Duke it out in DC not working...

[Xgthug]

Hey, I bought Duke it out in DC years ago,
and for some reason it won't install on my computer.
Is it avalible online for free now or what?
And can I have it set as another episode so it's easier to play?

[Ding Bat]

Need more info! But if your using Windows XP, thats the problem. I'm not sure if Duke it out in DC can be run on one of the Window ports or not. it seems i've seen something on that. You might try a search about Duke it Out.

[Superczar]

It won't install b/c the installer will not work on computers faster than 200mhz (with an Intel chipset, but let it be known that I have gotten it to work on a 450mhz AMD) . There is supposed to be another installer on the 'net somewhere but it's been too long and I have no idea where to get it. I simply corrected that little problem by installing all the files on an old computer and then making my own installation package for it...

[Xgthug]

Not XP, 2000.

EDIT: SuperCZar, I thought of putting it on an old computer and then copying it to my new computer,
but I'd have no way of getting it OFF the old computer.

[jimbob]

Xgthug said:
Not XP, 2000.

EDIT: SuperCZar, I thought of putting it on an old computer and then copying it to my new computer,
but I'd have no way of getting it OFF the old computer.

floppy disks? network? burning them to a re-writable cdrom?

[Superczar]

jimbob said:

floppy disks? network? burning them to a re-writable cdrom?

Floppy would take him quite a few floppies...

[jimbob]

Superczar said:

Floppy would take him quite a few floppies...

duke it out in dc wasnt that big? its only a few levels and some artwork. should take about 5 floppy`s max.

havent played it in ages though so it could be bigger than i remember it

[Funduke]

The data that is necessary to play DukeDC is stored in the file with the extension *.ssi on the Duke-it-out-in-dc-cd. The launcher by sunstorm doesn't work on WinXP but you can extract the necessary data by using unpackssi by JonoF, that can be downloaded here:
http://jonof.edgenetwork.org/index.php?p=misc

No need for Floppies.

Duke it out in DC is no free download.

Greetings
Funduke

[NutWrench]

Xgthug said:
Not XP, 2000.

EDIT: SuperCZar, I thought of putting it on an old computer and then copying it to my new computer,
but I'd have no way of getting it OFF the old computer.

Does your old computer have any USB ports? Do you have any USB storage devices? (Flash key, iPod, digital camera, MP3 player, etc?)

[Superczar]

Funduke said:
The data that is necessary to play DukeDC is stored in the file with the extension *.ssi on the Duke-it-out-in-dc-cd. The launcher by sunstorm doesn't work on WinXP but you can extract the necessary data by using unpackssi by JonoF, that can be downloaded here:
http://jonof.edgenetwork.org/index.php?p=misc

No need for Floppies.

Duke it out in DC is no free download.

Greetings
Funduke

I think that may have been the program I was thinking of. If not it ought to work just fine anyway, JonoF knows his stuff...

[Ras]

I struggled with this a few months ago when I wanted to reinstall DC and Caribbean. I got it to work, but I don't remember exactly how. There is a patch on Sunstorm's site that might help you, though. It specifically addresses installation problems:

http://www.sunstorm.net/downloads_dcpatch.htm

[wieder]

The easiest way I've found to get this to work (and other similar problems) is to use a CPU slowdown utility.

I use CPU Killer. Just keep slowing it down until the Duke it out in DC installer runs properly. Once you've got it installed you can stop the slowdown utility and everything will work properly again. Everytime you run the GAMER.EXE or Installer you'll have to do the slowdown again, but just for playing Duke itself you don't have to use it.

Also, you can't use the GAMER utility with JonoF's port, as the EXE is no longer compatible. At that point you should just use the method of extracting the files directly like the guys mentioned above. You miss out on a couple of minor changes that happen to the normal version, but not enough to affect your gameplay experience.

Good luck.

[mental stampede]

I would suggest you use the program mentioned above to extract the files directly. Also, I use a completely seperate install of JFduke for Duke it out in DC to make it easier to use.
That way, you just run a different game for DC, rather that hving to patch and unpatch the game every time you want to play.

[Ras]

LOL. I was going to protest and say, "Nah, he's better off using the patch!", until I looked at who was posting. I believe you would know better since you wrote the damn thing.

[Superczar]

mental stampede said:
I would suggest you use the program mentioned above to extract the files directly. Also, I use a completely seperate install of JFduke for Duke it out in DC to make it easier to use.
That way, you just run a different game for DC, rather that hving to patch and unpatch the game every time you want to play.

Actually if you are running Duke DC on Atomic, you could set it up very easily to run just fine without interfering at all with the normal game, and they should have done this when they packaged it. Poor packaging is exactly why I just went ahead and set up my own packages for all the Duke add-ons, much easier and more user friendly than Sunsoft's lame BS...

[wieder]

LOL. I was going to protest and say, "Nah, he's better off using the patch!", until I looked at who was posting. I believe you would know better since you wrote the damn thing.

The patch doesn't always work for people, depends on the processor, etc. The compiler I used back then (and even the updated version to get it working on faster computers) had a bug in it. My fault for not understanding the problem sooner, but oh well.

