This exclusive demo of Duke Nukem 3D Mac for MacUser magazine contains an extra level not found in any other Mac demos. It may only be distributed by MacUser and its affiliates.
If you are having trouble with Duke Nukem 3D Mac playing too slow, look for the section "Speeding up Duke" below.
Changes to version 1.0.1 of the demo are listed at the end of this document.
Welcome to the Duke Nukem 3D Mac Demo! This demo lets you play a single player game through the first three levels of Duke Nukem 3D.
The full version of Duke Nukem 3D for Macintosh includes the following features not found in the demo:
- Four full episodes including 39 levels(plus some secrets!) including Los Angeles, an orbiting space station, a high-tech moonbase, and the hilarious Plutonium Pak levels!
- Even more weapons, including the shrink ray(squish 'em!), expander ray, Devastator, laser trip-bombs, and freeze ray!
- Full network play(vs Mac's and PC's!) over AppleTalk, IPX, modem, serial, and exclusively on the Mac OS- direct internet play via TCP/IP!
- Amazing and controversial cut-scenes to reward you for completing each of the four episodes!
- Full digital musical score!
- Ability to use 3rd party user maps and con files, completely compatible with the thousands of maps created for the PC.
To order Duke Nukem 3D Macintosh, see your favorite retailer or order direct by calling (800) 229-2714.
Speeding up Duke
---------------
While much work has been put into making Duke Nukem 3D play as well as possible on as many Macs as possible, sometimes you just don't think its fast enough. Here are some tips to speed up the game(especially on 68040's):
- reduce graphic detail (in Graphics Options, select 640x400 or lower screen size and set Medium or Low Detail).
- make the view area smaller (press the "-" key while playing, each time you press it the view area will shrink a bit).
- reduce the number of voices and sound quality in the Sound Options dialog.
- turn off Appletalk or any other kind of networking (especially an Internet connection).
- turn off Virtual Memory or Ram Doubler.
- give the game more RAM (quit all other applications, start with fewer extensions, buy more RAM, etc.). This will allow more optimizations to be used internally, and cause less disk activity to slow the game down.
- play on an easier skill level (the higher the skill level the more monsters, and the more things the game has to keep track of).
- turn off sound effects (in Sound Options, uncheck the box next to "Sound").
- upgrade to a PowerMac (game speed is better on even the slowest PowerPC's compared to the 68040).
Command line options
--------------------
The optional features accessed through the DOS command line on the original Duke Nukem 3D are available on the Mac by holding down the Command(Apple) key while starting the Duke Nukem 3D application. The available options are:
Warp- allows you to immediately begin a new game on a certain episode and level.
Record Game- lets you start recording a game immediately upon starting a new game. It is the same as selecting "Record Game" from the Options menu in the game, although selecting it here lets you record a game on a level you warp to.
User Map- lets you select a 3rd party user map to play. It is the same as selecting "Open User Map" from the File menu during the game or dragging a user map onto the Duke application. ** Not available in demo **
No monsters- lets you play a game with no monsters.
Fake multiplayer- lets you play a game with several other "fake" network players, useful for testing networking levels if you don't have a bunch of other real people to play with. When you turn on this option the game will play just like a real net game, but the other Duke players will be controlled by the computer.
Use Player AI- this option is only available if fake multiplayer is on. If this in turned on, the other fake players will be controlled by the computer and actually move around and try to shoot each other (and you). If you start a fake multiplayer game with this option off, the other Dukes will just sit there and never move or react.
Respawn- this option is only available if fake multiplayer is on. It allows you to set whether items, monsters, or inventory items reappear a while after they are picked up or killed.
1.0.1 Changes
------------
Keypad keys can now be reconfigured.
When you die the game now asks if you want to load the previously saved game or just restart on the current level.
QuickSave & QuickLoad now work better.
Triangles no longer appear with some smaller view sizes on 800x600 and larger screens in Medium detail.
Capslock key is now easier to redefine in keyboard setup.
Default net player name is now user name not machine name.
File menu is always erased when menu bar is hidden.
Experimental two monitor mode is more stable (still experimental though).
You can no longer save at all when dead.
Cmd-O is recognized directly during the game to open a saved game, you don't have to hit Esc first any more.
Order of switching weapons when one runs out of ammo makes more sense now.
You can no longer pick up ammo when you already have the max ammount of that type.
Starting up on monitors smaller than 640x400 now correctly handled.
