[High Treason]

EDIT: This post has been edited, so if you are new to this thread, you can probably disregard several posts that occur before Post #32 due to bug fixes and design changes, also, the latest version differs very little from Revision-281-R so if you have that already there is no real reason to update, there were just a few things that were bugging me, now I suppose I should finish the update for the NBCBP and start on my next map.

About this map; This is my first map, and I am now releasing the final version, due to there being no major issues with the previous revision. Preston Road is the street on which I live, but in this map, Duke visited a friend in the UK during the wait for his role in DNF, he got bored and depressed after a few years and took to drinking a lot at the pub, one night he drinks too much and vomits in the ladies restroom, as a result he is thrown out of the pub and goes home with a woman he met, Duke and the woman have some fun in the house Duke is staying at which is located on Preston Road, Duke realises it is already morning and figures he may as well pay the rent, get some shopping and possibly leave the estate to find another pub, as he sits up in bed he hears a loud noise from the living room, it would seem those alien bastards have shown up to kill him - again!

If you haven't figured it out yet it's an urban-type map (well, maybe, it certainly isn't the Duke definition of a City map) but there are a few things you need to take into account before you play it;

1. You will need EDuke32, the latest DukePlus and a Polymer capable system to play this map!
2. Extract the .ZIP to your EDuke32 folder and run DukePlus as usual, select New Game, User Map and then PRE.MAP

Download from MediaFire - PRE_290.ZIP (2.5MB)

Old Versions;

1. You will need EDuke32, the latest DukePlus and a Polymer capable system to play this map!
2. To play, simply download the .rar file and extract it's contents to your Duke Nukem 3D folder and run PRE.BAT consult the PREadme.txt for more info.

Download from MegaUpload - File Size around 4.5Mb (OLD)
Download from MediaFire (OLD)

Here are some screenshots;


Old Screen Shots


Oh, and if anyone is curious, the music used is a rendition of "The Zombies - She's not there".

[LeoD]

Your batch file does not work because you have renamed pre.zip to PRE_BETA.zip.
The intro is too long for a single map. It should be skipable with <SPACE> or something.
The map is almost unplayable on my machine.

[bullerbullerseven]

k gonna try it now

ok. i lagged really much because my pc cant handle all these effects xD
i did found some weird things. the place where you need a yellow card to get to the biker place i was able to jump over the wall. it was that wall where it was going downhill on the other side of the wall. and the place where all those cars drive in circles, i was able to jump out of the map i think. im not sure it just looked like it because everything were totally messed up xD
but i loved most of the details. especially the sprite made ones what i did not like is that you randomly made walls blocking. only do that if it is neccessary that the player must need reach that place. not as a detail.
i liked the map good job though i did not finish it because it all looked messed up and i ended in that hole haha

[High Treason]

LeoD, on Dec 9 2010, 01:21 AM, said:

Your batch file does not work because you have renamed pre.zip to PRE_BETA.zip.

Oops... That would explain why "Hurry Up Harry" was still being played when I tested it. I've added a link to a fixed batch file.

Quote

The intro is too long for a single map. It should be skipable with <SPACE> or something.
The map is almost unplayable on my machine.

That's not the first complaint I have had about that intro, maybe I will cut the text out and just show the actual scenes for about 3 seconds each (including the one I removed of Duke in the street being told to leave) - unfortunately I don't think it can be skipped and I don't really want to remove it (unless more people complain about it). As for the un-playability, there's not a lot I can do about that as I am assuming this is due to the frame-rate, but there are some commands that might help in the PREadme.txt file.

Thanks for the feedback, I'll get to work on it tomorrow.

Edit: @Jhect; I'm sure I blocked that wall... That's easy enough for me to fix though. The yellow card actually ends the level when used so there isn't anything over there anyway. Which random blocking walls are you reffering to and what exactly is wrong with the so I know how to improve them a little as there are reasons that I don't want players walking all over my map, usually because it causes the polymer effects to break.

Thanks for the feedback.

[Radar]

There's no way I'm downloading a 28 MB map.

Not much of a review, but I'm sure I also speak for many other people.

