[NightFright]

While waiting for authors to contact me for including their work with my upcoming EDuke32 addon compilation, I got busy with fixing some problems in Duke!Zone II.

- It works with bsdiff patches. Instructions how to use it are included in the readme (also see attachment to this post)
- Two patches available - for 1.3d version of duke!zon.grp (DZ2) or Plutonium/Atomic version (DZ2PP)

Duke!Zone II patch (120 KB, zipfile)

Readme file with full changelog and instructions

Have fun with it, but don't expect it to make the maps considerably better!

Main improvements (which you will really notice):

• You can reach the second secret level in episode 1 now (I put the nukebutton for it inside an existing secret area in DUKEZ104 "Opening Night" *).
  
• Three elevators in DZONE206 "Spelunking" work properly now
  
• Waterfall drop in DZONE303 "Down and Out" was broken and works as intended now

* Hint: Search close to the forcefield lowered via yellow keycard access panel

[Hendricks266]

Duke!ZONE 2 was made by the same guys as Nuclear Winter. That's why they have art tiles in common. Nonetheless, it is still a commercial release.

[TheZombieKiller]

NightFright, on 03 September 2014 - 03:17 PM, said:

Since I have changed quite a lot of files, some kinda update pack wouldn't make sense since it would contain pretty much the whole addon anyway. Maybe I could try over at the Steam workshop?

What about a diff patch, rather than straight up including the modified files?

[NightFright]

Dunno how that works. I could just put the four maps with the most important fixes in it. No art file, no cons. They probably wouldn't run properly without the full groupfile.

[Lunick]

I'd love to see these fixes, good job for attempting to try and make the addon somewhat more playable :)

[NightFright]

Good news, everyone! In spite of my general lack of capabilities, I have figured out how to create diff patches apparently!

Find the download link in my initial post, just merely 120 KB. You will need the original duke!zon.grp for this now to apply the patch. I have created patches for both the 1.3d and Plutonium/Atomic release of duke!zon.grp (based on the files found on my "Duke Apocalypse" CD).

If it works for you guys, I could add the file as self-extracting 7-Zip executable somewhere to the download section of our HRP website maybe.

@ EDuke32 team
For your consideration, I humbly request adding this patched duke!zon.grp to the automated EDuke32 groupfile detection, similar to other addons like Caribbean or Nuclear Winter. This would make launching the addon very easy. I assume the original Duke!Zone II groupfile is already detected (if not, maybe a good opportunity to change it).

Grpfiles.cache info of patched file:
"duke!zon.grp" 3182755 1409776805 -1439370939
(CON: dz2game.con)

[Hendricks266]

NightFright, on 04 September 2014 - 11:43 AM, said:

@ EDuke32 team
For your consideration, I humbly request adding this patched duke!zon.grp to the automated EDuke32 groupfile detection, similar to other addons like Caribbean or Nuclear Winter. This would make launching the addon very easy.

Absolutely not. References to unofficial patches will never be hardcoded in the program. This is EDuke32, not SWP. There will be ways to link up a patch or secondary GRP on top of the shipped one, as defined by a user or mod maker.

NightFright, on 04 September 2014 - 11:43 AM, said:

I assume the original Duke!Zone II groupfile is already detected (if not, maybe a good opportunity to change it).

The only add-on GRPs we detect now are the ones included with Megaton. I'll add the other add-ons at the same time I add support to load SSI files in directly, and the respective CRCs and file sizes for the original releases. (Except for Nuclear Winter, which was unmodified in Megaton.)

[NightFright]

Fair enough. Sticking to official files is the only way to go, anyway. Maybe I'll figure out a way to create a patch groupfile without replacing the original file as well. Until then, let's see if this works at all. I have a hard time believing that all the changes I did fit into a diff file of just a few dozen KB...

[Jamesfff]

I followed all instructions on how to set this up, but it didn't work - because the command line was wrong. changed to Eduke32 /gduke!zon.grp -xdz2game.con (replace -j with /g), it works. Just thought you should know.

[NightFright]

Great... in the first line of the instructions, I correctly wrote -g, in the other -j for whatever reason. Thanks for pointing it out, it's fixed in the readme.

[Daedolon]

I never played this, might have to try it now.

[The Watchtower]

Daedolon, on 11 September 2014 - 03:48 AM, said:

I never played this, might have to try it now.

Expect terrible experience. I gave up after visiting a couple of levels.

