New details on the Duke Nukem Forever 2001 build

[Eligos]

Back in summer 2017, Frederick Schreiber (The VP of 3DR) went through the 3D Realms archives and claimed to have found an almost complete build of the 2001 version of Duke Nukem Forever. With Fred considering the build to be about "90% to 80% complete." Fred then went on to describe the mechanics and tone of the 2001 build, it had a darker tone than the previous Duke games, along with hub-based areas and RPG elements.

 

Initial information: Frederick Schreiber goes on the 3D Realms Discord to share new information about the early builds of Duke Nukem Forever, as well as showing a screenshot of the files.

 

 

 

"Leaked screenshots": After Fred released this new information about the early versions of DNF, leaked screenshots later appeared on 4chan.

 

Spoiler

2000-2002 version of DNF:

 

 

Quake 1/2 engine version assets, from the Duke4.net Discord:

 

 

 

 

In walks Randy: The builds were later sent to Gearbox, where Randy says they need Take 2/2K's permission in order to release the builds. 

 

Spoiler

 

 

The Duke Nukem collection and Randy accusing Charlie and Fred of lying: During a Q&A with Randy, somebody asked him about the Duke Nukem Forever builds. With Randy going on to say the builds were not as complete as Fred had previously claimed. Randy would later accuse Charlie Wiederhold (an ex-developer on DNF) of lying about how complete the builds were as well. Randy would also go on to state the builds would be released under a "commercial license." Meaning, the only way to get our hands on these builds is to purchase them.

 

Spoiler

Randy's Q&A

https://youtu.be/VFKBbr3xcFs?t=3921

 

Randy's tweets

Charlie's response to Randy

 

Charlie's response to Fred

 

Fred taking his ball and going home:

 

 

TL;DR: Frederick claims he found an almost complete build of the 2001 version of Duke Nukem Forever. The builds were later sent to Gearbox where then Randy said Fred was wrong about how complete the builds were. Later, Randy would accuse Fred and Charlie Wiederhold (an ex-developer on Duke Nukem Forever) of lying about how complete the builds were. Randy would go on to make a deal with 2K in order to release the builds under a commercial license. And is now currently working on a Duke Nukem collection to be released at an unknown date.

 

Source:http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?threads/have-any-of-the-builds-of-duke-nukem-forever-ever-leaked.120567/#post-5505415

 

2022 MAJOR UPDATE:

On 5/8/22 someone on 4chan released a ton of info about DNF 2001, giving us all-new screenshots and footage of the build. 

 

New footage:

Spoiler

Shootout at the strip club:

 

Riding the motorcycle:

 

Weapons showcase:

 

 

New Screenshots:

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Along with these new videos and screenshots the leaker claims they will release this version of DNF with the editor and the source code. With proof of them having the files and the editor.

 

Editor and files

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

 

The following information is what we got from the leaker on the 4chan thread:

 

Quote

Almost every chapter is present in some form. A huge chunk is playable, a huge chunk is block-outs with no enemies. All of the E3 content is there.
Not just the editor, we will be releasing the full source code too.
All weapons are functional with the exception of the chainsaw and the freezer.
Do you have any date on when you are gonna leak it then? June.
The editor works. We also have the engine and UnrealScript source code and have written instructions for compiling it.
Two builds, but only the content for one.
It is Unreal Engine 1, like the final game.
There is no complete game. It was never finished.
The E3 2001 iteration but not the E3 2001 build.
The shrink ray is in the game, it’s the first weapon in slot 4.
The theme is just the Megadeth version. It starts playing as soon as you boot the game.
Bombshell is not visually present in the game at this point, there is a log file showing that her model was deleted.
The strippers can be seen and interacted with when you first enter the club. By the point in the game that was recorded, most of them are dead.

 

As of 5/10/22, the 2001 build of Duke Nukem Forever has been released by a 4chan user known as x0r_jmp, this is the message they left when they released the build:

                                                                            

 

Edited May 10, 2022 by Eligos
New information

[JackSpurtsOnSundays]

Discord chat logs and leaked media:

 

 

The DSOG article has factual inaccuracies that they seem to have made assumptions on.

 

The Twitter exchange about licencing for Duke has absolutely nothing to do with Duke Nukem Forever. Before Rad Rodgers was released Slipgate Studios asked about potentially getting a licence to do a Duke Nukem platformer in the future, the game was received well so Randy offered them a licence but they couldn't get funding for the project.

