[supergoofy]

@Nukey, great job. Now we need a beta release that will have all the updates of the mod till now

[Nukey]

4th pack.

N64 exclusive maps: Castle Dukenstein, Piracy, Shaft, and Noctis Labyrinthus. These grid shots are the first time anybody outside of the development team has seen the 2D mode representation of the actual maps. The screenshots mostly focus on Shaft and Noctis, since they're completely new to the mod.

This mod will see the light of day. When Fox and I settled on "Resurgence" as a subtitle, I didn't realize it would one day be so fitting.

Attached thumbnail(s)

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Attached File(s)

•  64L31vA-64L34vA-alpha.zip (52.81K)
  Number of downloads: 299

[Jblade]

Amazing work - hopefully with this we'll see a release soon

[Loke]

Nukey, on 01 July 2012 - 10:47 AM, said:

This mod will see the light of day. When Fox and I settled on "Resurgence" as a subtitle, I didn't realize it would one day be so fitting.

This makes me so glad. Keep up the awesome work.

[necroslut]

Awesome.

[Player Lin]

I never played N64 one of Duke so I really hope this mod's releasing and try that out...damn, it looks like just ****ing awesome!

[LAW]

What are those red circles in 2D mode?

[Mikko]

Musicandsfx sprites. When was the last time you touched Mapster32?

[LAW]

^ I have never used it really. No reason for it.

[Mblackwell]

Well except for access to the extended map format allowing you more sectors, walls, and sprites, in addition to a whole host of other useful-every-day features.

[Jblade]

You don't even need to use the extended limits if you still want to make maps for DOS Duke, but it's far easier to use all around.

[Mikko]

Build is quite a horrible editor to begin with but Mapster32 makes it a lot more bearable.

[Nukey]

Status update:

Found the map headers and stripped the missing bytes out of them. This means that the player start points are now about as accurate as they're ever going to get, and the maps are effectively 100%.

The only value which is completely absent from the rom is the starting sector number, which is superfluous since the maps work fine without it. I can add it to each map manually when the beta is released.

I attached the updated maps, for no particular reason.

Also:

A gang of Enforcers are introduced to the plasma cannon.

Attached thumbnail(s)

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Attached File(s)

•  Duke64_Maps.zip (1.08MB)
  Number of downloads: 265

[Fox]

Like Nukey said, the information about the sector of the start position is missing from the ROM. As you know, the information about the sector in Duke3D serves for the purpose of having multiple areas contained in the same location. The only map which this is an issue for the start location is Lunatic Fringe.



Looking at the map, in my oppinion the player starts in the wrong location in Lunatic Fringe. As of the actual Duke Nukem 64 game, the player spawns on the "other side" of the 720º circle compared to the PC version, surrounded by Enforcers and on top of a Missile Launcher.



I belives that if it wasn't due to the missing sector information, the player would spawn near the same location it originally did in PC, expect that it was outside the door (the other co-operative players still remain inside of the door).



This came up when I and Nukey had a chat about him adding the sector number information to the map files. I would prefer to add the "right" sector to Lunatic Fringe, but Nukey disagree with me because I am destroying his childhood memories. My argument is that the information has been removed when they converted to ROM format, while he says I am just guessing stuff.

Not that I am trying to solve this dilema asking people here, I am just sharing this information.

[Nukey]

Somehow I feel my side of the discussion has been just a little bit misrepresented.

[Plagman]

Wow Nukey is literally Hitler.

[Lunick]

Thanks for the nice ass shot of the Enforcer in the second picture.

[supergoofy]

Plagman, on 06 July 2012 - 11:49 PM, said:

Wow Nukey is literally Hitler.

it's just that Nukey wants the mod to be as close to the original as it can be.

[Hendricks266]

Why not keep the erroneous N64 Enforcer start position for a "purist" mode and the original PC one for a "fixed" mode? I'm sure there are other things that could benefit from a distinction, such as *cough* texture alignment. You already have an uncensoring option.

[ReaperMan]

I vote for BOTH!

[Nukey]

Fox, on 06 July 2012 - 11:36 PM, said:

I would prefer to add the "right" sector to Lunatic Fringe, but Nukey disagree with me because I am destroying his childhood memories.

This is completely fabricated and was probably intended to be a joke.

