ZDuke
Starting in 1999, Randy started looking for ways of using Build-like features to enhance ZDoom and outgrow some of the limitations enforced by the use of a BSP algorithm. These forays didn't pan out entirely, as ZDoom still uses a BSP tree, but some elements (such as slopes, cameras, skyboxes and stacked sectors) were implemented as a result. Other traces of Build support can be seen in the CustomSprite actor and a limited ability to load Build maps.
But it also resulted in a ZDoom-based Duke Nukem 3D source port, entitled ZDuke. ZDuke had one released build October 11th 2003, based on ZDoom 2.0.43, and was afterwards more or less abandoned. This build was largely a straight port of the Duke Nukem 3D source code running over the Win32 (DirectDraw) front end from ZDoom. It also contains the console from ZDoom, which at this point was the only way to configure the game as settings were yet to be persistent. It requires fmod.dll from the ZDoom 2.0.43 cab, and was developed for Windows XP.
In November 2009, after some people expressed interest in this erstwhile project, Randy uploaded the ZDuke source code, allegedly then based on 2.0.48, to the ZDoom SVN (r1963). The thread with this discussion and the announcement of the release was in the "off topic" forum and therefore unfortunately pruned out. However, it mentioned that the ZDuke code is outdated and unsupported.
Following the migration to a Git repository, the old Subversion repository on mancubus.net was erased, and the source code of ZDuke was taken along with it. In December 2019, Randy re-uploaded the source code as a zip file.
Merging ZDoom and ZDuke (even an updated version) is considered more trouble than it would be worth. The internal game logics are too different to be conciliated in a single engine in a streamlined and stable fashion.
Raze can be considered a spiritual successor of ZDuke.
External links
- Forum post where binary was posted
- Forum thread on preserving ZDuke
- Forum post where source code was posted
- Forum thread on exploring Build maps in ZDoom
- Old forum thread asking for adding Duke 3D support
- ZDuke source code on Github, uploaded by Rachael Alexanderson
- ZDuke binary and source code complete, on Github
