How do I change a monster's obituary?

If you want to replace an existing enemy like the Nazi, here's the way.

Using Slade, open your wad, then create a lump called DEHACKED.

Edit it like a text file. Add [STRINGS] at the top then change the definitions like so:

[STRINGS]
OB_ZOMBIE = %o was shot by a shades-wearing zombieman.
OB_SHOTGUY = %o was blasted by a red shotgunner.
OB_IMP = %o was cooked by a hula imp.
OB_IMPHIT = %o was scratched by a hula imp.
OB_DEMONHIT = %o was chewed on by a demon.
OB_SPECTREHIT = %o thought he saw a demon.
OB_CHAINGUY = %o was shredded by chaingunner.

Here's a full list of definable strings: https://zdoom.org/wiki/Strings

(if you already have a DEHACKED lump in the wad, just add this at the very bottom)

If you're making a new monster you'll do it in the DECORATE script. Here's an excerpt from the Arachnorb to show you:-

actor Aracnorb
{
  MONSTER
  +NOGRAVITY
  +FLOAT
  +FLOATBOB
  Health 170
  Radius 24
  Height 56
  Mass 400
  Speed 12
  PainChance 150
  SeeSound "aracnorb/sight"
  ActiveSound "baby/active"
  PainSound "baby/pain"
  DeathSound "aracnorb/death"
  MeleeSound "aracnorb/melee"
  MeleeDamage 6
  MissileHeight 36
  MissileType AracnorbBall
  Obituary "%o suffered psychic trauma from an aracnorb's brainwaves."
  HitObituary "%o had %p skull chewed by an aracnorb."
  Scale 0.85
  States
  {

 ~~snip~~

Basically Obituary & HitObituary, check the wiki's for more info :)

You need a program called Slade 3

You can get it here:- https://slade.mancubus.net/

Open your .wad with it and it lists all the files you can then edit etc...plenty of tuts about for it, or just ask here;)

2 hours ago, Gianluco said:

I already have SLADE, what should I do to make a DECORATE thing? Do I just make a new entry with that name?

Yep.

And then you edit it as text and type (or copy-paste) the code in it.

What version of ZDoom are you making your WAD for?

If the latest, you should use Decorate.

If you're making a WAD for a really old version or ZDaemon/Odamex, then you'd put a DeHackEd lump in your WAD and change the strings like Doomkid was telling you. Though I think WHackEd might let you do this too if you set the DeHackEd to be for ZDoom...

Give it an editor number. The simplest way, since you have DECORATE code, is just to put it after the name of the actor. E.g., instead of

actor Aracnorb

you have

actor Aracnorb 1337

and now you can use thing type 1337 to put your custom monster on the map.

18 minutes ago, NoOne said:

If you're making a new monster you'll do it in the DECORATE script. Here's an excerpt from the Arachnorb to show you:-

 

actor Aracnorb
{
  MONSTER
  +NOGRAVITY
  +FLOAT
  +FLOATBOB
  Health 170
  Radius 24
  Height 56
  Mass 400
  Speed 12
  PainChance 150
  SeeSound "aracnorb/sight"
  ActiveSound "baby/active"
  PainSound "baby/pain"
  DeathSound "aracnorb/death"
  MeleeSound "aracnorb/melee"
  MeleeDamage 6
  MissileHeight 36
  MissileType AracnorbBall
  Obituary "%o suffered psychic trauma from an aracnorb's brainwaves."
  HitObituary "%o had %p skull chewed by an aracnorb."
  Scale 0.85
  States
  {

 ~~snip~~

 

Basically Obituary & HitObituary, check the wiki's for more info :)

What's this DECORATE thing? I always find it mentioned in tutorials etc. but I still don't know what is it. Do you download it? Is it just a thing you put in a .TXT file?

7 minutes ago, NoOne said:

You need a program called Slade 3

 

You can get it here:- https://slade.mancubus.net/

 

Open your .wad with it and it lists all the files you can then edit etc...plenty of tuts about for it, or just ask here;)

I already have SLADE, what should I do to make a DECORATE thing? Do I just make a new entry with that name?

