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Duke Nukem 3D Source Released to GPL

Posted by chrisd on Thu Apr 03, 2003 09:48 AM
from the come-get-some dept.
kg4czo writes "Well, it looks like the kind folks at 3drealms have released the Duke Nuke'em 3D source under the GPL. It's actually buildable under OpenWatcom 1.0 as a 32bit dos program. Maybe we can see a few improvements and ports out there now."
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  • So... (Score:5, Funny)

    by da3dAlus (20553) on Thursday April 03 2003, @09:49AM (#5652388) Homepage Journal
    Will there now be a competition to see which independent mod group can come out with Duke Nukem Forever before the actual company does?
  • ...What i'm going to hack this evening.

    Had a jolly good fun with Wolfenstein when they GPL'd it.
    Oh wait. Was it actually GPL's or what was the lisence?
    • Nah, it wasn't GPL'd. I can look up the license on my own computer. You could use extracts of the code in a program. Quake was GPL'd though ;)

      -uso.
  • by guacamolefoo (577448) on Thursday April 03 2003, @09:50AM (#5652393) Homepage Journal
    I almost read this as "Duke Nukem Forever Released" and then I remembered that April Fools Day was a couple days back.

    If I'm not going to RTFA, I can at least RTF headline.

    GF.
  • great game (Score:5, Interesting)

    by cgifool (147454) on Thursday April 03 2003, @09:50AM (#5652394)
    I always like DN3D because it ran so QUICKLY on the crap machine I had then. New maps, great. But what other sorts of "improvements" would anyone make? AFAIK it wasnt built to be "open" in any sort of developer-friendly way. But then again, perhaps thats just the kind of thing a lone OSD loves to chew on...

    • Re:great game (Score:5, Insightful)

      by jandrese (485) <kensama@vt.edu> on Thursday April 03 2003, @10:02AM (#5652508) Homepage Journal
      I'd expect someone to get it working on Linux (requiring a 400Mhz machine in the process no doubt). To be fair, most windows users can't even play Duke anymore because the Dos emulation in the NT kernel isn't up to snuff, and even if people reboot to DOS, their soundcard isn't even close to being supported by any game of that era, nor is their Video card all that hot at VESA graphics. Plus the original Duke had a lot of graphics glitches with certain cards (I'm looking at you VESA mode).
      • Re:great game (Score:5, Informative)

        by teslatug (543527) on Thursday April 03 2003, @10:45AM (#5652797)
        It works pretty well in XP (sounds and all). I still play it from time to time. You might need something like VDMS [sourceforge.net]. I don't know if it's "required" because I had it installed just in case.
    • I give it a week before someone releases the super-duper OpenGL/5.1 surrond/Linux version.

      At most.
    • Re:great game (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Pxtl (151020) on Thursday April 03 2003, @10:31AM (#5652708) Homepage
      I'd like to see more power added to scripting engines and suchlike. Doom source ports have added a system called "fragglescript" that allows players to make scripted games such as soccer and hunt matches.

      Really, if the scripting engine was powerful enough, it could be used for full game-mods (Team Fortress Duke anyone?)

      Maybe someone could embed a Python interpreter and event system into the thing.

      Alternately, there is the approach taken by Legacy, which was adding skins and GL lightsourcing/alpha to the game. That could be pretty too.
  • And I tried to submit it:

    2003-04-01 17:32:14 Duke Nukem 3D Source Released (no kidding) (articles,games) (rejected)

    Either way, I'm glad its featured here to the /. community. I can't wait to see what wild crazy network/opengl implementation this thing will get.

    You can download it from 3D Gamers [3dgamers.com] or Fileshack [fileshack.com], since I'm sure that 3D Realms will be quickly hosed. It was hosed on April 1st, and that was without the help of a good slashdotting.

    The readme states it will run over a network (but without sound), and the soundcode is basically crap.

    From what I understand, it will take some major reworking to get it running in Windows 2000/XP.
    • Ya, that looks very simular to what I submitted...

      * 2003-04-01 18:04:15 Duke Nukem 3D source code available (articles,games) (rejected)

      I guess we're not special enough =)
    • The readme states it will run over a network (but without sound), and the soundcode is basically crap.

      In true slashdot fashion, I did not read the referenced articles..

      I've been using D3D for quite some time with boot disks over a network and with sound. Different method though.

      I use a DOS network boot disk (Bart's [nu2.nu]is a good start).

