Action Ware 9: Duke Nukem 3D

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============================================================================= MAP EDITING FAQ v0.3 BY BRETT GMOSER ============================================================================= CONTENTS: 0: About this FAQ 0.1 Who made ALL This? 0.1.1 How do I contact the author? 0.2 What you should have gotten 0.3 Revision History 0.4 Thank-you's and Credits 0.5 Where to get this FAQ 1: Information & Other Stuff 1.1 What are maps? 1.1.1 What else can I do with MAP files? 1.1.2 Can I extract the original .MAP files from the game? 1.2 What do I use to make maps? 1.2.1 Can I make maps other games? 2: Making Levels, basic 2.1 Ok, I have the editor, how do I use this thing? 2.2 First levels suck 2.3 Your basic, one-sector, horrible level 2.4 Your basic, two-sector, horrible level 2.5 Your basic, two-sector, not-so-horrible level 2.5.1 Floor/ceiling heights 2.5.2 Changing textures 2.5.2.1 Panning and stuff 2.5.3 Skies 2.5.4 Shading 2.5.5 Slopes 3: Onto the cool stuff 3.1 Intro 3.2 Hitags and Lotags 3.3 Sector Effectors 3.4 Locators 3.5 Music & SFX 3.6 Respawns 3.7 Acticatorlocked 3.8 Activators 3.9 Checklist 4: Your not-so basic, awesome level 4.1 Intro 4.2 Regular, DOOM-Type Doors 4.3 Swinging Doors 4.4 Sliding Star Trek Doors 4.5 Splitting Star Trek Doors 4.6 Teeth Doors 4.7 Sliding Doors 4.8 Down Doors 4.9 Up/Down Doors 4.10 Rotating Subway Doors 4.11 Auto-Closing Doors 4.12 Locked Doors 4.13 Doors With Switches 4.14 Combination Door Switches 4.15 Teleporters 4.16 Water 4.17 Sewer Holes/Silent Teleporters 4.18 Lifts 4.19 Glass 4.20 Vents 4.21 Security Cameras 4.22 Collapsible Bridges/Bridges 4.23 Dukematch/Co-op ONLY Stuff 4.24 Fun With C-9 4.24.1 C-9 Activated by Switches 4.24.2 C-9 Activated by Touchplates 4.25 Rooms Over Rooms 4.26 Nuke Buttons 4.27 Secret Areas 4.28 Mirrors 4.29 Conveyor Belts/Water Current 4.30 Gears/Rotation 4.31 Subways 4.32 Colored Lights 4.33 Demo Cameras 4.34 Co-op/Dukematch Starting Points 4.35 Spawning Stuff 4.36 Active Tripbombs 4.37 Earthquakes 4.38 Light Switches 4.39 Open Door, Room Lights Up 4.40 Shooters 4.41 Switches For Forcefields 4.42 Difficulty Settings 4.43 Echo 4.44 Pulsating Lights 4.45 Elevator Transports 4.46 Blastable Walls 4.47 Destructable Buildings/Floor Lowering 4.48 Crushers 4.49 Shots Fired In Sector, Cieling Comes Down 4.50 Rotate/Rise Sector 4.51 Stretch Sector 4.52 Cielings And Floors (Dropping) 4.53 2-Way Trains 5: Info And Other Stuff 5.1 Palette List 5.2 Facts On Dimensions 5.3 Sound List 5.4 Quick SE Number List 5.5 Quick Sector Tag Guide 6: Questions And Answers 7: Finishing Up 7.1 Map Authoring Template 7.2 Uploading your level ============== ABOUT THIS FAQ ============== 0.1 Who made ALL this? My name is Brett Gmoser (silent G). I have a lot of free time on my hands. I am a hard core Duke 3D fan, and I've played it non-stop since the day it came out. I made levels for Wolf 3d, DOOM, DOOM ][, HeXen and ROTT, so I figured, hey, why not make Duke 3D levels? Well, I got my CD 2 days after it started shipping, and as soon as I fired up the editor, I, just like you, figured out just how complicated Duke levels can be. I spent day and night (really) figuring stuff out. As it ended up, after just three days I found that I had a knack for making Duke levels. I have 2 ISPs, and as I surfed through to Duke 3D Editing folders on AOL, compuserve and the Apogee BBS, I saw people were having trouble. So I decided to make this FAQ! 0.1.1 Ho do I contact the author? Well, I prefer to get email through my internet account, and the address there is "gmoser@gramercy.ios.com". I'm also on AOL, my screen name there is "GutenTag11". You can find me on the 3D Realms BBS as "gmozmer". Here is a list of my current web sites: http://gramercy.ios.com/~gmoser/duke3d/ My Duke 3D Site. Pretty good, if you ask me. :) http://users.aol.com/gutentag11/cheats.htm A page with lots of cheat codes, offers my program which is called CHEATS!. I wouldn't DARE give out the rest of the addresses because they all suck....:) 0.2 What you should have gotten In addition to this file (MAPFAQ03.FAQ), you should have gotten the following things in the ZIP file (MAPFAQ03.ZIP): TELEPORT.MAP HOLE.MAP WATER.MAP SWLITES.MAP CONVEYOR.MAP LIFTS.MAP TDOOR.MAP GLASS.MAP CAMERA.MAP BRIDGE.MAP SWDOOR.MAP SOS.MAP SLSTDOOR.MAP SPSTDOOR.MAP MIRROR.MAP SUBWAY.MAP CLITES.MAP ACCESS.MAP QUAKE.MAP DRLITES.MAP SHOOTERS.MAP GEARS.MAP RDOOR.MAP ADOOR.MAP COMBODR.MAP SWFORCE.MAP PIGFLY.MAP ECHO.MAP PULSATE.MAP 2WAYCAR.MAP UPDNDR.MAP MANHOLE.MAP STRETCH.MAP ELETRANS.MAP C-9.MAP BUILDBLO.MAP CRUSHERS.MAP SHOTLOW.MAP DOOMDOOR.MAP SLDOOR.MAP ROTRISE.MAP DNDOOR.MAP DRFLRCLN.MAP CBBG.ZIP** 2SSUBWAY.MAP* TANK.MAP* FAN.MAP* TEMPLATE.TXT * MAPs marked with a * are either not explained in the FAQ, or explained briefly in Section 6. They were usually just put there because of one of a couple reasons. I didn't have time to explain it, it was taught is a section, just not in the way presented in the MAP, or to give you ideas. ** CBBG.ZIP is my level. Check it out! Lemme know what you think! Please note that the MAP files were designed to make whatever it was supposed to make, not to look good. :) 0.3 Revision history v0.1 FAQ Created. Everything is new. v0.2 LOTSA stuff added, some errors corrected. Thanks to all the kind people that pointed them out! Added about 7 new things, many other updates. Added section 5: Finishing Up. v0.3 Again, LOTSA stuff added. Now over 50 (53 to be exact) how- to's, not including some of the things that were put into a different category. Did some reorganizing. Added a Questions and Answers section and a Info and Other Stuff section. Remade some of the maps to be step-by-step maps. 0.4 Thank-you's and Credits First, I would like to thank 3D Realms for such a great game. Thank you also to all the people that gave me support, and the people that have this FAQ posted on their web page. I would like to give credit to Per-Erik Nilsson for the dimensions facts, and Tempest for making great tutorials on how to make Star Trek Doors. Also, PBoev led me on my way back when I was starting out to making colored lights, and made 2SSUBWAY.MAP. In addition, ALL the kind people that told me how great I was, how much they liked this FAQ, pointed out errors, and gave me support. If I didn't email you back, sorry, I had a LOT of mail concerning this FAQ. Thanks Guys! 0.5 Where to get this FAQ Well, you already have it, but in case you lose it, or would like another version, here are some of the most reliable places to get it: http://www.erols.com/yeagers GREAT HTML version here, ZIP can be downloaded, along with all the MAPs separately. http://www.3drealms.com/duke3d.html Check the FAQs portion of this page. http://www.newreach.net/~avenger Among the best of the Duke 3D pages, they've got LOTSa levels and FAQs, including this one. Has text version to look at. http://www.bayserve.net/~mike Go to the Duke 3d page from here. http://gramercy.ios.com/~gmoser/duke3d My site, I'll post it here first if I make v0.4. If you know of a great site that has this FAQ, please tell me so I can add it. PLEASE NOTE THAT I WILL NOT BE SENDING IT THROUGH EMAIL ANYMORE BECAUSE I SPENT ABOUT 1/2 HOUR A DAY SENDING FAQS. DO NOT ASK. Thank You. ========================= 1: Information About Maps ========================= 1.1 What are maps? Maps are user levels for Duke Nukem 3D. They are in the same format as the actual levels, and are fully customizable as far as levels go. Map files are not only for Duke 3D, but the same format is used for all of the games that use the Build engine. Build allows for many new things like moving sectors, rotating sectors, parallaxing skies, slopes, and lots of other stuff. The possibilities are endless! 0.1.1 What else can I do with MAP files? Well, not much else. MAP files are not like DOOM's system where you had WADs and PWADs. MAP files can only take in levels. 0.1.2 Can I extract the original .MAP files from the game? Yes, you can. In the \goodies\build directory of your Duke 3D CD, there is a program called KEXTRACT. Copy it to your Duke 3D directory and use the following command: KEXTRACT DUKE3D.GRP *.MAP This will extract all the original levels. Also, when you go into build, you can use the command line BUILD E?L?.MAP The first ? is the episode #, the second ? is the level. For the bonus levels of episodes 2 and 3, use ?? for level 10 and 11. Look at them and see how much work was put into them...boy! :) 1.2 What do I use to make maps? Currently, the only editor for build is BUILD by 3D Realms. It is the official editor and was used to make all the real levels. How does one obtain this editor you ask? That's simple. BUILD is on the CD that registered Duke 3D comes on in the directory \goodies\build. 