[TerminX]

That's neat. In nearly every area you can see where they've removed sectors, sprites and other details in order to hit the target of 30 fps on a 486.

[OpenMaw]

That's an awesome comparison. Looks like quite a few of those other beta images were from E2 areas then. (Some very clearly cut from the game or entirely reworked.)

[Jimmy]

As I understand it, Lunar Apocalypse generally has the oldest levels of the game. Levelord's are all among the newest. The oldest map that made it into the game, I think, is a very early version of what would become Derelict from LameDuke.

[High Treason]

If memory serves correctly, there is a section of Overlord (The bit with the waterfalls) in LameDuke that is Map Format 4 and must be converted before LameDuke will run it, possibly making that the oldest map in the game.

Could be entirely wrong, I will edit this post when I have tested, unless someone beats me to it.

[TerminX]

Nope, you're correct. I remember seeing that myself many years ago. I turned it into a crappy DM map in one of my Duke 1.5 mods in the 90's.

[Jimmy]

I never noticed that. Good find.

[Mikko Pekkola]

I did that screenshot comparison myself

[Mikko]

Interestingly they removed those forcefield textures from the first outdoor segments of the map but kept them in the rest, most notably the huge outdoor area. Obviously they put those there originally to compensate for removing the spacesuit (artificial atmosphere). But now there's no consistency.

[Mikko Pekkola]

"Inv" and "Keys" in 2 screenshots with Shrinker are in different order

In beta shot: "Keys/Inv"

In final shot: "Inv/Keys"

[Fox]

Mikko_Sandt, on 07 April 2013 - 03:46 AM, said:

Obviously they put those there originally to compensate for removing the spacesuit (artificial atmosphere). But now there's no consistency.

These screenshots looks much older than the one with the space suit in use. Not really sure if they even had something like that planned, wasn't the player some sort of cyborg in Lameduke?

Mikko Pekkola, on 07 April 2013 - 04:50 AM, said:

"Inv" and "Keys" in 2 screenshots with Shrinker are in different order

In beta shot: "Keys/Inv"

In final shot: "Inv/Keys"

They probably tried to make it different from Doom in the final version.

[Daedolon]

Mikko Pekkola, on 06 April 2013 - 04:52 AM, said:

Check out this one, everyone

Well. That just makes me sad.

Fox, on 07 April 2013 - 04:54 PM, said:

They probably tried to make it different from Doom in the final version.

It also makes more sense since players (at least myself) are likely to look at the inventory items more than the keys, so placing them closer to your health/center of the screen makes sense.

[MrFlibble]

Daedolon, on 09 April 2013 - 02:37 PM, said:

Well. That just makes me sad.

You mean that the levels have become less detailed in the final release?

[Hendricks266]

While looking into this, I discovered something to add to my Duke 3D beta page concerning the tally mark tiles that were overwritten in later versions.

Quote

I discovered some disabled code in the Duke 3D source code release (GAME.C, line 1437) that would take a number value and draw the necessary tally marks to the screen. For example, to display the number 12:



Unfortunately, there is no trace of any applications this may have had.

[Fox]

Interesting. I always tought it would be used as decoration in the prison walls.

===//===//===

Interesting that the Pig Cop already has some blood in the BETA sprites. However it's in clean in some earlier version:

[Jimmy]

Maybe the tally marks were going to be used for multiplayer?? Only other thought is like Fox said, in the prison. Also, Fox, there is no blood in the actual sprite. That's the blood squib actor. Go in game and shoot a Pigcop, you'll see what I'm talking about.

[Daedolon]

He said it's clean in that version, thus the ":".

[Jimmy]

I read way too fast. Foot in mouth. Cheers.

[Fox]

Another earlier screen of Duke Nukem 64:



The guy is obvisouly cheating, so that's how he got an Expander in the first episode. However it has a 50 shots limit like in the PC. Also the ammo icon is of the HUD crystal.

===//===//===

The Duke 3D manual seems to simply that the first skill was meant to include more ammo or items.

[Fox]

Fucking photobucket resizing images, here is a zoom of the page:

Spoiler

[Lunick]

Looks like a version close to what Lameduke was?

[High Treason]

I've seen two of those before I think...

Fascinating, anyone else notice the HUD on the bottom picture? Also, notice the plasma balls on the lizmen?

The level of detail is incredible in most of these. Also, coded security cameras?

Incidentally, the magazine can be found here; http://oldgamemags.t...e-8-august-1995

But that is the only Duke 3D page.

[Fox]

The plasma balls are probably meant to be fired from the weapon, however the mock-up is not very convincing.

I don't remember seeing that HUD or the giant Mighty Boot before. That kick looks like this:

[zykov eddy]

This is interesting. Does it have something to do with the locked door kicking trick on E1L3?

[Fox]

Yes, you can kick many of the doors in the final game. The problem is that opening the door with a kick bypass the locks.

[High Treason]

In E1L3 you can go to the right side of the yellow key door, if you kick it and press use it will open... Perhaps this is a leftover from this version. It also works in a few other levels (Rabid Transit on the Blue Key area).

You could open doors partially with the RPG in LameDuke too.

Edit: Sorry, I missed Zykov Eddy's post somehow
Erm... well... I at least confirmed this happened! Or... Some other excuse.

Ah, well, the plasma balls used to behave a bit like that in LameDuke though, as in, they would stick to enemies that were nowhere near the shot that was fired. In that bottom-most screenshot again, it looks like there may be a sloped sector towards the right.

[Fox]

I think that the bug is quite simply. Basically the door in E1L3 is made of 3 sectors, and the ACTIVATORLOCKED of the middle sector extends to the others when it comes to opening the door, but not for kicks.

[Fox]

Remember this picture?



When I saw these SPAS-12 I just realized it uses the Duke 64 model for Duke.

[Mikko Pekkola]

Fox, on 20 May 2013 - 10:13 PM, said:

Fucking photobucket resizing images, here is a zoom of the page:

Spoiler

That's a nice finding! Where'd you find these?

[Fox]

Googling random stuff.

[Cage]

@Fox

This is an amazing find!!!

From my own research I've divided Duke's development into few significant stages we know about/seen:

In general:

• lameduke
  
• duke beta from the .pcx screenshots presspacks (jumpsuit troopers etc.)
  
• late beta - double barrel shotgun pigcops, generally looking very close to final
  
• The close final betas (0.99 and later?) with available executables (minor differences)

It seems, that the shot from the page you've posted actually fall between phases 1 & 2 (closer to 2 I guess but still) so it's kinda transitional:

• both the kick from final duke and the wrench/taser from lameduke appear, with kick looking different - #2 features either the final kick graphic or a close variant
  
• Lameduke pistol but #2 pigcops - #2 screenshots feature the final pistol
  
• Lameduke rocketlauncher, but seems to me that it might be the cleaned up version from phase #2 (dithered color gradients etc.) - the scan is grainy, so I'm guessing
  
• Barcode still visible on the hand - #2 removed the barcode
  
• A hud which is seen nowhere else! However it seems close in design to Lameduke's and close in color scheme to #2 hud

I've sandwiched the scanned shots between the #2 shots to demonstrate