Duke Nukem Forever 2001 Restoration Project [WE WANT YOU!]

[Kyle07]

The very first screenshots were taken in the Quake I engine, if I'm not mistaken.

[Rudolph]

I am unfortunately away from my gaming computer at the moment. Has anyone here played First Slice yet? If so, how do you feel about it?

[Wyrmwood]

Damn bad timing, just moved house, not unpacked my PC yet and running internet from my wife's phone. Hopefully get to try the first slice soon.

[mrthejoshmon]

19 minutes ago, Rudolph said:

I am unfortunately away from my gaming computer at the moment. Has anyone here played First Slice yet? If so, how do you feel about it?

I have completed it.

 

There is some super obtuse level progression, whilst intact from the original build I see no reason why they kept it that way and by the threat of sounding like "le casual" they could really signpost more.

 

For instance there's a part in the ventilation system where you jump up 3 ropes to gain access to an upper area to progress, there is a fourth jump rope that is visible but leads to nowhere, the way to actually progress is a dark vent you walk straight passed to go to said fourth rope.

 

There is a section in the hotels where you need to find a keycard to progress, this white keycard is tiny and on a white desk. To make it worse at first I couldn't even pick it up (so I thought it was decoration), the pickup distance and angle is janky (not Restoration team's issue tbh, half finished engine) so I walked passed this fucker 3 times until I jumped onto the counter and accidentally got it when flinging things around.

 

Then, when actually powering the elevators, the first room has you jump onto a desk, a cabinet and some pipes and crawl over and under another pipe to progress. This route looks like I am not supposed to do it (no signposting) and the gap is so small to crawl through that at first I couldn't fit, making it appear as an invisible wall. It isn't, it is the way to go, just doesn't look like it.

 

As for the combat, it is fine. I wouldn't describe it as Duke Nukem combat but more in line with Soldier of Fortune, you get absolutely rekt in open engagements so cover is required. It's fine.

[Rudolph]

3 hours ago, mrthejoshmon said:

As for the combat, it is fine. I wouldn't describe it as Duke Nukem combat but more in line with Soldier of Fortune, you get absolutely rekt in open engagements so cover is required. It's fine.

I seem to remember Half-Life being like that too. Honestly, when I think of Soldier of Fortune, I think of the ability to dismember enemies, which from what I understand is not the case in DNF2001. I am currently watching pagb666's playthrough of a previous build and I am quite impressed by Duke Nukem's VA, which I know is not Jon St. John. Also, is the opening fight with the Cycloid Emperor a Restoration Project addition or was DNF2001 always going to start with it? More importantly, it is playable - or going to - like in DNF2011?

Edited December 22, 2022 by Rudolph

[BGreener]

I’ve only dipped into it a bit so far. I was initially stumped near the start after the movie screen opened, there’s a kitchen with a raging fire so I felt like I couldn’t progress until maybe the dialog was over - a common trend for shooters after the 360 dropped.

 

I then realized where I was and what I was playing, and found out I could close the oven to make the roaring fire recede! I could’ve maybe used a hint, but it also felt intuitive enough that I facepalmed myself regardless and progress went smoothly afterwards.

 

Shortly after that I received Duke’s golden gun, had some fun shootouts, went across the ledges and roof, got to a point where I picked up the delicious M203’d assault rifle, messed some guys up with it - good times, good times, looking forward to more later.

[mrthejoshmon]

3 hours ago, Rudolph said:

I seem to remember Half-Life being like that too. Honestly, when I think of Soldier of Fortune, I think of the ability to dismember enemies, which from what I understand is not the case in DNF2001.

Less like Half-Life and definitely more Soldier of Fortune, with Half-Life (including 2) if you stayed mobile and fired back on the correct targets you could easily survive most encounters, Soldier of Fortune (more notably, SOF2) would have you eviscerated in open engagements.

