[TerminX]

Neat. What does the high/medium/low detail option do? Obviously I'm aware of what it does in the DOS version, but the DOS version only had two settings.

[Fox]

 MrFlibble, on 16 July 2015 - 02:28 AM, said:

A while ago I was playing around with a programme called Executor, which is a now discontinued compatibility layer project to run Mac 68k applications on IBM PC compatible hardware. This programme has its drawbacks and not all Mac emulation features are supported, but unlike the vast majority of Mac emulators it does not require anything from Apple: no authentic Mac ROM image, no copy of MacOS etc, are needed to run Mac software.

No files required and no long ass tutorial which anyone would eventually fail to make it work.

 MrFlibble, on 16 July 2015 - 02:28 AM, said:

This is basically the equivalent of DOS command line options. From here, you can warp to any of the three demo levels. It seems that there was a Mac convention that a demo should have three levels. This holds true for other games such as Doom, Descent etc. Wolfenstein 3-D kind of circumvented that by making a shorter version of the shareware episode: you don't get the first three levels, you get level one, some intermediate level, and the boss battle. In Duke3D however, it's just E1L1 to E1L3.

That's quite not right. The first episode of the Mac version got the 30 levels of the Snes/Jaguar ports, and the boss is on the third level. So indeed it was just a third level demo.

[MrFlibble]

 TerminX, on 16 July 2015 - 02:45 AM, said:

Neat. What does the high/medium/low detail option do? Obviously I'm aware of what it does in the DOS version, but the DOS version only had two settings.

That's a good question. It appears that the Mac version indeed has three levels of detail settings:

• Low:
  Spoiler

  
  
  
• Medium:
  Spoiler

  
  
  
• High:
  Spoiler

  

Additionally, on Low and Medium you can turn on scanlines, while on High scanlines are disabled.

 Fox, on 16 July 2015 - 05:07 AM, said:

That's quite not right. The first episode of the Mac version got the 30 levels of the Snes/Jaguar ports, and the boss is on the third level. So indeed it was just a third level demo.

Right, I forgot that.

 Fox, on 16 July 2015 - 05:07 AM, said:

No files required and no long ass tutorial which anyone would eventually fail to make it work.

Not sure what you mean?

[Edit] Here's the MacDuke page at MacSoft website (Wayback Machine copy):
http://www.wizworks.com/macsoft/duke3d/duke_01.html

The description says,among other things:

Quote

SPECIAL FEATURES IN THE MAC VERSION

• Digitally-recorded music
  
• Switch keyboard layout on the fly
  
• Record your own taunts
  
• Play against Macs or PCs
  
• Play head-to-head against any Mac via the Internet
  
• Play over any Macintosh network
  
• Switch screen resolution on the fly

I wonder what the music format is used in the Mac version, and if not CD Audio whether it can be extracted from the GRP.

[Edit 2] Here's a video of someone running the Mac version on a PowerMac:
https://youtu.be/KkvAEAq4oto?t=6m12s

Unlike the demo, the full version apparently calls itself Atomic Edition in the main menu. Also notice that the menu allows to go up to 1024x768 resolution, while the demo is locked at 640x480 max (although this might be because this is the Mac 68k demo and not the PowerMac demo). The list of possible resolutions depends on the resolution of the monitor, which can also be set in the graphics options - at least, in the newer demo (v1.2):

Spoiler

[oasiz]

MAC version has MIDI in it, I think it either uses some Quicktime libraries to do that (Like it probably uses it for the hidden video in E1L1) or their own playroutine.
I remember seeing some samples somewhere when I last had a look.

Should fire mine up again actually.

Low: 4x4
Medium: 2x2
High: 1x1
it's a nice novelty feature to stretch the image by padding with scanlines instead of pixel doubling in Y.

Doom had something similar where it halved X resolution instead (as 320 -> 160 instead of 200/240 -> 100/120).

EDIT: Managed to find the full version of this. Seems that it has a rich selection of MP options and the config file has mentions of "two scren mode", I guess this was mean that you could have left/right/rear viewports mapped to other screens. Kinda cool.

[MrFlibble]

Found a couple more videos on YouTube showing actual Mac gameplay:



It seems that only the demo versions do not have the word(s) Atomic (Edition) in the title.

