What’s the best version of duke nukem?

[ALilGrayBoi]

I wanna try out duke nukem but I’m not sure what I should play on. Should I get the steam version? Is there a source port I should use? And if so, do I need something similar to an IWAD to play it?

 

Edit: Thank you all for the recommendations. I am now playing my totally legitimate and paid for copy of the game :)

Edited April 17 by ALilGrayBoi

[Grungo]

22 minutes ago, ALilGrayBoi said:

I wanna try out duke nukem but I’m not sure what I should play on. Should I get the steam version? Is there a source port I should use? And if so, do I need something similar to an IWAD to play it?

do not get earth tour, man from grease tribe RUIN it

[BeachThunder]

Duke Nukem II is definitely the best Duke Nukem. There was a remastered version that came out recently (but it's also only for the Evercade...) :|

[Captain red pants]

I'm assuming you mean Duke Nukem 3D?

 

Duke Nukem 3D: 20th Anniversary World Tour on steam is a good place to start as any if you're looking for a user friendly way to play Duke 3D. Has an extra episode made just for it's custom port, but the port it's self has a few quirks.

Otherwise there's Duke Nukem 3D: Atomic Edition on ZOOM Platform which is bundled with Duking it out in DC, Duke Caribbean Vacation and Nuclear winter as well as a few map compilations.
 

As for source ports, there's Eduke32, BuildGDX and RAZE. They all use DUKE3D.GRP as an 'IWAD' as you put it. I don't think any of then can play the World Tour episode from Duke Nukem 3D: 20th Anniversary World Tour yet, but I haven't tried in a while.

Edited April 9 by Captain red pants

[Foxpup]

The original v1.3D release is clearly the best. They never should have patched out Duke's impressive hopak dance moves.

[houston]

The only source-port I recommend to anybody is Belgian-Chocolate Duke3D. It's available over here https://github.com/GPSnoopy/BelgianChocolateDuke3D

I don't know whether it's perfect, but it's at least better than any other port I've tried.

[Amaruψ]

Megaton Edition is, in my humble opinion, the best version of the game out there and the only version that I'd suggest everybody to play. I wouldn't suggest purchasing the 20th Anniversary World Tour, because the additional episode isn't something to write home about anyways, so you aren't missing anything worthwhile if you end up skipping it altogether. 

[Jello]

1 hour ago, Captain red pants said:

I'm assuming you mean Duke Nukem 3D?

 

Duke Nukem 3D: 20th Anniversary World Tour on steam is a good place to start as any if you're looking for a user friendly way to play Duke 3D. Has an extra episode made just for it's custom port, but the port it's self has a few quirks.

Otherwise there's Duke Nukem 3D: Atomic Edition on ZOOM Platform which is bundled with Duking it out in DC, Duke Caribbean Vacation and Nuclear winter as well as a few map compilations.
 

As for source ports, there's Eduke32, BuildGDX and RAZE. They all use DUKE3D.GRP as an 'IWAD' as you put it. I don't think any of then can play the World Tour episode from Duke Nukem 3D: 20th Anniversary World Tour yet, but I haven't tried in a while.

I know RAZE supports the World Tour version, I played through the new episode with version 1.7.1, and I just tried it with 1.9.1, and it still works. It shows up as Duke Nukem 3D: Atomic Edition: (WT) when you launch Raze.exe. The only issues I can recall when I played it with 1.7.1 was there were some really messed up sound effects on a couple of doors. Like, screeching, make your ears bleed noise. But I only encountered that once or twice... the Russian level I really remember had one. Other than that it worked fine. 

 

You know what, I just tried Red Ruckus in the crappy port that comes with World Tour, and those two vertical doors sound exactly as horrible. They just aren't as bad because all of the sounds in that festering pile of swill they called a source port were also muted beyond belief, so it's not as ear splitting.

 

The last time I tried it with Eduke32, it "worked", but there were little "sound" icons all over the place, either because they were scripted sounds, or developer commentary, I can't really say. 

