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Duke4.net
DNF #1
Duke 3D #1
This release is a direct successor to the following one from December 2024: https://forums.duke4...lvermans-works/
See also these 2019 releases, which I consider related:
https://forums.duke4...es-and-sources/
https://forums.duke4...de-re-released/
Archives: https://ny.duke4.net...ves-20260331.7z
Data patches: https://ny.duke4.net...hes-20260331.7z
Mainly thanks to Ken Silverman again, but also Matt Saettler and others, you should have access to more snapshots of Ken's works now. That covers snapshots of the Ken-Build test game and/or sources (exact contents vary by the directory), along with a few sources typed by Ken from printouts (generally less functional than usual). Also present here are a few WAD2ART and WAD2MAP binaries with definitions for Doom to Ken-Build conversions, a QuickBasic source snapshot of them and a partial conversion to C, various test programs (often written in QuickBasic) and more.
I've uploaded two files. One had the replacement of copyrighted graphics and sounds probably not of Ken, say from Doom. The other is a "patches" archive that may let you restore these resources.
Note that two sub-directories from the December 2024 release have been updated, FILES_FROM_MATT\BUILD (originally BUILD_FROM_MATT) and FILES_FROM_SW_TREE\build (previously BUILD_FROM_SW_TREE).
Repeating two questions from the aforementioned 2024 release:
- Why use a license like the familiar BUILDLIC.TXT one of June 2000? Well, here's what I know about Ken and shouldn't be new information. It's true he supports sharing his works with the public, as shown in his website. On the other hand, in case one wants to make commercial use, Ken prefers getting contacted for the details.
- Why include converted and edited Doom maps for Ken-Build (outside of the "patches" archive)? Well, apart from having the edits applied back in the 1990s, the previously released Build_Apr1994.zip snapshot had already had one of these maps. By the way, the aforementioned December 2024 release had a re-release of this snapshot under BUIL0408, with a few changes. These mainly refer to the addition of previously missing files, also in the "patches" archive matching that release.
// "Build Engine & Tools" Copyright (c) 1993-1997 Ken Silverman // Ken Silverman's official web site: "http://www.advsys.net/ken" // See the included license file "BUILDLIC.TXT" for license info. Disclaimer ---------- Unless stated otherwise, assume that what is mentioned in this file, along with the newly included file FILESLST.TXT, was not written by Ken Silverman. Consider most of the included contents to be internal development versions. Any of them might malfunction in any unexpected manner. Use at your own risk. In case any file is present with data not originally coming from Ken, you should assume nothing regarding what you're allowed to do with such data. Terms of use for Ken Silverman's assets, binaries and sources ------------------------------------------------------------- See the included license file BUILDLIC.TXT for "Build Engine & Tools" license info, along with 2DRAWLIC.TXT for the 2DRAW license. Their contents were originally written by Ken. The contents of 2DRAWLIC.TXT were copied from a larger document file released by Ken earlier, 2drawsrc.txt. About ----- This is a collection of multiple revisions of past works of Ken Silverman. Included here are differing revisions of the Build Engine, the Build Editor and the Ken-Build test game. Also covered are a few WAD2ART and WAD2MAP binaries with definitions for Doom to Ken-Build conversions, a QuickBasic source snapshot of them and a partial conversion to C, along with a late revision of the 2DRAW engine, revisions of multiple test programs (often written in QuickBasic) and more to find. This collection is a follow-up to an earlier December 2024 release, but not only, as described later under "Some more details". More often than not, source code is included. You should also find binaries. There are good chances that in at least a few instances, an executable will not match sources found in the same directory. As stated further above, your mileage may vary with trying to get any of the included programs running, being development snapshots in general. Even if a snapshot is functional, you might have to do a bit of work. For instance, the old file FILES_FROM_MATT\2draw\SETUP.DAT is configured to use a VESA