DUKE NUKEM II LEVEL EDITOR (and other stuff)

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K1n9_Duk3
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Post by K1n9_Duk3 »

Nospike wrote:Does that mean we can have level editors now?
It's possible. I managed to write code that creates Duke2 level files from the internal map representation the viewer uses.

Surprisingly, when I use that code to save L1.MNI (E1M1), I get a file that is thirteen bytes smaller than the original one. Seems like my RLE compressing routine is a little smarter than the one that Apogee used to create the map files back in 1993. And the game was able to read the "modified" file perfectly. So it's really just a matter of creating a user interface to change the tiles and the other map properties. But I don't promise anything.
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Post by Levellass »

What is the unknown data for? Now I am curious.

Seems like my RLE compressing routine is a little smarter than the one that Apogee used to create the map files back in 1993.
I had this happen with Keen RLE compressions and a few others. Often it is because we can keep all the data in memory instead of dealing with all the limitations of early computers.

Does that mean we can have level editors now?
There's already a Cosmo level editor (Two in fact) but Duke 2 is a new one.
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Post by K1n9_Duk3 »

Levellass wrote:What is the unknown data for? Now I am curious.
They are basically flags controlling the behavior of the backdrop and giving indices of backdropm and music files. I already added them to the ModdingWiki pages.

And for those who didn't notice: I put some new download links in the first post of this thread when I changed the thread's title.
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Post by K1n9_Duk3 »

After spending the last few days reverse-engineering the Major Stryker data files, I think I'll be doing a Duke Nukem II level editor next. This is what I had in mind for the basic look of the editor (these are just mockups, no actual screenshots):

Image Image

The editor will support two modes. One where the stuff on the left side is always displayed and one where the stuff will only pop up when you move the mouse to left edge of the screen and disappear when you move the mouse back over the actual level.

You can right-click and drag a frame to select tiles (both from the map and from the tilesets) and left-click to place them on the map. This should basically work like the map editor of KEENGINE.
Clicking in the "map info" area lets you change the level properties: A cursor will appear in front of "tileset" that you can move with the arrow keys. Pressing enter lets you change the value for the selected item. Pressing escape puts you back in normal edit mode.

If you have any comments/suggestions, let me know!
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Nickssoft
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nice

Post by Nickssoft »

been waiting for a duke nukem 2 level editor forever, hooray for my favorite game !
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Re: nice

Post by K1n9_Duk3 »

Nickssoft wrote:been waiting for a duke nukem 2 level editor forever, hooray for my favorite game !
And I've been waiting for duke nukem forever, but that's another story...
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Post by Roobar »

Hail to the king baby! This year Duke Nukem Forever and Duke 2 editor! How awesome is that!
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Post by K1n9_Duk3 »

Well, at least the level editor has already been released. It's a BETA, but most things should work.

How to get this thing up and running:

Step 1: extract the contents of your NUKEM2.CMP file (drag them onto the exe to do that)
Step 2: load one of the extracted levels or create a new level. When you create a new level, you must select the folder with the extracted data files or you won't be able to select a tileset for the new level.

Have some fun with this. If you find any bugs, let me know!
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Post by Paramultart »

Oh... My... Goodness...

I've always wanted to make my own levels for DN2 since the game first came out.

I applaud you, K1n9_Duk3. At first I thought your level viewers were obsolete, but now it's clear that all of that paid off. You are truly amazing.

Thank you.


You should post this on the 3DRealms forums. ;)
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K1n9_Duk3
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Post by K1n9_Duk3 »

Paramultart wrote:At first I thought your level viewers were obsolete, but now it's clear that all of that paid off. You are truly amazing.
Well, level viewers are relatively easy to create once you know the structure of the level and graphics files. And I think that a level viewer is always the first step in the process of creating an editor.

But editors require a LOT more code (Duke2View has around 270 lines of code, Duke2Edit has about ten times as much). It was the knowledge I gained while working on the level editor for KEENGINE that really helped me out here, even though I wrote the whole thing from scratch.



By the way, if you find stuff that makes the game crash but is not reported as an error by the editor, please tell me so that I can add warnings and errors to the scan routines. Makes the whole thing a little more user-friendly.
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Post by Roobar »

Very nice, but the graphics are too tiny on 1920x1080 for work. There's got to be a way to magnify them/editor. Btw it seems that the DN2 tilesets are very small compared to the Keens all-in-one ones.
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Post by K1n9_Duk3 »

You can use [ALT]+[ENTER] to switch to fullscreen mode and you can also use the [NUM +] and [NUM -] to zoom in and out.

The editor could work at any resolution higher than 640x480, but there's no menu option to change the resolution right now.
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Post by Paramultart »

K1n9_Duk3, if you managed to make a Monster Bash editor (of any kind, really), you would be a god.

Also, I'm postponing all Keen projects to finish a complete DN2 shareware level expansion pack. VBB may help.

Is it possible to edit sprites and end scenes?

EDIT: I really love the interface. Possibly one of the best editors I've used.
But you should really emphasize that you have to hold the right mouse cursor to use the copy tool. It took my a few minutes to realize that.

EDIT2: The "actors" plane could use improvement. Having a cluster of letters representing the final character of their hex value and having to hover over each character to find out what object it represents is unpractical to say the least. I can't tell you how long it took for me just to find the exit object. How was I to know it was the red letter B? :/
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Post by DHeadshot »

Paramultart wrote:Also, I'm postponing all Keen projects to finish a complete DN2 shareware level expansion pack.
Even Shmaynoria 2? :(
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Post by Paramultart »

I haven't been working on it lately, anyway, and a DN2 levelpack should only take a couple days.
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