[NY00123]

So, for differing reasons. older Duke3D TCs/mods hadn't really been played in multiplayer games online before 2023, as far as I can tell; Maybe only rarely.
There are a few old TCs from the 1990s (or at least, around the year 2000) for which I couldn't even find online video demonstrations.

Background:

Spoiler

My guess is that it's related in part to users' interests, and also to technical limitations. Generally speaking, people have been using separate multiplayer launcher programs in order to meet other players and start games.
You had older commercial services like DWANGO, TEN and Kali. Later on, there were also community-maintained launchers like Dukester X, Dukonnector and my own old launcher, YANG.

The thing is, while these launchers (at least the community-maintained ones) could let you transfer Duke3D maps to other users without significant efforts, the situation was quite different for TCs/mods. Even if there was some support, it wasn't as straightforward as sending a single file.

Additionally, even outside of launchers, it looked like there wasn't enough interest. There were people preferring xDuke over EDuke32 at the time due to being used to how xDuke felt, and at least for a few players, similar or identical differences are still important today. A subset of the latter players might or might not prefer playing maps from the base game, rather than user maps. At the least, I heard this was the situation in the past. I don't know for sure if that's still the case.

The situation is now different, albeit older TCs are still not really played online, at least outside of TeamDUKE as adapted for NetDuke32.

* We probably saw the beginning with an initial 2018 release of StrikerDM, albeit a demonstration was uploaded to YouTube beforehand. The Build BROS community was also checking the mod back in 2018. I don't know if there was enough of an audience outside of Build BROS to try it out, though.

* More recently, as of 2022-2023, the situation changed with not just one, but two multiplayer launchers. The first was Classic Gaming Arena, i.e., CGA, an online service for playing multiplayer DOS games, with DOS versions of Build Engine games being just one example. Back on February 28 2022, a new release (4.0.0.0) was out, transitioning from a browser-based UI to a standalone client. A later July 2 2022 release (4.1.0.0) introduced support for custom maps and mods, using a database.

* Additionally, after an earlier start, July 31 2022 had the release of a new multiplayer launcher from Dukonnector's author, NukemNet (0.1.0 Alpha). It supports source ports and original DOS releases altogether. Later, January 30 2023 (0.2.4 Alpha) has limited NetDuke32-specific support for maps and mods, before March 25 2023 (0.3.8 Alpha) got automatic file syncing support for single map and mod (e.g., pk3) files.

This thread can be used for increasing awareness of such old TCs. Multiplayer maps in otherwise single-player TCs are also welcome. I'll start with the following examples:

- DOOM Death Match Pack (April 5 1999 for v2.3a)
- LithDuke (May 13 1999 for V0.2 beta)
- Quake Death Match Pack DEMO (May 31 1999 for demo v1.0)
- TeamDUKE (Sep 22 2001 for version 0.62ß)

More details, outside of videos but including relevant URLs:

Spoiler

I purposefully list TeamDUKE separately, having its own thread:

* TeamDUKE is distinct for starting as an EDuke 2.0 mod. It has new game modes implemented, CTF being one of them. I turned out to have a part in making an adaptation to NetDuke32, and even TeamDUKE's creator rejoined, at least for version 0.8. This is covered in a separate thread: https://forums.duke4...-for-netduke32/

Regarding the rest, following are 3 old Dukematch TCs from 1999:

* LithDuke, a mod that replaces some pick-ups and introduces new ones. Among these, there are special items titled "techs" with differing capabilities. Each player may carry up to one "tech" at a time.
Download: https://dukeworld.co...ld/tc/lithduke/ -> lithduke.zip

* DOOM Death Match Pack, consisting of 4 episodes covering levels using Doom, Heretic and Hexen graphics, music and sounds effects, and partially also converted levels.
Download: https://dukeworld.co...rld/tc/doomdmp/ -> doomd23a.zip (for the Atomic Edition or compatible).

* Quake Death Match Pack DEMO, a single episode covering Quake-themed maps from the authors of the DOOM Death Match Pack. There's also an adaptation of at least one converted map somewhere. Note that the 1999 release had changes to weapons' strengths, and a single shot of the shotgun can bring a player down even if having 150hp.
Download: https://dukeworld.co...ld/tc/quakedmp/ -> qdmpdemo.zip (for the Atomic Edition or compatible).

LithDuke video (TeamDUKE is covered in a separate thread, and the aforementioned death match packs are to be added in a follow-up post, due to the forum's posting restrictions):

Spoiler

[NY00123]

ok, I think that enough time has passed for posting links to the missing videos.

