DukeWeb provides a number of essential functions for Duke Nukem 3D players, network players and map builders:

Major Features

1. Can be used as a browser helper app to click & play user maps on the net. It's never been easier to use custom user maps with Duke Nukem 3D.
2. Provides easy access to BUILD, EDITART, and DUKE3D for faster map development.
3. Multiplayer ready, capable of playing any number of user maps per session.
4. Archives can include multiple maps, .CON, .ART, .VOC, .MID, RTS and more, with automatic modification of appropriate configuration files for their use.
5. Intelligent use of ART, .CON, .RTS and other types of files used by DN3D on a per-map basis. Extra files are removed when the map archive is closed.
6. Authors can easily link user maps like web pages for players to travel to.

What the hell are linked maps?

• Linked maps can be downloaded, unzipped and played simply by completing a user map by activating an auto-destruct button. During multiplayer games, any user that is missing a map that is being linked to will have it retrieved automatically. Kind of like a web browser when you click a link. When you activate an auto-destruct button it goes to another map somewhere on the internet.
• Uses Internet HTTP (i.e. the Web) for downloading new maps from the net.
• Map archive publishing via FTP upload script DukeWeb\Tools\ftpup.bat and the three key command ZF[enter]
• Can dialup to & hangup from the net automatically when a file needs to be retrieved.
• Favorite user maps & webpages (map lists, probably) can be reloaded directly from the author's http:// URL using R command to re-download the cached link. It can dialup the internet, download the file and hang up if instructed to.
• Supports IPX and modem play with full automation and DukeWeb linking. For each link, it can dialup the net, download, hangup and restart modem game.

Quickstart (everything needed to install & run it)

Tips on Using the Software

Latest News & Update Information (UPDATED!)

How It Works

DukeWeb, Duke Nukem 3D and Windows95

Bugs & Bugfixes (what bugs?)

Registered Version Information

Purchasing

The Official Start Map and the Future of DukeWeb

Open Letter to 3D Realms Programmers

Notes to Map Editors

Comments from the Author

Installing DukeWeb

DukeWeb requires it's own private directory of properly installed Duke Nukem 3D Files.

Use of this program with other files present in the Duke Nukem directory can result in files being overwritten.

This section describes the steps neccessary for installing DukeWeb. The rest of this documentation is not critical to the operation of this program, but the instructions in this section must be properly followed in order for DukeWeb to work.

You must first own an installed copy of the registered version of Duke Nukem 3D to use this product. PKUNZIP.EXE must also be available and in the command path. You must also agree to the Software License Agreement (below) before downloading. If you don't have pkzip, go to ftp.pkware.com to get it.

Step by step instructions:

• Download DUKEWEB.ZIP and save it into the Duke Nukem directory (Usually C:\Duke3D).
• Move mouse to the Start button on your task bar, select the RUN option then type COMMAND in the window that appears. Press OK in order to get a command line.
• type CD C:\DUKE3D (enter). This may vary among systems. Get to your Duke3d directory, whereever that may be.
• type PKUNZIP -D DUKEWEB (enter). The -D is required for proper subdirectory extraction.
• type DW (enter)to start DukeWeb from a batch file in the Duke3D directory, or find the DukeWeb directory (using Explorer) and double click DUKEWEB.EXE. Since this is the first time DukeWeb will have been run, it will perform it's installation functions. When that is complete, it will load the DukeWeb start map.

It's EASY! The new maps can have custom sounds, artwork and other files that are maintained & managed by DukeWeb using compressed zip files. Switching between maps from different parts of the internet using new artwork & sounds is as simple as using the O (open) command! Or play it directly with the G (play game) command. A command menu is available for those who wish to select links by name, edit maps or perform numerous other functions.

Unzip dukeweb.zip in your Duke3d directory using PKUNZIP -D DUKEWEB. If you forget the -D the program will detect that and require you to reinstall it.

To get command line options and some help, run dukeweb with no arguments. Type dukeweb help for more options. If you do not provide DukeWeb with a map to start with it will use the official start map.

To make DukeWeb a helper app for Netscape, go to the Options menu, select the Helper Apps tab, and click on Create New Type. Set the Mime Type to text and the Mime SubType to plain . Hit OK and then select Launch the Application, using c:\duke3d\dw.bat for the app. Set the File Extensions to "dws". Now you should be able to use the maps on DukeWeb IPX Central and elsewhere directly from Netscape, allowing you to start single and multiplayer games simply by activating a link. Other browsers have similar mechanisms.