 

But yeah, I would recommend Atomic Edition I meant Megaton, except you can't get it on Steam anymore, thanks Randy. The new episode was okay, not great, and the last boss sucked, but it had some good levels. If you really want it, wait for a sale... if you really want to put money in Randy's greasy pockets.

 

I guess Lee Jackson did music for it though, so if he's still seeing residuals from it in some meaningful way, then yeah, buy it. 

Edited April 9 by Jello

[Kinsie]

15 minutes ago, Jello said:

The last time I tried it with Eduke32, it "worked", but there were little "sound" icons all over the place, either because they were scripted sounds, or developer commentary, I can't really say. 

EDuke32 still requires a stopgap mod to run the World Tour content properly.

[BGreener]

For the World Tour episode, they got Blum and Levelord back to design them and they are extremely good. If you can get it going through Raze, hugely recommended.

 

The port attached to the episode is harder to recommend, and I don’t recommend paying full price just to play the episode.

[ducon]

but I also like

[Devalaous]

4 hours ago, BGreener said:

For the World Tour episode, they got Blum and Levelord back to design them and they are extremely good. If you can get it going through Raze, hugely recommended.

 

The port attached to the episode is harder to recommend, and I don’t recommend paying full price just to play the episode.

 

It often goes on sale for only a few dollars at least, hard to really complain when its less than a crappy drink at a local shop :p

 

While it could be better, I never had much issues with the port, the rewind was fun and the new lights in the main game was a nice change of pace. If I had a legit issue with it, its that supporting it in Raze requires so much space on my drive, so I cant just sneak out a few files and have the fifth episode there, need to have almost the whole thing installed still.

[DNSKILL5]

RedNukem or EDuke32 for source port. RedNukem is more DOS accurate and can even replay demos. I would say get the game on Zoom platform over the Steam version.

[Captain red pants]

5 hours ago, DNSKILL5 said:

I would say get the game on Zoom platform over the Steam version.

Also I think Zoom platform is the only place online you can still get the first two 2D Duke Nukem games. They're worth a look to.

[june gloom]

@Captain red pants is correct about all of this. Your best option for the best available version of Duke 3D is Zoom.

 

While eduke32 is a solid source port, Rednukem is also a good choice and will play Duke Nukem 64 out of the box natively. (If that's something you're into.)

Edited April 10 by june gloom

[Jello]

On 4/9/2024 at 1:04 AM, Kinsie said:

EDuke32 still requires a stopgap mod to run the World Tour content properly.

I did not know about that, so thank you. I tried it first in Eduke and had issues, so I'm not sure if that stopgap was available at that point, but I went with RAZE and it worked fine.

[june gloom]

TBH I would just get the Zoom version and if you like that enough, grab World Tour during a sale. The additional episode isn't bad, I just don't know if it's worth full price.

[Captain red pants]

As an aside, How is Zoom Platform? is it worth getting for anything other then the best version of Duke Nukem if you're already using GoG and Steam?

[DNSKILL5]

It's OK. I don't see it as any sort of replacement for GOG or Steam, but as an additional similar service you could do far worse. 

Edited April 11 by DNSKILL5

[ReaperAA]

Zoom is probably the best platform for getting the game imho.

 

As for the source ports, I prefer Raze because all others seem to have jittering for me. Otherwise EDuke32 is the best for modding and RedNukem is the most accurate as it has demo compatibility.

[ETTiNGRiNDER]

I like the OG Duke "Nukum" platformer but I'm weird like that.

 

If we're talking Duke 3D I'd probably be inclined to say Kill-A-Ton edition, but AFAIK Megaton edition was mostly the same stuff, just plus a Windows EXE and minus the Duke!ZONE extras which were about the quality you'd expect from any of those !ZONE packs.

[leejacksonaudio]

On 4/9/2024 at 1:46 AM, Jello said:

I guess Lee Jackson did music for it though, so if he's still seeing residuals from it in some meaningful way, then yeah, buy it.

I'm not seeing anything in the way of percentages on Duke Nukem 3D. Never have. Never will.