Edited March 5, 2018 by JackSpurtsOnSundays

[mrthejoshmon]

Interesting stuff, hopefully we learn more...

 

Wouldn't it be great if someone left it lying around for someone else to find... ^{hint hint}

Edited March 5, 2018 by mrthejoshmon

[Eligos]

16 minutes ago, JackSpurtsOnSundays said:

The DSOG article has factual inaccuracies that they seem to have made assumptions on.

Sorry, I didn't know it had inaccurate information. I'll remove it from the Post.

 

16 minutes ago, mrthejoshmon said:

Wouldn't it be great if someone left it lying around for someone else to find...

It just seems like such a waste to leave that much work lying around, especially since so many people waited for that particular version of the game. I can't imagine it would cost that much just to get a couple of guys together to fix it up and release it. Even if it's bad it would still be cool to play and it's not like it's going to hurt Duke's reputation or anything.

[CARRiON]

Randy Bitchford strikes again.

[DMPhobos]

Hope this build get's released one way or another, even if it's unfinished im sure it will be an interesting thing to see, i remember seeing the e3 trailer and thinking they were gonna rock the world with this game... if only we knew...

[Eligos]

 

Randy did a video with a couple of guys from Duke4.net and Frederik Schreiber from 3D Realms. He talks about the situation with Duke forever and says it's up to 2K and not him. I don't know how true that is and this is Randy Pitchford were talking about so take this with a grain of salt.

 

Edit: They talk about the DNF 2001 build and it lasts for about 10 minutes.

 

Edited March 27, 2018 by Eligos

[DooM_RO]

 Well, Warcraft Adventures was leaked so I have hopes for this too.

[Avoozl]

1 hour ago, Eligos said:

Sorry, I didn't know it had inaccurate information. I'll remove it from the Post.

 

It just seems like such a waste to leave that much work lying around, especially since so many people waited for that particular version of the game. I can't imagine it would cost that much just to get a couple of guys together to fix it up and release it. Even if it's bad it would still be cool to play and it's not like it's going to hurt Duke's reputation or anything.

But we all know that that is likely never going to happen, and why must everything be a paid for product? It doesn't hurt to have something free once in a while if it's previously rejected content.

Edited March 5, 2018 by Avoozl

[Deleted_Account]

I remember when a friend of mine preordered Duke Nukem Forever when it was originally announced back in the 90’s. I sure remember how excited he was about it. I wonder if he ever did get his copy after that delayed development time. I’ll have to ask him.

Edited March 5, 2018 by Ex Oblivione

[Eligos]

57 minutes ago, Avoozl said:

But we all know that that is likely never going to happen, and why must everything be a paid for product? It doesn't hurt to have something free once in a while if it's previously rejected content.

 

Trust me I would love it if it was released for free, even if it was released in a poor state. Especially if it's true that 3D Realms is willing to work on it for free. But unfortunately, we can't always get nice things for free. If there's an opportunity for money to be made they're going to take it. Even if it is an unfinished build of a game that was meant to be released in the early 2000s. It wouldn't be the first time that a video game company has reused old content to sell as either a new game entirely or an expansion. But you could be right maybe I am just hanging onto false hope.

Edited March 5, 2018 by Eligos

[JackSpurtsOnSundays]

1 hour ago, Eligos said:

 

Randy did a video with a couple of guys from Duke4.net and Frederik Schreiber from 3D Realms. He talks about the situation with Duke forever and says it's up to 2K and not him. I don't know how true that is and this is Randy Pitchford were talking about so take this with a grain of salt.

 

Edit: The conversation does talk about the DNF 2001 build and it lasts for about 10 minutes.

 

My issue with that reasoning is that during the call he says they're nearing a deal and when Fred offers to also work on the mod tools for the final release of Duke Nukem Forever for free Randy starts claiming they'd have to pay certification costs...and then Randy is asked about the Duke Nukem 3D Prototypes that 3D Realms also has and would like to have released...and he claims they'd have to go through certification and quality assurance so it'd cost money even if the work was done for free.

 

He's pretty much completely full of shit. Croteam, id Software, Volition, 3D Realms, and others have released builds/prototypes of games to the public without any support in the past with absolutely no issue. No one fucking QAs prototypes for release. 