Actually if you are running Duke DC on Atomic, you could set it up very easily to run just fine without interfering at all with the normal game, and they should have done this when they packaged it. Poor packaging is exactly why I just went ahead and set up my own packages for all the Duke add-ons, much easier and more user friendly than Sunsoft's lame BS...

That's great for you... but remember that addon got sold to about half a million people (and who knows how many pirated), most of which have no understanding of how the file systems in Duke 3D works, nor should they need to in order to play the addon. Furthermore, the addon modified the EXE and CON files directly to get the product to be as professional looking as possible (this is why Sunstorm games were the only ones to have unique loading and exit screens). These things are lost if you don't go through the process of the installer. For the average user it's much easier to run a program, click "activate" and then play... and when they are done click "deactivate".

It didn't just copy maps, sounds, and art into the directory and launch the game.

It also protected you as a user in case you have a file that matches already in the directory, so your content wouldn't get written over. This is something that none of the other third party addons protected against and people lost maps and sounds because of it.

Finally, it automated the method of setting up all Sunstorm addons. If you owned Cryptic Passage, Duke It Out in DC, Duke Carribean, Suckin Grits on Route 66, and Wanton Destruction... you had one program to run to enable any of them and it ensured that you never had any installation conflicts.

It even would allow you to have Nuclear Winter (or any user addon) installed and restore your game back to that state when you were done with the Sunstorm addons.

Yes, a windows based installer would have been better, but I was still learning coding, so sue me. For the time there weren't any addons that were easier or safer to install and uninstall except ones intended to modify your game *permanently*.

Oh, and it works if you had 1.3d, 1.4 or 1.5. Notice that none of the other Duke 3D adons supported that at all. There is a good reason, Plutonium Pack added functionality that 1.3d didn't have to make it easier to access external information.

And finally (again), not all games were nearly as easy to modify as Duke 3D, but we needed a single solution for all potential addons. SW had no con files (so naming the episode, level names, new fortune cookie messages, etc) required modifying the EXE directly. Blood and Redneck Rampage had similar problems as well.

So there's some extra history into why that software was developed in the first place.

[Funduke]

Hello NotWieder!

Is there any way to make caribbean playable with DukeXtreme.
Also, is there any way to convert pre-existing totalconversions into ssi-format, so that they are playable with DukeXtreme?

Greetings
Funduke

[Superczar]

Yes, there were obvious issues for those using 1.3d, but come on, the whole Gamer set up was more complicated than was necessary. Then again Charlie you always had to make things hard to do, like finding the secret level exit in Carribean Vacation...

[wieder]

Is there any way to make caribbean playable with DukeXtreme.
Also, is there any way to convert pre-existing totalconversions into ssi-format, so that they are playable with DukeXtreme?

I know very little about DukeXtreme, so I can't really help you there. Sorry. :/

I'll keep my eyes open for the source code (or exe) that was used to create the SSI files in the first place. If I find it I'll be sure to pass it along, which will let you make your own SSI files.

Superczar said:
Yes, there were obvious issues for those using 1.3d, but come on, the whole Gamer set up was more complicated than was necessary. Then again Charlie you always had to make things hard to do, like finding the secret level exit in Carribean Vacation...

Bah I say! What was complicated? You have a single menu that lists all addons, you hit Enter on the one you want to play. You play. When you don't want to play anymore you have the same single menu to navigate.

Actually I just went through the process again (installed the addon, used gamer, played the game) to make sure I hadn't forgotten anything and I don't see how you could have possible made it simpler while still supporting Duke 3D 1.3d, Blood, Shadow Warrior, and Redneck Rampage. Shit I'm getting all hot and steamy just thinking about it!

As for the secret level... yeah... well... it was payback for the secret level (which was mine) in Duke DC being so difficult to get to as well. har har

----

Something odd to note... on my work machine I'm able to run the Duke Caribbean installer and gamer just fine without any slowdown utilities or patching. I dunno if there is something in XP Service Pack 2 or what... but I couldn't do that before.

(You saw nothing! It was a figment of your imagination)

[Superczar]

I was at work today wondering how you were going to reply or that I might have been coming off as a dick, but I am glad to see that you know I only kid about the secret level thing, I recall picking at you about it before. In actuality, the level with the secret level entrance is one of my favorite levels, in fact Duke Carribean is one of my favorite add-ons for any game. Period.

Back to Gamer tho, I guess it was nice to "manage" all the add-ons across the Build engine world, but I dunno man, I just don't like it. I just used a batch file and some file manipulation to run Cryptic Passage and Duke DC when I had Duke 1.3d. But then eventually for getting the add-ons to run for Duke 1.3d I did a little more involved work for my own work-around. At least with 1.5 it was a simple matter.

[Funduke]

NotWieder3DR said:
I'll keep my eyes open for the source code (or exe) that was used to create the SSI files in the first place. If I find it I'll be sure to pass it along, which will let you make your own SSI files.

That would be great!
Thank you

Greetings
Funduke