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The Supreme Topic of Miscellaneous Knowledge  "Trivia, Research, etc."

User is offline   Fox 

  • Fraka kaka kaka kaka-kow!

#901

I just realized that train sectors are hard-coded to delete enemies it ran over. Theorically if could prevent a Usermap from being completed if a big boss is hit by a train.
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User is offline   MetHy 

#902

Out of curiosity, what exactly the version of the Build Engine used for Powerslave did not have compared to the version(s) used for DN3D, Blood and Shadow Warrior?

Actually ; any way to know what are the main differences (if any) between versions of the Build Engine every commercial game used?
I do mean differences on the engine side, not on the games side; so SW's RoR would not count for instance.

This post has been edited by MetHy: 30 July 2014 - 09:24 AM

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#903

PowerSlave, LameDuke and I think Tekwar use Version 5.

Version 5 does not have slopes (Added 08/29/1995), uses a less well organized cache system, textured automap not implemented.

You can almost figure it out from the change log here; http://advsys.net/ken/build.htm

Duke, Redneck, SW and even Blood use Version 7... Though Blood was heavily modified with things like the QSystem (Replacing tags and such) how many of those alterations were technically engine-side and game-side is unknown to me and only a round estimate could be determined by looking at the source from the Alpha.

This post has been edited by High Treason: 30 July 2014 - 10:21 AM

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User is offline   TerminX 

  • el fundador

  #904

I think Powerslave is version 6.
1

User is offline   MetHy 

#905

Interesting read. Is it still true today that the Build Engine is the engine with the most commercial games released?

I'm very surprised to see that slopes were added that late... which should mean that any slope DN3D has were added during the last months of development.

It would be interesting to learn more about Blood's modified version of the engine, too.
Edit : nvm, deleted my other question since I found the answer to it

This post has been edited by MetHy: 30 July 2014 - 11:20 AM

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#906

Think about it, LameDuke doesn't have any slopes and the final Derelict has very few. The 0.99 Beta has a few (Such as in the church in E1L3) that aren't in the final suggesting they went nuts with it when it was first implemented.

Blood is rather complicated, I am not sure I should post links to the Alpha for you to go and dig through it yourself as it may violate forum policies and I am still prohibited from sending PMs (Can this not be changed?) - Blood Wiki has a page on the Alpha at least :(

If you can get your hands on it there is some documentation included for XSystem (What I called QSystem before, handles Effects), QAV (Animated tiles - they are a single tile in Build/Artedit, a bit like Smacker), Smacker support for cutscenes (May not be with the Alpha, but the final used this) and all manner of things as well as a lot of maps.

One small paragraph;

Quote

XSectors, XWalls, and XSprites
The XSystem is based on extending the three simple object types used in the Build engine: sectors, walls, and sprites. The extensions to these are referred to as XSectors, XWalls, and XSprites, or collectively as XObjects. Internally, the XSystem manages a list of each of each XObject and maintains links between its related object. The links are stored in the extra field, which you cannot edit in MapEdit, but can view with the Tab key in 2D mode.


Apparently this thing does use existing properties in Build then (Note, uses the Extra field to store "links") but allowed very complex control over things, for example what I remember (From the final, Alpha is a little less complex) is, you can set a Sector Type - ALT+F5 (ALT+F6 for sprites), maybe a Sliding Sector. That sector could move on it's own (Slide Sector) or else you could press K on a wall or sprite (Makes it purple) to affect that if it was inside that sector (Slide Marked) and hitting K again would reverse the direction for that one (Green).

Tags were instead TxID and RxID (F10 to find next free, first 100 reserved), Transmit and Recieve on different tags, you can select what triggers them/responds to them, different speed, waveforms and delays for On and Off, different starting state. Can set height for Z Motion Sector/Sprite (F3/F4. F2 to change current state). Can change how the player triggers any of these (Set switches to only respond to guns or whatever) and a lighting/panning system so you can make any sector flicker, fade or whatever in different waveforms, panning acts like Conveyers and can drag the player if the Drag box is ticked.

The RoR system deserves a mention (Sprite Type 6 & 7) because it was very easy to implement, requiring only setting a matching Data 1 field, sector height didn't have to be correct but it was very touch about drawing multiple sectors.