 

The only way I see any money on anything Duke Nukem is through the sale of these three products on Bandcamp and through the streaming of the latter two albums' tracks on various services:

 

https://leejackson1.bandcamp.com/track/grabbag-96khz-24bit-2018-remaster

 

https://leejackson1.bandcamp.com/album/duke-nukem-tank-tracks

 

https://leejackson1.bandcamp.com/album/calibrations

 

Do me a favor and please, please...buy something today. Thank you.

Edited April 12 by leejacksonaudio

[mrthejoshmon]

12 hours ago, leejacksonaudio said:

I'm not seeing anything in the way of percentages on Duke Nukem 3D. Never have. Never will.

 

The only way I see any money on anything Duke Nukem is through the sale of these two products on Bandcamp and through the streaming of the latter album's tracks on various services:

 

https://leejackson1.bandcamp.com/track/grabbag-96khz-24bit-2018-remaster

 

https://leejackson1.bandcamp.com/album/duke-nukem-tank-tracks

 

Do me a favor and please, please...buy something today. Thank you.

Don't forget Calibrations, which contains the music from World Tour.

 

I would buy them now but I already have bought them and I unfortunately can't buy twice :(

 

-

 

On 4/11/2024 at 5:03 AM, Captain red pants said:

As an aside, How is Zoom Platform? is it worth getting for anything other then the best version of Duke Nukem if you're already using GoG and Steam?

The Zoom platform bundle is great for acquiring the full Duke package if you didn't get the old versions, it is the only way to legally obtain the no longer sold expansions (Nuclear Winter, Duke it out, Caribbean... Even fucking Penthouse Paradise) which you can then easily plug into EDuke32, all it lacks is World Tour content.

[The Royal We]

14 hours ago, leejacksonaudio said:

I'm not seeing anything in the way of percentages on Duke Nukem 3D. Never have. Never will.

 

The only way I see any money on anything Duke Nukem is through the sale of these two products on Bandcamp and through the streaming of the latter album's tracks on various services:

 

https://leejackson1.bandcamp.com/track/grabbag-96khz-24bit-2018-remaster

 

https://leejackson1.bandcamp.com/album/duke-nukem-tank-tracks

 

Do me a favor and please, please...buy something today. Thank you.

I love the Duke Nukem tank tracks. They're great to listen to when I'm creating maps or even walking around the city 

Edited April 12 by The Royal We

[leejacksonaudio]

1 hour ago, mrthejoshmon said:

Don't forget Calibrations, which contains the music from World Tour.

You are correct, kind denizen, thank you. I have made the necessary correction to my post. You know, it's getting pretty bad when I'm so old I can't remember where my own smegging music is anymore. ;)

[Devalaous]

Speaking of Duke episodes, is there a proper Plug and Pray conversion yet? The only one I know of intentionally carried over the bad parts of the PS1 version for 'accuracy', would be nice to have a native PC version for Raze that feels like an official release someday

[june gloom]

1 hour ago, Devalaous said:

Speaking of Duke episodes, is there a proper Plug and Pray conversion yet? The only one I know of intentionally carried over the bad parts of the PS1 version for 'accuracy', would be nice to have a native PC version for Raze that feels like an official release someday

 

There is no "native" port a la RedNukem's D64 support, but there is a specialized total conversion floating around somewhere that mimics the look of the PSX version but with EDuke32 controls and features. It's not the one in NightFright's addon collection though. I can probably find a link once my power comes back, we're in an outage right now.

[mrthejoshmon]

9 hours ago, Devalaous said:

Speaking of Duke episodes, is there a proper Plug and Pray conversion yet? The only one I know of intentionally carried over the bad parts of the PS1 version for 'accuracy', would be nice to have a native PC version for Raze that feels like an official release someday

Sort of.
https://www.moddb.com/mods/dntm/downloads/duke-nukem-total-meltdown-tc-v11-re-upload

 

It makes the entirety of Duke 3D into the Playstation version, so close enough.

 

EDIT probably literally the same one mentioned above.

Edited April 13 by mrthejoshmon