====================================================================== THIS EPISODE IS NEITHER MADE BY OR SUPPORTED BY 3D REALMS. If this file looks bad just use Wordwrap :-) BATTLE IT OUT IN BIRMINGHAM "I`m Duke Nukem, and I`m coming to get the rest of you Alien Bastards!" Title : Battle it out in Birmingham Files : Brum.txt Brumlvls.txt Brum.con Brum.bat Pallisad.map Nukedstr.map Victoria.map Centernr.map Internat.map Brindley.map National.map Author : Martin Bradley E-mail : Bradleymaw@kes.bham.sch.uk (I would appreciate hearing your opinion about this episode!) Those of you who have actually been to or live in Birmingham are especially encouraged to reply. I want to know what you think! Many of you may have seen the city centre on TV, as is was the place of the G8 summit, Eurovision song contest and the Davis cup. Web Page : Misc. Author Info : If you have any requests for duke levels give me the details and I`ll probably make it for you. I love making duke levels, mainly because Build is the easiest engine to edit that I`ve found. Other Levels : None, this is my first upload. The Story : After clearing up most of the USA from those alien scum, Duke Travels to Europe to assist in eliminating small pockets of resistance in the major cities. His first stop is the city of Birmingham, England. After a train ride to New Street station, Duke loads his pistol and heads for the escalators to the Pallasades, a shopping mall above the station. Description : This is NOT Birmingham in Alabama, USA. This is Birmingham, or Brum, in good 'ol England. This seven level episode lets you explore parts of Birmingham City Centre. Yes, this is a replication of a REAL city. Ok, so "Duke it out in DC" was meant to be in Washington DC, but only very small bits of it were actually accurate replications. I've tried to be as accurate as possible for this episode, although there are quite a few bits made up (There is no Sushi Resturant in the Pallisades, for example). Also I used the regular textures for the levels so they do not look exactly like the real thing, but I don't think this matters too much. Episode Notes: Okay, I agree with David J. Vallance (Best City.map) The Net is full of crap Duke3d levels, which look terrible and are not thought out properly. This episode is of very high quality - although not as good as the proper episodes of the game - (except perhaps "Lunar Apocalypse") All the levels feature realistic shading, sensible graphics and varying difficulty. Also, it is a city rather than space stations. Let`s face it, urban fighting is far better than more bloody space stations, especially if the urban levels are themed, as mine are. This episode is slightly different to ones you may have previously played. Before, the layout was "kill a dozen enemies, get a key, do it again and again until you reach the exit." I got a little bored of this format so I made the levels more open. Now you can explore most of the levels unrestricted by keys and locked doors. You will no doubt find the exits very quickly, so resist the temptation to just run straight through all seven levels. Firstly this will result in probable death because there is not as much health around as in other episodes. Secondly, this will result in little or no weapons to face the final Cyberlord in the NIA. Thirdly, what the hell is the point in downloading this episode if you only play it for five minutes? That is why the Par times at the end screen are quite long. This represents killing all or most of the monsters, and grabbing most of the extra goodies on each level. Take time and explore all of the levels fully, and enjoy your visit to England's second city! Strengths: -All the detail. Just look at the shops, with their computers, furniture, the Arcades etc. Not many Duke levels have this level of detail. For example, a wall made up of computers (Like the control room in the NIA) is actually made from several different walls, so each screen can be destroyed without all the wall being damaged (Try shooting one of the televisions and you`ll see what I mean). -Loads of things to destroy! (Try not to damage everything, that`s MY town your shooting at!) -I`ve tried to get Duke to say as much as possible. Also, I`ve used lots of ambient sound to heighten the realism. Even the music seems correct for the style of the level! -Lack of ammo and health. This makes for tactical play and shorter Deathmatches, instead of running around blasting with loads of ammo, full 200 health and all the items. -The looks. Go on, admit it. The levels look pretty realistic compared to other bad user maps. There`s cool shading, sensible textures; even the buildings are not just square blocks, they have vents, slopes, different roofs. Also note that very few of them have actual ground floor windows (Except the shops of course). Real buildings are never rectangular blocks with four sides of window textures. Most of the buildings in the this episode have ledges like in the proper Duke3d episodes. -No messing about spending half and hour retracing your steps to find that missing key or hidden switch like in many other Duke levels! I really hate doing that!!! -Lots of secrets and messages, much like the episodes in the full game. Weaknesses -Okay, I`ll admit you won`t find groovy effects like subways or Earthquakes, mainly because you don`t find them in Birmingham! -Most of the levels are too big for 2 player games. -On slower machines the detail causes some parts to get very choppy. -As I am British the spelling may be different if you are American e.g. "Centre" not "Center" -The levels are not as cunningly laid out as many I have played. No puzzles to solve either. You will find all the levels straightforward and very, very fun to play, which is all that counts really! Additional Credits To : -3d Realms of course. And Birmingham`s town planners! -Andy R (Morg) for helping me test the Dukematch levels. -David J Vallance for inspiring me to build better duke levels. -Yves Bresson (dukecity), I modifed your batch file so it would launch my episode. I have no idea how to write my own! -Dukeworld for supporting Duke3d. I hope Duke3d never dies out! Special thanks : My testers - Jake, "Reckless" Rick, Frew and Viet. ====================================================================== * Play Information * Episode and Level # : The whole first episode! Single Player : Yes! (this is what it was primarily designed for) DukeMatch 2-8 Player : Yes, but it is not well tested Cooperative 2-8 Player : Yes, but you`ll find it a tad easy Difficulty Settings : Not implemented Plutonium Pak Required : No New Art : No New Music : No New Sound Effects : No New .CON Files : Yes, "Brum.con" (contains new messages) Demos Replaced : No ===================================================================== * Construction * Base : New levels from scratch Level Editor(s) Used : BUILD - I love it! Art Editor(s) Used : None Construction Time : About 3 months. Known Bugs/Problems : Nukedstr.map contains a little niggle with one of the buildings. All I did to remedy it was put another Sector around the problem. Doesn`t affect gameplay. Also, the alien in the ladies toilets disappears onto the ramp above if you don`t kill him straight away! This is due to the overlapping sectors. * Where to get this MAP file * File location : WWW.Dukeworld.com (well, this is where I uploaded it ===================================================================== *Important Information* Installation : Just copy all the files to your Duke3d directory. (make a backup of your original user.con file just in case). However, many versions of Duke Nukem have a different con file eg the PlutoniumPak. Since there are loads of different versions of the game I have only written a con file for the original registered version, as this is the most common. To change your user.con file first make a backup. Then open it up using notepad and scroll down until you reach the first episode. If you can, change the name of the first episode to "Battle it out in Birmingham". Then change the names and times to that of those in Brum.con - don`t forget to change the map filenames too (e.g change "E1L1.map" to "Pallisad.map"). If you want to change the messages to that of Brum.con feel free. Any problems just e-mail me. Important Notes : Please Please Please give me some feedback on this. It is vital I know whether a lot of people still play Duke3d, otherwise I`ll stop making levels because no-one will play them :-( (Oh, and the shotgun "carts" stands for "cartridges") If you want to beat my times then play the level as a user level, so you start with 100 health and 48 rounds in your pistol. Play fair or don`t bother. * Copyright / Permissions * Do what you want: Just keep this txt file with the files when distributing and if you use my ideas or bits of my maps in yours please give me some credit! I would appreciate you e-mailing me first saying what you are going to change, and be sure to e-mail me the modified level once done. I would really like to find out what modifications people want. Maybe it`ll give me some ideas for future levels, you never know... ======================================================================