Build Questions and Answers

Is there a mailing list for Duke 3D editing?

     Yes! Send an e-mail to majordomo@oozoo.vnet.net, and put the following
     line in the body of the message: subscribe duke3d-edit or subscribe
     duke3d-edit-digest for the 30k digested version.

Is there a FAQ for Duke 3D editing?

     Yes! There are two FAQs in fact :-). Try Brett Gmoser's Map Editing
     FAQ v0.3 or Klaus Breuer's Build FAQ v1.1.

Whenever I run BUILD.EXE my display is screwed up.

     Build detects whether a file named newboard.map exists in the current
     directory. If it does, Build will start in 3D-mode. The display will
     be screwy if:
     a) You didn't install Build in your Duke Nukem 3D directory.
     b) Your video card does not support the selected resolution. Run
     BSETUP.EXE to change this.
     c) Your video card is a piece of junk and should be thrown out of the
     window right now.
     d) The player starting position in the map is not located inside a
     valid sector. Just press Keypad Enter to enter 2D-mode to reposition
     the starting position.

How do I change the starting position?

     Use the right mouse button to relocate the white arrow to a position
     where you want the player to start. Use the < and the > keys to rotate
     the arrow. This determines where the player looks at when the game is
     started. Press Scroll-lock to place the player starting position. If
     you move the white arrow a bit, you'll see the brown arrow which
     represents the player starting position. Remember to put the brown
     arrow inside a valid sector.

How do I get into 3D-mode?

     Move the white arrow inside a valid sector and press keypad-enter.

How do I change textures?

     3D-mode: Point at a wall, floor or ceiling and press V. You'll get a
     list of all the textures used in your map, including the number of
     times it has been used. You can select a texture from this list. Press
     V again to get the full listing of all the textures/sprites. You'll
     see the number and the name of the texture at the bottom of the
     screen. If you know the number of a certain texture/sprite just press
     G and enter that number to jump straight to that texture/sprite.

How do I add sprites?

     2D-mode: Press S and a sprite will be created. The type of sprite will
     be the one currently in the clipboard. Go to 3D-mode if you want to
     change the type. 3D-mode: Point at the floor or ceiling and press S.
     If you point at a wall instead, you'll get a flat sprite. Point at a
     flat and press R to cycle through the relative modes of a sprite.
     There are three modes: normal (the sprite will face you wherever you
     are), vertically flat and horizontally flat. Go to 2D-mode to rotate
     the sprite with the < and the > keys.

My textures are unaligned. How can I align them?

     In 3D-mode: Use 2,4,6 and 8 on the keypad to stretch/shrink the
     textures. Hold shift to move your textures. Point at a wall and press
     / to return the texture to it's standard settings. Point at a wall and
     press > to automatically align wall textures.

What are Lo-tags and Hi-tags?

     Walls, sectors and sprites all have these two values to be used for
     different special effects like doors, lighting, earthquakes etc. Read
     through BUILDHLP.EXE to see a listing of what these tags do. To set
     the lo-tag of a sector, go into 2D-mode, point at a sector and press
     T. To set the hi-tag of a sector, press H. For walls and sprites
     you'll have to hold down Alt.

How do I make fans?

     Fans are sprites. Just add one where you want it. If you move around
     you'll notice that the sprite will always be facing you. Point at it
     and press 'R'. Now it will be a flat sprite. Rotate the sprite by
     going into 2D-mode and using the < and the > keys. Go back into
     3D-mode, point at the fan and press B to make it blockable and H to
     make it hittable. That's it.

Every time I enter a sector with a parallaxed-space-sky-texture I die. Why
is that?

     There is vacuum in space, and apparently Duke Nukem must have air to
     breath. You can fix this "feature" by giving the ceiling a different
     palette value other than 0, for example 3. To change the palette,
     point at the ceiling and press 'Alt-P'.

Help, my subway car is shooting at me!

     If the subway car is in a sector with a parallax sky then it will
     start shooting rockets at you. Simply don't use a parallax sky.

When I look at my swinging door from a certain angle, it disappears!

     It seems that if you put the pivot close to a door vertex that the
     door will sometimes disappear when opened. If your door does this,
     then try moving the pivot point further away from a door vertex.

How do I control the direction of sloping sectors?

     Go to 2D-mode, select a wall of the sector you want to slope, and then
     press "Alt-F". This will make that wall the first wall of the sector.
     This wall will not move when you slope the sector.

How do I run a user map?

     If your map is called crap.map, start Duke Nukem 3D with: duke3d -map
     crap.map. This starts the game at skill level 1. To change the skill
     level add /sx to the commandline, where x is the skill level ranging
     from 1 to 4.