 

Hell 3D Realms released TEN prototype builds of Shadow Warrior for free a few months ago. This is exactly what they want to do with Duke Nukem 3D and Forever. The offer is there to do all the work for free but Randy isn't interested unless he can sell it in what he calls a definitive Duke Nukem collection. There's no hidden motive from 3D Realms or Frederik Schreiber to make a profit. They worked with Devolver Digital on the Shadow Warrior content and no one got paid. It was just something cool for the fans.

 

[Eligos]

53 minutes ago, JackSpurtsOnSundays said:

 

My issue with that reasoning is that during the call he says they're nearing a deal and when Fred offers to also work on the mod tools for the final release of Duke Nukem Forever for free Randy starts claiming they'd have to pay certification costs...and then Randy is asked about the Duke Nukem 3D Prototypes that 3D Realms also has and would like to have released...and he claims they'd have to go through certification and quality assurance so it'd cost money even if the work was done for free.

 

He's pretty much completely full of shit. Croteam, id Software, Volition, 3D Realms, and others have released builds/prototypes of games to the public without any support in the past with absolutely no issue. No one fucking QAs prototypes for release. 

 

Hell 3D Realms released TEN prototype builds of Shadow Warrior for free a few months ago. This is exactly what they want to do with Duke Nukem 3D and Forever. The offer is there to do all the work for free but Randy isn't interested unless he can sell it in what he calls a definitive Duke Nukem collection. There's no hidden motive from 3D Realms or Frederik Schreiber to make a profit. They worked with Devolver Digital on the Shadow Warrior content and no one got paid. It was just something cool for the fans.

 

Here's the part that doesn't make any sense to me, why is Randy pretending that Duke is some sort of Golden Goose that he can milk to get money? As I alluded to in a previous post, Duke Nukem is not a Powerhouse IP anymore and if Randy believes Duke can somehow become a household name again he's living in a fantasy land. Especially since a lot of people have written off Duke at this point, releasing DNF 2001 for free could help them bring back interest in the brand.

[Nevander]

That 90% complete build needs to get released. I don't care what it takes. We need, hell we DESERVE to play DNF the way it was meant to be played.

[Arctangent]

33 minutes ago, Nevander said:

That 90% complete build needs to get released. I don't care what it takes. We need, hell we DESERVE to play DNF the way it was meant to be played.

p. sure the one we got is as close as "the way DNF was meant to be played" as we'll get, unless you consider that the way we play doom isn't "the way it was meant to be played" because it doesn't involve the unmaker or flat, more realistic levels

[Lila Feuer]

2 hours ago, JackSpurtsOnSundays said:

No one fucking QAs prototypes for release.

Unless your name is Runny Shitfart.
 

1 hour ago, Eligos said:

Especially since a lot of people have written off Duke at this point, releasing DNF 2001 for free could help them bring back interest in the brand.

This is exactly what I thought recently also, it could help reignite interest in Duke again for future games, but Bitchford is a businessman first and foremost, thinking you can keep a gaming icon relevant by putting them into games they don't belong in (Bulletstorm, Wild Buster).

 

2 minutes ago, Arctangent said:

p. sure the one we got is as close as "the way DNF was meant to be played" as we'll get

Pretty sure whatever we got after they broke the 90% complete game due to introducing Doom 3 style lighting and thus scrapping most of the previous work was not the intended final product. The final game is a mishmash of builds, mostly more recent ones like 2008, with ideas that go back to 2001, on top of a 2011 game, which explains the inconsistent art assets and the 'new and improved' modern FPS gameplay that killed whatever made Duke fun was left.

[Avoozl]

The difference between the two is the Doom bible content you mentioned was cut even before development on the game happened, unlike with this version of DNF where content was cut during development.

Edited March 5, 2018 by Avoozl

[Arctangent]

1 minute ago, cyan0s1s said:

Pretty sure whatever we got after they broke the 90% complete game due to introducing Doom 3 style lighting and thus scrapping most of the previous work was not the intended final product. The final game is a mishmash of builds, mostly more recent ones like 2008, with ideas that go back to 2001, on top of a 2011 game, which explains the inconsistent art assets and the 'new and improved' modern FPS gameplay that killed whatever made Duke fun was left.

 

again, unless you consider that the way we play doom isn't "the way it was meant to be played" because it doesn't involve the unmaker or flat, more realistic levels

 

1 minute ago, Avoozl said:

The difference between the two is the Doom bible content you mentioned was cut even before development on the game happened, unlike this version of DNF where content was cut during development.