1 hour ago, Gianluco said:

What's this DECORATE thing? I always find it mentioned in tutorials etc. but I still don't know what is it. Do you download it? Is it just a thing you put in a .TXT file?

The DECORATE is an in-game file that gives all doom actors their properties, such as their health, speed, obituary, etc.

To change the values you can do two things: Copy and paste the DECORATE of the monster you want to modify and then put it in your WAD using Slade (you can get the DECORATE here: https://zdoom.org/wiki/Category:Doom_II_monster )

Or you can use DeHacked but to be honest I don't know how to do that lmao

Also, this is what a DECORATE script looks like in Slade:

9 hours ago, Gaargod said:

 

  Hide contents

7 hours ago, Gez said:

Yep.

 

And then you edit it as text and type (or copy-paste) the code in it.

Ok, I made the new enemy and I can Summon it just fine with commands, but how do I put it on a map with Ultimate Doom Builder?

4 hours ago, Gez said:

Give it an editor number. The simplest way, since you have DECORATE code, is just to put it after the name of the actor. E.g., instead of

actor Aracnorb

you have

actor Aracnorb 1337

and now you can use thing type 1337 to put your custom monster on the map.

Thanks

On 2/1/2022 at 10:39 AM, Doomkid said:

If you want to replace an existing enemy like the Nazi, here's the way.

 

Using Slade, open your wad, then create a lump called DEHACKED.

 

Edit it like a text file. Add [STRINGS] at the top then change the definitions like so:

 

[STRINGS]
OB_ZOMBIE = %o was shot by a shades-wearing zombieman.
OB_SHOTGUY = %o was blasted by a red shotgunner.
OB_IMP = %o was cooked by a hula imp.
OB_IMPHIT = %o was scratched by a hula imp.
OB_DEMONHIT = %o was chewed on by a demon.
OB_SPECTREHIT = %o thought he saw a demon.
OB_CHAINGUY = %o was shredded by chaingunner.

 

 

Here's a full list of definable strings: https://zdoom.org/wiki/Strings

 

(if you already have a DEHACKED lump in the wad, just add this at the very bottom)

This is extremely helpful, thanks! Going to use this for all those wads out there with a custom monster replacing the SS (Cleimos 2, Herian etc) and stuff like 32 Hours in Pain where you play a specific named character (Thanks to Pyroscourge for the hint there!)

You can also define obituaries for actors that don't have one by default (useful for when, say, a candelabra or something is turned into a monster with DEHACKED) with this syntax in LANGUAGE:

Obituary_ClassName = "%o was killed by a ClassName";
Obituary_ClassName_DamageType = "%o received a lethal dose of DamageType from ClassName";

For example, if your mod transformed the Pile of Skulls (thing 122/123) into a monster named the Murderizer, that could look like this:

Obituary_HeadCandle = "%o was murderized by the murderizer";

This can also be used to override existing obits.

6 hours ago, Gez said:

You can also define obituaries for actors that don't have one by default (useful for when, say, a candelabra or something is turned into a monster with DEHACKED) with this syntax in LANGUAGE:

Obituary_ClassName = "%o was killed by a ClassName";
Obituary_ClassName_DamageType = "%o received a lethal dose of DamageType from ClassName";

For example, if your mod transformed the Pile of Skulls (thing 122/123) into a monster named the Murderizer, that could look like this:

Obituary_HeadCandle = "%o was murderized by the murderizer";

This can also be used to override existing obits.

So I could give Scythe 2's Afrit and the Scythe X monsters obituaries this way, for example? Neat. I'm not at all familiar with LANGUAGE lumps though yet.

Also since my last post here, I now have Cleimos 2's robot, Herian's machinegun zombie and Plutonia 2/Requiem's ghost nazis now with custom obituaries :D

EDIT: The above examples by Gez, alongside the ones on the wiki, work in GZDoom when in a DEHACKED lump, you have to remove the "" marks from the sides though