Fox, on 06 July 2012 - 11:36 PM, said:

My argument is that the information has been removed when they converted to ROM format, while he says I am just guessing stuff.

This is at least partially true, although it seems to have been angrily reworded. My "argument" (opinion) was basically this:

Whatever information is in the ROM is the most accurate information we have access to. If we change it, we are directly contradicting the most accurate information we have, and we would be doing that based on an assumption.

I should also point out that every start position in the game is also not "correct" according to what the mappers originally intended, but they are correct according to the information in the ROM. So by the same logic, should all of those be changed as well? If the goal is to recreate the N64 experience of the game, this just seems counter-productive to me.

Anyway, that's my opinion. I agree with the other suggestions here, just leave the map files as they are and provide both options in the code. I've done my job, now I need to get back to my other projects. I'll offer more assistance when the time is available to me.

[Plagman]

I hope everyone took that as sarcasm.

[Nukey]

Oh and one other thing:



I'll get the floors and ceilings to display properly later. For my purposes this is good enough. By injecting custom maps:

1) The entire list of redefined sound and texture numbers can be determined,
2) Any texture we need can easily be extracted (especially ones that do not appear in the any of the maps), and
3) Engine differences can be tested rather than theorized.

Based on a quick check, sliding doors do not seem to cause any problems in this engine, so I am not sure why they removed all of them. Also the map size is even more limited in this engine, which likely explains why Dark Side and Area 51 were downsized. I don't know the exact limit, but generally maps over 200KB refuse to load.

[TerminX]

Very interesting. I read somewhere (maybe even in this thread) that the maps in Zero Hour were made with the BUILD editor and that it might use the same engine as Duke Nukem 64. Have you tried to look for map data in Zero Hour yet?

[Nukey]

TerminX, on 13 July 2012 - 02:15 PM, said:

Very interesting. I read somewhere (maybe even in this thread) that the maps in Zero Hour were made with the BUILD editor and that it might use the same engine as Duke Nukem 64. Have you tried to look for map data in Zero Hour yet?

No but that is an excellent idea. I imagine the format would be extremely different even from Duke 64, but it would be cool to get even a partial map from Zero Hour booted up in the PC editor.

[Jimmy]

Fox, on 01 June 2012 - 02:54 AM, said:

A while ago I asked William Beacham if they used Build editor for Duke Nukem 64, and this was his answer:

We used Build to make the maps, yes. (We actually used it to make maps for Duke Nukem: Zero Hour too, although with custom functionality added by our coders).

I theorized that they use the same engine (although probably overhauled or updated in ZH) based off of this information and the fact that ZH feels kind of like a BUILD game, it uses a lot of Duke3D textures (as well as the very first [ugly brown brick] Duke3D texture as a null area texture), and it uses a lot of the same tricks that Duke3D does (like warping the player from sewer holes.) Almost all of the developers were the same as well. My theory is mainly based on conjecture, and I threw it out there hoping someone could verify, or unverify, it.

[necroslut]

Captain Awesome, on 13 July 2012 - 04:12 PM, said:

I theorized that they use the same engine (although probably overhauled or updated in ZH) based off of this information and the fact that ZH feels kind of like a BUILD game, it uses a lot of Duke3D textures (as well as the very first [ugly brown brick] Duke3D texture as a null area texture), and it uses a lot of the same tricks that Duke3D does (like warping the player from sewer holes.) Almost all of the developers were the same as well. My theory is mainly based on conjecture, and I threw it out there hoping someone could verify, or unverify, it.

I'm pretty sure I've seen a quote from someone who worked on the game that claimed they used a modified build engine. Not like I have it written down, though.

[OpenMaw]

Yeah, someone here who knew one of the developers confirmed they used a modified BUILD to make the maps.

It does make a lot of sense. There are two big examples in the second level right within the first area that give it away. You are teleported from the exterior of the statue to underneath it via a vent that teleporters you, and if you clip through one of the walls on the outside you can actually see the first tile of the original Duke3D art assets, as CA said.

[Jimmy]

I included the quote in question in my post.

[OpenMaw]

Captain Awesome, on 14 July 2012 - 06:18 PM, said:

I included the quote in question in my post.

Yes. I glanced over it. I'm fucking tired.