0.2.1 Can I make maps for other games? No, not really. BUILD is made specially for Duke Nukem 3D. You could probably make a simple one-roomer with no objects or sprites, but nothing that good. ======================= 2: MAKING LEVELS, BASIC ======================= 2.1 Ok, I have the editor, how do I use this thing? Yes, at first, BUILD looks VERY complicated. It is used by with the keyboard. Since you have the actual editor, and not a pirated editor, you should have BUILDHLP.EXE in the \goodies\build directory of your CD. It's the official BUILD handbook, please read this ENTIRE thing to learn the basic keyboard commands. 2.2 First levels suck! Lets face it, your first level IS going to suck. This happens to everybody. I HIGHLY reccomend you make you first level suck on purpose. This will get you used to the format and the way of doing things in BUILD. So lets get started on our first horrible level! 2.3 Your basic, one-sector, horrible level Now that you've read everything above this, it's time to make your first level. We'll start off very basic, and move on to the cool stuff. First, we'll make a one-sector room. Here's how: First, make sure you are in 2D mode. (Since you've read BUILDHLP, you know how to get there) Position the cursor somewhere on the grid. BUILD automatically starts you out in the lower-right corner. You shouldn't worry about this.....yet. Press the space bar to enter line-draw mode. Move the mouse around, see what happens. Nothing special, except that when you press the space bar again, this is where the next line will start. For now, we'll just make a square room. If you want, when you're done, you can position the cursor on one of the vertexes, hold the left mouse button and drag the vertex around to change how the room looks. Next, place the arrow somewhere in the room, and press scroll lock. This puts the starting point in. Pardon my artwork, but it should look something like this: _____________________________ The -'s and :'s represent the lines, : : and the --> is your starting point. : : : --> : : : :____________________________: At this point, you can save and run your level. Pretty cool, huh? 2.4 Your basic, two sector, horrible level After you've tried your new one-sector level, fire up BUILD and go to it. If we wanted to make and elevated surface in the middle of the room for absolutely no reason other than to learn how, we would place the cursor somewhere inside our sector, and draw a new box. We'll call the box you just made "BOX B" and the other will be "BOX A" It should look something like this: ________________________________ : ________________________ : : : : : : : BOX B : : : : : : : :______________________: : : BOX A : :_______________________________: Now, click on the outer portion, and enter 3D mode. Notice what it did. You now have the new box as walls facing outward, and you can't go in the box that you made. It's just walls. We could leave it like that, but we want an elevated platform, right? So, go back into 2D mode. Place the cursor inside BOX B. Now, hit ALT+S. Notice that the lines that make up BOX B have turned red. This means that those walls are "Two sided walls", and the box inside has now turned into what is called "Valid player space". Go into 3D Mode, and watch what happened. The room should look exactly like our one-sector room did. Utterly useless, but read on.... 2.5 Your basic, two-sector, not-so-horrible level Ok, as I said, we are going to make an elevated surface. But we just GOTTA do some other things, right? :) 2.5.1 Floor/ceiling heights Go into 3D mode now, and point the mouse at BOX B. To make BOX B elevate, use the PAGE UP and PAGE DOWN keys. Try it with BOX B's floor and ceiling, along with BOX A's floor and ceiling. Our surface is now elevated. 2.5.2 Changing textures Well, we have our cool floor and ceiling heights, but we have to do something with that ugly grey texture. Well, here's how: Point the mouse to the texture you want to change. Hit the 'V' key. You will now have a screen with that ugly texture, and you can go down and see the names of everything else. It's like this because that's the only texture we've used. Later, when we use more, the ones we use will show up automatically. Anyway, for now, we want pictures. So go ahead and hit the 'V' key again to get all of the items. Scroll down till you find a cool texture, and hit enter. The wall has now changed textures. 2.5.2.1 Panning and stuff Texture panning is a great feature. You can scroll a wall up and down, possibly to meet other textures on either side. To do this, go into 3D mode. Point to the texture you want to pan. Next, hold down the shift key and use the arrows on the number pad to pan. Cool? You can also shrink and enlarge the texture (this also works for sprites) by using just the arrow keys. If you ever totally mess up a wall, you can get it back by pressing /. If you like the way you panned or shrunk a wall, you can hit the > key to do it all around. 2.5.3 Skies If you tried to change the ceiling to a sky, and it looked all wrong, you can fix that very easily. In 3D mode, point to the sky, and press the 'P' key. This is called parallaxing. It makes the ceiling (or floor for a neat effect) look like it arches and goes forever. Very cool stuff.... 2.5.4 Shading Well, to make it darker, all you have to do is point at a texture and hit the + and - keys on your numeric pad. To make the whole room dark, just shade all the walls. 2.5.5 Slopes Slopes are quite easy, actually. All you do is go into 3D mode and point at the wall/ceiling you want sloped. Then, use the [ and ] keys to slope. That's it! ============================== 3: ONTO THE COOL STUFF, BUT... ============================== 3.1 Intro First off, please do not proceed unless you have read and done all of the above, or you will not understand anything below this. Deal? Ok. Second, PLEASE read the following part... because if you understand it, you will be able to do this stuff ALL on your own. :) 3.2 Hitags and Lotags These are some of the hardest things to explain. I'm going to explain it like this: Lotags are usually defined by the game, and they describe how something is going to act. Lotags can be changed by placing the cursor on what you want to change and pressing 'T' for sectors, and 'ALT+T' for sprites. Hitags are usually defined by the user. They explain where something is going to go to, or what's going to activate it. For example, it could be where a teleporter is going to teleport to, or what switch a conveyor belt is going to stop for. Hitags are defined by using 'H' key for sectors, and 'ALT+H' for sprites. 3.3 Sector Effectors Sprite #1 Sector effectors are just what the name says. They say what will happen to a sector when you blow that crack, flip that switch, open that door, or activate that touchplate. They need Hitags and Lotags to go with them. The Lotag is the pre-set number that designates what happens to the sector. Now, if you just had a normal thing, like flickering lights, (Lotag 4) the sector effector does not need a Hitag. But, if you had something that is activated by a switch or touchplate (other than light switches, they're special) you would set the Hitag of the sector effector to the master switchs' Lotag. 3.4 Locators Sprite #6 Locators can determine where a Recon Control Vehicle goes or where a subway turns or goes. You get the idea. 3.5 Music & SFX Sprite #5 One really good thing about Duke 3D is that YOU define the sounds that a door, lift, or just about anything for that matter makes. Use this to say what sound these things make when used. Stuff like teleporters and other things do NOT need this. 3.6 Respawn Sprite #9 This is used to make something appear when something happens. The event can be the killing of a dancer, or stepping on a touchplate sector. 3.7 Activatorlocked Sprite #4 These are used in locked doors. Read section 4.32. Also in combo doors, read 4.37. Basicaly, after hitting a switch, you have to open the door yourself. 3.8 Activator Sprite #2 These are used to activate Sector Effectors through a switch or a touchplate. They are also used in switches for doors. (see section 4.36) Basicaly, after hitting the switch, the door opens automaticly. 3.10 Masterswitch Sprite #8 These activate sector effectors. Set the Lotag to the switch or touchplates Lotag. 