[ck3D]

I don't feel like making a new thread for it, but I just ran into this video:



It's pretty weird: dude asks for 100 likes on his video to drop a download link, but if he's counting on YouTube alone he's realistically never getting that, and apparently it's a sequel to Alejandro's 'Blackened', but I don't think it was made by Alejandro. The gameplay looks overwhelmingly repetitive with an insane amount of respawns, but sometimes such maps can be really fun i.e.. Mister Sinister's 'Slaughterfest'. Design-wise it looks pretty clean with some nice touches of style.

[LakiSoft]

Replaying Duke It Out D.C. for idon't which time already. I am at Level 5 currently.

[Merlijn]

@ ck3d: that's a pretty weird strategy indeed, some duke video's do get that amount of likes but the odds are very small.

The map looks pretty well designed, I like the touches added to the outdoor scenery (especially the passing train on the opposite track, that's quite neat and I could see Alejandro doing something like that).
But yeah, the amount of monsters seems quite excessive for such a cramped indoor environment.

[The Battlelord]

Poor train, i wonder how does it stil going on, it must be overloaded with all those monsters .IMO could have be more funny if there were some more ammo for the bigger guns, too much pistol and the map it feels a bit claustrophobic.

[ck3D]

Same dude just made another map apparently (which I can't find a download link to, but I'm sure if asked the author would provide), looking just as claustrophobic and as much of a monster spamfest but it's got some interesting design bits, funnily enough it also claims to be a sequel to (another) one of Alejandro's maps:

[ck3D]

Found another video of another map by the same guy, still no public link (admittedly I didn't look for one beyond the YouTube description, maybe it's somewhere). A few basic design 'mistakes' such as flat cliffs and whatnot but besides that, it looks like his best map with some interesting use of terrain/sprites and enough open space to handle the mass slaughterfests the author seems to favor implementing:



(part 1/3, the next ones should autoplay or be in the suggested, related videos)

[Sanek]

What the heck is this? Does anyone tried to contact this guy, asking him for the maps? Perhaps he doesn't know the realities of our community. Defending EDF looks interesting and the rest of his stuff is not bad but to be honest, none of it can warrant 100 likes he's asking for. Even "hot maps" videos posted by other users don't hit the number.

[ck3D]

Everything else on the channel consists in fucking meme videos, I think in general the author wishes he could 'go viral' and score oh-so-meaningful e-points, go figure. I can't remember whether or not I've messaged them to recommend getting in touch with the Duke4 network and reviewers, which is something I do from time to time when I run into videos of random, promising levels by unknown authors but not systematically. I'm guessing anybody really willing to contact the guy about his work can always do it, just raising awareness here.

[Šneček]

Recently I tried "2018 Final Beer Run" by sT1LL_WAnTeD, it was a very nice map tuned into the winter, there were nice details like snowman, hockey, a "house" in the shape of a skull and other. Some pics: https://postimg.cc/gallery/2w3p39378/

[pacman]

I have been playing Duke Mansion and I have no idea in hell in how to get out of the chess puzzle, i dont even play chess.

https://msdn.duke4.n...dukemansion.php

I give up. How do I pass this puzzel? This guy just cuts the video and suddendly hes past it

[comorbidity]

pacman, on 10 February 2020 - 11:54 AM, said:

I have been playing Duke Mansion and I have no idea in hell in how to get out of the chess puzzle, i dont even play chess.

https://msdn.duke4.n...dukemansion.php

I give up. How do I pass this puzzel? This guy just cuts the video and suddendly hes past it

It may help to get familiar with the names of chess pieces

Spoiler

but here's a quick walkthrough of that section I just recorded: https://youtu.be/CeeHNUIdl9M

[Seb Luca]

Citrouille : an original and funny 2D game of action and logic, that I highly recommend

--> https://lumensection.com/citrouille/

[Sanek]

Title: What have you been playing? (posting about Duke 3D maps)

Perhaps we should make a thread about last games we played instead of doing this.

Spoiler

Game looks cool btw, similar to other games of this type and theme

[Ninety-Six]

So I recently came across this "Fatal Mode" thing. It basically stuffs a bunch of enemies into the vanilla levels, but crush me like a soda can if it isn't actually kinda fun.