resolution of 320x200. You might have to change that. The directories build_1993_04_14, build_1993_06_22 and build_1994_01_09 have sources typed in from printouts by Ken. Expect code typed from printouts to be even less functional than usual for development snapshots. build_1993_06_22's printouts in particular have a few newly added source comments, pointing at identified bugs. build_1993_04_14 and build_1994_01_09 have notes of Ken within info.txt files, more-or-less written during January 2022. According to Ken, you should find early sector demos in build_1994_01_09, while build_1993_04_14\info.txt describes the process of reverse-engineering PICROT4.BAS from PICROT4.EXE (03/27/1993 12:17am). For reference, PICROT4, i.e., PICture ROTation demo #4, was really the start of what had become Build. As of writing this (March 29 2026), it's been around 30.5 years since the releases of two 1995 Build Engine games, Witchaven and William Shatner's TekWar. It's also been 30 years and 2 months since the release of Duke Nukem 3D shareware v1.0, along with being close to Duke Nukem 3D v1.3d's 30th anniversary. It's further around 32 years and 3 months since starting the sector-based Build Engine. That was done by Ken after a phone call with John Carmack. This usage of sectors replaced the grid-based approach from earlier in 1993. Good chances are a subset of the included directories is based on snapshots of Ken's work tree. That holds in particular to build_1997_07_19, having the MAKEFILE and TEAMMAKE files pair. There are also a few ENGINE.C source snapshots, including FILES_FROM_MATT\BLDJAN95\engine.sav. Note that the one under build_1995_03_28_partial is trimmed. Some more details ----------------- Most contents covered here were found and sent by Ken before preparing them for release. This is a follow-up to 3 earlier releases, linked further below via "References to previously released contents, and related". The files under FILES_FROM_MATT came from Matt Saettler, while the ones under FILES_FROM_SW_TREE were sourced from an internal Shadow Warrior development CD. Outside of CHESS.EXE and STUFF.DAT, the contents of FILES_FROM_SW_TREE\build had already been released back in May 2019. FILES_FROM_SW_TREE\build (including the files CHESS.EXE and STUFF.DAT) and FILES_FROM_MATT\BUILD are re-releases of Ken-Build trees (and other files) previously made available on December 13 2024. There are two reasons for this. 1. For one, there's the addition of a few versions of WAD2ART and WAD2MAP under FILES_FROM_MATT\BUILD. They may be found within the subdirectories DM2BUILD, DMBU0804 and DMBUILD. More details are written further below. 2. Secondly, there was a change to WAVES.KWV within FILES_FROM_MATT\BUILD and FILES_FROM_SW_TREE\build\STUFF.DAT (WAVES.KWV was inside STUFF.DAT over there). A replaced sound effect, DOH.WAV, turned out to play faster than intended, and that was somehow missed by me earlier. Hence, that sound got resampled. Ken-Build as released in 2000 rather changed the rate in the code, but I went for a different approach here. Certain Ken-Build game assets were replaced, due to originally coming from other games. FILESLST.TXT covers a list of files with their original line counts (for textual files), sizes and timestamps as received, before any modification was applied. Note that if you compare the details of FILES_FROM_MATT or FILES_FROM_SW_TREE under FILESLST.TXT to the ones from any of the last two preceding releases, you're expected to find differences of whole hours in the listed timestamps. Older file systems lacked accurate timezone information. The same still holds to various archive files, say ZIP files. Acknowledgements ---------------- Many thanks should go to Ken Silverman for approving the release of historical versions of works of him and sending most of the materials, along with Matt Saettler for the files he had in his possession. Further thanks 3D Realms for locating materials including the aforementioned SW CD's data and sending them to Richard Gobeille and Evan Ramos, who further inspected contents of them. Additional thanks go to Ken for his original works on the Build Engine and other works of him (like Polytex), along with previously granting access to source codes for a great deal of them. Special thanks go to Nuke.YKT, Barry Duncan and Max Ylitalo. Finally, thanks to all fans of the Build Engine and games made with it. Ken-Build map credits (derived from a list