Incidentally, I got started with Build mostly by using Mapedit. Blood uses a different map format it seems, whether they are just compressed/encrypted or actually do differ I do not know.

Quick edit: Found a reference to Dark Forces when it was talking about voiceovers and a note about a moving platform "Like in ShadowWarrior" in the XSystem doc. Also this;

Quote

Rachel

She will appear, walk towards her target location (a marker sprite), and then disappear. Any actions you wish her to perform should be accomplished with the initial trigger.


Not a difference in the engine or anything, just figured I'd stick it there as it's the first I've heard of any Rachel... Oh, lastly, there was once meant to be a weather system of sorts, some graphics exist for it in either the Alpha or the early Shareware.

This post has been edited by High Treason: 30 July 2014 - 12:35 PM

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#907

I was looking through some old papers and found something interesting I received back in the day, a postcard advertisement for Shadow Warrior that was sent through the mail (the old physical kind). Judging by the text, it was sent in early 1997:
Posted Image

Scans of both sides of the card:
Posted Image
Posted Image

For the record, I'm not sure how 3D Realms or GT Interactive knew my home address.
7

User is offline   MrFlibble 

#908

 Marphy Black, on 02 August 2014 - 02:48 PM, said:

For the record, I'm not sure how 3D Realms or GT Interactive knew my home address.

Perhaps you ordered something from some shareware vendor and they put you on the mailing list?

Or they were just sending those out to everyone.
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#909

I just happened to stumble across a scan of the May 1996 issue of PC Powerplay which features Duke on the cover. The preview inside examines the recently released shareware demo, but I noticed a few of the screenshots depicted older, more interesting builds. Here's the preview in question:

Posted Image Posted Image

Nothing particularly unseen on the first page, but on the second, there's the Battlelord screenshot seen on some boxes uncropped here to reveal a second Battlelord, a screenshot of Sweeney(?) with the old skybox (similar setup seen in this leaflet), a recreation of a familiar beta screenshot with the final sprites (also seen in this leaflet), and probably the most interesting of the bunch, an inexplicably older screenshot from an unidentified map (also Sweeney?) with the old Pigcops, skybox, and a funky car.
8

User is offline   MrFlibble 

#910

Yay magazine scans!

I wonder if we have asked Frederik about him having found any original copies of pre-release sreenshots that 3DR sent out to magazines (apart from what was included on CDs of other games and publicly downloadable screenshot packs).
1

User is offline   TerminX 

  • el fundador

  #911

View PostMrFlibble, on 15 August 2014 - 12:43 PM, said:

Yay magazine scans!

I wonder if we have asked Frederik about him having found any original copies of pre-release sreenshots that 3DR sent out to magazines (apart from what was included on CDs of other games and publicly downloadable screenshot packs).

I found the map files containing the dummy scenes those screenshots were faked with, actually.
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User is offline   The Commander 

  • I used to be a Brown Fuzzy Fruit, but I've changed bro...

#912

Then why haven't you posted them here...
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User is offline   TerminX 

  • el fundador

  #913

If we posted everything we've found, this page would be thousands of pages long!
-1

User is offline   The Commander 

  • I used to be a Brown Fuzzy Fruit, but I've changed bro...

#914

Your shitty old forum software couldn't even handle 1000 pages...

This post has been edited by The Angry Kiwi: 27 August 2014 - 11:40 AM

-3

User is offline   Kyanos 

#915

I think this quote may apply here. followed with a WID for good measure :(

View PostFrederik Schreiber, on 17 April 2014 - 12:31 PM, said:

We have plans in relation to releasing these things in Vanilla, and more Playable states,
as part of the re-lauch of the new 3D Realms website.

Guest appearances with 3D Realms Old-Timers, In-Depth Walkthroughs of the History and Data of these builds, etc.
Exciting times ahead :(

I couldn't be more excited!

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User is offline   MrFlibble 

#916

Here's something for a change guys.

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?
0

User is online   Lunick 

#917

MobyGames also think I tested Shadow Warrior when I was 3 years old:
Posted Image
I'm still not quite sure why they haven't fixed that yet as that was supposed to be for the iOS version.

