Duke Nukem Forever

Duke Nukem Forever
Developers: 3D Realms, Triptych Games, Gearbox Software, Piranha Games Publishers: 2K Games, Aspyr Media (Mac), 1C Company (RU) Platforms: Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Mac OS X Released internationally: June 10, 2011 (Windows/PS3/360), August 18, 2011 (Mac) Released in JP: March 29, 2012 (PS3/360) Released in US: June 14, 2011 (Windows/PS3/360) This game has unused animations. This game has unused areas. This game has unused code. This game has hidden developer credits. This game has hidden development-related text. This game has unused enemies. This game has unused objects. This game has unused modes / minigames. This game has unused graphics. This game has unused models. This game has unused cinematics. This game has unused items. This game has unused music. This game has unused sounds. This game has unused text. This game has regional differences. This game has revisional differences. This game has unusual dummy files. This game has a development article This game has a prototype article This game has a prerelease article This game has a notes page

Duke Nukem Forever (often shorted to "DNF" by many) was intended to be the series' fourth main game after Duke Nukem 3D, but ended up spending well over a decade in development hell, going through so many concepts, developers, staff changes, engine swaps, and pushed-back release dates that the game became a punchline... but come out it did, including a "Balls of Steel" collector's edition (containing all sorts of nifty stuff) and an announcement that GameStop would honor pre-orders from past years (which ended up including a customer who had preordered the game in 2001).

The finished game itself, on the other hand...let's just say the wait probably wasn't worth it for most. Especially for a certain gray cat.

To do: See the To-Do sub-page for what needs to get done. It's definitely, highly very likely that there's more, considering the game's history.

Sub-Pages

Development Info

Prototype Info

Prerelease Info

Notes

Unused Graphics Various graphics and textures; placeholders, early graphics, all that.

Unused Text Welcome to the text-based museum of this game's development.

Unused Audio Unused sounds, voice lines, and music not heard at all (or in their entirety).

Unused Models All sorts of unused models that had no steel.

Unused Animations "What? Did you think I would just stay stuck in a pre-rendered .bik forever?"

Unused Code All sorts of interesting code left in the game.

Internal Names The names of assets in the files. There's a few oddly-named ones here!

Oddities As if being the (former) world record holder for longest development of a AAA release wasn't odd enough.

Downloadable Content Unused stuff in the two DLCs, Hail to the Icons Parody Pack and The Doctor Who Cloned Me.

Unused Enemy

While technically not completely "unused", the Duke Clones from The Doctor Who Cloned Me are present amongst the base game's objects but understandably don't go used in any of its levels. This is almost certainly a leftover from the cut Area 51/EDF Base levels mentioned in the 2008 World Chart.

Unused Weapons

There are some unused weapons in the game, some of them are more or less complete sans a few bugs, and others only have asset remanets to show their once-existence.

Nuclear Warhead

There was going to be the nuclear option for the RPG with an alternative ammo type, acting not so dissimilar to the similarly named weapon from Shadow Warrior. It has a whole set of animations, textures, and a model, but isn't used. The nuke ammo can be gained by using commands in the console. It is not certain which mode(s) the weapon was intended to appear in.

When loading it, Duke will hit the butt of the ammo against the gun and insert it. A voice will then count down from three before the gun can fire.

It is possible this was cut due to balancing concerns.

The multiplayer ammo pickup for it uses an unused model. Pickup text for the Warhead exists but was later removed from the PC version, now displaying an error string.

Flamethrower

The flamethrower seen in the 2001 builds is referenced in the files but all that seems left of it is just some audio.

Filename	Audio	Notes
FTGasIgnite.mp3		Gas cloud ignition.
FTGasLp.mp3		Gas cloud idle.

Pistol Dual Wielding

There is code that suggest the player was able to dual wield pistols in the game. Some Pigcops are shown doing this. Duke is also seen doing it in some prerelease media.

Demo and Trailer Leftovers

To do: Add that ESRB notice here. Add the animations from the trailer.

Leftovers from the official demo exist in the final game. The trailer and upsell screen, along with the standard ESRB notice from the demo, are still in the files.

It is worth noting that the demo trailer is in fact just an edited version of the game's reveal trailer from January 2011. That trailer featured some noticeable differences from the final game that remain present in the demo trailer.

Demo_trailer.bik	upsellScreen.bik

There is also a model (known as duke_trailer.msh) of Duke with a textureless head and hands used for the trailer, plus his lines for the very same trailer. Text from the demo also exists in dnwindow.int.

DemoTitleText=DEMO
NewDemoText=NEW DEMO
NewDemoHelp=Start a new game.
ContinueDemoText=CONTINUE DEMO
ContinueDemoHelp=Continue a single player game.