 

DNF01 has the issue where if an enemy sees you then they are going to hit you, they do not miss like in Half-Life and they are going to tear you to ribbons in seconds (there is a very telling example of this at the pool area towards the demo's end). The enemy does not miss and the damage they pump out is high (4 or so guys in a firing line will tear you to pieces). I think the assault rifle is the reason why, it absolutely shits damage out and the AI (as mentioned) doesn't miss.

[Rudolph]

Well, that is unfortunate. @segfault, is your team aware of this and planning to address it at a later stage?

 

Or is it all working as intended and we just need to get good? :P

Edited December 22, 2022 by Rudolph

[mrthejoshmon]

It's hardly an issue to be honest, the combat is fine it's just you have to play it slightly more tactically when dealing with armed enemies.

 

Running into a room filled with enemies is a death sentence but it makes perfect sense that it is.

[BGreener]

2 minutes ago, mrthejoshmon said:

It's hardly an issue to be honest, the combat is fine it's just you have to play it slightly more tactically when dealing with armed enemies.

 

Running into a room filled with enemies is a death sentence but it makes perfect sense that it is.

Not only that, but the initial infected people you first run into take out one big chunk of health when they hit. It could be the difficulty I’m on (2nd hardest) but it’s also nice to not have it be a tickle, and it’s balanced out with how easily avoided these attacks are anyways.

 

Also, these infected people look great by the way! Were they this creepy looking initially?

[Rudolph]

@mrthejoshmon If worse comes to worst, I suppose it is just a matter of making lower difficulty settings more forgiving in that regard.

 

EDIT: Nevermind, BGrieber just answered my question about the presence of difficulty settings.

[ETPC]

6 hours ago, mrthejoshmon said:

I have completed it.

 

*feedback* 

this is all really good stuff we're looking at. nothing is set in stone, everything is WIP and we're not afraid to rip apart the levels to make them play better. 

 

we have plans for the stadium that are more than the intro, we just needed to put something in for FS. 

 

the ai is currently HYPER aggressive due to some ai overhauls we've done that made combat more dynamic but also made EDF *very* aggressive. we're going to tweak it.

 

thanks for the feedback everyone, keep it coming! we're taking everything in and discussing it internally. 😎

[Rudolph]

Just noticed this on ModDB: 

 

https://www.moddb.com/mods/duke-nukem-2001-restoration-project-terras-cut

 

What the hell is that? Is that even legit? The person claims to be a former member of the development team.

[ETPC]

uh what the fuck.

 

looking into this. thanks for bringing it to my attention!

[indigotyrian]

When fighting snatched EDF ("snatched" is the official term for infected humans) be sure to remember your Riot Shield. Holding F will hold it in front of you and will soak up an impressive amount of damage. (I remember seeing it tank an RPG rocket in multiplayer but am unsure if it's gotten nerfed since then.) Great way to avoid taking hits while repositioning!

[Rudolph]

@segfault Yeah, as I was watching pagb666 struggle against his first Terminator encounter, I could not help but scream "USE THE RIOT SHIELD!" at the screen. Then again, I suppose the Riot Shield is a fairly unusual weapon for a Duke Nukem game, let alone a first-person shooter, so I can see why the poor guy would not immediately think of using it in the heat of the action... XD

 

I mean, outside of Red Faction and maybe F.3.A.R., I cannot think of another shooter that features such item.

[ReaperAA]

9 hours ago, ETPC said:

the ai is currently HYPER aggressive due to some ai overhauls we've done that made combat more dynamic but also made EDF *very* aggressive. we're going to tweak it.

 

I do think the EDF enemies are wee bit too strong to be used in open environment without cover. I think the m16 guys doing a bit less damage (like from 4 per shot to 3) might help a bit. Because the amount of damage they can dish out is absurd. The new pool area added in the Restoration is the prime example of how dangerous they can be. Either that, or maybe modify in such a way that they have a harder time hitting moving enemies. Like Blood's cultist having slower turning rate or Red Faction's enemies having a delay at tracking moving targets.

