following DUKE when DUKE is flying in jetpack mode. If DUKE is not flying and DUKE is higher up than the enemy and the enemy can see DUKE, the enemy will fly up to get DUKE. If DUKE is on the ground and the enemy is higher than DUKE and the enemy is in flight mode, the enemy will fly around for awhile taking potshots at DUKE, but eventually he will descend, land, and re-enter the ground war. ACTOR ENHANCEMENTS The "Invisible" DUKE If the space bar is held down when DUKE is hit with the shrinker, DUKE will sound one of his death sounds and he will seem to incinerate just like the enemies do. In actuality DUKE's cstat changes to invisible. He can be changed back to visible by holding down the space bar and being hit with the FREEZER at the same time, or by being shrunk, frozen, or killed. The Fire enhancement When a fire is spawned it will last longer than before and have more states of decay. The burning sound that accompanies the fire now lasts until the fire is small instead of just 3 seconds. Freezing a Water fountain Water fountains can be frozen ( they're hard to hit though ). Bust a toilet, fire hydrant, drinking fountain etc. and shoot the water fountain that erupts from the broken item with the FREEZER. You may have to try shooting it from different angles or target different parts of the water column to get it to work. Turning a Water Fountain into a Steam Jet Did this for fun. Shoot a Water Fountain with the SHRINKER. CLOCK hit with a weapon The often present wall clock in some levels will frequently fall off the wall when hit with a PISTOL or CHAINGUN bullet now ( The SHOTGUN blows it to hell ). If it falls far enough it will shatter on impact. Frozen States There are more frozen states for DUKE and the Enemies. They can now be frozen while crouching, shooting, etc. Shrunken enemies can now be frozen ( though they're very hard to hit when they're at their smallest size ). Shrunken women can also be frozen. Pistol shooting LIZTROOP The LIZTROOP now shoots a pistol instead of those little round laser pellets. I felt that this is a little more realistic since he occasionally drops a clip of pistol ammunition ( and sometimes a pistol now ). He also shoots faster and more often. This enemy is no longer a doorstop waiting for a place to fall. LIZTROOP on toilet If you shoot a LIZTROOP while it is sitting on the toilet there is no longer a half second or so delay accompanied by the toilet flushing sound before the fiend reacts to being shot. His reaction is immediate. Deadlier DRONE The SENTRY DRONE now locks onto DUKE and will pursue him until he is out of range, out of sight, or hit. If DUKE is hiding close by they will seek him. The DRONE is faster, packs a meaner punch than before, and it has a larger blast radius. Deadlier LASER TURRET The LASER TURRET fires faster and more frequently now. Watch your back! Actors who can fly The ENFORCER ( chaingun lizard ) and the BOSS2PAL ( Cycloid Emperor clone produced by the spawn effect ) now have the ability to fly like the LIZTROOP. They use the same flight algorithm described in the Flight Algorithm paragraph. When a LIZTROOP or an ENFORCER dies there is a chance that they may drop an undamaged JETPACK. Exploding Actors The LIZTROOP and the ENFORCER may explode when hit with some weapons ( due to that volitile jetpack fuel ), but this doesn't happen too often. The LIZTROOP, ENFORCER, COMMANDER, BOSS2PAL and DUKE may explode on impact if they were airborne when killed. DUKE must be dead or killed by the fall for this to happen. Crash and burn. I love it. Often, when a COMMANDER or any of the BOSSPALS ( with the exception of the alien QUEEN ) die they will begin to burn. Sometimes they just burnout and leave a hulking corpse behind, but other times the corpse detonates ( must be all that ordinance they're carrying ). Don't stay too close to a burning ( or even a burned out ) BOSSPAL for long because the explosion does a lot of damage and the blast radius is large. The time delay is variable; anywhere from a second or two to over a minute. It is unpredictable. If you don't want the corpse to explode, and DUKE is feeling brave, walk up close to the corpse ( almost inside it ), hit the space bar ( making it solid to weapons ), then kick the corpse. This will change it's status so that it won't explode. Actors who can turn invisible The ENFORCER and the BOSS2PAL ( the Cycloid Emperor clone ) can both become invisible like the red vested LIZTROOP Captain does, but with some interesting changes. These two can be shot while they are invisible ( spray the area with the chaingun, you'll find them ). The BOSS2PAL can shoot at DUKE while in this state. These two enemies move much more quickly in this mode than the LIZTROOP does. The ENFORCER moves four times as fast when invisible. In this mode the ENFORCER is the only enemy that DUKE can't out run. WEAPON ENHANCEMENTS The SHRINKER has two modes of operation now. If the space bar is held down when the SHRINKSPARK hits an enemy the SHRINKER acts like an incinerator. Enemies will scream their death scream and burn up. If the space bar is not held down the SHRINKER functions like it normally does. The SHRINKER incinerates dead bodies ( as long as they're not frozen ) and some of the other objects that may be encountered. Some objects ( hardware things ) will normally be incinerated by the SHRINKER, but if the space bar is held down they will exhibit the "Nova" effect; that is they will shrink then explode ( power ups, trash cans, etc. ). Shrunken enemies can now be killed with weapons ( ie explosions and guns ) in addition to stepping on them. To shrink a BOSSPAL I have found that you have to shoot the ground by his feet slightly off to one side. THE SHRINKER is ineffective against the end of episode BOSSes and it will not incinerate the BOSSPALs. The FREEZER can now freeze objects and actors that are not enemies. Most of the weapons ( both DUKE's and the enemies' ) have increased in strength, but not rediculously so. The PISTOL got the biggest boost proportionally; it now takes three shots or so to kill a LIZTROOP instead of five. Both the SENTRY DRONE and the LASER TURRET can be destroyed by the SHRINKER and frozen by the FREEZER. The TANK can be shrunk by the SHRINKER, frozen by the FREEZER, and destroyed by the EXPANDER ( the alternate identity of the SHRINKER in the Atomic Edition of Duke Nukem 3D ). The TANK now has twice the hit point value but the RPG has been given an advantage to help defeat it. The NUKE BARREL and other objects in the Duke Nukem 3D environment react a little differently to weapons now. Go to Episode 4 ( The Birth ), Level 7 ( XXX Stacy ). Type "dnscotty407" while in the game and you will be transported to the XXX Stacy level. There are a bunch of NUKE BARRELs at the beginning. Try kicking them ( there are three states of demise ). Then shoot some with the SHRINKER and the EXPANDER. Try the other weapons too. Check out the behavior of some of the other non-enemy objects when they are shot with the FREEZER, SHRINKER, or EXPANDER.