I'd suggest suggesting a correction now if it has no source.
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User is offline   MrFlibble 

#918

View PostLunick, on 30 August 2014 - 03:20 AM, said:

MobyGames also think I tested Shadow Warrior when I was 3 years old:
Posted Image
I'm still not quite sure why they haven't fixed that yet as that was supposed to be for the iOS version.

I'd suggest suggesting a correction now if it has no source.

I think this is an idiosyncrasy of the MobyGames' site engine. You're not listed in the DOS version credits, it's simply that the year displayed on your page is the same as "Combined View" (not platform specific), and apparently it just uses the earliest year of release on file for that.

[Edit] I made a post about your problem in the MG forums, hopefully it's going to be fixed eventually.

This post has been edited by MrFlibble: 30 August 2014 - 03:48 AM

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User is offline   Frenkel 

#919

View PostMrFlibble, on 30 August 2014 - 02:56 AM, said:

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),


Duke Nukem talks about Duke Nukum II in his cameo in Cosmo's Cosmic Adventure.
2

#920

Furthermore, Duke Nukem 3D was conceived during development of Duke Nukem II... After all, the last screen in the game says "THE END, Until Duke 3-D" so I suppose it's not impossible that the title was once Nukum.


On the other hand, I would then have to wonder how old this was;
Posted Image

Given that (If I remember correctly, it was the only one they got working) it's meant to be the oldest prototype of Duke II.
0

User is offline   TerminX 

  • el fundador

  #921

No, it was never "Duke Nukum 3D", ever.
3

User is offline   Hendricks266 

  • Weaponized Autism

  #922

View PostMetHy, on 30 July 2014 - 11:18 AM, said:

Interesting read. Is it still true today that the Build Engine is the engine with the most commercial games released?

https://en.wikipedia...al_Engine_games

View PostMetHy, on 30 July 2014 - 11:18 AM, said:

It would be interesting to learn more about Blood's modified version of the engine, too.

View PostHigh Treason, on 30 July 2014 - 10:19 AM, said:

Though Blood was heavily modified with things like the QSystem (Replacing tags and such) how many of those alterations were technically engine-side and game-side is unknown to me and only a round estimate could be determined by looking at the source from the Alpha.

It's interesting. While I don't believe Monolith modified the Build object file itself, they did use their own versions of engine functions with extra functionality, particularly in the editor.

View PostHigh Treason, on 30 August 2014 - 07:04 AM, said:

Given that (If I remember correctly, it was the only one they got working) it's meant to be the oldest prototype of Duke II.

At the same time, the files are named
NUKUM2.-NM
NUKUM2.-ST
NUKUM2.EXE
NUKUM2.MNI
for all the prototypes that I have. That was only changed near-final, I guess.

View PostMrFlibble, on 30 August 2014 - 02:56 AM, said:

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?

From 1994-04-16:

Posted Image
3

User is offline   MrFlibble 

#923

View PostHendricks266, on 30 August 2014 - 11:02 AM, said:

At the same time, the files are named
NUKUM2.-NM
NUKUM2.-ST
NUKUM2.EXE
NUKUM2.MNI
for all the prototypes that I have. That was only changed near-final, I guess.


From 1994-04-16:

Posted Image

Great, thanks a lot! :)

Lunick, as for your issue with the credits dates, the guys at MG told me that this is already included in the list of site bugs to be fixed.
0

User is offline   t800 

#924

Is it known why Iguana enemy from Carribean expansion pack was scraped?
Posted Image
Spoiler

Do you think he was intended only as sprite replacement for some old monster, or made for new enemy from scratch? I think he was supposed to be added as another original enemy next to pigcop in inflatable dragon and seagull. I presume he was being worked at earlier stages of development, as all shots with him dont include any new texture and decoration sprites, except for new look of enemies and he propably have been removed sooner, than his complete sprite sheet could be finished because all screenshots capture him at the exact same angle.

Any theories? :)
2

User is offline   MetHy 

#925

Send Wieder a PM and ask :)
0

User is offline   Fox 

  • Fraka kaka kaka kaka-kow!

#926

Given the chainguns, it would replace the Enforcer? The Enforcer was removed because its hard-coded actor is used for the female that follows you.