 

Well, sure, but that still points to the same end result due to stuff like Refueling Base not making it into Doom 1 and Lost Souls becoming an entirely different enemy with some pretty big aesthetic design changes. Visions change and mutate, and ideas fail and get tweaked; even if the final result isn't stellar, it's pretty asinine to declare it "not the way it's meant to be played" just because it's not identical to the original draft or an earlier build.

 

I mean granted, "not the way it's meant to be played" is a pretty asinine phrase to begin with, but stuff like this just makes it moreso.

[geo]

90% complete could be still unplayable for one reason or another. Someone else could fix it up. I have this weird feeling that GearBox would be on anyone for doing such a thing.

 

Perhaps a decade or two from now someone's Youtube channel will buy an old hard drive at a flea market to discover the original source code or texture art.

Edited March 5, 2018 by geo

[seed]

47 minutes ago, geo said:

90% complete could be still unplayable for one reason or another. Someone else could fix it up. I have this weird feeling that GearBox would be on anyone for doing such a thing.

 

Given that GB went after a fan recreation of DN3D around the time of DNF... yeah, no doubt they'd do the same to whoever does this as well...

[Jaxxoon R]

13 hours ago, Arctangent said:

 

again, unless you consider that the way we play doom isn't "the way it was meant to be played" because it doesn't involve the unmaker or flat, more realistic levels

 

 

Well, sure, but that still points to the same end result due to stuff like Refueling Base not making it into Doom 1 and Lost Souls becoming an entirely different enemy with some pretty big aesthetic design changes. Visions change and mutate, and ideas fail and get tweaked; even if the final result isn't stellar, it's pretty asinine to declare it "not the way it's meant to be played" just because it's not identical to the original draft or an earlier build.

 

I mean granted, "not the way it's meant to be played" is a pretty asinine phrase to begin with, but stuff like this just makes it moreso.

Or you could forego the mental gymnastics and leave it at the fact that the 2001 builds were when the game was better off.

[Lila Feuer]

Yeah, seeing as it was the build that got us the most excited in the first place. Everything after that was just like 'okay, so what?', and then we know how the end result turned out...

[Arctangent]

1 hour ago, Jaxxoon R said:

Or you could forego the mental gymnastics and leave it at the fact that the 2001 builds were when the game was better off.

y'might want to reread my posts because it's pretty clear that this is a response to some pixie that's your imaginary nemesis, not me

[The Nate]

looks like bombshell had a sixpack

[⇛Marnetmar⇛]

Stuff like this makes me wonder how many completely done, ready-to-play games will never see the light of day due to being shelved for one reason or another.

[Reisal]

Why not just let an accomplished team of modders finish up that 10% and put it on Steam/ModDB?

[Lila Feuer]

@Glaice Cause that would imply we live in a world that doesn't consist almost entirely of trash.

[Eligos]

On 3/5/2018 at 5:10 PM, Sgt Nate V said:

looks like bombshell had a sixpack

Where did this come from?

 

On 3/5/2018 at 5:23 PM, Marnetstapler said:

Stuff like this makes me wonder how many completely done, ready-to-play games will never see the light of day due to being shelved for one reason or another.

There's a lot of games that have been canceled or shelved for one reason or another. It could be because the rights have changed hands or in this situation development problems. The obvious examples are LucasArts with Star Wars 1313 and the somewhat recent closing of Visceral and their Star Wars game. That's not to say it's impossible for games that were once in development to be released, Star Fox 2 is an example of that. It's rare but it can happen.

Edited March 25, 2018 by Eligos

[Arctangent]

12 minutes ago, Marnetstapler said:

Stuff like this makes me wonder how many completely done, ready-to-play games will never see the light of day due to being shelved for one reason or another.

Probably only slightly less than the movies that share the same fate.

 

Granted, a lot of these cases are mostly just novelties moreso than any real loss, as while sometimes worthwhile movies and games fall through the cracks ... I mean, you only need to look at the amount of stuff you can find in a bargain bin to really get a grasp on what it takes to be considered not worthwhile to sell.

[The Nate]

31 minutes ago, Eligos said:

Where did this come from?

i found it on the discord

 

some other images were there too

they said it was leaked from 4chan