supplied by Ken) ----------------------------------------------------------- Compared to the earlier December 2024 release, this release is not including maps with the following names (words not written by Ken here): * ANDYLAND.MAP - Guessed by me to be Andy Cotter's modification of NUKELAND.MAP. * NEWBOARD.MAP (two seemingly unrelated maps with this file name) - Unknown. Credits follow for included maps, based on Ken's supplied list. //Ken & Allen Blum: NUKELAN2.MAP, NUKELAND.MAP //Ken: AI.MAP, BOARDS.MAP, BOARDS2.MAP, BRIDGES.MAP, CLIPTEST.MAP, DEATH.MAP, EVIL.MAP, EVIL2.MAP, GROULAND.MAP, HOUSE.MAP, INTRO.MAP, KENSIG.MAP, KLAB.MAP, LOOKATME.MAP, MABOARDS.MAP, MIRRORS.MAP, MONWALK.MAP, OVERLAP.MAP, SLOPTEST.MAP, SORTTEST.MAP, SUBWAY.MAP, TEST.MAP, TRAP.MAP, TRAPS.MAP //Ken & Andy Cotter (see notes for NSNOAL.MAP) ABOARDS.MAP, ABOARDS2.MAP, ALBOARD.MAP, EVILAL.MAP, GYM.MAP, MAZE.MAP, MINIGOLF.MAP, NEWSUB.MAP, NSNOAL.MAP (also has Blum & Kemp's influences from NUKELAND.MAP & MDKBOARD.MAP), NSPIRAL.MAP, SPIRAL.MAP //Andy Cotter: ANDY.MAP, ANDY2.MAP, ASCBOAR2.MAP, ASCBOARD.MAP, ASCHOUSE.MAP, BEACH.MAP, BIGBIG.MAP, BIGROOMS.MAP, MONWARP.MAP, MYBRIDGE.MAP, OLDNEW.MAP, STINKS.MAP, STRANGE.MAP, SUCKER.MAP, SIZES.MAP //Ken and Martin Kemp MDKBOARD.MAP //Doom (conversion & editing by Ken, episode 1 maps by John Romero) DOOM1.MAP, DOOM2.MAP, E1M2.MAP, E1M3.MAP, E2M1.MAP (by Tom Hall & Sandy Petersen) Several notes from Ken ---------------------- Ken's comments about most of the included trees follow. The comments were sent in early January 2022. Note that build_1993_04_14.zip did not originally include the PICROT files, added by Ken in a follow-up update. build_1994_01_09.zip was added alongside the updated build_1993_04_14.zip. * build_1993_04_14.zip: BUILD1.ZIP from my website, but with source. bui41593: A typed-in printout which doesn't work! Just shows a black screen. See info.txt in ZIP for my analysis. * build_1993_06_22.zip: Data and EXE resurrected, courtesy of my friend (Andy C.). No BUILD.C was included, but I resurrected it using printouts and EXE comparison (i.e. lots of fun!). bui53193: Wow, that is buggy as hell. It's amazing I didn't give up. bui61593: Glitchy but acceptable. Press KP+ for ceil&flor. bui62293: Same as build.c/build.exe but w/o upx compression. See info at top! bui71593: Don't remember what's new over bui62293. * build_1993_08_25_partial.zip: 1 lousy readme file. * buildold.zip: My "BUILDOLD" directory unmodified - basically BUILGRID.ZIP with full source and test programs. Includes lots of weird unrelated junk. Not dated because I've maintained this directory since antiquity. * build_1995_03_28_partial.zip: Only part of engine.c. Pretty damn useless. * build_1996_11_12_partial.zip: Looks nearly complete. Haven't messed with it much yet. Too new to be interesting I guess. * build_1997_07_19.zip: Not much work was done by this time as I was back in college. This looks like my full BUILD directory with test programs - very close to what it is today. * dmbuild_1995_05_25.zip: DMBUILD with source. I looked specifically for a Doom to Build converter and found this. Note: WAD2MAP.C is an unfinished port from QuickBasic, obviously in progress! Ken's notes about DM2BUILD_MISC_199502, including removed converted maps ------------------------------------------------------------------------ I did some quick analysis on DM2BUILD.ZIP: * The date of 01/31/1994 is definitely not correct. No Doom to Build conversion was done in 1994, other than a QuickBasic program to read parts of the Doom data. If you increment the year, it makes more sense. * If you check my history files (BUILD.TXT & BUILD2.TXT), I mention a Doom to Build converter in 2 places: 02/01/1995: I announce a Doom to Build converter written in QuickBasic - not released yet. It would be reasonable to assume that I started it a few days earlier, and ported it to C about a week later. 