[Guide] How to keep classic Nightmare difficulty with the Remaster version

[Theobaldus]

Hi everyone!

Since I have noticed the new Nightmare caused a few Steam threads to pop up I thought I could write a nice and tidy guide trying to explain, step by step, how to play with classic Nightmare with the Remaster version.

Before starting I would like to go through a couple of points:
- I would like to thank the user CFusion, who provided the fix in another thread and who gently granted their approval when I volunteered to write this guide.
(https://steamcommunity.com/app/2310/discussions/0/3035976310915192435/?ctp=2)
- If you see any mistake or discover something new which could benefit this thread, please leave a message and I will try to update the thread accordingly. Any question is also welcome, of course!
- Please note that the achievements about completing Nightmare mode will not work after applying this fix!

VERY IMPORTANT:
This fix relies on copying the progs.dat files contained in the original Pak files into the ones included in the Remaster folders (displayed as "Rerelease" folder). As a result, according to my experience this won't work with the 2 new campaigns made available with the Remaster (mg1 and dopa) since there are no original files to copy to restore Nightmare as it was. Progs.dat files are very specific to the pak files they'are assigned to so using them for the new campaigns (or assigning them to the wrong pak) will very likely cause crashes and broken triggers resulting in progression blockers.

WHAT YOU WILL NEED:
- The software I used to access the content of the Pak files is PakExplorer, available at this link. (https://gamebanana.com/tools/download/6588)
Once downloaded, just unzip the content and launch it. A splash screen with a couple of preferences will appear the first time but nothing crucial.
- The Pak files to access, of course (id1, rogue, hipnotic).

HOW TO DO IT:

As mentioned at the beginning, the point is to copy a specific file (progs.dat) contained in the original pak0 file from the vanilla game folder and move it inside the corresponding pak0 file of the "Rerelease" folder. If you want, feel free to create Backup folders with the paks or the progs.dat files. If you corrupt a pak file and you had no B plan... no worries! Just delete it and then check the game integrity with Steam to get the clean ones again easy and fast.
Let's start!

1. Open Pakexplorer and dismiss the preferences splash screen if needed. Now that it's opened, it's time to access one of the Pak0 files from the base folder. Just click on the "Open" icon in Pakexplorer and let's start with the base game (...Quake/id1). Once selected, you will see all files listed in the Pak0 file in the right view. Copy the progs.dat file.

2. Now it's time to access the Pak0 file of id1 of the "Remaster" version, found in the Rerelease sub-folder (...Quake/Rerelease/id1). Open it with Pakexpl and paste the original progs.dat file (or drag it, in case you have multiple instances of Pakexplorer). Confirm the action, then make sure to close all instances of Pakexpl before trying to launch the game (otherwise you'll get errors).

3. Repeat the process with hipnotic and rogue, always making sure that you're overwriting the new progs.dat files with the ones originally compiled for the same content (id1 with id1 and so on).
Important: in case you're running multiple instances of Pakexplorer, please note that the last directory explored is shared in memory between all instances. As a result, if you are not careful you might end up copying the incorrect progs.dat file. Always double check the directory you start from after clicking on the "Open" icon.

I have feeling that I wrote too much for something which is indeed easier to do than explain, but I wanted to cover everything I could think of to avoid any sort of ambiguity.
Hopefully this helps!

Cheers and happy Quake!

ps: and let's hope the original Nightmare comes back, with the new variant as an option!