Q & A
| Q.
I'm trying to run Build, but my screen is all full of junk, and the mouse
trails echo all over the screen. Could it be my video card?
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|
A.
This is the number one problem I've been asked from first time users. You
have to copy all of the files from the goodies\build directory of your CD
to your main duke3d directory on your hard drive. Build looks in the current
directory for the duke3d.grp file... which contains all of the art, sprites,
etc. Do not use Windows to copy the files, as it sometimes retains
the file attributes (namely read-only), which prevents you from saving any
changes.
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| Q.
How do I make Sector Effectors? How to I change their HiTags/LoTags?
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A.
Sector Effectors are just another sprite, with the Sector Effector tile.
All of the neat effects with Build are special sprites. The tile set is
tile numbers 1 through 9. You've probably seen them a million times, but
didn't know what they were for. A Sector Effector is tile number 1. To
change its hi/lotag in 3d mode, point at the sprite, hold down the ['] key, and
hit the [H] or [T] keys for Hitag/Lotag, respecitvely. To change the hi/lotag
in 2d mode, point at the sprite, hold down [ALT], then hit the [H] ot [T] keys
for Hitag/Lotag, respectively.
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| Q.
How do I make a sector inside a sector?
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A.
When you draw a sector inside another sector, it starts out with white walls (non-player space.)
Press [ALT-S] on the inside sector to change it into valid player space (red walls.)
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|
Q. My subways keep launching rockets at me! Help!
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A. Take parallaxing off of the ceiling, this is the only known total fix. You
can make the rockets not hit you by either "pushing" the SE-6 or SE-14 below the
floor by a sizable amount or extend it through the ceiling. This will cause
them to hit a void area, but you'll still hear the explosions.
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|
Q. I put a sector within another sector then moved it against the wall... now
I get really weird HOM when looking at it.
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A. To make a "penisula" sector (ie a bookcase extending from the wall) simply
split the existing white wall or insert two vertices along it. Then draw a
new sector into the inner sector using those points as the starting and
consequently ending points of your sector. Build does not like to
have sectors moved on top of existing lines or vertices. This wreaks havoc
with the engine.
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|
Q. My framerate has made the game unplayable. What can I do to improve it?
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A. Try the following to bring your frame rate back to Earth:
|
| 1. Reduce the number of unique sprites within any given area... too
many being loaded causes the engine to slow down when loading. |
| 2. Don't use groups of sectors to make stairs. Use slopes instead.
Too many sectors within any viewable area causes the engine to slowdown when
calculating the image Duke sees. |
| 3. Avoid very large, expansive sectors. If the engine has to load too many
sprites/tiles in any given image, the frame rate drops dramatically. |
| 4. Cut down on the number of monsters in one area. Too many actors again
will drop the FPS. |
| 5. Avoid putting in lots of monsters that fire rockets. RPG really tax
the engine. |
|
Q. I've made my water sector, but I die when I either enter the water or
try to exit. Both sectors are the same size.
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A. The SE-7 sprites have to be in the exact same location on both water
sectors, and at the same angle.
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Q. Okay, my water sectors are identical, the sprites are in the same place,
and pointing at the same angle. I can't enter the water or come out of it.
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A. Make sure the ceilings/floors of both above-water and underwater sections
don't have any slope to them. To clear the slope of a ceiling/floor, point
at it in 3d mode and hit '/'. Also make sure the SE-7 sprites are placed on
the floor. If you've put an island sector within your above water sector,
that must be duplicated on the underwater section. Take a look at
E1L3, the submarine level, and you'll see what I mean.
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|
Q. I made a sprite with my paint program using the correct Duke palette, and
imported it into EditArt. But when I use the sprite in Build, the "clear"
space I had colored like the other masking sprites appears pink.
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A.
Load EditArt, find your tile, point at any one of the pixels that
represent the color you'd like to make masking, and hit Backspace then
'C'. Backspace turns your drawing color to the masking color, and 'C' will
turn any pixel matching the color of the current pixel (the one you have pointed
at) to that drawing color.
|
| Q.
I've made a ceiling parallaxed, with the tile being Big Orbit. Every time I
play the level, and walk into that room, I die. What's up?
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A.
The Big Orbit (and Moonsky) tile is meant to simulate actual space... ie no
oxygen. Duke can't live without oxygen, man! You can avoid this dilemma
by setting the ceiling palette to 3. Alt-P is the key command in 3d
mode to change palettes.
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| Q.How do I change the palette of sprites/tiles?
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A.This can be done only in 3d mode. Point at the sprite or tile
and hit [ALT]-[P].
|
| Q.I'm trying to slope my floor, but it's sloping at the wrong
angle.
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A.Build slopes to the first wall of a sector, making it the pivot
point. To change the first wall property, you can either hit [ALT]-[F] in
2d mode when your cursor is over the sector to rotate the first wall over one,
or hit [ALT]-[F] in 3d mode when pointing at the wall you wish to make the
new pivot point. Be careful when using that in 3d mode, as you have to
be pointing at a wall that is "inside" the sector. Think of it this way...
pretend you're in a vertical cylinder, and you can only see the inner walls.