      Configure the boot disk to:

      Connect to a Samba share (or Win share) that has the D3D files. TCP/IP boot disk required for Samba but an IPX or Netbeui disk can be used for

    • by Mr. McGibby (41471) on Thursday April 03 2003, @11:34AM (#5653216) Homepage Journal
      Why can't Slashdot run a BitTorrent tracker so that folks can post torrents along with their submissions to help the bandwidth problem? It's a perfect solution to the slashdot effect on larger files. And the bandwidth hit on /. is very small.
    • by athakur999 (44340) on Thursday April 03 2003, @12:50PM (#5653922) Homepage Journal
      That's because you didn't include anything about the new RFC. You should have submitted:

      Duke Nukem 3D Source Released with support for RFC3514 (no kidding)

      Then it would have gotten posted up, not once but five times.

  • Hmmm.... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by timeOday (582209) on Thursday April 03 2003, @09:53AM (#5652426)
    Duke Nukem 3d was a fabulous game at the time, but the source code to more advanced games (quake) has already been released. Remember, Duke Nukem 3d didn't even have 3d characters, so technically it's closer to Doom.
    • Re:Hmmm.... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Chelloveck (14643) on Thursday April 03 2003, @10:18AM (#5652622) Homepage

      Better technology is not the same as a better game. As a game, rather than just eye-candy, I'll pit Duke against any of the more modern full 3D shooters. Duke had humor and attitude. I loved it back then, and I've been trying to find a way to play it under Win2k. (No sound -- Which sucks, because that's a big part of the attitude referenced above.)

      I can't wait until someone gets a working Win32 version up and running. Maybe with 3D objects replacing the sprites a la the Doomsday [doomsdayhq.com] ports of Doom, Heretic, and Hexen.

      I hear you scoffing. "Sure, Duke3D was good, back in the day. But that's just nostalgia, you old fart!" Well, maybe. But I do play still play Heretic pretty regularly. I'll bet Duke's still got some life in him!

      Let's rock!

    • That doesn't change the fact that the DN3D was an excellent game, had excellent levels, and an excellent level editor.

      I see two or three possibilities here:

      1. DN3D is ported to every conceivable platform so that original DN3D owners can play the levels they bought on Linux, OSX, Windows 2000/XP.

      2. DN3D is updated so that your original game files can be used to position 3D models of Duke and the monsters in the original levels.

      3. DN3D code will be used Mozilla style as a reference for an entirely new gam
  • Not 3D.. (Score:5, Informative)

    by Faeton (522316) on Thursday April 03 2003, @09:55AM (#5652449) Homepage Journal
    Duke Nukem 3D *isn't* really 3D, but a clever 2.5D engine. It's more like a heavily modified DOOM than a Quake (which is full 3D).

    That being said, still good to see it out, although it's a bit late (Quake sourcecode was released a few years back).

    • Re:Not 3D.. (Score:5, Informative)

      by Bisqwit (180954) <bisqwit@iki.COFFEEfi minus caffeine> on Thursday April 03 2003, @10:56AM (#5652902) Homepage
      In the 2.5D engine of Duke Nukem 3D, I especially loved the way they implemented the possibility of stairs.

      The game allows overlapping sectors on the 2D map, as long as there's no visual path between them.
      The overlapping sectors usually are in different layers (i.e. one is downstairs, one is somewhat above it), but it's not a requirement: they can be flat too.
      This enables some nice scenes that are unfortunately impossible in real life (and in Doom), like:
      - Having a small closet in a room, and when you enter the closet, you find out that the inside of the closet is bigger than the room it is in.
      - Building that has different interiors, depending on which side you enter it in.
      - Windows which show outside world completely different than what you saw before you entered the building...

      Their implementation of lifts and underwater scenes was not so nice, but it worked, overcoming something Doom didn't. (Lifts and water surfaces work as teleports.)
    • Re:Not 3D.. (Score:4, Insightful)

      by fredrikj (629833) on Thursday April 03 2003, @10:57AM (#5652915) Homepage
      Duke Nukem 3D *isn't* really 3D, but a clever 2.5D engine.

      Oh, come on, that "2.5D" argument is really, really getting boring. Sure, the engine uses a 2D model for representing the levels internally, but since when does that make the game "2.5D"? If we went by that rule, 99% of today's games would be "2.5D" or "2.96D" or whatever, because all of them generalize the world representation in one way or another in order to make development easier and real-time computation faster.

      The only thing that matters is how stuff looks on your screen and how you interact with it. The levels look highly 3D to me. You can move in all directions. Duke Nukem 3D is a 3D game, as plain and simple as that.
      • Re:Not 3D.. (Score:3, Informative)

        Oh, come on, that "2.5D" argument is really, really getting boring. Sure, the engine uses a 2D model for representing the levels internally, but since when does that make the game "2.5D"?

        Since as soon as you try to make a level with general 3-D features (say, a building that has both windows you can enter and a roof you can walk on top of) you find that the engine makes it impossible. The levels look highly 3D, but that's mostly because their designers did an excellent job of hiding the engine's limitati
  • Maybe now I can finally get the stupid Penthouse level to work!
  • I read about many submitters whose announcement about this had been rejected, these days.
    I guess that "they" finally considered it was worth publishing.
    OK, now one question :
    Are the graphics, music, etc. free to use too ?
  • by slashuzer (580287) on Thursday April 03 2003, @09:56AM (#5652464) Homepage
    Releasing the source code of this "continously devloped" program is like "releasing" a fart.

