[NY00123]

I've recently stumbled upon this in an old backup tree. I may confirm it to come from Danukem. From what I've been told, it was made in late February 2009, while the included stadium map was made by Gambini.

Download link should be found in this page as of writing this: https://ny.duke4.net/files.html

There's also a 1vs1 demonstration, currently found here:

[Aleks]

That's pretty interesting, especially considering that Duke's are faster than the ball The save at 1:36 was pretty amazing too!

[Šneček]

How is that mod supposed to launch, when it´s a .pk3 file? There´s no tutorial. And I guess it's not possible to somehow run it with bots via duke3dw?

[NY00123]

Writing here that I've received a more up-to-date version from Danukem (still from late February 2009). Hopefully, it should be up in the coming days (possibly after testing with at least one other player), and then it'll probably be the recommended one.

Since I already have a video of the older version, I intend to preserve the file, but the newer version is planned to be recommended.

Šneček, on 12 August 2024 - 06:31 AM, said:

How is that mod supposed to launch, when it´s a .pk3 file? There´s no tutorial. And I guess it's not possible to somehow run it with bots via duke3dw?

There's no need to explicitly specify the name of a CON or DEF file. Hence, you may simply use a command like "netduke32 -g path/to/dukeball-mod.pk3" ("\" should also work on Windows). That's been Striker's approach for NetDuke32, inspired by Quake III Arena. This works since, like the original 2009 data, the main CON file is named EDUKE.CON (GAME.CON should similarly work) and the def file is named duke3d.def.

If you use Striker's NetLauncher for NetDuke32, you may put such PK3 files in the mods dir and then select a mod with the launcher. Similarly, in NukemNet, selecting a single PK3 file of that kind should be sufficient.

Bots work in NetDuke32, albeit bot AI wasn't made with this mod in mind. When you mentioned Duke3dw, did you refer to ProAsm's Duke3dw port? I don't recall if there's any limitation with bot support, outside of bot AI not being made for this mod again.

One important point to add: This mod overrides a key/button bind for grabbing the ball, replacing LOOK_UP with TAKE_BALL. That also impacts the name of the bind in NetDuke32's settings file. I didn't make use of it while recording the original video since I wasn't aware of the functionality.

While the updated version I've received rather replaces TURNAROUND with TAKE_BALL, I intend to change the code so it'll still be listed as TURNAROUND in the menu and settings file. This way, it should be possible to re-use the same NetDuke32 settings file, with and without the mod.

[NY00123]

NY00123, on 13 August 2024 - 01:14 PM, said:

While the updated version I've received rather replaces TURNAROUND with TAKE_BALL, I intend to change the code so it'll still be listed as TURNAROUND in the menu and settings file. This way, it should be possible to re-use the same NetDuke32 settings file, with and without the mod.

Small correction: I eventually did this, albeit it rather takes over the LASTWEAPON binds. By default, it's activated by the key X in NetDuke32 v1.2.1.

The updated version is available for download from the same page now. This was made possible thanks to Danukem sending me the files. There's also a new video. The game is more usable for single-player sessions, with the introduction of mini-battlelords as goalkeepers, along with troopers. Also introduced in the stadium map are timed items (e.g., weapons) being thrown into the field/pitch's area. Furthermore, there is a change after 10 minutes of playing in this map. The MIDI track is re-arrangement/remix of Pokémon Diamond & Pearl's Gym Leader Battle track, prepared by MasterJace.

As usual, assume this will be the last version to be inspected or prepared by me. But maybe someone else, who (like me) wasn't originally a contributor to DukeBall, will have a look at the code.