3.9 Checklist There are a bunch of things you must do before you make/upload a level. Here's a checklist: Before starting on your level: [ ] I am comfortable with the editor I am using [ ] I have made my first level, and it sucks [ ] I have a good theme for my level [ ] I have planned it all out [ ] I have read this ENTIRE FAQ through, and understand how to do everything. [ ] I understand everything talked about in section 3 Before Uploading your level: [ ] I have filled out a MAP authoring template [ ] I have a story line [ ] I have gone through EVERY part of my level so many times that I think I'm going to kill myself. [ ] I have had other people use my level [ ] I have tested my level using multiplayer =================================== 4: YOUR NOT-SO BASIC, AWESOME LEVEL =================================== 4.1 Intro Again, as before, PLEASE do not advance to this part of level making unless you have read and understood everything above it. :) This is because this section will be the part where you really make your two- sector level AWESOME. It is the stuff that was used in the real levels, and I'm going to explain to you exactly how to do everything. If in doubt, I have provided separate .MAP files for each technique, and near each set of directions, I have put what .MAP file to look in. 4.2 Regular, DOOM-Type Doors Map Name: DOOMDOOR.MAP This is easy. First, make your door sector. Make it look like this: __ __ __ : : : : This is how most doors are made. Sector A will be the : : : : door. Sectors C and B are called the recessed portion : : : : of the door. This is so that if you have a cieling that : C: A: B: is really high, the door will otherwise flush with the : : : : wall above it, and look, well, retarted. So, lower the :__:__:__: cieling of sectors C and B to your liking. See the sectors that face the starting position DOOMDOOR.MAP. Now, since sector A is the door, we'll work with that. Go into sector A in 3D mode. Point to the walls on either side of the sector and press 'O'. This makes it so that the door track texture doesn't move with the door. Now, lower the cieling of sector A (Use PGDN in 3D mode) to meet the floor. Now, go into 2D mode. Give sector A a Lotag of 20. That's it! 4.3 Swinging Doors Map Name: SWDOOR.MAP These are EXTREMELY hard at first, but when you know how, you can do it with the snap of a finger. I recommend you follow these directions and make your own before you look at the example, because the example is very confusing. STEP 1: Make the following sectors: _____________________ : : : : : :__________ : : : : A : B : : : : : :_________: : : : : :___________________: They should be both valid player space, and the line separating them should be red. STEP 2: Now, we make the doors. This is the hard part. Go into sector A and make the following: ___ : : : : : : :__: It is important that you realize that you must make the doors in a valid sector. Doesn't matter which one, but a valid sector. STEP 3: You should now have something like this: _____________________ : : : : : :__________ : : : : A : B : : ___ : : : : : :_________: : : C: : : : : : : :__: : :___________________: First, make sector C valid player space by moving the cursor in it and pressing ALT+S. Give it a Lotag of '23'. Move the vertexes over to where the door will be. The upper right vertex of sector C should overlap the upper left corner of sector B. Sector C's right line should overlap sector B's left one. Get it? I hope so. :) STEP 4: Make another sector C, and place it below the old sector C. The new sector C's bottom vertexes should overlap the new sector C's top vertexes. You should have this: _____________________ : : : : : _:__________ : : : : : A :_: B : : : : : : :_:_________: : : : : :___________________: I hope you understand this part. If not, please look at SWDOOR.MAP. If you still can't get it, send email to gmoser@gramercy.ios.com. I'll try to help you. STEP 5: Now, the tricky part. You have to put a sector effector at the pivot points of the two doors. Sound easy? Well, kinda, but you have to get it just right. Turn grid locking off, and move the sprite to the corner, but not ON the corner vertex. Just enough so that it doesn't touch anything. Next, give the sector effectors a unique Hitag, and a Lotag of 11. STEP 6: For the next step, the docs appear to be wrong. They say change the palette number of the sector-effector to change the direction that the doors go, but actually, you have to point the SE's the way you want. If I'm not mistaken, point the SE up for it to spin clockwise, and down to spin counter-clockwise. STEP 7: Raise the floor of the door up to the ceiling, add nice textures, and you're done! NOTE: A door will not appear to work right when: The floor/ceiling is sloped The floor/ceiling is a different height than that of the doors, from the beginning of the door to the end. (i.e. A door will not work if swinging off a curb) 4.4 Sliding Star Trek Doors Map Name: SLSTDOOR.MAP Sliding Star Trek doors, despite what you might think, are very easy. But, they can be very hard to teach by way of directions. If in doubt, look at SLSTDOOR.MAP. Pull it all apart. These doors are just 2 sides that pull apart. An example from the real game is the door leading out of the arcade in E1L1. STEP 1: Make the following sectors: _______________ ________________ : : : : : : : : : :___"___: : : : : : : : : : : : : : : D : C:A:B : E : : :__:_:__: : : : " : : : : : : :______________: :_______________: Ok, now. Sector A is what we will be working with. Insert 3 vertexes on the bottom and top lines of sector A. If you're not sure what I mean, the lines to insert the vertexes are marked with a ". They should be side by side, parallel to each other. STEP 2: Slide the two middle vertexes into the exact middle. They should overlap. Next, take the top and bottom vertexes and slide them on the line that separates setctor A from B, and A from C. Again, if you don't know what I mean, look at SLSTDOOR.MAP. STEP 3: You are now done constructing the door. Add some nice textures. Now, go into 2D mode. Point the cursor to one of the triangles that you made by sliding vertexes. Doesn't matter which one, top of bottom. Hit the 'T' key and give it a Lotag of 9. At this point, you can use your new door. To make the door nice, put a MUSIC&SFX sprite and a GSPEED sprite in one of the triangles. Give the GSPEED sprite a Lotag of 64, and the MUSIC&SFX sprite a lotag of 259. NOTES: 1.) The texture of the door will "squish" when it is opened. No way around it. 2.) For some odd reason, the door's sound will play twice when the door is opened. No way around this. :( 4.5 Splitting Star Trek Doors Map Name: SPSTDOOR.MAP These have got to be the COOLEST doors in the game, and they're quite easy to make. Here's how: STEP 1: Make a regular Star Trek Door. (See 4.14) STEP 2: Go into 3D mode. Choose nice textures. Point the cursor at the triangle part, and make the floor and ceiling meet in the middle. Keep in mind that the floor and ceiling of the triangles will be the floor and ceiling of the door sector when the door is open, so choose a texture like 1156. You are now done constructing the door. Just a few little things to go... STEP 3: Go back into 2D mode. Point at one of the middle triangles. Give the sector a Lotag of 26. At this point, your door is done. To make it nice, add a GSPEED and MUSIC&SFX sprite. Give the GSPEED sprite a Lotag of 128, and the MUSIC&SFX sprite a Lotag of 527. You're done! 4.6 Teeth Doors MAP NAME: TDOOR.MAP Another cool door, and it's real easy to make. STEP 1: Make the following sectors: ________________________ ______________________ : : : : : : : : : :_____________: : : : _____ : : : : :__B__: : : : D : _____ A : E : : : :__C__: : : : :_____________: : : : : : : : : : :______________________: :_____________________: They should all be valid player space. STEP 2: Raise sector A, B, and C's ceiling to match D and E's. Leave sector A's floor alone, but make B and C's floor low enough so that you can't see it, even looking down. Add nice textures. STEP 3: Give sector A a unique Hitag, and a Lotag of 29. Place one sector effector in sector B and C. Give the effectors the unique Hitag you gave sector A, and a Lotag of 22. You're done! You might want a MUSICANDSFX sprite with a Lotag of 166 in sector A, up to you. 4.7 Sliding Doors Map Name: SLDOOR.MAP This is EXTREMELY difficult to explain. So, I'm not really going to. BUT, I have provided SLDOOR.MAP. It is a step-by-step map. You SHOULD be able to do this through that map. If not, send email to gmoser@gramercy.ios.com. I am VERY sorry that I cannot provide an explanation here, but it is WAY too difficult. [to explain] People got confused on a lot of my "tuff-stuff" explanations (swinging doors, etc.) anyway. :) BUT...the thing with the directions of the SE tags: Point the SE to the starting point of the door. 4.8 Down Doors Map Name: DNDOOR.MAP These are the doors that start from the cieling and come down to the floor when activated. To make these, construct a regular DOOM-door, except instead of lowering the cieling to the floor, raise the floor to the cieling. Give the door a Lotag of 21. 4.9 Up/Down Doors Map Name: UPDNDR.MAP These are the doors that the cieling of the door sector goes up, and the floor goes down. Very cool. They are constructed the same way as regular DOOM-doors, only the floor and cieling of the door sector should meet at the middle. Give the sector a Lotag of 22 instead of 20. 