    Nobody wants it. And it makes everybody uncomfortable.

  • Even better! (Score:5, Informative)

    by Moloch666 (574889) <jeff-junk@td s . n et> on Thursday April 03 2003, @09:56AM (#5652466) Journal
    They released [3drealms.com] the source code for RotT (Rise of the Triad) as well. This game had some of the best deathmatch.
    • Hey - RotT was _THE_ first game to support microphone communications between players in a (commercial) game. It beat Marathon (mac) by a little less than a month.

      Whatever happened to that - or at least people using it (since DX8+ supports it)?

      Duke Nukem 3D, on the other hand, was the first shooter with a lot of breakable things. I particularly liked the toilets, since I was usually motion sick, anyway :)
  • Memories (Score:4, Interesting)

    by rf0 (159958) <rghf@fsck.me.uk> on Thursday April 03 2003, @09:57AM (#5652469) Homepage
    I remember the first day I sat down and played this multiplayer. The first level is based on a cinema and there was a great sniping position from a bedroom in the street. Sit there with the RPG blowing the living hell out of my opponents.

    Of course there was the humour and the ability to chuck money at the dancing girls. Ok so it was immature but I was only 16 at the time. Gees is really that long ago.

    Anyway I hope we get to see a GLDuke one day with improved graphics and hidden mode to make the girlies clothes fall off :)

    Rus
  • by FnordX (115944) <fnord&cyberspace,org> on Thursday April 03 2003, @09:58AM (#5652472)
    Does this mean we'll be able to get other games working that were made under the Build engine?

    I'd really like to be able to play Blood again.
  • Non Reg Link (Score:2, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Mirror [apogeegames.com]

    Also, the BUILD [icculus.org] BUILD engine has already been ported to Win32 and Linux, so getting Duke3D working should be straight forward.

    • Linux port (Score:5, Informative)

      by Dweebs (528178) on Thursday April 03 2003, @10:10AM (#5652574) Homepage
      http://cvs.icculus.org/horde/chora/cvs.php?rt=duke 3d

      The Linux port is being developed as we speak (SDL/OGL). Who cares if the game is not new and cutting edge. It's going to be a fun game to dust off the ole CD and play.

      --Dweebs0r
  • Learn from Doom (Score:5, Insightful)

    by axolotl_farmer (465996) on Thursday April 03 2003, @10:00AM (#5652497)
    There are already posts compaining about releasing the source for an outdated game. I'd say take a look at what happened to DooM since the source release...

    A number of new ports for a variety [doomworld.com] of platforms. Ports that improve the engine [notgod.com], as well as those that add eye candy [doomsdayhq.com].

    Nothing but good can come of this!
  • by ajuin (617076) on Thursday April 03 2003, @10:04AM (#5652522) Homepage
    In my opinion, the sound effects and clever level design were what made Nukem 3d (and it's sister Shadow Warrior) an enjoyable experience (more so than the overly serious Quake)

    The 3d engine wasn't even impressive when it was released, let alone now.

    Still, it's nice to see old software being 'liberated' :)
      • Pretty simple, actually - at least, if you're thinking of the point I am when you say that. You're talking about the hidden passage behind the poster in one of the cells, right? All you have to be is observant; if you look, you can see what looks like an odd gap just below the bottom of the poster. If you blow the poster up with an explosive weapon (such as the RPG), the passage will be revealed in all its glory. It just takes a keen eye for detail.

        What I liked the best about DN3D's levels, especially

  • Duke Nukem 2 (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Morgahastu (522162) <bshel@@@WEEZERro ... my fave bands n> on Thursday April 03 2003, @10:06AM (#5652540) Journal
    I'd rather they release the source code for their 2d games!

    Man that was fun.
  • by ancukiewiczd (614805) on Thursday April 03 2003, @10:11AM (#5652583)
    A very large part of DN3D (including the sound code) was written in x86 assembly and not C. Thus, a large portion of the game will have to be rewritten before it can be ported to other platforms or hacked up easily.
  • by ShwAsasin (120187) on Thursday April 03 2003, @10:11AM (#5652584) Journal
    Back in the day, the build engine was among one of the best engines thanks to publicity by 3D Realms/Apogee for using it. I'm was always amazed that Ken Silverman (I believe thats his name), made the engine when he was in his late teens and early 20's. It's a shame he didn't continue making game engines, perhaps we would have seen Duke Forever by name, or maybe Prey.
  • Build Engine? (Score:5, Informative)

    by phorm (591458) on Thursday April 03 2003, @10:21AM (#5652644) Homepage Journal
    I'm hoping that the full source for the related "build" level-creating engine is included. IMHO, one of the best parts about the "duke3d" package was build. It was a very nice, interactive way of creating levels. The basic stuff (make walls, raise/drop floors) was easy enough that even [insert idiot or political figure of preference] could figure it out.

