[Marscaleb]

I suppose this is really just an empty rant. I would love to direct my complaints somewhere that someone who could do this might actually hear my complaints and maybe agree with me and take action; but I have no idea where that would be. So all I can do is just yell at the empty sky...

I want a Duke3D port that works the same way that ZDaemon does.
A dedicated app for Duke that connects people to a server and launches a modified version of the game. From the user's perspective, it's all just one program.
But it doesn't just run the basic default Duke multiplayer. It has to have added features to do things like end matches after a score count and/or time limit, and cycle to the next map. An ability to customize your controls and character from within the game would be nice too. The stuff that just wasn't done in the DOS days but is so critical to multiplayer today.
And it needs to support LAN as well. I'm getting downright tired of all these efforts to revitalize Duke's multiplayer but that require using the internet. I'm not opposed to having internet matches, but I just want the ability to set up my own private server and play with friends under the same roof, no internet connection required. No depending on someone else's server.
I'm also a really big fan of the way ZDaemon starts you off in a spectator mode, and you just gotta hit E or fire to actually play, (and inactive players are dropped to the same mode.) I don't see other games doing this but its just super convenient, especially for a game with a strong modding community making new maps. Honestly what I really like about it is that you can get up and step away from the keyboard after a match, and you don't hold up everyone else waiting for you to get back, and neither have some brainless body just sitting in the map taking hits. I suppose this isn't exactly the most important feature, especially for a game that doesn't have bots to fill out a roster, but I've just really grown to appreciate that feature and would like to see it become more commonplace.

That's what I want.
I'd build it myself if I could code at that level. I can't, and I don't want to ignorantly claim it would be easy, but I do wonder if one could actually just copy a lot of code straight out of ZDaemon and paste it into a fork of eDuke, just to get a lot of groundwork done. Obviously not everything, but maybe the launcher program. But I guess that's just me reaching for something; I don't know.

I'm just dreaming, but that's the program I want.