4.10 Rotating Subway Doors Map Name: RDOOR.MAP These are doors that you can find in E3L6, when you first start out. To do this, first, follow the directions in section 4.23 (gears), only don't raise the gear sector, and make it a plus. (In other words, make it like RDOOR.MAP) Next, block walls as shown in RDOOR.MAP. The blocked lines are the PINK lines, and can be made by pressing 'B' on the line you want to block. Next, mask all of the blocked walls. (point at cieling of sector, press 'M' in 3D mode). Change the textures of the masked textures to your liking. That's it! If you're still unsure on how to do this, consult RDOOR.MAP before emailing me. 4.11 Auto-Closing Doors Map Name: NONE To make a door auto-close, put a sector effector in the door sector. Give it a Lotag of 10. The Hitag is how long the game should wait before closing the door. 128 equals 4 seconds, this is usually the best. 4.12 Locked Doors Map Name: ACCESS.MAP To have a door locked, do the following: STEP 1: Put an access pad somewhere. Give it a Hitag of 212. Make up a Lotag (I like to use 3, 4, and 5) and give it to the access pad. STEP 2: Put an ACTIVATORLOCKED sprite (#4) in the door sector. Give it the Lotag that you gave the access pad. That's it! Now, that will make a blue access pad. To make a red and yellow one, you have to change the palette number of the access pad. You might want to change the key, also, if you you want the player to be able to use the pad...:) Change them to one of the following: (Use ALT+P in 3D mode) 21 = Red Access pad 23 = Yellow Access Pad 4.13 Doors With Switches Map Name: ADOOR.MAP To make a door open with a switch, first make a door. Put an ACTIVATOR sprite in the door sector. Next, put a switch somewhere that will activate the door. Give the switch and activator the same Lotag. Mine is 50. Now, give the ACTIVATOR sprite a Hitag. The Hitag number is how many times the switch will work. Mine is 10000. Now, if someone sat there and hit the switch 10000 times, the door would not work anymore, but usually use this for infinite switches. 4.14 Combination Door Switches Map Name: COMBODR.MAP This is to make doors that unlock when you press a certain combination of switches. First, make a door. Put an ACTIVATORLOCKED sprite in the door sector. Give it a unique Lotag. Next, place as many DIPSWITCH sprites as you want somewhere. These will be the switches. Give them ALL the SAME Lotag that you gave the ACITVATORLOCKED sprite. At this point, if you went into the game, you would have to puch all of the switches to open the door. To set which ones have to be pressed in order to open the door, give the switches that have to be ON a Hitag of 1. That's it! 4.15 Teleporters Map Name: TELEPORT.MAP Teleporters are some of the easiest hard things to make in Duke 3D, so we'll start with them first. First, make the following room: ____________________________________ : : We'll call this fig. a. The : : outside box is just your normal, : : basic room. Make the two inner : : Sectors (marked with a "T") valid : ___ ___ : Player space. If you want to make : : T : : T : : it look good, put the grid size on : :___: :___: : the biggest one, and line up the : : "T" sectors with the grid. Use the :__________________________________: teleporter tile for the floor, and raise the floor. The next step is the hard part. Place a sector- effector sprite in the middle of each of the "T" sectors. Since this is your first teleporter, make the Hitag for this sprite 1, and the Lotag 7. 1 is because this is your first teleporter, and if you made another, you would change it to 2. 7 is because that is that is the Lotag for teleporting. That's it! Notes: Note that whatever angle the sector-effector sprite is facing is the way that the player is facing when he/she comes out of the teleporter. You could have the player come out facing a wall with 10 aliens to his back...but you didn't get that idea from me! :) 4.16 Water Map name: WATER.MAP Like teleporters, water is very easy. First, make a square sector. Put another sector in the middle of it, this will be the top of the water. Next, make a sector anywhere (except in the outer part of the first one). One thing you must make sure of is that both of the inner sectors are the same EXACT size, and that they are valid player space. When you're done, it should look like this: Now comes the hard part. We're working ____________ now with the inner sector, since that is :______B_____: the water. Sector A is going to the top of the water, so change that SECTOR's Lotag to 1. This signifies that this sector __________________________ will be "on top" of the water. Do the : : same thing to sector B, but make the Lotag : ______________ : 2. This tells the game that this sector will : :______A_____: : be underwater. Next, put sector-effectors : : in the same place of sector A and sector B. :_________________________: Just like teleporters, this is your first piece of water, so make the Hitag for both sector-effectors 1, and the Lotag 7. That's it! 4.17 Sewer Holes/Silent Teleporters Map Name: MANHOLE.MAP Now...basically...if you don't want animation/sounds/etc. when you teleport somewhere, raise the sector effector off the ground. Here's the step-by-step: STEP 1: Make 2 sectors. Big ones. Draw circles inside of these sectors. They must be the exact same size. Actually, since this is just a test, you could make squares, if you want. Now, on the first circle sector that you will jump down into to teleport to the underground sector, lower the floor so that you cannot see it looking down. You can test this by using CTRL+A and then CTRL+Z to go back. STEP 2: On the second circle, do the same as you did with the circle that you will jump into, only the oppisite. (Raise cieling so you can't see it) STEP 3: Put two sector effectors in each sector. In the first sector, lower it [the sector effector] onto the floor (we're working with the circle sectors) Then raise it about 3 or 4 above the floor. Do the exact oppisite with the circle you will come out of (raise the sector effector to the cieling and then drop it 3 or 4). STEP 4: Give both the sector effectors the same unique Hitag, and a Lotag of 7. Add nice textures. The textures and shade of both of the circle sectors should be EXACTLY equal, or it will not look totally right. That's it! 4.18 Lifts Map Name: LIFTS.MAP There are four different kinds of lifts: 1. Starts at top, comes down. Ceiling stays put. 2. Starts at bottom, comes up. Ceiling stays put. 3. Starts on top, floor and ceiling come down together. 4. Starts on bottom, floor and ceiling come down together. These are pretty easy to make. I would guess you know how to arrange the sectors (if not, look at LIFTS.MAP). Here's how you make the sector tags: (DO NOT MAKE SECTOR EFFECTORS, JUST USE H FOR FIRST #, T FOR SECOND #.) All Hitags are zero, so put the following #'s for Lotags: 1. 16 2. 17 3. 18 4. 19 For best effect, put a MUSIC&SFX sprite in the lift sector, make the Hitag and Lotag (For MUSIC&SFX sprite) 73 for Hitag, 71 for Lotag. 4.19 Glass Map Name: GLASS.MAP Glass, believe it or not, is fairly easy. The procedure is as follows: Make the following rooms: __________ _________ : : : : The sector in the middle should be valid : :_: : player space. Next, go into 3D Mode. : : : : Point the cursor to the ceiling of the middle : : : : sector, and press 'M'. An ugly brown texture : :_: : will appear. Press 'V' on this texture and : : : : select the glass texture. Next, go into 2D :_________: :________: mode. Point to the line with the glass texture. Press 'B' to make it so you can't walk through the glass, and CTRL+H to make the glass breakable. You've got yourself a new window! 4.20 Vents Map Name: NONE Now, there's been some wrong info here in the past, but this is the REAL way. :) Make your two sectors. One will be the vent itself, one will be the outside room that you will enter the vent from. Make the entrance to the vent look like an entrance. Next, glue the vent texture to the wall above the opening. What I mean by "glue" it is that it should be on the wall, and not turn with you. To do this, go into 3D mode, point to the wall, and press 'S'. Change the sprite to a vent texture. Next, size down the vent (4, 5, 8 and 2 keys on the numberpad in 3D mode). Point to the vent sptite in 3D mode and press the '1' key. Go into 2D mode. Point to the vent sprite. Press the 'B' key to make it block you from entering, and press CTRL+H to make it breakable. That's it! 4.21 Security Cameras Map Name: CAMERA.MAP Major improvments here: Ok, place a camera and a viewscreen. Give your first camera a Lotag. Give the same number as the viewscreens Hitag. For multiple cameras linked to one view screen, just give all the cameras the same Lotag. (ex: Cameras A and B are linked to viewscreen A, so the cameras get a Lotag of 1, the view screen gets a Hitag of 1.) Notes on cameras: 1.) The angle of the camera sprite is the angle it will point. 2.) To make cameras pan, give them a Hitag. 220 is recommended. If the camera seems to be swinging way too far one way, try changing the angle. 