As written earlier, TeamDUKE is a bit special. Updated revisions for NetDuke32 have already gotten at least 3 videos up. I'll link here to a post in the TeamDUKE thread with a video demonstrating a revision somewhat closer to the last release for EDuke 2.0 from 2001, albeit still with updates from it: https://forums.duke4...post__p__377371

This leaves us with the DOOM Death Match Pack and Quake Death Match Pack DEMO. Both of these had the same authors behind them, known under the TC Team name of Frag Control Society according to the Quake pack's qdmpdemo.txt. One author is WolfHead and the other is Mike Thomas / MikeRST. Well, qdmpdemo.txt refers to the latter as MikeRST, while doomd23a.txt uses Mike Thomas, but there's also a brief mention of MikeRST in doomd23a.txt, so I think the connection is clear.

Videos:

Spoiler

DOOM Death Match Pack v2.3a:



Quake Death Match Pack DEMO v1.0 (note - cut down at 07:12 due to my own confusion related to use of the video capturing software):

[Aleks]

I think an older TC that deserves a mention for its multiplayer (and which doesn't get the love and approval it deserves for its singleplayer campaign either, for some reason!) is God of War by Ben Bradley, from 2001. Aside from a 7-level SP campaign (introducing some new enemies and 2 new weapons, both quite original), it also has a 5-level DukeMatch episode and another 5-level "Arena DM" episode, which are small maps dedicated for 1 vs 1 games. According to the manual:

Quote

The five Arena maps are located in the third episode of God of War. Arena is played with 2 players. In these games, both players start off with a certain weapon, and unlimited ammo for that weapon. These maps are very small, with minimal powerups available. It's simply two player's pitted against each other with a preset weapon.
To play these maps, just connect to a single opponent in the way you normally would to play a deathmatch game. Select any map in the third episode - 'Arena', and play.

I have never played DM myself in this one, but checked the maps and they all definitely look interesting and have a good quality, so would be interested if they get covered in some video.

[NY00123]

Aleks, on 12 November 2023 - 02:28 AM, said:

I think an older TC that deserves a mention for its multiplayer (and which doesn't get the love and approval it deserves for its singleplayer campaign either, for some reason!) is God of War by Ben Bradley, from 2001. Aside from a 7-level SP campaign (introducing some new enemies and 2 new weapons, both quite original), it also has a 5-level DukeMatch episode and another 5-level "Arena DM" episode, which are small maps dedicated for 1 vs 1 games.


I have never played DM myself in this one, but checked the maps and they all definitely look interesting and have a good quality, so would be interested if they get covered in some video.

Hmm, I don't recall if I had played the SP campaign, so I currently assume I hadn't. Good to become aware of the TC if not the case beforehand, first and foremost!

It can be a bit difficult to find videos at times, due to the separate game franchise of the same name starting with a game from 2005. But, gameplay videos can still be found, at least over at YouTube. As expected by me, though, they're all single-player, and I couldn't really find multiplayer videos of any game mode.

One major point of this thread is actually to cover screenshots and/or videos of such TCs, at least potentially. As I wrote earlier, even made-for-multiplayer maps of TCs more commonly known by their SP campaigns are welcome, and the God of War TC for Duke3D is a good example of yours.

Even if a mostly SP-oriented TC has just a single DM-only map, like the base game's Faces of Death, it might be fitting here. One example coming to mind is The Lost Duke Episodes' E1L7, Ballpark. It's a DM-only map that may feel similar in idea to the base game's Stadium for Dukematches.

[NY00123]

While the referenced play-through is single-player, it also covers maps designated for Coop games from the episode "Multiplayer Only". The last of these Coop maps is further defined as DM-compatible.
This is the 4th and last part in FutureTime's play-through of Duke Meets Doom II, done last August.

Like other TCs, Duke Meets Doom II is probably mostly known for its single-player campaign, but it also has a multiplayer episode as the 4th. Even earlier versions 2.0 and 2.1 of the TC, which lack episode 3, have the multiplayer episode listed as the 4th. Version 3.0 added one more DM map to it, along with episode 3's maps.

E4L1 and E4L2 are Coop maps, while E4L4 is Coop & DM altogether. The rest of episode 4, including E4L3, is DM-only. It's still recommended to enable monsters in E4L3, due to its use of cannons.

The video in question follows. Skip to 1:31:55 in order to watch FutureTime going through the Coop maps, along with E4L3's cannons:

[NY00123]

Now, I'm wondering if anyone will want to release an improved version of this for Duke3D v1.5, EDuke 2.0 or a multiplayer-enabled source port (like Rednukem, DukeGDX or NetDuke32).

This covers Speedtrax Racing (October 3 2000) in single-player and multiplayer modes.
It's an unfinished game based on Duke3D, designed and developed by Samir Mughrabi (Megaton). A close Apogee-published game this might remind you of is Wacky Wheels.