 

I would like to see the EDF snipers be toned down as well. Them being able to immediately take out 80% of your health (or worse, one-shot you in case they do a headshot) feels really cheap, even if they are only for hard difficulty. Maybe not necessarily by reducing their damage (although that could probably work as well), but by telegraphing their attack and giving time to take over, like how I mentioned in discord as well.

[indigotyrian]

What're ya waitin' for? Christmas?

 

The same mad lad that leaked the 2001 build of Duke Nukem Forever and the cancelled Duke Nukem: Endangered Species game has given us a beautiful Christmas gift: four builds of the original 1996 Duke Nukem 4ever!

 

https://archive.org/details/duke-nukem-forever-1996-side-scroller

 

To clarify: This is the original side-scrolling platformer incarnation of the game, before the project was scrapped and the name reassigned to the FPS project we all know and love. We even have a map editor! It needs work.

 

 

ALWAYS BET ON DUKE!

[7Mahonin]

Yep, and the engine used would go on to be used for the Alien Rampage game.

[Rudolph]

10 hours ago, segfault said:

ALWAYS BET ON DUKE!

Eh. At this rate, the saying should rather be "ALWAYS BET ON FANS TO SAVE DUKE". :P

[Rudolph]

I have a question.

 

I was under the impression that Duke's Pistol was golden because it was custom-made, but then, I noticed that every Desert Eagle found in the levels - including those in EDF supply boxes - is also painted gold. Do you intend to keep it that way or are the extra pistols going to be given a new generic texture in the final release?

[indigotyrian]

2 hours ago, Rudolph said:

I have a question.

 

I was under the impression that Duke's Pistol was golden because it was custom-made, but then, I noticed that every Desert Eagle found in the levels - including those in EDF supply boxes - is also painted gold. Do you intend to keep it that way or are the extra pistols going to be given a new generic texture in the final release?

 

That shouldn't be the case, there's definitely a standard-issue desert eagle world-model skin (though not a view-model skin).

[Rudolph]

32 minutes ago, segfault said:

That shouldn't be the case, there's definitely a standard-issue desert eagle world-model skin (though not a view-model skin).

Ah, then it must have been an issue with the early build pagb666 was playing on, then.

[Rudolph]

Finally got the opportunity to play The First Slice.

 

Disappointingly, The First Slice will not let me bind my mouse's side buttons (MOUSE4 and MOUSE5) and, more surprisingly, keys 1 to 0.

 

The game also appears to dislike it when I press Alt+Tab to take notes; I cannot seem to go back to it after minimizing it for some reason.

 

I came across an infected maid with a masculine name ("Brian").

 

On the "Duke's Penthouse" map, after opening the roof door and entering the corridor, I get a loading screen and then... I find myself in a black void and I am dead? And since I forgot about the saving issue, now I have to start over from scratch. Crap... :S

 

As far as features go, I would suggest adding an option to toggle autorun on and off.

Edited January 10, 2023 by Rudolph

[ETPC]

On 1/8/2023 at 5:17 PM, Rudolph said:

Finally got the opportunity to play The First Slice.

 

Disappointingly, The First Slice will not let me bind my mouse's side buttons (MOUSE4 and MOUSE5) and, more surprisingly, keys 1 to 0.

 

The game also appears to dislike it when I press Alt+Tab to take notes; I cannot seem to go back to it after minimizing it for some reason.

 

I came across an infected maid with a masculine name ("Brian").

 

On the "Duke's Penthouse" map, after opening the roof door and entering the corridor, I get a loading screen and then... I find myself in a black void and I am dead? And since I forgot about the saving issue, now I have to start over from scratch. Crap... :S

 

As far as features go, I would suggest adding an option to toggle autorun on and off.

 

huh, the black void bug dosen't seem like one we're aware of. are you in our discord? we have a channel for reporting bugs that we didn't catch and submitting your DukeForever.log. the other things you listed are known issues that we plan to fix. the alt-tabbing one is a particular bug-bear we need to get working but it will take some time.

Edited January 15, 2023 by ETPC