    Of course, using build pretty much required that you have a laser printer - because there were tons of pages on tags (item tags, sector tags, etc etc) and special keys to remember that printed out to the size of a small booklet.

    If somebody could model a current level-creation engine after build, perhaps in d3d or (better) GL, I would be very impressed.

    What happened to the good ol' days when I games were DOS-based... and why can't we still get away with that using bootable CD's or something similar.
    • Re:Build Engine? (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Zathrus (232140) on Thursday April 03 2003, @10:54AM (#5652891) Homepage
      What happened to the good ol' days when I games were DOS-based

      What "good ole days" were you recalling?

      Personally, I remember having to generate complex and hairy config.sys and autoexec.bat files that had menuing choices for all the different setups that games wanted. Some wanted extended memory. Some wanted expanded. Some had issues if you had both available, others had problems if you didn't have both available. Some had problems with QEMM, some with EMM386, some with ANSI.SYS, some with various memory blocks (go off and tweak your QEMM/EMM386 to exclude those blocks!), some with mouse drivers loaded, some without mouse drivers, some bitched about not having enough low memory free, some bitched about having too much low memory free, yadda yadda yadda.

      While there are many good things to be said about older games, that they were DOS-based is not one of them.
  • Blah! (Score:5, Funny)

    by mog (22706) <alexmchale@gmai[ ]om ['l.c' in gap]> on Thursday April 03 2003, @10:23AM (#5652659)
    We give up... you do it.
  • by prisen (578061) on Thursday April 03 2003, @10:39AM (#5652758)
    Just remembering some of the reasons I used to love this game...
    "Damn, those alien bastards are gonna pay for shooting up my ride."
    "Nobody steals our chicks, and lives."
    "It's time to kick ass and chew bubble gum, and I'm all out of gum."
    "Shake it, baby." ($100 bill handed to woman)
    "Holy sh*t!"
    "Let God sort 'em out!"
    "Your face, your ass, what's the difference?"
    "My name's Duke Nukem, and after a little R&R, I'll be ready for more action!"

    Great stuff. Of course, if you had the parental control mode enabled or if you bought the Wal-Mart version, I don't think you would have heard any of those.
  • by Electrum (94638) <david@acz.org> on Thursday April 03 2003, @11:58AM (#5653415) Homepage
    About three years ago, a friend of mine, Rusty Wagner [acz.org], decided it would be cool to have a version of Duke 3D that worked in Windows. Rusty already had a game engine that he'd been writing, so he modified it to load the Duke 3D maps. He also added menus, a console and some other cool stuff. The result is actually quite good. Duke 3D maps look very nice when rendered using OpenGL or Direct3D.

    You can grab the source code with precompiled duke.exe [acz.org] or view some screen shots [acz.org].

    Someone at his school found the source and ported it to SDL: http://openduke.sourceforge.net/ [sourceforge.net]

    Unfortunately, the project never went anywhere, but there is still a lot of useful code there.
  • by MongooseCN (139203) on Thursday April 03 2003, @12:22PM (#5653609) Homepage
    ..with higher resolution strippers in it?
  • Ken Silverman's NOLFB [advsys.net] patch lets you play Duke3D in VESA graphics modes (hey, 800x600 is way better than 320x240, right?) on WinNT/2k/XP.

    It's a TSR, so you have to run it before you start duke. I wrote a batch file with the following lines:

    nolfb.com
    duke3d.exe

    and run it in order to start duke. With a batch file, you can also permanently add all the commond line parameters that tickle your fancy.:)
    • Always bother! (Score:5, Insightful)

      by MikeFM (12491) on Thursday April 03 2003, @10:22AM (#5652652) Homepage Journal
      Every program opened benefits the community. In the least it's educational. It's also great for people that like to archieve old games. This way they can do so legally. This way we can still play all of our favorite Duke3D-based games on Linux or Windows XXX or whatever without having to totally recreate the engine from scratch. This way we can port Duke3D to a PDA and avoid purchasing a GameBoy. ;)

      What I'd really like the code to is the old 2D id, Apogee, and Epic games. Command Keen and Jazz Jackrabbit!
      • >Every program opened benefits the community. In the least it's educational.

        I totally agree.

        Here is a really early program I wrote on the Dragon 32.

        10 print "hello!"
        20 goto 10

        You can use this now if you want! You might want to add a
        5 rem This program is in the public domain
        and do a renumber to get the line numbers correct.

        Enjoy!