DemoText=PLAY DEMO
NewDemoText=NEW DEMO
DemoHelp=Play the demo.
NewDemoHelp=Play the demo.

‎

DUKE_TrailerLine_GoneForever_01.mp3	DUKE_TrailerLine_GoneForever_02.mp3
"What?.."	"Did you think I was gone forever?"

There also exist the animations of Duke (a_scr_trailer_outro.anm) and the dead Pigcop (a_scr_pigcop_top_trailer_outro.anm) seen at the end of the trailer. A copy of Duke's animation exists in the final model's animations folder.

Unused Game Modes

There exists some unused game modes, none of which seem to be functional anymore.

Bug Hunt - Plant/Disarm the Bomb

A game mode dating back to the 2001 prototypes, it would play a lot like Counter-Strike's bomb defusal mode. At the start of the match, players would be split into an attacking or defending team. A member of the attacking team would be given a bomb and have to plant it, while the defending team would have to stop them from doing so. Unlike Counter-Strike, players could respawn as long as their score is greater than 0. Score is taken away by dying.

The attacking team wins by either having the bomb go off or depleting the defending team's respawns. The defending team wins by either defusing the bomb once it has been planted or depleting the attacking team's respawns.

What's left of the mode in the final game is some text strings (since removed from the PC version), code for printing said strings and... nothing else.

Rock'em Sock'em

A strange variation of Team Dukematch with a rock'em sock'em boxing match between Duke and an EDF Soldier. Much like before, what's left of this is some text strings (also since removed) and barebones code.

It may be related in some way to a similar sequence seen in an unfinished level in the 2001 prototypes.

Capture The Babe (Single)

A scrapped "one-flag" variation of Capture The Babe. Once again, only barebones leftovers here.

Unused Videos

Various .bik videos can be found in the Movies and Textures/bik directories.

To do: Check if the following are unused. Some of these can be seen in various pre-release media, but I'm not sure if they're anywhere in the final game. CTB_(blue/red)(carry/drop).bik ezmail_screensaver.bik MenuBkgrdFlag.bik mushroom03.bik rpgdisplay_(1-3).bik rpgdisplay_armed.bik tripminedisplay.bik LevelUp.bik Menu_Nuke_Saving_Data.bik Videos present in Console versions PC_DEMO_Legal.bik Legal.bik

Movies Videos

Unused Company Logos

Logo cinematics for 3D Realms and Triptych. All companies involved were featured in a single cinematic. This version of the 3D Realms cinematic was seen in some of the early trailers for the game.

3DRealmsLogo.bik	TriptychLogo.bik

Unused Loading Screens

An unused loading video called Load_Rooftops.bik exists, which was intended for the multiplayer map "Sky-High" added in The Doctor Who Cloned Me. While a copy of this is used (called Load_DLC03_Rooftops.bik), this video isn't.

There is also Load_Generic.bik. It's a two-frame video showing an image of two Duke Nukems, using Mark Skelton's 2006-2010 design. As the name would imply, this video is used as a generic load screen for maps but seeing that every map in the game has a unique load screen this is never seen normally. The Dukes are set against a stone wall that doesn't appear to line-up with any areas seen in the game. The pistol is seen using an earlier and much more bulky design, that can be seen in prerelease media.

Textures/bik Videos

Unused Game Logos

Two earlier versions of the game's logo, seen in the December 2007 teaser and the E3 2001 trailer respectively.

DukeNukemForeverLogo.bik	Logo_DNF.bik

Logo_DNF_alpha.bik is an unused duplicate of logo.bik, the short logo animation that plays when the game is started up on PC versions.

Unused Map Content

While no unused maps shipped with the final game, the used ones have some unused areas and other out-of-bounds oddities.

Mothership Battle

Some debris from the fight in the Mothership level can be picked up and thrown.

(Source: bazop)

The Lady Killer: Part 2

There is an area with four buildings from the Duke Statue puzzle far outside of the map.

Vegas Ruins

There exist two Alien Gunships underneath the map.

(Source: User Shaq Fu on Duke4.net)

Internal Name(s)

To do: Anywhere else where these names are used?

The game's internal codename is "Buckeye", as seen in BuildInfo.ini, strings in the PC executable and DLLs, the filenames of files for the Duke Burger multiplayer map, and the folder for Duke Burger-associated assets. It is also used for the main content package on Steam. "Buckeye" seems to have been given to the game by Gearbox, rather than by 3D Realms.

Other internal names the game is referred to with include:

• "dn" - Various files/text strings.
• "Duke220" - Found in editor.int and editor.dll.
• "duke4" - Used in system.ini.
• "UDuke" - Text strings.