Also it seems from the videos that Executor pretty accurately reproduces how the game plays on actual Mac hardware, sans sounds and the intro sequence that is.

[Hendricks266]

I only recently realized that XXX-Stacy is pronounced "Triple Ecstacy".

[Radar]

Thanks for the insight. Had no clue myself.

[Richard Shead]

 Hendricks266, on 02 August 2015 - 09:30 PM, said:

I only recently realized that XXX-Stacy is pronounced "Triple Ecstacy".

[MetHy]

 Fox, on 15 April 2015 - 01:46 PM, said:

According to the magazine, Ministry of Fear is based on "Beverly Hills VIII" (I am not sure if that's movie, TV series or place, possibly an alternate name in French). Independence Day and Aliens is also mentioned as the inspiration for the new levels, which probably refers to Alien Rendezvous. So that's good to know.

Edit: The magazine mentions there are 6 new levels in the PSX version, however there are 7 in the final version if you including Quirk of Fate. And Quirk of Fate should count, since the magazine mentions the game has a total of 44 levels, which is only possible if you include Butt Kicking Zone. But if you include Butt Kicking Zone it makes a total of 45 levels. So one level was not made yet, which was Trackside Tragedy, Gates Motel or Quirk of Fate.

It says "six" at the top right of the second page, but in the text it says "around ten" (he uses a word that's like "dozen" except for the number 10, no equivalent in English)

Basically this is just another "video game reviewer" talking out of his ass because he didn't play the game.

I've never heard of Beverly Hills VIII. At first I was thinking of that old TV show with teenagers and young adults in Beverly Hills, but that must not be it since the writer of the article says "Joe Le Porc" (Joe The Pig) has a caricature in the level.

edit :

 Fox, on 05 April 2015 - 10:29 AM, said:

http://i.imgur.com/fUbyYP2.jpg

This one says they only played a "a one level demo, first level of the game, and there was 11 weapons in it". It also says the N64 version should have "Lightsourcing" "mip-mapping" "anti-aliasing" and "lightsourcing" again. he also keeps calling it "Duke Nuke'm"

Quote

http://i.imgur.com/R09BWD7.jpg

This one says the PS1 version has 44 maps total, including 11 exclusive ones. It also says there is a quicksave option (not sure if this is true, i never played the PS1 version)

Quote

http://i.imgur.com/jQWrrul.jpg

This one says DN3D is a lot better than Hexen because Hexen wasn't innovative and was pretty much a "medieval Doom". It also says DN3D uses a "3D engine".

I wonder how 3DRealms/GT Interactive paid those reviewers. Actual hookers, perhaps?

[Fox]

Thanks for the translations.

 MetHy, on 04 August 2015 - 05:15 AM, said:

It says "six" at the top right of the second page, but in the text it says "around ten" (he uses a word that's like "dozen" except for the number 10, no equivalent in English)

Basically this is just another "video game reviewer" talking out of his ass because he didn't play the game.

I've never heard of Beverly Hills VIII. At first I was thinking of that old TV show with teenagers and young adults in Beverly Hills, but that must not be it since the writer of the article says "Joe Le Porc" (Joe The Pig) has a caricature in the level.

I already realized they took that info from the poster on the wall (which was removed in the final version). The poster itself is a parody of Beverly Hills Cop with Eddie Murphy. They are probably wrong about the level being based on that movie.

[MrFlibble]

This magazine scan has one pre-release shot from Shadow Warrior and one from Powerslave:
http://download.aban...81995-07%29.jpg

[oasiz]

Interesting, that Duke shot might be one of the few shots from before LD. Has some texture changes and lacks that ventilation "secret" near the start from the looks of things.
LD doesn't have a pistol sprite there, only gives you ammo.

I wonder, is this the earliest public footage of d3d aside from the recent video ?

[MrFlibble]

There's a Blood preview in this French mag. Not sure if there's anything new or rare there, but there's a couple of shots of high-res character models.

[MetHy]

There is also a part of Redneck Rampage, Shadow Warrior, an interview of Frederic Raynal... great stuff!

