[ck3D]

Download as user map: https://www.moddb.co...taearly-release

V. 0.96 episode 7-level demo: https://www.moddb.co...v-096-earlybeta

Project still missing: level 5 interlude, level 9 secret, and then later general finalization but episode is now traversable.

[NNC]

I finished L3 and L4 and man, this thing got on my nerves with it's nonstop audiovisual noise. So far, out of the 4 maps, the only one that I actually enjoyed was the 2nd map, and even that one had issues. I, for once, would love to see something more casually approachable stuff, with less flickering colours, less ear rape ambient sounds, less drones in ambush places, less respawns, no tiny newbeasts, etc.

[Dr.Panico]

Yay! Just in time for my birthday!

The beginning is REALLY brutal. Enemies shooting from all directions, no clear sign of where to go, but it does get things on track eventually. Getting through the latrines was a pain in the ass because Duke just doesn't feel like climbing sometimes (though you can just skip that part and emerge near the Mess Halls, and then deal with the cells later).

Right now I'm stuck: I've blew up the reactor, went up the hole with my Jetpack, dealt with pretty much every enemy there, but I don't know what to do after that. It doesn't let me go further up, and I haven't found any switches - not helped by the fact I've wasted my Boots and Scuba Gear in the process.

Another thing: that glitch involving the Freezethrower you reported on another thread? It's happening with me as well. I wonder if it's a problem with the current Eduke32 code, or just another case of the Build engine being weird. I'm far from a programming expert, but shouldn't the code maintain the weapon sprites as they're presented in the Tiles? Never seen something like this before (the closest thing was a glitch on the old JFDuke3D where the game would load the wrong sprites for some reason)

[ck3D]

Dr.Panico, on 01 June 2026 - 08:50 AM, said:

Right now I'm stuck: I've blew up the reactor, went up the hole with my Jetpack, dealt with pretty much every enemy there, but I don't know what to do after that.

Happy birthday!

Spoiler

Yeah I figured this part may be a bit too obscure in its current state. Once you've reached that room you no longer can go up indeed; now I don't know if it's obvious in practice (tried to make it with the enemy spawns), but you can shoot out of the sides.

If still stuck, the first combat phases are 1/ blast giant Overlord silhouette in the distant base with an explosive, 2/ will result in an explosion that will expose a switch you can shoot. Then (hopefully) the rest will speak for itself. Obviously I'm not super happy with how the player barely gets feedback from that part of the sequence (especially the switch can be problematic) but I'm also not going to touch Build again for a while right now so figured yeah, good enough and for now people can work it out. There is a hidden stash of inventory, ammo, and even air in the main room too that can be found by having 'good luck with the floor' of the purplelava sector, so in theory if you've used up everything around the arena is going to be tough but you can still make it.

[Dr.Panico]

Okay, I've just beat it! Took me 40 minutes, with one secret missing.

Yeah, admitedly the last part is pretty tough and confusing; but I guess at this point in the episode, no one should expect a walk in the park. Shooting the button in the distance was a problem, because the button is encased in shadows; so you don't know if you hit it or not (not helped by the distance and the Pistol's generally unreliable aim). Figuring out the rest was a tad easier, but you still need to pay close attention to your surroundings.


With that over, I guess that means...

Spoiler

... that the "mental ward" level is going to be the secret one?

[ck3D]

Dr.Panico, on 01 June 2026 - 09:42 AM, said:

With that over, I guess that means...

Spoiler

... that the "mental ward" level is going to be the secret one?

Spoiler

Yes. The one thing regarding the original Duke Nukem V story I stole I was skeptical about was (possibly) mandatorily ending on that note, when it is a delicate topic to handle and felt wrong to picture as the (full) closure of something linear and destructive. 'Penetencury' [sic] seemed more on point for that instead, in spite of originally being listed as penultimate by the original writer(s). As secret level of some sort on the other hand should work really well, and tie cooler into the story.