08/04/1995: I fix things with doors, sprites, and pwads. More notes from Ken (subtitles not originally written by Ken) ------------------------------------------------------------- * build_1994_10_17_partial.zip, along with definitions of extratype (and numextras) as also referenced in multiple BUILD.TXT and CONVMAP5.C files: Build_1994_10_17_partial is just a bunch of files I managed to extract from a partial ZIP file that I found on some old disk. Usually the partial ZIPs came from files that were erased and mostly overwritten by newer stuff, rather than from bad sectors. Consider yourself lucky that I was able to get those files. The extratype structure was probably a result of me trying to satisfy one of the development teams (likely Blood) without really knowing what I was doing. In the end, we realized it was much design to just have developers create their own structures to manage their things. * HSLOPBAK.ZIP: This temporary copy of the Build source looks like my attempt to optimize the slope code to work in the horizontal (the 'H') direction, which would have resulted in a speed increase (thanks to write combining). Obviously I never got it working, as Build renders slopes in the vertical direction. I don't know why I never finished this - perhaps I got stuck with something related to my assembly code. Anyway, I kept this copy just in case I ever felt the urge to revisit it. Miscellaneous notes about the included WAD2ART and WAD2MAP archives ------------------------------------------------------------------- As mentioned further above, compared to the December 2024 release, FILES_FROM_MATT\BUILD had the addition of WAD2ART and WAD2MAP archives under the directories DM2BUILD, DMBU0804 and DMBUILD. These were originally the names of matching ZIP files whose contents were fully excluded from the December 2024 release. The archives differ from the familiar files found on the few Duke Nukem 3D CDs by having definitions for Doom to Ken-Build conversions under KENBUILD.TXT, rather than Doom to Duke3D. There's further a version of WAD2ART.EXE under DM2BUILD_MISC_199502, coming from an Apogee backup CD. It turned out to be found alongside the sw950210 prototype of Shadow Warrior. Additionally, thanks to Ken, dmbuild_1995_05_25 is also included. WAD2ART.BAS and WAD2MAP.BAS may be run from qb45. WAD2ART.BAS has commented out code for generating PALETTE.DAT. WAD2ART.C may be compiled and linked using Watcom, but the included WAD2MAP.C revision still had QuickBasic code pending conversion. Not covered under the files released here are converted MAP files, originally present under the DM2BUILD_MISC_199502 and dmbuild_1995_05_25 backups. In dmbuild_1995_05_25's case, outside of E2M2 and E2M7, these were confirmed to be the outputs of WAD2MAP.BAS when used with Doom v1.2's IWAD. E2M2 and E2M7 couldn't be converted, matching Ken's original results. Conversions were originally done right after saving WAD2MAP.C's last revision during the same day (May 25 1995), according to timestamps. Regarding DM2BUILD_MISC_199502, most maps were matching dmbuild_1995_05_25. There was no E1M9.MAP file, while each of E1M2.MAP, E1M3.MAP, E1M5.MAP and E1M6.MAP differed from dmbuild_1995_05_25's by not more than 48 bytes. The date in E1M2-7's timestamps was 1994-01-31, hence explaining Ken's comment shown earlier. E1M8.MAP was stamped 1995-02-01, while the rest of the maps were stamped 1992-02-09, like README.TXT and WAD2ART.EXE. Further not covered here is a subdirectory named DOOM, which had a copy of DMBU0804.ZIP's contents with the addition of Doom's palette converted by WAD2ART to PALETTE.DAT, along with Doom v1.2's lumps list under WADHEAD.TXT. DM2BUILD.ZIP also had the same WADHEAD.TXT file originally. For reference, here are WADHEAD.TXT's first 3 lines, including trailing spaces: 0 PLAYPAL 10752 1 COLORMAP 8704 2 ENDOOM 4000 Details of PALETTE.DAT and WADHEAD.TXT using a format similar to FILESLST.TXT's: 36 8960 1995-08-04 00:49:54 PALETTE.DAT 2045 40873 1995-08-01 14:37:22/23:37:22* WADHEAD.TXT * Exact time varies due to lack of timezone information. Background ---------- This section concentrates at the process leading to the release of the included files. There's also the earlier history of Ken's works leading to the Build Engine itself. Examples of such works: - The game Ken's Labyrinth. - The Build Engine (all 1993-1997 incarnations and 2000's open-source release). - 2DRAW, an engine that was supposed to be used for the canceled Apogee game "Crystal Carnage". 