[NightFright]

That patch won't turn DZ2 into a fun addon all of a sudden, just to remind you. You can now properly visit all places, but it doesn't mean you will enjoy it now just because you can't get stuck at some spots or some sprites are realigned. It's from the guys that made Nuclear Winter as well, so you are advised to keep a huge bucket next to your desk whenever you play this.

[NightFright]

Bump alert!

After getting some feedback regarding the integration of other WizardWorks addons into the popular "Alien Armageddon" mod, I have decided to turn the Duke!Zone II patch into a full release, meaning you don't need to patch anything manually any more, just use the new file and load it with duke3d.grp. This decision was made after realizing that there will never be any commercial release of this addon again considering what's currently going on with Gearbox and the Duke Nukem IP, and since I am not going to charge anything for this, the risk of a C&D is basically zero.

Get new version 2.0 from the download page of the HRP website

How to use
1) Extract dukezone2.zip into your EDuke32 dir, adding a "dukezone2" folder and dukezone2.bat.
2) Launch EDuke32 with dukezone2.bat.

Changelog v2.0
- Patch turned into full release (contains full addon, no patching of original files required)
- Tiles014.art converted to external textures with def file (dukezone2.def), reducing filesize

[NightFright]

Released an update to version 2.0.1 to fix a minor issue with predefined sound #207 (DUKE_SEARCH2) not being overwritten by the custom definition.

[NightFright]

Had to release a new version (2.0.2) to revert the change done in v2.0.1 (effectively it's v2.0 again now). I realized that in spite of EDuke32 giving a warning when overriding a sound, it does not mean the override is not used. Therefore, sound overrides should always be defined AFTER game.con, not before (like I did in v2.0.1). I won't touch this any more now unless it's broken for some weird reason.

[NightFright]

Version 2.0.3 released. This just features a small adjustment to the episode definitions in dukezone2.con to make the addon work with Rednukem.

[NightFright]

Released another small update for Raze compatibility.

Note: You need to choose one of two grpinfo files now, depending on whether you use Atomic or WT.

[Avenger]

What's the purpose of the "grpinfo" file?

Also can you convert this into a GRP/CON format so that it's compatible with DOS as well?

[Phredreeke]

grpinfo defines the addon's entry in EDuke32's launcher

[Avenger]

Phredreeke, on 13 June 2021 - 02:44 AM, said:

grpinfo defines the addon's entry in EDuke32's launcher

Can you convert this into GRP/CON format so that it's compatible with DOS as well?

[Phredreeke]

No, DOS Duke doesn't use grpinfo.

[NightFright]

I think pontifex already made a DOS-compatible version from my release for his EDuke32 MP-Old launcher. It's included with the package.

In the meantime, version 2.0.5 has been released. I have converted the tiles to (segmented) .art files, reducing groupfile size by another 140 KB (not that it would really matter at this point, but at least it makes dukezone2.def unnecessary). Also added GAMEINFO for Raze users (so you don't really need the grpinfo if you just drag-n-drop dukezone2.grp onto the Raze executable).

[Avenger]

Phredreeke, on 13 June 2021 - 06:23 PM, said:

No, DOS Duke doesn't use grpinfo.

I'm aware of that since you just mentioned that file was for EDuke32.

I'm asking if this could be made compatible with all versions of Duke Nukem 3D by standardizing the format to GRP/CON so that it's also compatible with DOS.

[Avenger]

NightFright, on 13 June 2021 - 09:19 PM, said:

I think pontifex already made a DOS-compatible version from my release for his EDuke32 MP-Old launcher. It's included with the package.

In the meantime, version 2.0.5 has been released. I have converted the tiles to (segmented) .art files, reducing groupfile size by another 140 KB (not that it would really matter at this point, but at least it makes dukezone2.def unnecessary). Also added GAMEINFO for Raze users (so you don't really need the grpinfo if you just drag-n-drop dukezone2.grp onto the Raze executable).

Thanks I'll give this a try.

[Avenger]

NightFright, on 13 June 2021 - 09:19 PM, said:

I think pontifex already made a DOS-compatible version from my release for his EDuke32 MP-Old launcher. It's included with the package.

In the meantime, version 2.0.5 has been released. I have converted the tiles to (segmented) .art files, reducing groupfile size by another 140 KB (not that it would really matter at this point, but at least it makes dukezone2.def unnecessary). Also added GAMEINFO for Raze users (so you don't really need the grpinfo if you just drag-n-drop dukezone2.grp onto the Raze executable).