4.22 Collapsible Bridges/Bridges Map Name: BRIDGE.MAP Bridges, despite what you might think, are extremely easy. A bridge is actually a sprite. (Check BRIDGE.MAP for sprite #) To make the bridge collapsible, like in E1L1, give the bridge sprite a Hitag. It doesn't matter what number, as long as it is unique to that bridge. NOTE: You may have to use the 'R' key on the bridge sprite to get it the way you want it. 4.23 Dukematch/Co-op ONLY Stuff Map Name: NONE To make an object appear only in Dukematch or Co-op play, go into 3D Mode. Point to the sprite with the cursor and hit the RALT+P keys. (This is to change the palette) Type in '1' to make the object "Dukematch-only". That's it! 4.24 Fun With C-9 Map Name: C-9.MAP C-9 is the source of most of the explosions in Duke 3D. Here are some facts: A.) If you shrink C-9 (Use > and < keys on numberpad in 3D Mode) all the way (widthwise), when you play the game you do not see it. It can still be operated, but only by an OOZCAN, another C-9, or a crack. B.) A C-9 sprite can be activated by an OOZCAN, crack, or another C-9. But more commonly, it's activated by shooting it, with a switch, and with a touchplate. C.) You can have a Dukematch-Only hole by making the crack Dukematch- only. (See 4.10) Well, that's it for the mile-long fact list...:) Here's how to do some stuff: 4.24.1 C-9 Activated by Switches You may have been wondering how to do this. Actually, it's easy. Put a switch somewhere. Give it a Lotag. Put a MASTERSWITCH sprite in EVERY sector that you will have C-9 explode in. Give all the masterswitch sprites the same Lotag as the switch. Next, place C-9. Put them all over (I was kinda cheap in C-9.MAP) in every sector you placed a masterswitch sprite. Next, shrink the C-9 widthwise all the way so you won't be able to see it in the game. Now, give the C-9 a Hitag equal to the switchs' Lotag. The Lotags for the C-9 are the delay before the explosion will occur. Note that if you set it to zero, it won't explode. Well, that's it. Try it! Do like I did and make the player lose lotsa health when they hit the switch! Great fun! 4.24.2 C-9 Activated by Touchplates Do the EXACT same as with switches, only replace the switch with a touchplate sprite. Very easy. 4.25 Rooms Over Rooms Map Name: SOS.MAP This is quite easy to do. First, make a big sector. Make the ceiling high, choose some nice textures. Make a place leading from that, and up a staircase or slope. Go around until you get to one of the sides of the first sector. You should something like have this: ______________________________________ : ________________________ : : : : : : : :______: : : 0 0 : : __________________________________________ : : : : : : : : : : : : : :__: : : : : : :________ : : : : : : : : : :__________________________________________: Now, the two 0's are the ending vertexes for the sloped hallway. I know they look nothing like it, but bear with me. :) Now, start making a new sector, starting from the 0's. Make it inside the first sector. DO NOT put vertexes on the lines for the first sector. just let the lines overlap. Now, travel up your slope, and go into the sector you just made. Right now, it's at regular floor height. Just raise the floor, and you've got a sector over a sector! If you need help, look at SOS.MAP. Now, the general rule for rooms over rooms, is make it the way it is above. You don't have to make it EXACTLY like it, just make sure the stacked sector is made of all white lines. Get it? Good. 4.26 Nuke Buttons MAP NAME: NONE All you have to do for a Nukebutton is put the sprite (#142) on a wall, and give it a Lotag of '32767'. Also, to end a level, put a sectoreffector in a sector and give it a Lotag of '65535'. This will end the level when the player walks on the sector. 4.27 Secret Areas Map Name: NONE To make a secret area, Give the sector a Lotag of '32767'. 4.28 Mirrors Map Name: MIRROR.MAP This is pretty easy to do. Before you do this, go into MIRROR.MAP. Turn on no clipping (DNCLIP). Walk through the mirror. Weird? This is a hall of mirrors effect, and you are actually in the room behind the mirror. To make a mirror, make the following sectors: _____________________________________ : : : : ________ : : : : : :___: : : : : : : : : : : : : : : C : B : A : : : : : : :___: : : : : : : : :________: : : :____________________________________: Sector C is the room behind the mirror. As a rule of thumb, it should usually be twice as big as sector A, if not bigger. The mirror will usually work if sector C is the same size as sector A, but sometimes if you look in the mirror at different angles, it gets messed up. Now, go into sector A, in 3D mode. Point to the ceiling of sector B, and press the 'M' key. Change that ugly texture to the mirror texture, which is number 560. Next, point to the new texture and press the '1' key. This makes the wall 1-sided, and there will now be a pink backround and you can't see into the other room. Next, go into 2D mode. Point to the wall that the mirror will be and press the 'B' key and 'CTRL+H' keys. This makes the wall block you and hittable. If you want Duke to say "Damn, I'm lookin' good!" when you use the mirror, give the wall (use ALT+T on the wall for Lotags, ALT+H for Hitags) a Lotag of 252. You're done! 4.29 Conveyor Belts/Water Current Map Name: CONVEYOR.MAP This is pretty easy. Note that to make water current, it's the same deal, just put water on the floor and give the sector a Hitag of 1. First, make your conveyor belt. Just a flat sector, maybe the conveyor belt texture for the floor. Add a sector effector. Give it a Hitag of 24, and point it the way you want the conveyor belt to go. That's it! To make it go faster, put a GSPEED sprite in the conveyor sector. Give it a Lotag of your choice. The higher the Lotag, the faster it will go. Look at CONVEYOR.MAP to learn how to make a switch turn it on and off. Pretty self-explanatory. 4.30 Gears/Rotation Map Name: GEARS.MAP To make gears, make a gear sector. You know, make it look like a gear. I didn't have the time nor the energy to make a whole lot of prongs on my gear, so I just made a cross. Just the same. Anyway, decide on a pivot point for the gear. Insert 3 sprites on the pivot point. Go into 3D mode. Make 2 of them sector effectors, and one sprite #418. Use relative alignment (R key) on sprite #418 to make it lay flat. Go back into 2D mode. Give both of the sector effectors a unique Hitag, not the same as all the other gears. I used 56. Then, give one of the sector effectors a Lotag of 1. That's it! To make the gear sound good, put a MUSIC&SFX sprite somewhere. Give it a Hitag of 8000, and a Lotag of 89. For multiple gears, do the same thing only leave out the sector effector with no Lotag. Now, you don't nescecarily have to make a gear. Just keep in mind a few things: The SE1 sprite is the rotation point. Put it wherever you want. Point the sprite down to have it rotate counter-clockwise and up to have it rotate clockwise. The SE1 doesn't HAVE to be in the sector that is rotating. 4.31 Subways Map Name: SUBWAY.MAP To make subway cars, first make a subway track. Doesn't have to be too elaborate, something like a race car track. First, we'll make the engine. Make a simple square sector, for our first subway. Later, we can make bigger and better cars, but for now just use a square. Make the square valid player space. Go into 3D mode. Go into 3D mode and do anything you want to the car... i.e. make the floor higher, put nice textures, etc. Next, put a sector effector in the subway car. For the Hitag of that sector effector, we'll use the number 1. 1 is because the subway is going to start at locator number 1. For the Hitag of the sector effector, put a 6. 6 means that this is the engine of the train, and all cars will follow it. Now, the locators. Put locators (sprite #6) around the track. Each locator tells the car where to go next. Look at SUBWAY.MAP if you need an example. Now, put Lotags on the Locators. It is important that you DON'T give the first locator a Lotag, or the game will crash. Give all the other locators Lotags going in number order, from second to last. (Leave the first alone) You have your self a subway! If you need more help, look at SUBWAY.MAP. Now, if you wanted to make 2 cars, make another subway sector. Give the sector effector (you do not have to make new locators) a Lotag of 14 instead of 6. If you want to have multiple trains on one track, give the first train SECTORs a Hitag of 1, the second a 2, and so-on and so-forth. Also, to make it so the floor doesn't move with the car, go into 3D mode and point to the floor of the car. Press 'R'. 