After using DukeWeb for a while, you may wish to make several Windows95 shortcuts to DUKEWEB.EXE with different arguments in order to start the game at various maps.

DukeWeb is also able to browse (in a rather simplistic manner) HTML pages on the net and filter out http:// links that can be activated. Links to zipfiles containing user maps can be immediately played in Duke Nukem.

The browsing capability is very limited, and the use of a standard web browser is suggested until a page containing maps is found.

Maps linked to from within DukeWeb (not as a helper app) are stored in the Map directory and the original link information is recorded in DUKEWEB\MAPS\DUKEWEB.LOG when available. This provides a caching mechanism that allows users to go between stored maps without requiring a download each time. The latest version of a map can be easily downloaded from the net by using the R command.

Version 0.16 - July 7, 1996

Changed the HTML output to not use long filenames with the .DWS for more compatible use within zipfiles. You can now download the entire collection of maps, screenshots & startup (.DWS) files. .DWS files are now created for modem answer & dial up games. If you download the index, maps & startup scripts you and a buddy can play each other using modems & your browser to start games.

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Many new features, including the ability to make HTML map index pages & all associated script files for starting single & multiplayer games. Checkout the map index for an example.

You can now specify a URL (of maps, probably) and it will download all of them and optionally build an HTML index with 10 maps & screenshots per page.

Prompting can be turned off from the main menu with the SPN command and turned back on with the SPY command.

Previous Notes

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Added the DukeWeb IPX central links & files, checkit out!

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Recent additions include support for IPX & Dialup play with full automation. See the command line options for the new version for more information by typing DUKEWEB by itself at the Windows95 command line, otherwise known as the MS-DOS prompt (you must be in the DukeWeb directory first).

With this new addition, players can journey through the dukeweb together while automatically downloading & using new map archives from the net when needed. It's totally automatic!

Unregistered users can use all of the features of DukeWeb, but there is an information screen and delay before each game.

This version also supports a LAN which has only one computer able to access the Internet via the /L option, which can be used by mounting a network drive (such as G:) and using an additional command line argument to DukeWeb (for instance):

dukeweb start /n2 /LG:\duke3d\dukeweb\maps

on the computer which does not have direct access. This system will wait for files to appear on the server (which should be downloading them) before using them. Note that this example also sets 2 player IPX mode on the default socket.

First public release: June 18, 1996.

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How It Works

This program will allow Duke Nukem 3D map designers who make their maps available via WWW to link their maps together much in the same manner that HTML documents link to other documents.

To enable the DukeWeb linking mechanism, the zip file must contain Duke Nukem user maps ending with .MAP and a related file <mapname>.DWD. The DWD file contains a list of http: links to other zip files; DukeWeb will select one based upon which auto-destruct button had been pressed. When a line begins with LINKn it means that this is the link that will be used when an auto-destruct button with a lotag of n+1 is used to end a DukeWeb game.

If an archive does not have these two files, but does have other .MAP files, the maps in the archive will be played in the order they appear in the archive. Single player users can select which map to play. When all the maps have been played they are removed and the last map archive containing a .DWD file is reloaded. What this means is that DukeWeb maps can point to maps sitting on the Internet made by people who have never even heard of DukeWeb.

There are several ways to access map archives:

• Start DukeWeb with no mapname to use the official start map.
• Instruct your browser to use DukeWeb as a helper app for .DWZ files to automatically play maps from web pages when clicked on them in the browser.
• You can instruct the browser to use DukeWeb as a helper app for .ZIP files in order to click-play maps contained in regular .ZIP files, but you will have to reconfigure your browser when finished or else your next download will start DukeWeb expecting a map file!
• Start DukeWeb from the command line with an http:// pathname for it's argument. DukeWeb will retrieve the file and store it in the DUKEWEB\MAPS directory before playing it
• Start DukeWeb from the command line with the name of a local .DWZ or .ZIP file containing a map. If it doesn't find it in the current directory, it will look in the DUKEWEB\MAPS directory.