Parts of it already exist (some of them big), I do not know when it will be done though, I definitely am taking a clear pause now that the episode is (mostly) out. I don't know how perceptible that is from player POV, but from mapper POV the deal with Build is, it lets you do whatever you want but chews on your brains the whole time in exchange, and then once you're done just kind of spits you out. This was supposed to be a one, two month project tops and it ended up costing me six; so I'll just leave it hang dry here for a bit and come back once I've rested.

About the dark button that is my main concern with it too, I actually kept revising it but it was never good enough due to being low on resources and thus options (only viable one would have been killing the sector lights and losing the style/concept), but I might remake that whole little building corner thing in the final version eventually - managed to recoup about 60 spare walls super late into beta that could be put towards improving that whole sequence a little.

[stillTodd]

Sorry for the delay, site problems/slowness has kept me from posting.

Dukeplus has an incompatibility with the ending. Finishing off the boss doesn't end the level. It doesn't seem to stay put within the slowly raising shield either. Unsure if these are related and just fyi.

Works great in the same version of eduke32 in a fresh directory (nothing but DNLVL8.map, duke3d.grp and eduke32.exe). Really cool TROR work! Challenging as hell, haha!

[ck3D]

Delay? No such thing, feedback happens if/whenever it does. Thanks for playing,

DukePlus comment is an interesting one, I'll have a solution up eventually, I know people still like and play that mod quite a bit (it does still have its merits, and also Imperium). Ideally DukePlus players won't be the only ones to get an optimized version either. But don't hold your breath re: timing.

Boss can get off stayput sector occasionally, usually ends up getting back on, I thought that was cool even though technically a bug here just means it will occasionally venture onto the 'track', hang in there for a bit then usually get picked up by the platform again like it is surfing. Should still play well and not even look off, but of course I want to hear it if it breaks.

Curiosity/fun fact that is best kept in spoilers until one has beaten the boss:

Spoiler

There are more possibilities to the arena/level set-up than I ultimately left open. For instance boss can be made non-stayput, and reactor platform outside can be made explodable (it has the starting position/execution room/now exposed water pool below); rigging the sequence like that is kind of cool (perforates through the entire level) but also plays worse, as it means most of the fight would happen underwater in the Meat Disposal instead, that is really cramped. So I think right now is the best compromise, but it is possible I will keep thinking about the fight and later tweak how it plays like that. Conceptually having to lure the boss out of the pocket dimension, and into the real world meat grinder to defeat it would be great, but practically not so sure.

[stillTodd]

I'm clueless. Is the person in the orbiting chair a reference to a specific character?

[ck3D]

stillTodd, on 02 June 2026 - 04:12 PM, said:

I'm clueless. Is the person in the orbiting chair a reference to a specific character?

Spoiler

https://dukenukem.fa...wiki/Dr._Proton

[ck3D]

Just tweaked the boss fight a little, now uses pal 0 boss to make sure won't clash with (most?) mods, and boss switch no longer is annoying to see/use.

Files have been updated, same links.

[stillTodd]

(double post)

[stillTodd]

Boss death ends level in DukePlus, and the (edit: removed spoiler) button seemed easier to trigger. It looks like there's now a wall that blocks un-triggering, unless I missed that in the original version.

I like the blacked out original boss a bit more, but that's superficial of course

[ck3D]

stillTodd, on 04 June 2026 - 05:36 PM, said:

Boss death ends level in DukePlus, and the (edit: removed spoiler) button seemed easier to trigger. It looks like there's now a wall that blocks un-triggering, unless I missed that in the original version.

I like the blacked out original boss a bit more, but that's superficial of course

Yup, with (rested) perspective now I reckon you could say the fight wasn't completely finished in the original version in that sense, technically worked but slept on some crucial QoL. Finalizing this map/v. 0.96 knocked me out for three days straight, didn't realize I was running on an empty tank due to being so into it, so what happened is as soon as it was completable I released it then momentarily died figuratively. But should be cool and more fun now that I've caught up.

About the original boss me too, but both the base game and mods tend to do weird stuff to/around this specific boss actor; this version will do for now, but if/when I ever make 'optimized' versions of the episode for various mods I probably will add unique twists to mine too depending on what the code allows. Here 'base' boss is a compatibility compromise, but also kind of works better with the story in how it doesn't look different.