Enable and fix minibosses
This tutorial is for how to enable the actors BOSS2, BOSS3, and BOSS4 become their miniboss counterparts without any bugs so you can put them in user maps and\or CON hacks.
From now on I wil refer to them as follows:
- BOSS1 - Ep. 1 - Battlelord
- BOSS2 - Ep. 3 - Cycloid Emperor
- BOSS3 - Ep. 2 - Overlord (Yes, these two are mixed up. Do not try to switch them to what they should be.)
- BOSS4 - Ep. 4 - Alien Queen
The Battlelord is programmed sufficently enough to allow its placement in maps, and the official levels do contain some mini Battlelords. In order to successfully perform the actions described in this tutorial, you will need to understand that while the Overlord and Cycloid Emperor are already enabled and just require an easy bug fix or two, the Alien Queen will require some CON coding skill for reasons described below.
When I say "Change it to this:", I want you to copy the text below it in the box and overwrite the text in the box above by pasting it when the old text is completely selected, but in your .CON files of course. There's not much point in changing the web page! ;-)
Also, when I say "Open <insert name of .CON file here>.", I want to open whatever .CON file the text in the box below is in. I am just stating the defaults.
Ready to begin?
1. Open USER.CON. Scroll down to here:
define BOSS1STRENGTH 4500 define BOSS1PALSTRENGTH 1000 define BOSS2STRENGTH 4500 define BOSS3STRENGTH 4500 define BOSS4STRENGTH 6000
Change it to this:
define BOSS1STRENGTH 4500 define BOSS1PALSTRENGTH 1000 define BOSS2STRENGTH 4500 define BOSS2PALSTRENGTH 1000 define BOSS3STRENGTH 4500 define BOSS3PALSTRENGTH 1000 define BOSS4STRENGTH 6000 define BOSS4PALSTRENGTH 1333
Note that the strengths do not have to be what is described here. All that matters is that these eight defines exist.
2. Search for "state boss2code" in GAME.CON. Scroll down to this:
ifai 0
{
ifspritepal 0
ai AIBOSS2RUNENEMY
else
{
strength 1
sound BOS2_ATTACK ai AIBOSS2SHOOTENEMY
}
}
Change it to this:
ifai 0
{
ifspritepal 0
ai AIBOSS2RUNENEMY
else
{
clipdist 8 // This is here so that the RPGs fired from the bosses do not explode in their faces.
strength BOSS2PALSTRENGTH // This is the main bug fix. If you do not change this, the mini-bosses will only have 1 health.
sound BOS2_ATTACK
ai AIBOSS2SHOOTENEMY
}
}
3. Search for "state boss3code" in GAME.CON. Scroll down to this:
ifai 0
{
ifspritepal 0
ai AIBOSS3RUNENEMY
else
{
strength 1
ai AIBOSS3LOBENEMY
}
}
Change it to this:
ifai 0
{
ifspritepal 0
ai AIBOSS3RUNENEMY
else
{
clipdist 8 // This is here so that the RPGs fired from the bosses do not explode in their faces.
strength BOSS3PALSTRENGTH // This is the main bug fix. If you do not change this, the mini-bosses will only have 1 health.
sound BOS3_ATTACK1
ai AIBOSS3LOBENEMY
}
}
4. BOSS4 is a bit more complicated because there is no programming at all for it to be a miniboss.
4A. First, go to where it says:
action ABOSS4WALK 0 4 5 1 30 action ABOSS4DYING 40 9 1 1 20 action ABOSS4ABOUTTOSHOOT 20 1 5 1 40 action ABOSS4SHOOT 25 2 5 1 10 action ABOSS4LAYIT 50 3 5 1 120 action BOSS4FLINTCH 40 1 1 1 1 action ABOSS4DEAD 49 move BOSS4WALKVELS 128 move BOSS4STOPPED ai AIBOSS4LAYEGGS ABOSS4WALK BOSS4WALKVELS randomangle geth ai AIBOSS4SHOOT ABOSS4ABOUTTOSHOOT BOSS4STOPPED faceplayer ai AIBOSS4DYING ABOSS4DYING BOSS4STOPPED faceplayer
Change it to this:
action ABOSS4WALK 0 4 5 1 30
action ABOSS4DYING 40 9 1 1 20
action ABOSS4ABOUTTOSHOOT 20 1 5 1 40
action ABOSS4SHOOT 25 2 5 1 10
action ABOSS4LAYIT 50 3 5 1 120
action BOSS4FLINTCH 40 1 1 1 1
action ABOSS4DEAD 49
action ABOSS4FROZEN 0 1 5
move BOSS4WALKVELS 128
move BOSS4STOPPED
move PALBOSS4SHRUNKRUNVELS 72
ai AIBOSS4LAYEGGS ABOSS4WALK BOSS4WALKVELS randomangle geth
ai AIBOSS4SHOOT ABOSS4ABOUTTOSHOOT BOSS4STOPPED faceplayer
ai AIBOSS4DYING ABOSS4DYING BOSS4STOPPED faceplayer
ai AIBOSS4PALSHRINK ABOSS4WALK PALBOSS4SHRUNKRUNVELS furthestdir
ai AIBOSS4SEEKENEMY ABOSS4WALK PALBOSS4SHRUNKRUNVELS seekplayer
state boss4palshrunkstate
ifcount SHRUNKDONECOUNT { cstat 257 ai AIBOSS4SEEKENEMY }
else ifcount SHRUNKCOUNT { sizeto 40 40 }
else { state genericshrunkcode }
ends
Note that "state boss4palshrunkstate" is supposed to be there. You should put it there because that is a very convenient space for it.