(Source: Mantis, SteamDB)

Build Dates

To do: These were likely changed more. Add how it was changed from the following: Hail to the Icons DLC, the v1.01 patch, and the Mac port. Do the console builds across different regions and releases share the same build dates? Steamdb could be of help here.

The build date of the game can be found in BuildInfo.ini. The PC versions had been modified during the game's updates.

Windows	Xbox 360	PlayStation 3
[BuildInfo] BuildNumber=13 BuildTag=Buckeye.13--2011.06.07.17.45.10 SynchronizedToChangelist=479332 RequestedBy=dleslie	[BuildInfo] BuildNumber=47 BuildTag=Buckeye.47--2011.05.05.19.17.31 SynchronizedToChangelist=468932 RequestedBy=bwindover	[BuildInfo] BuildNumber=83 BuildTag=Buckeye.83--2011.05.04.16.39.15 SynchronizedToChangelist=468399 RequestedBy=ksmith

(Windows Build Date: Duke Nukem Wiki)

Currently this is what the file says to this day.

[BuildInfo]
BuildNumber=244
BuildTag=Buckeye.244--2011.12.01.16.22.37
SynchronizedToChangelist=534893
RequestedBy=mcarlson

Found in the ini files is this line. Seems to have been removed from the PC version at some point.

[Configuration]
BasedOn=..\Engine\Config\BaseBuildInfo.ini

The names present in the "RequestedBy" sections presumably refer to developers from Piranha Games

• "dleslie" - Lead Network Engineer Dan Leslie
• "ksmith" - Lead Console Engineer Krist Smith.
• "bwindover" - Lead Console Engineer Brian Windover
• "mcarlson" - Programmer Michael Carlson.

A build date for the Windows version can also be found in Engine.dll (Note: Taken from latest version of game).

Dec  1 2011
17:20:38

(Source: Original TCRF research)

Platform Differences

• The PC versions use a video called Legal.bik to showcase all the external technology companies that were involved with the game. The console versions instead use silent images.
• The console versions tend to suffer longer load times then the PC versions.

Revisional Differences

v1.00

Launch version of the game.

v1.01

A patch for the Windows version was released on August 2nd, 2011, updating the game to v1.01 with quality-of-life improvements. The official changelog is as follows:

• 4-weapon inventory option in single player campaign
• MP Server favorites
• Dedicated server overhaul
• FOV can be modified
• Change VOIP to push-to-talk (bandwidth fix)
• VAC anti-cheat system enabled
• Support for Japanese Steam ID’s for PC release in Japan
• Auto-aim fix
• Blood effects on surfaces behind enemies when shot
• Steam.exe no longer uses an unusually high amount of CPU
• Texture quality improvements
• Fixes to prevent single player and multiplayer save data corruption
• Leaderboard exploit fixed
• AMD Dual-Core Optimizer no longer automatically installed (fixes rare bugs with Intel processors)
• Crash/compatibility fixes and other minor bugs

The equivalent patch for the Mac version (released on September 6th, 2011) added many of these features along with cross-platform multiplayer on PC.

(Source: Steam patch notes (Windows, Mac))

Hail to the Icons Patch

A patch was released alongside the First DLC on October 11th, 2011. The official changelog is as follows:

• Added DLC support for 'Hail to the Icons Parody Pack'
• Dedicated server tool improvements
• Miscellaneous bug fixes

(Source: Steam patch notes)

Regional Differences

To do: Investigate the non-English versions with more than what is currently on this page. Was the temperature declaration changed from Fahrenheit to Celsius outside of the Japanese release for non-American releases?

Duke Nukem Forever received a fair few changes and alterations for international audiences. Some simply were dialogue changes to add jokes, while others were a bit more drastic.

Spanish Version

The Spanish translation/dub localization went the extra mile in detail by changing the "Yeah, but after twelve fucking years, it should be." dialogue line and comical reference to the game's prolonged development cycle to a probably-more-accurate 14 years, which supposedly owes to the fact that the Quake II engine iteration of Duke Nukem Forever was originally announced in 1997. The "twelve years" timeframe in the English dialogue seems to stick to the 1999-2011 copyright presented within the game.

Audio	Transcript	Equivalent English Line
	¡Sí... después de 14 putos años, como para no gustarme! (Rough translation:Yes!.. after 14 fucking years, how can I not like it!)	Yeah, but after twelve fucking years, it should be.

Other Versions

Russian Version The Russian release of the game has some censorship in its dialogue, though not as much as...

Japanese Version A heavily-censored and quite strange version, released much later than the other regions' versions.