4.32 Colored Lights Map Name: CLITES.MAP To make colored lights, make a sector. Choose textures. Change the palette number (use ALT+P) of the walls, ceiling, and floor to a number from a list below. The only palette numbers for lights that seem to work are: 1 = Blue 2 = Red 7 = Yellow 8 = Green 4.33 Demo Cameras To make a camera in your level that will play back demos after they are recorded, put a sector effector somewhere (preferably where you want the camera :) ). Give it a Lotag of 27. The Hitag is how far the camera can see. Experiment a bit. 4.34 Co-op/Dukematch Starting Points To make co-op and Dukematch starting points, put a Duke sprite (his initial frame) in your level. That would be a Dukematch start. To make a co-op start, give Duke's sprite a Lotag of 1. Co-op starts should all be at the beginning, with the player 1 start. Dukematch starts should be where no player is at an advantage, i.e. near a good weapon, etc. 4.35 Spawning Stuff Map Name: NONE This section will cover three things: CANWITHSOMETHING's, killing stuff and something else comes up (i.e. kill a dancer and a monster comes) and touchplates to make monsters come up. (i.e. in E3L1, when you step on the shaded sector on the top of the building, a monster pops up out of nowhere) 1: CANWITHSOMETHING's are the garbage cans that when you "kill" them something pops out of it. To make something come out, get the sprite number of what you want to pop out. Give the can a Lotag of the sprite you want to come out. Done! 2: Kill something, something comes up. This is used for stuff like when you kill a dancer, a monster gets up and tries to kill you. What you have to do is this: STEP 1: Put a dancer somewhere. STEP 2: Put a RESPAWN sprite where you want the monster to appear after you've killed the dancer. STEP 3: Give the dancer a Hitag. Doesn't matter what, as long as it's the not the same as other dancers. STEP 4: Give the respawn sprite a Lotag. This # should be the same as the Hitag you gave the dancer. STEP 5: Give the respawn sprite a Hitag. Make it the # of the sprite you want to appear when you kill the dancer. That's it! 3: Touchplate/switch Respawns First, put a switch or a touchpate somewhere. Give it a Lotag. The Hitag of the switch or touchplate is how many times it will work. Next, put a respawn somewhere. Give it the same Lotag as the switch/ touchplate. Give the respawn a Hitag equal to the sprite number you want to spawn up. 4.36 Active Tripbombs Map Name: NONE If you don't already know how to do this, active tripbombs are sprite #2566. You might have to size it down a bit. 4.37 Earthquakes Map Name: QUAKE.MAP To make earthquakes, follow these steps: STEP 1: Make the sector that will be altered during the earthquake. Make it look like the finished product of the quake, i.e. make slopes, altered floor/cieling heights, whatever. STEP 2: Make the sector that will activate the quake. If you don't know what I mean, it's the darkened sector in QUAKE.MAP. STEP 3: Now, to add sprites. For each sector that will be altered in the quake, put a Sector Effector sprite and a Master Switch (#8) sprite, both in the same sector. Raise the two sprites to where you want the height of the floor to be before the quake. It's really hard to get it perfect. Sometimes you'll get raised floors that just won't go down. In that case, I presume you have a slope. Put the 2 sptires (Sector Effector and MASTERSWITCH on the AXIS of the slope. The last sprite to add is a TOUCHPLATE sprite (#3) in the sector that will activate the quake. (The darkened sector in QUAKE.MAP) STEP 4: Give ALL the Sector Effectors a Lotag of '2'. Give the TOUCHPLATE sprite a unique Lotag. Give the same lotag as you gave the touchplate to the MASTERSWITCH sprites. That's it! NOTES: A.) To make the earthquake make scraps of rock and metal fly around, put a sector effector sprite where you want the scraps to start. Give it a lotag of '33'. Now, if you want stuff to just roll around on the ground, keep it on the ground. To make it come from the air, raise the SE 33 sprite to the cieling. B.) To make Duke say "Holy Shit!" when he steps on the touchplate sector, give the touchplate SECTOR a Lotag of 10225. 4.38 Light Switches Map Name: SWLITES.MAP This is easy. Here's the step-by-step: STEP 1: Make a sector. STEP 2: Set the sector brightness (Use ALT + +/- in 3D Mode) to how bright it should be when the lights are on. Then, set the shade of everything that you want dark when the lights are out. (Use '+S while pointing at the desired wall/floor/ceiling/sprite) Mine is 50, which is totally dark. STEP 3: Put a light switch on the wall. Give it a unique Lotag. Put Sector Effector sprites in ALL the sectors that will be lit up when the switch is turned on. STEP 4: Give the Sector Effector(s) a Hitag that is equal to the switches Lotag. STEP 5: Give the Sector Effector(s) a Lotag of 12. That's it! 4.39 Open Door, Room Lights Up Map Name: DRLITES.MAP I'll use the step-by-step method for this one: STEP 1: Make 3 sectors, you know, a room (to be lit up), a lit room, maybe with ligihts in the back, and the door sector. To make it look cool when the room lights up, make 2 extra sectors on either side. You know, make it look a bit like my map. That's the way I like it, your choice. STEP 2: Do the same thing you did in step 2 of section 4.33. STEP 3: Put a Sector Effector sprite in the door sector, and in all the sectors that will be lit up when the door is opened. STEP 4: Give all the Sector Effector sprite a unique Hitag, and a Lotag of 8. You're done! 4.40 Shooters Map Name: SHOOTERS.MAP I couldn't think of a better name for it, so this section is called shooters. You know, things that shoot shrinkers, mortars, lasers, etc. Here's how to do it: STEP 1: Make your sector that the shot will come from. Make it look nice. STEP 2: In that sector, put a Sector Effector sprite, a GSPEED sprite, and a MASTERSWITCH sprite. STEP 3: You MUST have a switch turn the shooter on, so put a switch somewhere. STEP 4: Give the switch and the MASTERSWITCH sprite a unique Lotag. Give the MASTERSWITCH sprite a Hitag of 50. STEP 5: Place the sector effector where you want the shot to come from, and angle it to where it will shoot. (The rockets and lasers ait themselves, but do it anyway, or they just crash into a wall). Give the sector effector a Lotag of 36. STEP 5: Now, to decide what to shoot. Do this by giving the GSPEED sprite one of the following Lotags: 1636 = Lizard Goobs 1625 = Alien Lasers 1650 = Mortars (Like the first boss throws) 2605 = Rockets 2556 = Shrinkers You've made a shooter! If you don't understand, look at SHOOTERS.MAP. 3.41 Switches For Forcefields Map Name: SWFORCE.MAP I havn't tested this on an actual level yet, so forgive me if it's wrong. :) First, make the wall that will be your forcefield. Next, make the switch. Now, mask the wall. Make it the forcefield texture (Texture #663) Unmask the wall. Give the WALL (forcefield wall) a unique Lotag. Give the switch the same Lotag. You're done! 4.42 Difficulty Settings Map Name: NONE This is easy. Just give monsters Lotags: 2: Skill level 2 3: Skill level 3&4 (Skill 4 just makes them respawn) 4.43 Echo Map Name: ECHO.MAP To make an echo in a sector, simply place a MUSICANDSFX sprite (#5) in the sector. Give it a Hitag of how far away the shot has to be to be echoed, and a Lotag of how much it will echo. 4.44 Pulsating Lights Map Name: PULSATE.MAP This is yet ANOTHER thing that the BUILDHLP file has wrong info on. To do this, put a CYLCER sprite (#7) in the sector. Make the shade (use ALT+S) on the walls and cieling of the sector how dark the room will get when the lights are out, and set the shade of the cycler sprite to how bright the room will get. At this point, it will work. It will be really fast pulsating, though. To change the speed, give the cycler sprite a Hitag. Any Hitag, make it unique. Then, add a GSPEED sprite (#10). Give it the same Hitag as you gave the cycler. Then, give the GSPEED a Lotag. This is how fast the lights will pulsate. 4.45 Elevator Transports Map Name: ELETRANS.MAP First, sorry I kinda copied 3D Realms' design for my map, put that was just simply the best way to make it. :) Now, elevator transports transport you from one elevator to another, simulating rooms over rooms. They're not perfect, as sometimes they jump a little when going down. They're also hard to get perfect...but read on cuz here's the step-by-step: STEP 1: Make your elevators. They must be the same EXACT size, shape, and the cieling should be the EXACT distance from the floor. Make your textures all EXACTLY the same (this is the hard part, takes awhile to get perfect). You then should raise the cieling of both elevator sectors and change the "shaft" texture, as well as lowering the floors of both to change the "shaft" textures. This is important because if everything is not panned exactly as the other elevator, it will not look right at all. STEP 2: Add a sector effector sprite in both of the elevator sectors in the EXACT same spot. Use grid to be sure. (notice all of the exacts in this). Give them a Lotag of 17, and give them both the same Hitag (doesn't matter, as long as it's the same). Now, decide which elevator sector you will start on. Change the shade of that elevator's sector effector (use ALT+S in 3D mode) to something darker than the other one. I used 32. STEP 3: Give both the elevator sectors a SECTOR Lotag of 15. Next, figure out the TOP floor that the elevator will transport to. Give that floors elevator sector a Hitag of 1. Try it! If you still have trouble, look at ELETRANS.MAP for help before emailing me. 4.46 Blastable Walls Map Name: HOLE.MAP Step 1: Make the following sectors: ____________________ : : : :____ : :_A__: : :_B__: : :_C__: : : : : :____________________: Sectors A, B, and C should be all valid player space. We could have sectors A, B, and C as all one sector, but we want our hole to look cool. So make it 3, and arrange the slopes of the floor and ceiling and the heights of the floor and ceiling until you've got a nice hole. Add nice textures, the stuff inside the hole will be what it looks like when blown out. Step 2: Put a crack sprite somewhere. It really doesn't matter where, it'll work just the same. I prefer in front of the hole. :) Make sure that it's directly on a wall, though. Give the crack a Hitag. Something unique, not the same as any other cracks. I used 213 in my map. Step 3: Place a Sector Effector *Sprite* in sectors A, B, and C. Give them your unique Hitag, and a Lotag of '13'. Step 4: Place a C-9 sprite in sectors A, B, and C. Now, go into 3D mode. Use the '4' and '6' keys on your NUMBERPAD to shrink the C-9 WIDTHWISE as much as possible. If you don't know what I mean, look at my map. Step 5: Go back into 2D mode. Give each of the C-9's your special Hitag. Now, the Lotag for the C-9's is up to you. That determines how long it will be before the C-9 blows up. You can have it happen right away, a long way away so the player walks up to the hole and has C-9 blown up in his face, or all three go at different times. For now, just put 20 for the middle one, 40 for the left one, and 60 for the right one. This makes a nice explosion, and is not bad for a beginners hole. Step 6: You're done! Play the level! In future hole designing, you might want to know this: 1. You can have the crack shatter as many sectors as you want, just make sure they are of all equal Hitags. 