[Hank]

I have no problem downloading free stuff.

@ High Treason - Can you give a hint for total clueless peeps like me how to play a user map? right now I'm lost at sea.

[bullerbullerseven]

download it and execute the .bat that followed. new game. now notice the big fat letters saying user map xD find the map

[Hank]

Jhect, on Dec 8 2010, 10:14 PM, said:

download it and execute the .bat that followed. new game. now notice the big fat letters saying user map xD find the map

nothing doing. fat - thanks anyway

[bullerbullerseven]

where do you have a problem. i mean if you extract it all into the duke folder then it should be: piece of cake

[High Treason]

@Hank; It varies from map to the next, in this case it works like this:

> Download the .rar file and extract the contents to your Duke Nukem 3D folder (The same folder that EDuke32 is in).
> If you downloaded the MegaUpload version, you will need the fixed batch file (Get that here) - just overwrite the old one in your Duke directory.
> Run the PRE_BETA.BAT file and the game should load the map right away.

This is only necessary for maps like mine that include new content, most of the time all you will need to do is select "User Map" in the "New Game" menu and select the map - but as I said, mine requires some adittional models and textures so it needs the batch file to pass adittional commands to EDuke32 to load the content.

There is a Readme included in the .rar file (PREadme.txt).

[Mikko]

Looks nice, but the fps I got hovered around 8-15 so I can't say I enjoyed it.

Radar1013, on Dec 9 2010, 04:18 AM, said:

There's no way I'm downloading a 28 MB map.

Not much of a review, but I'm sure I also speak for many other people.

What, you live in a mud hut or something?

[bullerbullerseven]

i thought the same mikko_sandt hehe. it takes max 1 min to download if you have the worst pc. and just delete it if you dont need it anymore -.-

[Mike Norvak]

I played this map, without Polymer, just for curiosity and i think some things look dull ( don't mind i don´t using polymer) like some buildings, oh and specially that intro it seems low budget maybe u need to improve the camera angle and add more details, also i think u shouldn´t cover all the empty outdoor zones just with trees.

The best part is the bridge, i wish i could use polymer to appreciate it. I loved the backgroung highway it gives the map a very special atmosphere. U should add more background escenaries, that goes with ur maps imo.

[Hank]

High Treason, on Dec 9 2010, 09:55 AM, said:

@Hank; It varies from map to the next, in this case it works like this:

> Download the .rar file and extract the contents to your Duke Nukem 3D folder (The same folder that EDuke32 is in).
> If you downloaded the MegaUpload version, you will need the fixed batch file (Get that here) - just overwrite the old one in your Duke directory.
> Run the PRE_BETA.BAT file and the game should load the map right away.

This is only necessary for maps like mine that include new content, most of the time all you will need to do is select "User Map" in the "New Game" menu and select the map - but as I said, mine requires some adittional models and textures so it needs the batch file to pass adittional commands to EDuke32 to load the content.

There is a Readme included in the .rar file (PREadme.txt).

Many Thanks, - I like it.

b.t.w. FPS as in Frame Per Second? I've got 35, and I'm on a laptop

[The Dukenator]

@Hank Yes

@Mikko_Sandt What's the biggest Duke3D map out there in MB?

[Mikko]

The Dukenator, on Dec 11 2010, 03:57 AM, said:

@Mikko_Sandt What's the biggest Duke3D map out there in MB?

Can't say specifically but at least the following are over 1 Mb:
Mincer City
Duke 6:8
HXC98 Base (there are huge maps in Zaxtor's Oblivion TC as well)

[Forge]

this map is only 393 kb, it's all the other stuff in the zip that makes the download large. There's maps out there that weigh in at 1 mb or more [echo]. (I'm slow) There are some TCs and other projects, like Duke Nukem Eternity, that come in at around 100 mb or more

[bullerbullerseven]

100 mb is not much...

[Forge]

Then there's imagination world 2 which is around 340 mb

[bullerbullerseven]

the newest attrition mod is over 400 mb my mod is only about 1/10 done and that is already about 130 mb. do mind that i will cut it down when its done.