I tried the file included with this package and it only contains a GRP like yours which means it's not DOS compatible.

Is there a reason why when I try to open your GRP with XGroup that I receive the warning "not a compatible grp file, aborting" error?

I'd extract the CON that I'm assuming is packaged within the GRP but I don't know of any other way to do so.

[NightFright]

I am not using the grp file format since it's a deprecated format with poor to no file compression. It's a zipfile renamed to .grp.

Anyway, before you keep bumping this thread with the same request: Here it is, a (hopefully) DOS-compatible groupfile of latest Duke!Zone II v2.05 (even though I removed all Raze-specific stuff again for obvious reasons, ofc). Enjoy.

Duke!Zone II v2.05 for DOS (zipped grp, 0.7 MB)

I haven't tried this in DOSBox, but you would need copy dukezon2.grp into your Duke3D dir (along with duke3d.exe) and use these startup parameters:
duke3d.exe /gdukezon2.grp /xdukezon2.con

I am afraid more than that I cannot do.

[Avenger]

NightFright, on 17 June 2021 - 10:56 PM, said:

I am not using the grp file format since it's a deprecated format with poor to no file compression. It's a zipfile renamed to .grp.

Anyway, before you keep bumping this thread with the same request: Here it is, a (hopefully) DOS-compatible groupfile of latest Duke!Zone II v2.05 (even though I removed all Raze-specific stuff again for obvious reasons, ofc). Enjoy.

Duke!Zone II v2.05 for DOS (zipped grp, 0.7 MB)

I haven't tried this in DOSBox, but you would need copy dukezon2.grp into your Duke3D dir (along with duke3d.exe) and use these startup parameters:
duke3d.exe /gdukezon2.grp /xdukezon2.con

I am afraid more than that I cannot do.

Thanks but if there's no CON file physically present DOS will not be able to find it like EDuke32 does.

Also, how is the GRP format "depricated" exactly?

This is a 25 year old game so rather then renaming zip files to original formats, why not just create a GRP/CON format to begin with so that it's compatible across all platforms?

With the invention of broadband, a couple hundred KB difference in file size seems like a poor reason to break compatibility.

[NightFright]

I have extracted the con file now, download the whole thing again from the same link in my previous post.

Nobody I know is using the old GRP format any more. Ion Fury is also using zipfiles renamed to .grp. I will not go backwards and start creating groupfiles again, even if in this case, the filesize difference may not be so considerable. My call, but feel free to do it differently in your own projects. Besides, people playing the game in DOSBox is also a rather exotic situation that isn't exactly common practice these days. I think we are on the same page regarding that. Anyway, you have your shiny file(s) now, so time to party, I guess. :P

Side note: I saved 50% file size (-1.3 GB) in the Addon Compilation by switching from grp to zip. That's nothing you can just sweep aside.

[Avenger]

NightFright, on 18 June 2021 - 02:19 AM, said:

I have extracted the con file now, download the whole thing again from the same link in my previous post.

Nobody I know is using the old GRP format any more. Ion Fury is also using zipfiles renamed to .grp. I will not go backwards and start creating groupfiles again, even if in this case, the filesize difference may not be so considerable. My call, but feel free to do it differently in your own projects. Besides, people playing the game in DOSBox is also a rather exotic situation that isn't exactly common practice these days. I think we are on the same page regarding that. Anyway, you have your shiny file(s) now, so time to party, I guess. :P

Side note: I saved 50% file size (-1.3 GB) in the Addon Compilation by switching from grp to zip. That's nothing you can just sweep aside.

This still didn't solve the problem but I fixed it and brought it back to being compatible with DOS.

DOS is far more strict and unforgiving than EDuke32 is.

Aside from the already mentioned requirement of GRP/GAME.CON format which is easily fixed by extracting the GAME.CON file from the GRP that you renamed from a zip to save a couple hundred kb,

- Always leave 2 empty spaces at the end of all CON files
- Don't rename CON fles to the same names as the default ones contained in DUKE3D.GRP. DZ-USER.CON / DZ-DEFS.CON were changed to "USER.CON" / "DEFS.CON" causing them to be overwriten by the ones contained in the base game and the GAME.CON file was edited to reflect this.

DOSBox has thousands of downloads per month so I don't know why you'd want to exclude all those users because of a few arbitrary ones in undeveloped countries still on dialup that care about the download size.


Anyways, thanks for the bug fixes. It's nice to finally play this expansion without the headaches of the original version.