2. If you want a HUGE explosion that'll last about 10 seconds, fill the ENTIRE room with C-9, shrink them all, and give them your Hitag. Set them all for different times, and watch it blow! Set records for how long you can stay alive with C-9 blowing up in your face! 3. Have JUST C-9 blow a hole by replacing the crack with a C-9 sprite. Make sure it's not on the wall, and KABOOM! 4. Use KEXTRACT to extract the original levels, get ideas from them. 4.47 Destructable Buildings/Floor Lowering Map Name: BUILDBLO.MAP First, you must understand the following: To lower floors, use SE 13. Apparantly, SE 13, which is used to make blastable walls, is actually a floor lowerer. But, without a GSPEED sprite applied to it, you don't see it lower the floor. Now, here's the step-by-step: STEP 1: Create the result of the building blowing up. Put a SECTOR EFFECTOR, MASTERSWITCH, and GSPEED sprite in every sector that will be affected. STEP 2: Give the GSPEED sprite a Lotag of 64 (this is just how fast the building will blow, and seems to be standard speed. Anything faster causes a VERY slow frame rate). Give the SECTOR EFFECTOR a Lotag of 13, and a unique Hitag (make it up). Give the MASTER SWITCH sprites a Lotag equal to the SECTOR EFFECTORs Hitag. STEP 3: Put a switch or touchplate somewhere. Give it a Lotag that is equal to the MASTERSWITCH sprite Lotags. Now, if you just wanted to have the floor lower, this would not work. For some odd reason, you MUST have a C-9 sprite somewhere. What I do is make a room somewhere in the corner of my map. I put 2 sprites, a C-9 sprite and a MASTERSWITCH sprite. The MASTERSWITCH sprites Lotag should be equal to the switches Lotag, and the C-9 should have the same number as it's Hitag, but no Lotag. STEP 4: Now, the C-9. Place C-9 wherever you want. Keep in mind that wherever you place the C-9, at whatever hieght, that's where it will blow up. Be creative with this fact along with timing! STEP 5: Give the C-9 a Hitag that is equal...to...guess...the... could it be...the switches Lotag. The Lotag for the C-9 is the time delay before it explodes. STEP 6: Put a MASTERSWITCH sprite in EVERY sector that you put C-9 in. Give it the same Lotag as the switches Lotag. You're done! 4.48 Crushers Map Name: CRUSHERS.MAP These are like an engine piston. The cieling of these sectors come up and down and crush you. To do this, set the sector's cieling to how high it will go, and the floor to how low it will go (duh). Put a SECTOR EFFECTOR in there and give it a Lotag of 25. That's it! Now, my sector effectors are at different hieghts. This signifies the start point. 4.49 Shots Fired In Sector, Cieling Comes Down Map Name: SHOTLOW.MAP This is a VERY simple procedure, and it's pretty cool. What it does is when an explosion is heard in the sector, it comes crashing on your head. To do this, just put a sector effector in the sector you want. Give it a Lotag of 19. That's it! 4.50 Rotate/Rise Sector Map Name: ROTRISE.MAP This is easy. Make the sector that will rotate and rise. Put an activator, and a sector effector in that sector. Now, put a switch or touchplate somewhere. Give it a Lotag. Give the activator the same Lotag as the switch. Give the sector effector a Hitag that is equal to the switchs' Lotag. (Leave the Hitag alone) Give the rotate-rise sector a Lotag of 30. Now, decide on a rotation point for the sector. Put a sector effector there. Give the sector effector a Lotag of 1, and a Hitag that is equal to the switchs' Lotag. Done! 4.51 Stretch Sector Map Name: STRETCH.MAP This is used to stretch a sector whatever way you want. Real cool stuff. STEP 1: Make the sector that will be stretched. STEP 2: Give that sector a Lotag of 27. STEP 3: Place 3 sprites in the sector. STEP 4: Put a switch somewhere. STEP 5: Change the three sprites to a sector effector, activator and GSPEED sprites. STEP 6: Give the switch a Lotag. Give the activator the same Hitag. Give the sector effector a Hitag that is equal to the switch's Lotag and a Lotag of 20. Point the sector effector the way you want the sector to stretch. Give the GSPEED sprite a Lotag of how far you want the sector to stretch. 4.52 Cielings And Floors (Dropping) Map Name: DRFLRCLN.MAP The title says it all. Drop floors and cielings, all with one sector effector. Here's how: STEP 1: Make the sector to be affected. Give THAT sector a Lotag of 28. STEP 2: Place 3 sprites in the sector: a sector effector, an activator, and a GSPEED. STEP 3: Decide what you want to drop. If it is the floor, go to step 4F. If the cieling, go to 4C. STEP 4F: Change the angle of the sector effector sprite so that it points toward the bottom of the map. STEP 5F: Give the sector effector a Lotag of 21. Make up a number and give it to the activator as a Lotag. Give the GSPEED sprite a Lotag. This sets the rate at which the floor drops. I used 10. STEP 6F: Lower the floor to where you want it to end up. Raise the sector effector sprite to the start position of the floor. STEP 7F: Put a switch somewhere. Give it the same Lotag as the activator. STEP 4C: Change the angle of the sector effector sprite so that it points toward the top of the map. STEP 5C: Give the sector effector a Lotag of 21. Make up a number and give it to the activator as a Lotag. Give the GSPEED sprite a Lotag. This sets the rate at which the cieling drops. I used 10. STEP 6C: Raise the cieling to where you want it to start. Lower the sector effector sprite to the end position of the cieling. STEP 7C: Put a switch somewhere. Give it the same Lotag as the activator. 4.53 2-Way Trains Map Name: 2WAYCAR.MAP First, make your car sector. Give the sector a Lotag of 31, do whatever you want with it. If you make more than one sector, you will have to give that sector a Lotag of 31 also. Put 2 sprites in the car, an activator and a Sector Effector. Now, put a switch somewhere. It can be in the car if you want. Give the switch a Lotag. Give the activator the same Lotag. Give the sector effector sprite a Lotag of 30. Now, to define the track. Put two locators somewhere. The first locator for the train to go to should be behind the train and have a Lotag of 1. The other one, leave it alone. That's it! ======================= 5: INFO AND OTHER STUFF ======================= 5.1 Palette List This is a list of all of the palette numbers and thier uses. Palettes affect 3 different things (I'll use the stripper for an example because that's the most used for palette change): The backround (skin) the foreground (suit) and fore-foreground (just a name I made up) affects stuff like money, accessories, etc. 0 Normal 1 This can make a sprite multi-player only, also a light color. 2 Everything is red. Most often used as a light color. 3 Normal on sprites, but if applied to a SE 7 that will transport underwater, you will swin in muck instead of water. Also, set this to the floor and cieling of a BIGORBIT parallax cieling and/or floor, and you won't die when you enter the sector. 4 Everything is solid black 5 Normal 6 Night vision look (you wouldn't normally use this, it's for the game to designate night vision. You could use it, though.) 7 Everything has a greenish-yellow tint. Can be used for yellow lights. 8 Everything is light green. 9 Normal. 10 Foreground is red. 11 Foreground is light green. 12 Foreground is light grey. 13 Foreground is dark grey. 14 Foreground is dark green. 15 Foreground is brown. 16 Foreground is dark blue. 17 Backround blue, foreground green. 18 Same as 11. 19 Backround red, foreground grey. 20 Backround blue, foreground grey. 21 This does a bunch of things. On most, turns foreground red. BUT, use this palette to change a regular boss to a mini-boss (doesn't end game if killed) or to make a (lemme get my manual out, here...oh yeah...) an assault trooper an assault captain. 22 Foreground is light grey 23 Foreground is yellow. 24 Normal. 