Yearly archives "2018"

Play Duke Nukem 3D From Your Internet Browser!

With the advent of HTML5, a lot of the classics have been popping up in browsers.  For instance, ClassicReload lets you play just about any DOS game inside of a browser-based emulator.  The problem, however, is that not all of the games on that website (including Duke) run too great or run with the correct keyboard and mouse setup.  That leaves you with just a few other choices: Play on original 1990s hardware, play offline on a modern PC with DOSBox emulation, hit up UK Casino Online, or play Duke3D on this website:

Author Gawen writes:

Duke Nukem 3D is one of my favorite game of all time, and now I modified it so that it can run in a browser. Click & Play! That simple! Google Chrome advised. QWERTY keyboard mapping.

[Play Browser Duke3D] [Discussion Thread]

For those still wondering, DOSBox is an emulator program which emulates an IBM PC compatible computer running a DOS operating system. Many IBM PC compatible graphics and sound cards are also emulated.  This means that original DOS programs (including PC games) are provided with an environment in which they can run correctly, even though the modern computers have dropped support for that old environment.  Getting something like DOSBox working inside a modern browser is a whole another level of cool, albeit Gawen might be running some sort of emulation program only similar to it.

Of course, none of this was possible before the advent of HTML 5, which has revolutionized what can be done in your Internet browser.  HTML 5 is the markup language used for structuring and presenting content on the World Wide Web. It is the fifth and current major version of the HTML standard, allowing for things like DOS emulation straight from your browser. Now that’s impressive!

Grabbag 96KHz​/​24bit 2018 Remaster

Grabbag is the Duke Nukem 3D theme song.  Lee Jackson is the genius behind it!

Here is what he has to say about it on his website:

Grabbag, the Duke Nukem theme, officially recorded, remixed, and remastered at 96KHz and 24 bits by the original composer, Lee Jackson.  You should definitely check it out when you’re not busy at the online casino guide.

Recording and remixing were done in Cakewalk by Bandlab, while remastering was done in Adobe Audition CC 2019. Includes high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more. Paying supporters also get unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app.

Note: the streaming preview above is not in the full high-fidelity format. For that, you need to download the song. Also, to get the full 96KHz / 24-bit fidelity, be sure to select either FLAC, ALAC, WAV, or AIFF as your download format. MP3, OGG, and other formats will compress the file, resulting in a loss of fidelity.

[Discussion Thread] [Download Link]

Duke Nukem 3D Community Updates

Duke Nukem 3D Roland Audio

The Roland ED SC-D70 is one of many successors of the popular Roland SC-55. The songs were all recorded using the SC-D70. Other planned music Packs so far are Doom 2, Doom TNT, Heretic, Hexen, Blood, Rise of the Triad, Hocus Pocus & Descent 1.  Download here!

 

PolymerRTX

Remember Polymer?  It makes Duke3D look prettier! Here is the trailer to jog your memory.   Well, community member IceColdDuke is now creating a ray tracing renderer for EDuke32.  It’s still in the early stages, but you can read all about it here and here is the GitHub link.

 

Cosmetic Duke 1.6

The aim of this mod is to enhance DN3D visuals, audio quality, add QoL changes and fix some bugs. Author December Man writes: Mods like Duke Plus or Nuclear Showdown, while great, interfere with mentioned balance in a significant way and HRP style packs (adding high resolution textures etc. to old games) never resonated with me – I always preferred the graphics quality closer to the original. This is the reason I made Cosmetic Duke.  If you’re not too busy with slot games, then the Comestic Duke download links are here!

Here’s a screenshot and a Youtube video:

 

Ion Maiden Founders Edition – Pre-order Now!

The Ion Maiden Founders Edition is a unique high-quality ’90s style “big box” release of the game.  It features a custom-made floppy disk with a built in flash drive, Bowling Bomb stickers, mouse pad, A3 Poster, lanyard, physical soundtrack, Ion Maiden key cards, and a 6″ Bombshell figurine.

Limited to 500 copies – Shipping Q1 2019!

“Calibrations” CD by Lee Jackson now available on Amazon

From legendary video game music composer Lee Jackson, author of Grabbag, the Duke Nukem theme, comes Calibrations, his first foray into retail CD album releases.

You can find the album here: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B07C9QR7VY

We’ve been told that only a few physical copies are available currently, but more will be stocked when they sell out. The album features music from the Duke Nukem 3D: 20th Anniversary World Tour soundtrack as well as a few brand new compositions. Give it a listen!

Duke Nukem Gameboy Color Sountrack for Duke Nukem 3D

Community-Submitted News by Boo/Sugarpoop

This is my soundtrack mod for Duke Nukem 3D, which changes the soundtrack to that of the Gameboy Color. The Gameboy Color version of Duke Nukem only had 21 levels, thus this soundtrack mod only covers the first 21 levels of Duke 3D. In the future I may multiply the tunes among the rest of the levels, since there’re only 8 tunes evenly distributed among the 21 levels anyway.

[Download Link]

Here’s my video of me playing it with RPD Guy’s Brutal Duke mod:

To use the mod. put the “GBC” zip file into the “autoload” folder within your EDuke32 folder. If there’s  no “autoload” folder, then make one. Run eduke32.exe and make sure you check “enable autoload.”

The 2001 Unreal Engine version of Duke Nukem Forever was 90% complete, had RPG and horror elements

DSOG Writes:

Duke Nukem Forever was a huge disappointment for a lot of Duke Nukem fans. However, there was a version that impressed everyone back in 2001. That version of Duke Nukem Forever was powered by Unreal Engine and was meant to be a more serious/dark game. And according to Frederik Schreiber, VP at 3DRealms, that version is 90% complete.

[Duke4.net Forum Discussion Thread]

As Frederik Schreiber claimed, this 2001 version packs 14-16 hours of gameplay and it played partly as an RPG in terms of goals. Players basically had Mission Objectives on their HUD and they could activate them, like quests. Furthermore, you also had an inventory with ID badges, keycards, etc.

In Duke Nukem Forever 2001, players meet and save NPCs, solve puzzles, and try and solve the mystery of what’s going on. Then they meet the infected EDF who’s attacking them and the story evolves from there.

Schreiber re-confirmed how dark that version was – at least for 2001 standards. There are scenes with lights going out, flickering in the distance, monster closets, screams in the distance. The game is also said to be very cinematic with rain for the most part and lightning strikes in the distance.

The game also offered players a bike, thus turning at that point into a semi open-world/hub title.

  • The bike is probably the most impressive. !z2_l1 you get the bike and the game turns half open world/Hub style
  • So you can drive out of vegas, and you get a loading screen.
  • Different parts of vegas also have loading screens in between. But you get these missions from NPCs and then solve them (a bit like deus ex)
  • Oh.. there’s also a subway in vegas you can take to visit different districts in the city.

Duke Nukem Forever 2001 featured 25-ish levels in single-player and 12 levels in multiplayer (with most of them pretty much done).

In order to prove his claims, Schreiber released the following screenshot of the directory of one of the builds.

According to Schreiber, the new renderer that 3D Realms implemented in 2002 resulted in ‘all the levels turning black and textures having to be recreated with normal maps.’ Those Unreal Engine levels were created with static lighting in mind and everything simply fell apart. As such, 3D Realms decided to scrap its previous work – once again as it did the very same thing with the Quake 2 version of Duke Nukem Forever – and start from the beginning.

Now what’s interesting here is that 3D Realms would like to release this 2001 version of Duke Nukem Forever, however, it appears that this may never happen due to licensing issues. Currently, Gearbox owns the rights of the Duke Nukem IP.