I can totally understand why someone would not like this mod. The combat is pretty brutal and edges pretty close to Serious Sam in terms of what you're expected to manage in a battle, what with enemy prioritization, needing to grab guns (pistol start is enforced), know when to retreat... It is really difficult, and while this is normally the kind of thing that would annoy me... I dunno. It feels like some actual thought went into what enemies are placed where. Levels have been altered to provide more guns and ammo, plus additional secrets for further assistance. And even though I hate being blindsided in levels... I guess maybe it's because it all takes place within the stock maps that I get less frustrated, since going in I already know the layout, where the guns are in the original secrets, and where the best holdout locations are. I'm not trying to escape one hellhole just to run into a worse one, is what I'm saying. I know where things are.

Again, I can totally understand why someone wouldn't like this. It's definitely not for everyone. But for me, I already love the way Duke handles, so bouncing all over the place, prioritizing enemies, managing health and ammo, knowing when to pull out and recover... it's the kind of thing that really emphasizes my favorite part about these old shooters, and that's the combat.


Would definitely not recommend for someone who doesn't already know where all the secrets in the vanilla game are, though. Only try it out if you want to have your balls busted. You're only doing it to yourself if you go in spite of either.

[Šneček]

I played an older user map called "Digsite" by Dale Metcalfe released in 1996. It was good.

[necroslut]

Just played through the American Assault TC (from 1999), which was surprisingly good. I was certain I had played it already, and that it was trash, but I must have been mistaken as I didn't recognize it at all beyond the logo. The tacky logo must have been what had left me with that impression.
There were some issues – misaligned or missing textures, mistagged switches and elevators etc, but overall it was really enjoyable classic-style Duke. It reminded me a lot of JJDuke3D, which is something of a personal favorite.
Quite impressive feat too, as it's a full three-episode TC (plus secret levels and deathmatch maps), made almost entirely by a single guy.

[Sixty Four]

There's a few maps since I last checked, I'm looking around lately atm. I found this so far. Pretty crazy map I am playing has a nice design layout it seems called Poison Heart. For a moment the start got me stuck, then I found the mirror.

[Ninety-Six]

Sixty Four, on 07 May 2020 - 08:39 PM, said:

There's a few maps since I last checked, I'm looking around lately atm. I found this so far. Pretty crazy map I am playing has a nice design layout it seems called Poison Heart. For a moment the start got me stuck, then I found the mirror.

That was always one of my favorite locations visually from that map.

[ck3D]

Ha that's my map, thanks for the comments I appreciate it. That's the corner of the map I'm the most satisfied with too, I gotta say. I was trying to go for something that would be reminiscent of classic design à la Hollywood Holocaust/Red Light District, just with some modern enhancements resorting to user map-styled aesthetics to enhance the scale and color variety but hopefully not break the style of the game. Always a thin line to walk, that is.

Sixty Four you made those Turok maps, right? I remember playing and commenting on them a while back. Those were really fun and fresh.

[Sixty Four]

Yeah I don't know why but I wanted to take a screenshot of that part, it feels and looks right. And I was jumping rooftops and stuff at that point. Fun map even somewhat tough with that slimer texture shooting stuff out of it. That reminds me of something from Doom when a 'texture' shoots like that. After the enemies were gone from that area it was easy.

Yep the three turok maps are my babies lol. They were very natural for me to work on it felt like. So I had a lot of fun in those.

[FistMarine]

Finally got back into good old Duke3D after finishing my master studies earlier this week! I missed a lot of user maps and mods that came in the last few years. I wasn't sure what to start with but I ultimately decided to start with the infamous Duke Zone maps since I got a boxed copy a couple of months ago and wanted to take the challenge to complete all the 500 maps (yes really, with exception of DM maps that have no exit, in that case I will just explore them). For some reason the main Duke Zone frontend doesn't work right and even requires the Duke Zone CD in drive to play (much like Duke3D Atomic) so I just copied all MAP files in a separate DUKE3D directory. I played the first map {BOOM!}.MAP (which didn't show up in SETUP.EXE in Select User Level) using DOSBox 0.74-3, command line parameters: DUKE3D.EXE -MAP {BOOM!}.MAP

Since I used 1.3D (for nostalgic purposes as it was the first version of Duke3D I ever played in my life), it seems that starting an user map puts it at Skill 0 (as seen in save/load menu) but despite that, it was still quite a challenge, mostly thanks to the old controls which I left unchanged such as arrow keys for moving, etc! I almost died at beginning but I made it through until end without dying, thanks to getting dropped used armors from pig cops and even a chaingun by an enforcer! I have 8 screenshots which I thought I'd share. At first I thought I found what seemed to be secret exit to a planned episode this map was part of but it was actually the main exit as when I tried going the normal path, it still led me to the exit. After finishing it, it just restarted the map.