What is this level in the two bottom right pictures? I don't recognize it
http://download.aban.../Page%20099.jpg
Two old SW enemies at the bottom picture
http://download.aban.../Page%20100.jpg

The start of the part about Blood says that during the game, the character gradually becomes a beast and you end up being one at the end. I heard the boss of The Plasma Pack episode was supposed to be a character, so this might be connected. I'll read it all later and tell you if there is anything else interesting.

Edit : I've never played Bloodbath so I don't know if it's true, but it says in the final game there should be an option so that respawn aren't triggered to close to the player who just killed you (or to other players); and also there is a crystal ball allowing you to see the field of view of your opponent on a corner of the screen.

There is a part praising enemies AI, which is right, Blood's AI are great, but it says some enemies should be able to "see you" before you see them. This doesn't happen in the game but I think we can all guess why, due to how it'd make the game an unfair mess.

Other than that nothing interesting is said really, except the reviewer claiming the game is super hard.

[MrFlibble]

Thanks for summarising the texts! I have only very limited knowledge of French and couldn't be bothered to try working through the articles themselves.

Again, not sure if this is anything special, but some very large 3D models of Shadow Warrior monsters:
http://download.aban.../Page%20150.jpg
http://download.aban.../Page%20151.jpg

[The Kins]

MetHy, on 15 September 2015 - 09:11 AM, said:

The start of the part about Blood says that during the game, the character gradually becomes a beast and you end up being one at the end. I heard the boss of The Plasma Pack episode was supposed to be a character, so this might be connected. I'll read it all later and tell you if there is anything else interesting.

Yeah, the developers talked about this in the past (most recently in Retro Gamer Magazine's making-of article). Long story short, you could transform into "The Beast", who would need to constantly kill enemies with powerful melee attacks to avoid reverting back into Caleb. It was "sort of working" but it was cut pretty late in development because frankly, it wasn't very fun. One of those "better on paper" ideas, apparently.

[XxMiltenXx]

The Kins, on 19 September 2015 - 10:52 PM, said:

Yeah, the developers talked about this in the past (most recently in Retro Gamer Magazine's making-of article). Long story short, you could transform into "The Beast", who would need to constantly kill enemies with powerful melee attacks to avoid reverting back into Caleb. It was "sort of working" but it was cut pretty late in development because frankly, it wasn't very fun. One of those "better on paper" ideas, apparently.

Some of these HUD-Sprites are still in the game. Few weeks ago I unpacked all TileArts and noticed some HUD-sprites where he had demonic hands. The first few frames are a transformation from the normal hands to the demonic ones. The attack frames are some sort of claw-attack, a 2nd animation (only a guess) looks as if he is throwing something and in the third he turns his left hand inwards and towards himself.
I found these in TileArt #9

[OpenMaw]

A lifetime ago someone had sent me a zip file that contained a bunch of artwork related to Duke. Chiefly among them was all the artwork and concept artwork for the RESAURUS figures.

Anyone know where I can find that? Been looking around and I can't find it anywhere.

[Fox]

Some BETA footage of Total Meltdown and Duke 64...
https://youtu.be/xst...rp0E?t=1h16m16s

[MetHy]

I was going through Duke It Out in DC and Caribbean Life in "Damn I'm Good/Pistol Start/get rid of all enemies bodies" when I realized something.

When you start the game on Come Get Some (probably is the same with all other skills I haven't tried), and then use "DNSKILL5" to switch to Damn I'm Good, enemies actually won't respawn.
You will get enemies tagged skill 4 though, because in the original game and in the add-ons, there are actually quite a few enemies per level which only appear on Damn I'm Good.

Anyway for those who like a little extra challenge but hate the respawns, this is a good way to have a few more enemies per level.

I'm not sure if Damn I'm Good changes enemies behaviour though
I remembering reading on these forums some enemies were less aggressive on skill 1 or 2 but I can't prove that and I don't know if there is any difference between Damn I'm Good and Come Get Some on that level. Also perhaps, just like the respawn factor, that aggressiveness difference doesn't trigger if you change skill using DNSKILL.