Well, the same applies to the [ALT]-[F] key... you can only point at walls
that are inside the sector.
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| Q.Can I copy sectors between maps?
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A.Yes, you can. The target map has to exist first, however. You
cannot copy a sector to a totally new map. To copy between maps, highlight
the sector(s) you wish to copy with the right [ALT] key. Hit [ESC] to bring
up the file menu. Hit [L] to load in your target map. The highlighted
sector(s) will appear in the same spot as they were in your source map, so
you may have to zoom out to find them.
|
| Q.
How do I make my weapons respawn?
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A.
Weapons respawn by themselves when you're playing a DukeMatch game with Respawning enabled.
There is no way to have weapons respawn in Solo play.
|
| Q.
I load up EditArt, but all I get is a blank screen.
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A.
Make sure you've done these two things: 1) copy all of the files from the goodies\build
directory off of your CD to your Duke directory and 2) extract all of the art files from
the .grp file by typing 'kextract duke3d.grp *.art' at the command prompt. If those two
don't get you in, try running 'bsetup.exe' at the command prompt and change your video settings
to 320x200 Standard VGA. This only affects the Build/EditArt engine, not your normal Duke
games. If you can't save settings, try removing any read-only attributes which may be
set, using 'attrib *.* -r'.
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| Q.
I've made my first map, now how the heck do I play it?
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A.
There are two methods for playing user maps: 1) type 'duke3d -map mylevel.map' at the
command prompt or 2) run 'setup.exe' at the command prompt to bring you into the Duke setup
screen. From here, you can select user maps. The command-line option allows you to select
difficulty settings as well. If you'd like a copy of the batch file I use to load/play maps,
download the batch file and type 'd mylevel' at the command prompt.
|
| Q.
I've made a door separating a small room with a larger, taller second room. When I open
the door and let it close on my head, the door proceeds to go all the way to the ceiling of
the larger room.
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A.
Insert a small sector in between your door and the larger room. Set its floor and ceiling
to the same of your smaller sector, so that the door only has a single height to rise
to.
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| Q.
How do I make a door open via a switch, and only with that switch?
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A.
A special sprite, SE-32, will allow you to create a door that opens via
an activator. Check out the Switch Doors tutorial.
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| Q.
I've made a glass wall. When I play the level, and shoot the glass, the
tiles on top get messed up.
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A.
Press [O] on the step tile (not the glass) to align it to the ceiling,
instead of the floor. This should fix the problem. If you still
have the problem, you can create a "buffer" sector in front of the
glass wall so that the above and below tiles don't show.
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| Q.
I've made a Star Trek door, but the darn thing won't open. When it tries,
the tiles start to stretch, and nothing happens.
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A.
Make sure the white lines of your inner doors are exactly on the red lines of
the tagged sectors. If you've made two parts to the door, they must meet in
the middle so that there's no gap.
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| Q.
How do I change the angle of my camera?
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A.
The angle of the camera is set by the shade value of the sprite. Check
out my camera tutorial for a more thorough
explanation.
|
| Q.
I've made an animated sprite set, but it animates way too fast, or slow.
How do I change the animation speed?
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|
A.
Run EditArt, change to the first tile of your animation set, and press the
[A] key. The animation sequence should start animating. Use the -/+ keys
on the keypad to change the speed of the animation. Once the desired speed
is found, hit the [ENTER] key to confirm it. Change to a different tile
using PgUp, and say Yes when it asks if you want to save the current tile.
|
| Q.
How do I use access cards? How do I change them to red, or yellow?
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A.
The Access Switch (tile #130) is what the Access Cards (sprite #60) are
used for. The palettes must match for the Card/Switch combo. The default
for both is palette 0, or blue. To change them to yellow, change the
palette of both card and switch to 23. To change them to red, change both
to 21. To change a palette, use [ALT-P] in 3d mode.
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| Q.
How do I make breakable vents?
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|
A.
Vents (tile #595) and Fans (tile #407) are blocked sprites, centered over a hole in a
wall, and sized to match the opening. Use [B] in either 3d or 2d mode to make the sprite
blocking (shows up purple in 2d mode.) To fixate your sprite horizontally, use the [R]
key on it in 3d mode.
|
| Q.
How do I turn a forcefield on/off with a switch?
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A.
Assign a unique number to your switches' lotag. Change the lotag of your
forcefield wall to that same number. The easiest way to change wall tags
is in 3d mode with the ['] [T] combination.
|
| Q.
What are Wall tags for?
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A.
The most common usage for Wall tags is for exclusion with SE-8 (Up Open
Door Light.) Setting a Wall hitag to 1 prevents that Wall from lighting
up when its parent sector has an SE-8 in it. Another use for Wall tags
is with Activators that move a sector. Say you have an SE-31 or SE-32
within a sector, and you want them to activate when Duke pushes on the
wall. You'd set the Wall Hitag to the Activator Lotag, and the two would
be linked.
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