I will continue playing Duke Zone maps at a later time or I suppose I should do 3-4 more maps in meantime. To make it more interesting (instead of focusing on a single mod at a time), I'm playing stuff at random and using intended version/port for the specific map/mod (DOS 1.3D, DOS 1.5, JFDuke3D, EDuke32, etc).

[Micky C]

There's a lot of very high quality releases, both maps and TCs. Perhaps you could turn your attention to those? It'd be a much better time investment than going through the shovelware maps in DukeZone.

[NNC]

ck3D, on 19 June 2019 - 04:12 PM, said:

Same dude just made another map apparently (which I can't find a download link to, but I'm sure if asked the author would provide), looking just as claustrophobic and as much of a monster spamfest but it's got some interesting design bits, funnily enough it also claims to be a sequel to (another) one of Alejandro's maps:

Funny, I started watching this video before reading your comment, and Alien Wipeout spring into my mind immediately without thinking a second. And then read your comment about the map being a sequel of another Ale map.

[ck3D]

Here's one more unreleased map by another author who prefers to only make a video available, and not the level in spite of how good it looks, the exteriors remind me of Freeway:

[slacker1]

That looks pretty good. Just left a comment on the Youtube video asking about a download. We'll see if anything happens.

[Arzca]

slacker1, on 10 July 2020 - 12:33 AM, said:

That looks pretty good. Just left a comment on the Youtube video asking about a download. We'll see if anything happens.

I'm the guy behind that level and that's my YouTube video. That particular level was created in 2008, and I was planning to release it at the time with X3 Studios and Bank Roll 2000 some years ago (2016 I think?), but I felt the map wasn't really that great, and let it be, but since some people are interested of playing it, I might as well release it.

Some gameplay adjustments might be required before the release though, as there isn't that much ammo laying around, particularly on CGS.

[FistMarine]

Micky C, on 09 July 2020 - 05:21 AM, said:

There's a lot of very high quality releases, both maps and TCs. Perhaps you could turn your attention to those? It'd be a much better time investment than going through the shovelware maps in DukeZone.

Yes you are right, Micky C. I just wasn't sure what to start with, considering the fact that I have so much stuff to play, it's hard to choose until you finally start playing something. I did play a couple more Duke Zone in past week (these happened to be DM maps, so I just explored them) but I have also did the following:

Duke Nukem 3D 20th anniversary World Tour - Finally started this version of game. Completed the first episode on Let's Rock (including the secret level Faces of Death, which is now accessible in The Abyss) because I wanted to have a more relaxing time as there are so many issues with this port, including the mouse movement being weird but other than that, I did fine (I usually play Duke3D on CGS, this time I made an exception). I will post more details regarding the port itself on its own topic.

Duke Nukem 3D Full Version v1.3D (pirated version) - Also completed the first episode on Let's Rock (due to the weird controls, as I played keyboard only but I still did it fine, especially with my fast reflexes and with so much atomic health laying around). This is the version I had when I was a kid on a CD with games called 3D Action Games Collection. Although it is identical to the actual 1.3D release (the GRP, EXE and CON files have the exact same date as the original install from the original CD and from the Kill a Ton Collection), there are also additional junk files in the folder, a CHEAT folder (this is how I discovered cheats back in 2006 or so, looked around game folders, saw cheats, typed them and then I only played Duke3D with cheats for a few years), the DUKE3D.CFG file dated around 1980 for some reason (yes really, it is how the game was set up by those guys who put this "pirated" CD which I didn't know back then that my copy is pirated, which is why I also got Kill a Ton back in 2012-2013, to not only have an original 1.3D copy but also an original Atomic Edition copy), although the date is lost when you start the game, the cfg will be the current date. The CFG file is a bit interesting, when you start game and watch demos, you have the game set like that: minimal HUD (health, ammo and inventory), crosshair on, brightness to max and controls are set up weird (always run, spacebar to shoot, shift to open doors/use stuff, right CTRL shoots AND toggles run mode, etc) and I know the name of player is also set to "JJ DA KING" which is what confused me when I first downloaded that Multiplayer demo from 3D Realms website back in 2007 and watched it, I thought that was supposed to be the name of the player that recorded the demo but then realized it is the player's name when I went to SETUP.EXE and saw player name is set to this. In reality, the demo players' names don't match is because it is a 1.3D bug which doesn't show player names in demos, instead player 1 is your player's name (default is DUKE) and the rest players don't have any name. I will post comparison screenshots of said demo (one in clean Duke3D install folder, the other with that old 1.3D "pirated" copy) to show what I mean.

