Proto:Duke Nukem Forever/2011 Demo

This is a sub-page of Proto:Duke Nukem Forever.

To do: Look into the files for anything interesting. Check the second level for more differences from the final version. Investigate/document further Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions. They suffer from worse performance overall and could have stuff not seen in the PC version. Build dates for the console demos. Maybe provide tips on how to get the Windows version of the demo running, seeing that it is no longer available to download (and the only way to play it is through less then official means).

This needs some investigation. Discuss ideas and findings on the talk page. Specifically: Code and a model of a giant nuke mentioned in the Desert Overview design document apparently is in the demo's files but this needs to be verified. Apparently the textures in the demo have less compression and are higher quality than that of the final game. Verify this.

The official demo for Duke Nukem Forever was released to members of the Duke Nukem Forever First Access Club on June 3rd, 2011. In order to have become a member of the First Access Club, you had to have pre-ordered the game or own (and register) the Game of the Year Edition of Borderlands, essentially meaning you were paying for access for the demo. The demo was later released to the general public for free on June 21st for PC and Xbox 360 and June 29th on PlayStation 3.

In November 2011, Gearbox delisted the demo off of all storefronts although users who have previously downloaded it on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 can still re-download it. Access to PC demo has been entirely removed on Steam, meaning it cannot be downloaded at all anymore.

Despite only being a week before the international release, there is a fair bit of differences and stuff still kicking around in the files.

Differences

Executable

The Windows executable is named DukeForeverDemo.exe rather than DukeForever.exe.

ESRB Screen

An ESRB screen (known as ESRB.bik) is shown when booting up the demo. This was removed for the final release but is still in the files.

Title Screen

The only options available in the demo is "Play Demo", "Options" and "Exit Game".

Command Console

The command console that is disabled in the final game is fully functional in the demo.

Levels

The only levels available are Duke Lives and Highway Battle: Part 2. The levels seem to be similar to the ones seen at promotional showings like PAX 2010. Both levels simply fade out at certain points when they are completed.

Duke Lives is largely the same as the final game's version up until the map's ending. It ends after Duke makes the "12 fucking years" joke during his conversation with the Holsom Twins. The Twins use different animations for the pullback then the final game, which are still present in the final. The rest of Duke's suite is fully modeled and interactive but most of it goes unseen due to the level ending before the player can get up.

Highway Battle: Part 2 has been much more modified from the final game. It starts at the ending part of Highway Battle just after the sequence with the trucks and exploding barrels. Duke will exclaim "Aw, and it got such good gas mileage." (a line he doesn't say in this level in the final game) when the truck runs out of gas. The level ends when the player gets inside the Mighty Foot after fueling it up.

Trying to exit either level by noclipping to the exit trigger fails due to their succeeding levels (Damn! It's Late... and Dam Top respectively) not existing in the demo.

(Source: CryophobIKroniK))

Trailer And Unsell Screen

Upon finishing the demo, both a trailer and upsell screen will play. Both of these are still left over in the final game.

Demo Trailer	Upsell Screen

Final Game Leftovers

Despite only being two levels long, most if not all of the final game's content such as weapons, enemies, bosses and assets, are present in the demo. The vast majority of it isn't used in the demo of course.

Sounds

The Windows version of the demo's Sounds.dat and SoundsDir.dat are 45,172 KB and 137 KB respectively, compared to the final's 106,558 KB and 299 KB.

Textures

The Windows version of the demo only has five CompTexture0XX.dat and four BumpMaps0XX.dat files, compared to the final's nineteen and twenty.

Videos

Most of the videos present in the final game's Movies directory have been removed from the demo, likely to help save space. The videos in the Textures/bik directory have been untouched, most of which are unused.

The Movies videos present in the demo are as follows:

• Attract.bik
• Demo_trailer.bik
• Dice_intro.bik
• ESRB.bik
• Legal.bik
• Load_00.bik
• Load_14B.bik
• Menu.bik
• upsellScreen.bik

Build Dates

The build date of the demo can be found in BuildInfo.ini in the Windows and PlayStation 3 versions. The build dates of the final builds have been provided for comparison.

Platform	Build Date (Demo)	Build Date (Final)
Windows	[BuildInfo] BuildNumber=3 BuildTag=Buckeye.3--2011.06.01.17.48.50 SynchronizedToChangelist=477751 RequestedBy=mcarlson	[BuildInfo] BuildNumber=13 BuildTag=Buckeye.13--2011.06.07.17.45.10 SynchronizedToChangelist=479332 RequestedBy=dleslie
Xbox 360	TBA	[BuildInfo] BuildNumber=47 BuildTag=Buckeye.47--2011.05.05.19.17.31 SynchronizedToChangelist=468932 RequestedBy=bwindover
PlayStation 3	TBA	[BuildInfo] BuildNumber=83 BuildTag=Buckeye.83--2011.05.04.16.39.15 SynchronizedToChangelist=468399 RequestedBy=ksmith

A build date for the PC version can also be found in engine.dll.

Jun  1 2011
19:16:29