[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.