As for gameplay, I did have as much fun as I had when I was a kid (I still stand by my point that Duke3D is a timeless classic as much as Doom is, I am sad when some people don't give Duke3D as much credit as it deserves), which is why when I replay original levels, I often play the game in DOSBox (versions 1.3D and 1.5). In Toxic Dump, I even managed to trick that tricky pig cop in shrink room, because I know he is there in 1.3D for some reason (he never spawns here on Atomic and newer versions) and instead of relying on luck whether he is gonna step on me or not (as I want to complete Duke3D without any deaths, which I have been successful in last 5 or so years whenever I come back to the original game), I threw a couple of pipebombs through wall on conveyor belt room and then landed on that room, then when I arrived in that room, no one was there except a dropped shotgun (see pic). I did however manage to get an unfortunate glitch in the Abyss yesterday, because when I was going down on the alien spaceship, I got stuck between sectors, probably because I chose to go down with jetpack on! This is a weird rare bug that hasn't happened in many years, though I remember happening sometimes as kid, probably it is caused when using jetpack between sectors that overlap which confuses game (since when you are using jetpack, you aren't activating touchplates and stuff like that) like in this case or in the sewer in Red Light District or even in the first vent in Hollywood Holocaust and I think Spaceport has this bug as well (wait, I just reminded in Spaceport you have to use jetpack to access a secret in that tower and you don't get stuck, so maybe I'm missing something here, please someone correct me when comes to certain technical details and what exactly causes this glitch). Basically don't use the jetpack when navigating through certain sectors! Other than that, no problem! The double mighty foot glitch still makes me laugh to this day!

Duke Nukem 3D Android demo version - I did force myself to play through the shitty-ass Android version that was eventually removed from Google Play back in 2014 or so, however I found it still available on a site that had it listed, so I decided to play it for the last time, just to have it finished once. It is the shareware version (they really had a nerve to ask money for the full version that they shamelessly badly ported), for some reason most of the console ports and this port were based off original full version of game, not the atomic edition (while XBLA, Megaton and WT are based off Atomic, in regards to content as I know XBLA and Megaton are based off JFDuke3D).

Anyway I played the whole episode on Piece of Cake actually (maybe I should have it done on Let's Rock since the game isn't that hard, don't understand YouTubers who fail even on LR and POC) and it was tolerable, a bit better than I expected, as no deaths were caused by combat. My only deaths were 3 from the rotating gears in Death Row (when tried to grab that dangerous atomic health), 3 from that non-secret in Toxic Dump (that contains RPG and rockets) which requires to shoot button and quickly go into that vent before those platforms squish you and about 5 more deaths from platforming section at end of The Abyss. If you wonder about jetpack why I didn't use it, let's say I couldn't get it due to a bug and there are so many bugs and things wrong with that shitty iOS/Android port of duke3d, that I will gladly list them:

There are sounds and music issues, mirrors don't work, sky is glitched, there are rendering issues (I think the port is based off an old version of JFDuke3D port?), the new interface sucks (why is there a fucking HEALTH BAR instead of good old health number display? why I can't see my armor at all? why are inventory items also bars instead of percentages?), the controls suck (though I was able to jump fine on that RPG secret on first level, it's only the platforming sections in general that are ruined by half assed controls in this port) and so on, I could go on all day listing issues. Oh yeah and secret exits don't work at all. I wasn't able to access Launch Facility. It instead shows Battlelord cutscene (???) when pressing the secret nuke button and the episode is finished? Such a shame that we never got Hail to the King Collection, that was going to be the ultimate Duke3D port and based off EDuke32, best source port ever for Duke3D! I guess I should make a separate topic in regards to my thoughts about all Duke3D digital releases all over the years because I have to talk so much...I will however go now to criticize the WT port in the world tour topic.