Like you said, it only has one pose, so probably there wasn't anything but what is seen in these screenshots.
0

User is offline   Jimmy 

  • Let's go Brandon!

#927

Likely scrapped for 1.3D compatibility.
1

User is offline   oasiz 

  • Dr. Effector

#928

Two D3D scrapped sector effectors

Decided to experiment with these a bit.
At least these two effects exist in the LD code that don't exist in the final version, there might even be more.
While these are useless now, it still interesting to see what different ideas they had in mind before overwriting these slots with other stuff.


SE 18 - Vacuum, Similar to the one seen in various videos.
When paired with a typical SE15 sliding door, the point where the SE is at will be the source of the vacuum.
This will drag all in various enemies and other objects such as explosion sprites.


SE 23 - Flooding sector
Posted Image
A rather buggy effect that changes a dry sector to divable water while flooding it to a set height.
-> Diving itself works the same as normal SE7 underwater transport.
-> As a side effect, Sector #0 gets lowered to the same height as the bottom of the dry pool.
-> Flooding process starts once the player gets in the sector.
-> Biggest bug is that the underwater sector also has it's floor texture changed in to a water texture but it's not divable.

Create an empty pool, this will be the flooding sector. This can be split in to as many child sectors as you wish.
Create the underwater section of the pool, same as above, you are free to split this one.
Link these in a typical SE7 water transport fashion.
Unlike a typical divable water, the top side must be dry and lowered to the same height as the bottom of the underwater sector for the least glitchy outcome.

Now every affected sector that is over or under water has to have the same hitag.
Create a single SE 23 sprite that will determine the height that the water will rise in to on the dry pool sector.
For reference: Dry sector - Dry sector in editor - Underwater sector


- - --

There are other effects that got unused in the final game but actually exist in some of the maps in lameduke so you get to see them in their "natural habitat" :)
I suggest reading the URL for more information.

SE26 - Escalator
A rather buggy effect that raises and moves a single child sector in a certain direction before resetting it's position instantly. Having multiple of these chained gives the illusion of moving escalator steps.
Seen in E1L5 on LD.

SE5 - "Boss creature" / helicopter
Another effect that is pretty buggy but gets used on E1L7 and E1L8 maps in lameduke.
While infosuite refers it to as the turret, it's obvious what it was meant to be.

SE19 - Airlock windows
Makes the sector go shut (from top) if it detects that a glass was broken inside it. One of the videos suggested that it was combined with the vacuum at one point, possibly the room would have that applied until it got fully shut.
This gets used in E1L1 of LD.


Found another one, as far as I know, this is unused even in LD levels.
SE16 - Rotate reactor sector
This combines two main effects:
1) Piston, once the level starts it will lower the roof of the sector to floor level.
The piston will start moving up and will remain at the roof level unless there is another (any) sprite in the same sector.
Movement speed is slightly faster when the piston goes down and slower when it goes up.
2) It applies rotation to the sector, which is the usual rotation. What makes this different is that this SE also acts as a pivot sprite.
In the end this combines roughly 3 different SEs in to one, along with the variable speed for directions which is not really seen elsewhere.
- This effect works with retail AND lameduke, the main difference is that the retail version accepts only the reactor sprite inside it before it starts working.
once the reactor is destroyed (or the placed sprite in LD), the effect halts. I guess the requirement was changed as in LD you can stop it quite easily with just generic projectiles.
Strict requirements might be why it isn't that well documented. Still quite a lot of potential applications!
Spoiler


I think that is all that LD offers when it comes to SEs, roughly around 26 there seems to be nothing above it.

This post has been edited by oasiz: 18 September 2014 - 01:13 PM

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User is offline   Jblade 

#929

Those features would of been amazing to have in the full game, it's a shame they never made it in but they all sound fairly easy to recreate via con code at least now.
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User is offline   MetHy 

#930

Indeed would have been really cool, this sounds like the kind of effects that are more advanced (more advanced than any SE we got in DN3D) and that they scrapped in order to finish the game sooner. Then they knew the engine better once DN3D was done and Shadow Warrior did get more advanced effects....

That's my theory at least.
0

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