4B. Next, go to this:
state checkboss4hitstate
ifrnd 2
spawn BLOODPOOL
ifdead
{
globalsound DUKE_TALKTOBOSSFALL
addkills 1
ai AIBOSS4DYING
sound BOS4_DYING
sound BOSS4_DEADSPEECH
}
else
{
soundonce BOS4_PAIN
debris SCRAP1 1
guts JIBS6 1
ifaction ABOSS4LAYIT
break
ifrnd 16
{
action BOSS4FLINTCH
move 0
}
}
ends
Change it to this:
state checkboss4hitstate
ifrnd 2
spawn BLOODPOOL
ifdead
{
ifspritepal 0 nullop else
ifwasweapon FREEZEBLAST
{
sound SOMETHINGFROZE
spritepal 1
move 0
action ABOSS4FROZEN
strength 0
break
}
globalsound DUKE_TALKTOBOSSFALL
addkills 1
ai AIBOSS4DYING
sound BOS4_DYING
sound BOSS4_DEADSPEECH
}
else
{
soundonce BOS4_PAIN
debris SCRAP1 1
guts JIBS6 1
ifaction ABOSS4LAYIT
break
ifrnd 16
{
action BOSS4FLINTCH
move 0
}
ifspritepal 0 nullop else
ifwasweapon SHRINKSPARK
{
sound ACTOR_SHRINKING
ai AIBOSS4PALSHRINK
cstat 0
break
}
}
ends
4C. After that, go to:
state boss4code
ifai 0
ai AIBOSS4LAYEGGS
else
ifaction BOSS4FLINTCH
{
ifactioncount 3
ai AIBOSS4LAYEGGS
}
else
ifai AIBOSS4LAYEGGS
state boss4layeggs
else
ifai AIBOSS4SHOOT
state boss4shootstate
ifai AIBOSS4DYING
state boss4dyingstate
else
{
ifhitweapon
state checkboss4hitstate
else
ifp palive
ifpdistl 1280
{
addphealth -1000
palfrom 63 63
}
}
ends
Change it to this:
state boss4code
ifaction ABOSS4FROZEN
{
ifcount THAWTIME
{
ai AIBOSS4SHOOT
getlastpal
}
else
ifcount FROZENDRIPTIME
{
ifactioncount 26
{
spawn WATERDRIP
resetactioncount
}
}
ifhitweapon
{
ifwasweapon FREEZEBLAST
{
strength 0
break
}
addkills 1
lotsofglass 30
sound GLASS_BREAKING
ifrnd 84 spawn BLOODPOOL
killit
}
ifp pfacing
ifpdistl FROZENQUICKKICKDIST
pkick
break
}
ifai 0
{
ifspritepal 0
ai AIBOSS4LAYEGGS
else
{
strength BOSS4PALSTRENGTH
ai AIBOSS4LAYEGGS
}
}
else
ifaction BOSS4FLINTCH
{
ifactioncount 3
ai AIBOSS4LAYEGGS
}
else
ifai AIBOSS4LAYEGGS
state boss4layeggs
else
ifai AIBOSS4SHOOT
state boss4shootstate
else
ifai AIBOSS4PALSHRINK
state boss4palshrunkstate
ifai AIBOSS4DYING
state boss4dyingstate
else
{
ifhitweapon
state checkboss4hitstate
else
ifp palive
ifspritepal 0
ifpdistl 1280
{
addphealth -1000
sound SQUISHED
palfrom 64 64
break
}
}
ends
After that, you should be all set! :-)
To insert a miniboss in a user map, create the boss sprite you want, and then give it a palette of something other than 0. I recommend pal 3 or pal 26+ because pal 21 makes some minor changes to the first three boss' sprites, while the Alien Queen looks red with pal 21. In the end, all that matters is that the spritepal is not 0. ;-)