Now about some mods I started, last week I started the outdated FM2X of Fernando's FMX series (using JFDuke3D) and stopped at end of first level because I tried to find the remaining secrets I missed but I can't seem to find them, even though I found a few extra ones that didn't count, so I find weird how 6 secrets are still missing! I chose FM2X as it was my first introduction to the FMX series back in 2009-2010 or so when I played these maps first time and enjoyed them very much! I know there have been FM3X and FM4X released very recently but I will be replaying the entire series at a later time using DOSBox as the author intended. New York Rebellion (NYR, FM1X) and Orbital Oblivion (FM2X) weren't actually made for the DOS version, for example running FM2X in DOS Atomic tries to load E3L11 demo but since E3 maps are replaced by non-existing FM3X maps, the game freezes at title screen, as far as I remember from a couple of years ago when I tried to play FM2X in DOSBox (before FM3X was released).

Also this may sound silly but the reason why I haven't played much in DOSBox is because I have been waiting badly for a new version of DOSBox to release, there hasn't been any release in the entire decade (other than maintenance releases of 0.74 in 2018 and 2019) and the only other options are using forks like DOSBox ECE or the latest SVN version. I have a feeling a proper long awaited new version is around the corner. I have been really wanting to play the old TCs like Last Reaction & Water Bases in DOSBox (this particular TC I never played in DOSBox, only in EDuke32, although I did test it once in DOSBox to test a map that didn't work properly in the addon compilation version that was fixed long ago) but I'd prefer to wait for a newer version of DOSBox first because I also want to play other games that don't work fine in current version of DOSBox. That and also NightFright's addon compilation which is also waiting for an EDuke32 update before it will release (so only then I can replay these mods in EDuke32) but that's off-topic and I will stop right here with these pointless details. This is what happens when you come back to play games and mods after a LONG time, you don't even know what to play!

I have started Metropolitan Mayhem in latest EDuke32 r9159 (at least this was the latest I have downloaded a couple of days ago) and I have completed the first two levels and this time 100% kills and secrets. I do have a question in regards to that atomic health in screenshot, how to access it? Not that I need it and have found the other secret which had another atomic health but I wanted to know how do you access this one? Do you have to climb on a trooper while it flies and then jump on that place? I haven't found jetpack and I have already killed all enemies in the level. If I can't get it anymore, it's no big deal. I have gotten everything in the level anyway and I will continue with the rest levels. I didn't want to bump that old topic to talk about how to access that atomic health, so maybe someone can help me here?

I also played the latest DukePlus 2.51. Did the first two maps (Skycar Demo and DukePlus Effects) and found a couple more bugs that I will mention on the DukePlus topic, some of which persist since 2.40 or even earlier.

I will post a couple of screenshots if anyone is interested in them. The DukeZone and FM2X pics are from previous week. Rest are recent pics. I will probably no longer make screens after that, it's quite pointless to fill this topic with unnecessary pictures. I promise to also shorten the messages from now on. No one likes to read long boring posts full of pointless details.

[Sanek]

I just played the Arzca's latest map. I liked it! I don't remeber that user maps used such Freeway-like layout that much. The only negative is misaligned textures that's all over the map. Other than that, it's a classic 3DR-like map, with autor's own design decisions thrown in.

[ck3D]

@RunningDuke to get that Atomic Health in map 2 of Metropolitan Mayhem, you need the jetpack you're supplied with in the very last room in the level (IIRC that rooftop). It should be out there hidden in plain sight behind the Nukebutton or something (at least that was my original intention).

[Merlijn]

I recently replayed the entire Roch series. I know some purists will not agree, but IMO most of them hold up really well! Favorites are Roch 2, Roch 4 and Roch 6.
Only Roch 7 felt a bit underwhelming, in my memory this map was a lot bigger but the recreation of the arc de triomphe feels really tiny in retrospect.

Roch 6 has such a cool and well executed layout, it's still very inspiring stuff!
My new map has some Roch influences as well, which will probably shock absolutely no-one.