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Using Ion Fury's .grpinfo file and .def for Duke Nukem 3D

User is offline   DukeMeister44 

#1 Posted 11 December 2020 - 12:49 PM

Hi,

I've been trying to figure out how Ion Fury use's a ".def" and ".grpinfo" files to internally point to a specific and use ".grp" for main game data, in this case, to launch correctly and
I literally have no idea how I can get it replicate the same sort of behaviour for Duke Nukem 3D on 64bit Windows to run like how a build engine game should.

So here's my file that I've created to load Duke3d's grp file, which is broken and I'd like some help please:

grpinfo
{
    name "Duke Nukem 3D"
    scriptname "USER.CON"
    defname "duke.def"
    size 90997289
    crc DUKE13_CRC
    flags 0
    dependency 0
}


contents with the ".def" file too:

cachesize 262144
include DEFS.CON
include GAME.CON
include USER.CON



Some of the contents in these files are directly copied from mainline Ion Fury and the respective files that make it work.

Can someone help me fix these files please, all I want to do is Play my disc version of Duke Nukem 3D without playing on DOSBox!
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User is offline   NightFright 

  • The Truth is in here

#2 Posted 11 December 2020 - 01:22 PM

Chapter 3 of the Addon Compilation explains everything you need to know about grpinfo files:

https://hrp.duke4.ne...dons_readme.txt

In fact, the entire compilation is based on the grpinfo feature.

Most important is that size and crc both match the groupfile you wanna load. How you get that is also explained in the text file. Dependency is where the Duke13_crc belongs. If you really use the ancient 1.3D version of the game, that is.

And scriptname should never be user.con, always game.con (or whatever the custom con loading everything is named).

For the record: If you just want to run Duke3D or one of the official addons, this whole procedure is not needed.

This post has been edited by NightFright: 11 December 2020 - 01:33 PM

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User is offline   DukeMeister44 

#3 Posted 11 December 2020 - 02:56 PM

Thanks, I have at least gotten somewhere, thanks to the advice & documentation you've provided for me.

Here's some changes I've made according to the documentation, startin' with the ".grpinfo" file, I hope I've got this right:

grpinfo
	{
		name "Duke Nukem 3D"
		scriptname "game.con"
		defname "duke.def"
		size 26524524
		dependency 0 
		crc -1144402364
	}


Here is also where changes have been made to the ".def" file:

cachesize 262144
include DEFS.CON
include GAME.CON
include USER.CON


So, the game finally picks up "DUKE3D.grp", what I have been trying to do for 3 months, which now that has, I'm relieved that part is done; however in the log, there's errors popping up in the ".con" files with "found 'else' with on 'if'" and a missing '{', etc and here is the log that's hidden behind a spoiler tag since it's quite long:

Spoiler

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User is offline   NightFright 

  • The Truth is in here

#4 Posted 12 December 2020 - 12:48 AM

Please don't use grpinfo for duke3d.grp. EDuke32 supports the game natively. You just need eduke32.exe (IF's exe should also work) and duke3d.grp in the same directory, it will be detected, regardless which version. Same with Caribbean, Nuclear Winter, DukeDC.

You can use grpinfo for custom addons such as The Gate, Pray Your Prayers etc. But startup parameters work as well. This is not a must in general.

Get latest EDuke32 snapshot here:
https://dukeworld.du...ke32/synthesis/

And btw: Your def file is wrong. Those con files don't belong in there. Besides the fact that game.con is already loading defs.con and user.con by itself, you wouldn't have to load them all. The errors you get because you are trying to load everything at least twice.

(Default def name is duke3d.def, also.)

But again, you won't need the entire thing. No need to make simple things complicated. Just remove anything besides eduke32.exe and duke3d.grp and launch the game. You can also have fury.grp or any of the Duke3D addons there, they will all be detected and shown in the launcher for selection.

This post has been edited by NightFright: 12 December 2020 - 01:22 AM

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User is offline   DukeMeister44 

#5 Posted 12 December 2020 - 08:55 AM

 NightFright, on 12 December 2020 - 12:48 AM, said:

Please don't use grpinfo for duke3d.grp. EDuke32 supports the game natively. You just need eduke32.exe (IF's exe should also work) and duke3d.grp in the same directory, it will be detected, regardless which version. Same with Caribbean, Nuclear Winter, DukeDC.

You can use grpinfo for custom addons such as The Gate, Pray Your Prayers etc. But startup parameters work as well. This is not a must in general.

Get latest EDuke32 snapshot here:
https://dukeworld.du...ke32/synthesis/

And btw: Your def file is wrong. Those con files don't belong in there. Besides the fact that game.con is already loading defs.con and user.con by itself, you wouldn't have to load them all. The errors you get because you are trying to load everything at least twice.

(Default def name is duke3d.def, also.)

But again, you won't need the entire thing. No need to make simple things complicated. Just remove anything besides eduke32.exe and duke3d.grp and launch the game. You can also have fury.grp or any of the Duke3D addons there, they will all be detected and shown in the launcher for selection.



I'll explain, when I downloaded the eduke32 source code, I added a flag to make Duke3d with Ion Fury's minimalist mainline files.

This is whats in the GNUMakefile in the root directory:

Spoiler


This too shows what file I want to use, this is the same as Ion Fury's minimalist mainline files but for duke3d:

Spoiler


When I have compiled the game exec from source on my Windows PC then dragged it over to a clean 'DN3DINST' folder copied from a genuine Duke3d CD, the exec doesn't immediately scan and pick up the 'DUKE3D.GRP' file as its main file, that's why I made those additional files to get my 'DN3D.exe' to pick up and run Duke3d as a standalone game. what I am trying to achieve is to recreate and mimic the same behaviour that Ion Fury does when loading and launching into fullscreen without it crashing or saying in an error dialogue displaying "Duke Nukem 3D has stopped working" without resorting to using eduke32.exe as a last-ditch effort.

Attached thumbnail(s)

  • Attached Image: DN3D_f9BSF6gjvD.png

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User is offline   NightFright 

  • The Truth is in here

#6 Posted 12 December 2020 - 11:22 AM

Ok then. You do this at your own risk then, I guess. With source code changes I am not familiar at all.
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User is offline   DukeMeister44 

#7 Posted 12 December 2020 - 12:28 PM

 NightFright, on 12 December 2020 - 11:22 AM, said:

Ok then. You do this at your own risk then, I guess. With source code changes I am not familiar at all.


You've done an excellent job thus far helping me with what I wanted to do with the eduke32 source code, do you have any more documentation on the Build Engine or eduke32?
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User is offline   NightFright 

  • The Truth is in here

#8 Posted 12 December 2020 - 12:46 PM

That's not my field of expertise, I'm afraid. In fact, my knowledge about EDuke32 is very limited. But there are many people here who know a lot more about it.
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User is offline   DukeMeister44 

#9 Posted 12 December 2020 - 01:45 PM

 NightFright, on 12 December 2020 - 12:46 PM, said:

That's not my field of expertise, I'm afraid. In fact, my knowledge about EDuke32 is very limited. But there are many people here who know a lot more about it.


Fair enough, besides my knowledge on eduke32 is limited in general. I'll continue doing some more R&D on eduke32 and Build engine to the point where I might be able to make a game with it. or a mod for a pre-existing game like Shadow Warrior, Duke3d or Ion Fury, etc.
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