25 Fore-foreground is red. 5.2 Facts On Dimensions This was taken from the Apogee message base, and was written by Per-Erik Nilsson (perni@lysator.liu.se). Everything is measured in units up how many times you press the PGUP/PGDOWN keys. For the shooting ones, aim up/down was not used. Measure Duke Standing Duke Ducking Min. height for Duke to enter a sector 11* 6 Max. height that Duke can walk onto 3 0 Max. height of floor Duke can shoot above 8(9)** 3(4)** Min. height of ceiling Duke can shoot below 10(9)** 5(4)** As above but using RPG 11 6 Max height of floor Duke can jump on to 20 0 Min. height of wall to place tripbomb on 10 4 * Duke can also enter sectors with a height of 10, but he will automaticly duck. ** Second number is when only some of the shots will get past 5.3 Sound List I'm not going to list all of the sounds and what they do here, at least for now. You have a list of them in your Duke 3D directory, though. Open up DEFS.CON. There is a list of all the sounds starting at line number 646. 5.4 Quick SE Number List 0: Rotate sector 1: Rotate point for SE 0 2: Earthquake 3: Random lights after shot out 4: Random lights 5: Reserved 6: Subway engine 7: Transport 8: Up open door lights 9: Down open door lights 10: Door auto close (set Hitag to delay) 11: Swinging Door 12: Light switch 13: Hole maker, floor lowerer 14: Subway car 15: Sliding door (ST 25) 16: Reserved 17: Elevator transport (ST 15) 18: Reserved 19: Lower cieling when explosion hits sector 20: Stretch sector (ST 27) 21: Drop floor (ST 28) 22: Prong for teeth doors 23: Reserved 24: Conveyor belt of water current 25: Crusher 26: Reserved 27: Camera for playback 28: Reserved 29: Float sector 30: 2 way train (ST 31) 31: Floor rise 32: Cieling lower 33: Jibs for earthquakes 34: Shooter 5.5 Quick Sector Tag Guide 1: On top of water 2: Underwater 9: Sliding Star Trek door 15: Elevator transport (SE 17) 16: Elevator platform down 17: Elevator platform up 18: Elevator down 19: Elevator up 20: DOOM-door 21: Down door 22: Split from middle door 23: Swing door 25: Sliding door 26: Splitting Star Trek door 27: Stretch sector (SE 21) 28: Drop floor (SE 21) 29: Teeth door prong (SE 22) 30: Rotate-rise sector 31: 2-way train 10+: Play sound when player walks on sector (+ is sound #) 32767: Secret room 65535: End level 5.6 Hints And Tips 1. Use lots of sprites. Sprites are what levels revolve around. You can't make a cool looking level without them. 2. Use shading. Lots of it. It makes for some cool effects. 3. Don't let two mirrors "see" each other. It causes problems. 4. " " " demo cameras "see" each other. It causes problems. 5. SAVE _>VERY<_ often. BUILD crashes, especially when running it through Win 95. Save every 2-3 minutes. You'll get into the habit. 6. DON'T run BUILD through Win 95. It makes it crash more often. 7. Make surprises. For example, have a player walk on a touchplate sector. Have an alien spawn up in front of him. Or, time explosions just right so that when a player blows something up, and walks over to get an item of something, a C-9 blows up in their face. 8. Unless you REALLY want to, don't waste time setting difficulty settings. People don't really use them anyway. 9. Look at the original levels and other levels for ideas. 10. Think like you want to kill the player! ======================== 6: QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ======================== I get a lot of email now about this FAQ, and on how to do stuff that's not in it. Now that this is here...PLEASE do NOT email me with ANY questions that are in here. I will not respond. (sorry!) Well, here's the question and answer portion of this FAQ: Q: My subway is going crazy! It shoots rockets at me! Help! A: The only way to get a subway to stop firing rockets is to take the parallaxing off of the cieling of the subway. Q: When I go into 3D mode, my screen gets all screwed up! A: Ok, people on #dukeedit, #duke3d, and others on the Apogee message base are tired of people asking this question. It has been asked SO many times, and we're getting tired of it. The answer has been posted SOOOOO many times, so PLEASE don't ask this on IRC, message bases, or email. The answer to this question is that YOU HAVE TO MOVE ALL OF THE BUILD FILES TO YOUR DUKE3D DIRECTORY. Q: I tried making a fish tank. When I look into the glass, I don't see water. Am I doing something wrong? A: Yes, you are doing something wrong. :) I have included TANK.MAP in the ZIP file. If you cannot figure it out from there, basically, it is the brown glass texture (check example map for #) masked onto the wall as the glass. The glass has a Palette # of 1. Press the 'T' key once in 3D mode to make it transparent. Q: How do I change the direction of a sprite? A: Go into 2D mode. Point at the sprite and use the < and > keys to move the little tail. Q: BUILD keeps locking up! Help! A: Well, it really is a shame that Apogee made an editor and won't support it. But, the cause of this problem depends on where it is happening. If you are scrolling textures when it locks up, it's usually caused by your hard disk. You probably have a low-end piece of crap like Maxtor or Packard Bell. Get a new hard drive is the only solution. If it's anything else (like deleting sectors, etc) all I can suggest is save once a minute. This sounds rediculous, but you, like me, will get used to it. (I have a maxtor hard drive :() Q: BUILD sucks. Is there another editor available? A: No, not currently. Sorry. Q: When I'm in editart, I can't see any or all of the graphics. What should I do? A: You have to use KEXTRACT to extract the .ART files. Use the following command line: KEXTRACT DUKE3D.GRP *.ART Q: How do I import graphics into Editart? A: I am not really familiar with editart. Sorry, I can't help you. Q: I'm sick of hearing the same old song in my level. How do I change it? A: You don't, really. It's not like DOOM where you could put different music into WADs. You'll have to create your own .GRP file. Q: I've noticed an error in your FAQ. <error goes here> A: Thanks a bunch, I'll give you credit! (this is one you SHOULD email me) Q: I'm having lots of trouble with something. Where else can I go for help? A: Well, go to me. Email the level to gmoser@gramercy.ios.com. If you are using AOL, be sure to say what the name of the level is in the note, or I can't get it properly. Only problem with asking me is that it's guaranteed fixed, BUT, it's not guaranteed that I'll remember to send you the fixed product. After you send it, wait 2-3 days, and email me with the name of the MAP I sent you. I'll send it back. Q: <thing that's not in here> is not in your FAQ. I need help! A: Sure. Just email. I can do a lot more than what's in here. :) Q: How do I set difficulty levels? A: See section 4.39. Q: How do I make that cool lighting effect that looks like rippling water? A: You don't, at least not as a lighting effect anyway. You put a certain texture on the wall. The number is #853. Q: How do I place a sector effector? A: A sector effector is a sprite. Go into 2D mode. Place a sprite somewhere (press the 'S' key). Go into 3D mode. Point to the sprite you created, and press 'V'. Change it to sprite #1, the sector effector. Add appropriate tags. Q: How do I make a forcefield like in the space levels? A: It happens automaticly, if you look out into a sector with the BIGORBIT texture palallaxed as the floor and cieling. Q: What's the difference between pink and blue sprites? A: Pink sprites block you from going through, blue ones do not. You can toggle this in 2D mode by pressing 'B' while pointing at the sprite. Q: How can I make it so that my door frame doesn't go up and down with my door? A: Press the 'O' key in 3D mode while pointing at the door frame. =============== 7: FINISHING UP =============== 7.1 MAP Authoring Template The is also in the ZIP file. Fill this out and include it with your level. ====================================================================== Title : Name of your level Author : Your name E-mail : Your email adress Web Page : Your URL, if you have one Description : Set the mood here Additional Credits to : Anybody that you would like to thank for helping you, etc. ====================================================================== * Play Information * Episode and Level # : Single Player : Yes/No DukeMatch Level : Yes/No Difficulty Settings : Yes/Not implemented * Construction * Base : New level from scratch/Modified (Map name) Editor(s) used : Known Bugs : * Where to get this MAP file * FTP sites: BBS numbers: Other: =========================================================================== 7.2 Uploading Your Level The final step is to upload your level. Here are some good places to upload them: Send them to: mike@bayserve.net yeagers@www.erols.com gmoser@gramercy.ios.com* Upload them to: ftp.cdrom.com head2head.com (If you have it) AOL: Keyword: 3D Realms Post them to: alt.games.apogee alt.games.duke3d If you run a Duke 3D site and would like to be put on the list, please tell me and I'll add you. * This is me. Please send your level here. Not only will I post it on my page, but I like to see how this FAQ helped people.