[Forge]

Jhect, on Dec 10 2010, 09:25 PM, said:

the newest attrition mod is over 400 mb my mod is only about 1/10 done and that is already about 130 mb. do mind that i will cut it down when its done.

400 mb? what are you downloading? 1.22 is only around 68 mb

[Micky C]

I'm gone for a few days and you go ahead and release your map right at the time when I can't play it for 5 weeks

Anyway I hope you can eventually finish it to the standard that you want. I'm very eager to play this

[Danukem]

Forge, on Dec 10 2010, 06:35 PM, said:

400 mb? what are you downloading? 1.22 is only around 68 mb

LOL, I'll bet he is looking at the size of his folder with the HRP in there. Even if you removed the HRP, the leftover cache files created from it would still be very large.

[Danukem]

Just tried playing this. My computer really can't handle it with Polymer and the HRP
It looked pretty good from what I saw, but it was unplayable. I tried briefly without the HRP but there's a lot of visual glitches that way since it wasn't designed for 8-bit.

AFAIK this is still not finished, right?

For the beginning, I strongly recommend shortening the introduction by at least 50%. You don't need walls of text. In fact I'll bet you could do away with the text entirely and it would help a lot. People will be able to see that Duke was in a bar and got too drunk, and they will know that aliens attacked. As they say in creative writing 101, "Show, don't tell".

[Mikko]

DeeperThought, on Dec 13 2010, 11:08 PM, said:

For the beginning, I strongly recommend shortening the introduction by at least 50%. You don't need walls of text. In fact I'll bet you could do away with the text entirely and it would help a lot. People will be able to see that Duke was in a bar and got too drunk, and they will know that aliens attacked. As they say in creative writing 101, "Show, don't tell".

I didn't mind the text, maybe because I like to use text a lot myself too, but the duration it's on the screen could be cut by that 50%.

[High Treason]

I'm taking this feedback on board and will get back to work soon, so here's some stuff I have in mind;

I will shorten the intro by removing the text and making the scenes about 3 seconds each and adding a scene I removed earlier of Duke outside the pub being told to leave - Making the whole intro only take about 10 seconds - if people want the full story they can read the readme.

I will try to add a little more decoration other than trees, not sure what yet, keep in mind if I add many more sprites I will probably hit the draw limit, potentially making parts of the level disappear or the game crash. I guess I could add some generic debris around the place and stuff like swings to people's gardens, as I said though, if I decorate each garden I will hit the draw limit for sprites and ruin everything.

There is not much I can do about frame-rate, I knew this would be a problem before I started the project so I was prepared for my map to be hurt by this, I might try splitting sectors a little more and reducing the range of some lights, this may help a little. I think I am approaching the wall limit though (can't remember) so I don't know how much I can do given that I need more detail too.

Fix some blocking walls, maybe add railings to the top of some of the lower walls to stop people thinking they can jump over.

Maybe fix the music a bit as I have a new synthesizer now that is not broken, probably try to compress the file more as I likely saved it at 320Kbit/s without thinking. There is probably garbage in the .ZIP as well that I didn't use, I'll remove any I find.

And anything else that I forgot to address here. Thanks to everyone that has tested this for me, I shall now go and make a start on all that stuff I just listed.

[Mike Norvak]

Mikko_Sandt, on Dec 14 2010, 10:50 AM, said:

I didn't mind the text, maybe because I like to use text a lot myself too, but the duration it's on the screen could be cut by that 50%.

He could add some Quoters.

EDIT : BTW, Why u say u´re aproaching the wall limit? U has not yet reached the first limit (8192)
EDIT2 : Also u could spare the map on two parts with that hubmaps thing DT made, to improve the performance

[Danukem]

Norvak, on Dec 14 2010, 10:15 AM, said:

EDIT2 : Also u could spare the map on two parts with that hubmaps thing DT made, to improve the performance

Are you talking about using map caching? There's currently no CON code in DukePlus for that.

[High Treason]

Bump... New version... Possibly final?

See first post for details as I have edited it with a link to the new and improved version.

[bullerbullerseven]

What does IN TREASON OUT mean?