Anyway - as a result I missed the secret level of Life's A Beach and can't actually play it with respawns unless going through map 1 and 2 again. How do you use the warp level command of eDuke32? "changelevel <volume> <level>"
volume? level? i tried "changelevel 308" "changelevel 3 08" "changelevel 3 8" "changelevel" "E3L8" and got no result...

[Danukem]

MetHy, on 27 November 2015 - 02:16 AM, said:

"changelevel 3 8"

That is the correct format and I got it to work, but if you put in invalid numbers it just repeats the command description back at you. I noticed that it does _not_ use the internal numbering. So, for example, the second level of episode one would be "changelevel 1 2", and not "changelevel 0 1" as I would have expected.

[MetHy]

Ah thanks, that worked ! Not sure why it didn't last time I was sure that's what I typed...

Finally I could beat the last level remaining on Damn i'm Good pistol start.

[MrFlibble]

MrFlibble, on 30 August 2014 - 02:56 AM, said:

Recently I've noticed that MobyGames entries for Duke Nukem II and Duke Nukem 3D have these little bits of information:

Quote

"Duke Nukum II" -- Working title

Quote

"Duke Nukum 3D" -- Working title

While I suppose that the claim for the Duke Nukem II working title is somewhat plausible, based on the information in the Apogee FAQ (specifically, where it is mentioned that the name Duke Nukem was discovered to be not copyrighted during the development of Duke Nukem II), the information for Duke Nukem 3D's working title seems erroneous to me.

A correction would be in order, however I'd like to first get more info from you guys. Is there any evidence to "Duke Nukum 3D" ever being a "working title"? More importantly, is there any positive evidence against this claim?

Hendricks266, on 30 August 2014 - 11:02 AM, said:

From 1994-04-16:

The approvers at MobyGames just sent my correction for Duke Nukem 3D back to me, with the comment that originally Duke Nukum 3D was submitted as a working title based on this post by Joe Siegler:

Quote

The earliest build I have was way WAY back when it was still called "Duke Nukum 3D". This is the earliest build I have in our archives, and had actual "Coca-Cola" cans. There was some talk about then bout contacting them for an official license, but that died out.

I would be very grateful for any information on whether such build really exists and whether the title was ever spelled like that.

Or at least, please tell if Joe's statement should be given any benefit of the doubt. If yes I'll retract my correction altogether.

[Hendricks266]

The earliest build Joe has is the one that the image I linked and the footage I recorded for 3DR in 2014 comes from:



There is no trace of "Nukum" anywhere. However, the video shows "Duke Nukem IIID", but I would treat that as Todd's personal nickname for the project, not a working title. ("Duke Nukem IIID" survived as a comment in LameDuke's GAME.CON.)

The evidence suggests Joe was mistaken. He may have been thinking of "Duke Nukum II", which definitely existed as you can see from my post in the Beta thread.

[MrFlibble]

Hendricks266, thank you so much for the clarification!

[MrFlibble]

Aaand correction approved. Man, that was fast. Thanks again for the valuable info and clarifications!

[Frenkel]

Thanks a lot. You've lowered my MobyGames score.

I'm now contributing the cheat code that let's you play the demo level of Duke Nukem 1.
(Run the game with command line argument asp and at the main menu press Alt+F6.)
This way I hope to surpass the magic limit of 1600 MobyGames points.

[MrFlibble]

Oh. I'm sorry! But accurate documentation is more important than points, right?

[OFFTOPIC]Personally, I stopped caring about MobyPoints a while ago when I realised that the easiest way to spam them is to just submit screenshots (especially with the generally lax moderation of those), while much more demanding research like finding/detailing out obscure release dates, websites that only exist in the Wayback Machine or particular bits of info such as this working title issue is meagrely rewarded with only a handful of points.

Even with screenshots, there's no bonus for submitting them for an entry that is lacking shots. You get an equal amount of points regardless of whether the game had none or there were already a dozen or two on file.[/OFFTOPIC]

[Fox]

It amuses me how much people care about point on Internet sites.

[Inspector Lagomorf]

Fox, on 10 February 2016 - 10:30 AM, said:

It amuses me how much people care about point on Internet sites.

I agree. +1 rep to your post.

Spoiler

Edit: Yes! I get a +1 rep for this post too. My E-ego just got a little more puffed up.