Spoiler

This game was made for use without jumping or crouching. Due to limitations of Duke3D v1.5, a custom CFG file was included, disabling these for keyboard users. I'm not sure if the same was intended for strafing; Technically speaking, the CFG in question lets you strafe via a mouse button.

The game actually uses digitized sound effects as music, instead of MIDI files.

Due to Duke3D v1.5's limitations again, this makes use of inventory items' amounts as global variables for differing purposes, like music track selection. The latter should explain why you hear the first Time Attack map's track even after transitioning to the second map from it, while this is not the case if you start a new game from the second map.

Expect bugs and other limitations, given the unfinished nature and v1.5's own limitations.

On another note, not shown in this video are additional maps for the game, probably from 2003. These were made and released by Geoffrey van Dijk (Fakir).

Downloads:
https://dukeworld.co...d/tc/speedtrax/ -> speedtrx.zip (The game itself)
https://dukeworld.co...Speedtrax/maps/ -> speedtraxmp.zip (Fakir's maps)

[NY00123]

The following example is The Duke Nukem PaintBall 2 TC from 1998. There was actually an earlier release, simply titled Paint Ball Duke, but the one introduced here essentially changed weapons 2-4 into instakill weapons. It also brought 4 new map files to episode 2. With the possible (but non-verified) exception of the forest map, these were adaptations of previously released maps.

Note that unlike the mods described here earlier, this one was made for Duke Nukem 3D v1.3d exclusively. It uses CON code which is incompatible with the Atomic Edition. NetDuke32 and other few ports can parse such CON code, but since pbduke2.zip replaced just USER.CON, you'll get errors with the original archive if you try loading the mod while using the Atomic Edition or World Tour's game data.

That might be a good chance to link to the following thread and forum post of mine, referring to repackaging of old mods, the main use-case being multiplayer: https://forums.duke4...post__p__381399

Download (the original file from 1998, preceding my repackaging):
https://dukeworld.co...ld/tc/dukepbll/ -> pbduke2.zip (dukepbll.zip is the aforementioned older release)

[NY00123]

Next is the sole Dukematch-only map of The Lost Duke Episodes, Ballpark (E1L7).

While this mod is known to consist of campaign episodes described as occurring before the events of Duke Nukem I, Dukematching is also an option. To quote from the documentation:

Each level is Dukematch compatable, but be warned
that the levels "Security Tunnels" and "Terminus"
are very poor Dukematch levels, and should probably
be avoided.  Do make sure to check out "Ballpark,"
a Dukematch-only level in Episode 1.

Download: https://dukeworld.du...ld/tc/lostduke/ -> lstdke20.zip

[NY00123]

Letting readers know that I've created a playlist consisting of such videos as uploaded by me. It's a more general list, also covering a few mods from 2009 and later as of writing this, but still partially relevant.

Furthermore, there's another playlist on my channel (not linked here) consistoing of similar videos, albeit they don't demonstrate actual multiplayer games. They might be multiplayer-related in other manners, like the usage of bot AI.

https://www.youtube....xIiFiTXIcL94egj

[NY00123]

So, I'm not even sure if to continue posting here, given the presence of the aforementioned playlist (and people looking for contents outside of forums like these); Still posting for now.

1. I'll start by saying that last August, I had two videos uploaded (and currently in the playlist). They demonstrate two revisions of Danukem's DukeBall mod. Danukem said it had been made in February 2009. That's later than what I originally had in my mind for this thread. Additionally, DukeBall was initially made for EDuke32 (albeit also having a good level of NetDuke32 compatibility as a side-effect). Despite this, my preceding forum post here was from around the time, so I thought it made sense to mention them.

For more details, see this thread: https://forums.duke4...d-dukeball-mod/

2. Secondly, I gave a few matches in Wolf2Duke v4.05 (June 18-19 1999) another try last week. Wolf2Duke is known as a TC/mod reusing assets from Wolfenstein 3D, and also from Doom (see the shotgun and a few maps) and a Doom prototype (the machine gun). It has 3 campaign episodes that people might be aware of. Additionally, its 4th episode consists of 3 dukematch/deathmatch maps.

The first of them has been found to be based on GoldenEye 007's Library map, as I've learnt from Noldor Ranzou.

Download: https://dukeworld.co...d/tc/wolf2duke/ -> w2d_405.zip (Other versions may be found)

[NY00123]

Next is Duke Meets Doom (1998) again, and this time, in actual multiplayer DM games! Covered here are DM-exclusive maps from episode 4. The same episode also has two Coop maps as E4L1 and E4L2, plus one Coop+DM map at E4L4 which was skipped.

Due to a crash presumably related to a map design/effects bug in the TC's E4L2, there are two sessions. I made use of version 3.1 here.

Download: https://dukeworld.co...eworld/tc/doom/ -> doom31.zip (Other versions may be found)