2DRAW was also used by Ken for testing error correction in network/modem code (mmulti), which was further used in Build Engine games. In particular, the COMMIT driver supplied with such games could be used with 2DRAW. - The POLYTEX engine, which was supposed to be a successor to the Build Engine before focus had to shift back to the latter. As a fresh reminder (see list further below), May 2019 had the release of a set of historical Build Engine object files, sources and headers. A few more were also released earlier in February 2019, alongside Shadow Warrior (1997) sources matching versions 1.0-1.2. These Build Engine files were released after obtaining Ken's permission back in July 2018, following Evan's contact. December 2024 had a more significant release, including various revisions of the Build Engine, the Build Editor and the Ken-Build test-game. Also covered in that release were a few Polytex revisions, two revisions of the 2DRAW engine, an early program rendering Chess pieces (CHESS_ANIM), revisions of multiple test programs (often written in QuickBasic) and more to find. The aforementioned December 2024 release was largely based on files I and other few people received from Ken in April 2021. The current release is mostly based on files arriving from Ken during 2022's first two weeks. Barry received a subset of this release's contents from Matt in June 2025. According to my files and folders' timestamps, it was during April 25 2024 when I extracted multiple ZIP files into folders, and also when I wrote notes comparing the map lists of build_1996_11_12_partial and build_1997_07_19. That said, most reviewing from my side seemed to be conducted during the last two weeks of August 2025; Possibly the very last week of the two, mainly. I appeared to start preparing an internal revision during October 2025's first 9 days. I also approached Ken during these days. There was only a quite small README.TXT file, more-or-less restricted to Ken's comments about some of the archives, as found further above. I had gotten back to it by 2025's last few days and the first week of January 2026. README.TXT was expanded upon, FILESLST.TXT was introduced and other changes were applied. Following another break, I was back to it by mid March 2026. I added the aforementioned WAD2ART and WAD2MAP trees along the way. References to previously released contents, and related ------------------------------------------------------- - A preceding December 2024 release of historical Ken-Build related archives, similar to this release but having more contents and revisions of files: https://dukeworld.com/2001-current/source/kenbuild-related-archives-20241213. 7z - An earlier release of historical Build Engine sources and object files from May 2019 (https://dukeworld.com/2001-current/source/buildsrc-20190520.7z). Among other things, it had already included contents of FILES_FROM_SW_TREE\build, sans game data or CHESS.EXE, plus headers of the December 2024 release's BUILD_MISC_199604. - A 1995 revision of CACHE1D.C (renamed CACHE1D.TXT), as well as a source snapshot of ENGINE.OBJ from 1997, found alongside Shadow Warrior source archives (https://gitlab.com/NY00123/sw-src-and-build-addendum/, https://ny.duke4.net/files/stuff/sw-src-and-build-addendum-20190129.7z). - Ken Silverman's Build Engine Source Code Page, covering the original open-source release of the Build Engine from June 2000, the SLABSPRI voxel editor source code, A.ASM ported to C, POLYTEX engine demo and source code, the initial test program for POLYMOST, and other files (https://advsys.net/ken/buildsrc/default.htm). - Ken's implementation of the Chess game, along with 2DRAW, as found in his Projects Page (https://advsys.net/ken/download.htm). - The collection of Shadow Warrior prototypes released as a part of Shadow Warrior Classic (1997) on Steam, particularly the 1995-02-10 revision which contains Ken-Build binaries and some data (sw950210, https://store.steampowered.com/app/238070/). - PND3D Demo and Source Code (https://advsys.net/ken/voxlap/pnd3d.htm). - The Voxlap Engine source code (https://advsys.net/ken/voxlap/voxlap05.htm). - The Voxlap page, covering a collection of heightmap voxel demos predating Voxlap, including the GROUDRAW demos (https://advsys.net/ken/voxlap.htm). - An early 1994 snapshot of the Build Engine distribution (Build_Apr1994.zip, https://advsys.net/ken/build.htm). It was re-released in December 2024 under BUIL0408, with a few differences. - The first sector-based Build engine (buildsec.zip, https://advsys.net/ken/build.htm). - A grid-based BUILD engine snapshot from 1993 (builgrid.zip, https://advsys.net/ken/build.htm) - The first ever BUILD demo (build1.zip, https://advsys.net/ken/build.htm). - "picrot4.bas" i.e., "PICture ROTation demo #4" (picrot4.bas, PICROT4.EXE, https://advsys.net/ken/build.htm). Other files can be found at Ken Silverman's official web site as of writing this. -Yoav N.