When DukeWeb is started with no map name argument and menuing turned on using DUKEWEB /M, DUKEWEB.LOG will be used for the initial link menu.

DukeWeb accesses the files via http as needed so placement of them on any accessible web page will enable other users to automatically access and use the new maps while simultaneously providing the maps to non-dukeweb enabled users via Web browsers. If a map has been accessed previously it will not need to download it again since it will have retained a copy in the form of a compressed zip file. If the map has not been accessed before, the registered version of the program can optionally start a Windows95 Dialup Networking connection before downloading and then hangup when complete to minimize online time.

DukeWeb also allows map creators to include custom .art, .mid, .voc, and .wav files which will be extracted from the zip file along with the other data. When the user exits the map, the extra files are removed from the Duke3d directory and the zip file containing the map remains in the WEBMAPS directory.

When extracted, these files will overwrite any files using the same name in the Duke3D directory, so be sure to install DukeWeb into a newly installed directory of Duke Nukem files unless you have added no files or directories to your Duke Nukem directory. The icons included with DukeWeb.zip are configured to access DukeWeb in c:\duke3d\dukeweb and may need to be changed if Duke3d in not in c:\duke3d

Other files may be included in the zip file if the map author chooses to do so, but security is kept simple by only extracting a specific set of file types which are not executable and do not conflict with the default Duke Nukem files or with DukeWeb itself.

Officially, Duke Nukem is not supposed to be run under Windows95. However, it does in fact work adequately in this environment and many people don't want to bother with shutting down Windows for what they consider a negligable loss in performance. DukeWeb requires Windows95 and will not operate without it. Your system needs to be capable of using a web browser to access the Internet, but if you have no connections available you can still use the program as a way to maintain a collection of maps in a centralized directory full of .ZIP or .DWZ files.

Included in this archive are a number of Windows95 shortcut files that can be copied to the Start menu during the DUKEWEB INSTALL process. These icons allow the program to be run in different configurations:

• Connect - Uses CONNECT.BAT and DCONNECT.BAT (created by the DUKEWEB INSTALL) to login as neccessary, and starts with displaying DUKEWEB.TXT
• Local - Does not attempt downloads. Displays DUKEWEB.TXT
• Start - Autoconnecting and configured to load and play the official start map.
• Online - Expects to be online during operation of the program. Displays DUKEWEB.TXT
• Install - Allows configuration of dial up scripts, copying shortcuts to the Start menu, and other configuration options.
• Uninst- Restores the Duke Nukem file USER.CON for normal Duke Nukem play.

It's a pretty simple program, really, and if it doesn't work then chances are it's something else wrong with your system. Please keep me informed of any problems that might develop, but I am confident there are no signifigant bugs in this program. I shall try to answer all e-mail as quickly as possible but my e-mail response time may vary or cease to exist altogether depending upon other personal demands. The program is very simple to use and if the free version doesn't work for you, then don't buy the registered version - they are functionally the same in every way.

The unregistered version of this program can do everything the registered version can do, except it has a delay screen before each game.

When someone registers, they are sent a personalized registration key file which should be placed in the DukeWeb directory. DukeWeb will detect the presence of this file and when it determines it is a valid key it will disable that nagging delay. Note that this key file contains the registration information and can be traced to the purchaser.

This keyfile will remain a valid keyfile for all future versions of DukeWeb. Once you've registered, you will always be able to use the latest version with no upgrade fee. In the event that we choose to change our keyfile format, we will send you a new key that will work with the latest version.

This program will operate and perform many of its services without purchasing registration. Frequent users, however, will certainly appreciate the extra features available only with the registered version.

Registration is only $10 so what are you waiting for, Christmas?

To purchase registration at the introductory special price, please send a check for $10 payable in U.S. funds to:

Cosky Designs

814 Lakeway Drive Suite #153

Bellingham, WA 98226 U.S.A.

Be sure to include your e-mail address clearly attached! You will be e-mailed your personal key file when the check is received. Checks received with no e-mail address will be destroyed and discarded.

Bad checks will be submitted to collection and prosecuted to the limit of the law, and new versions of DukeWeb will ignore your illegally aquired key file. So please don't do that; it's only a hassle for everyone.

The official start map for DUKEWEB is START.ZIP. You could download this from your browser and extract it with pkunzip, but DukeWeb will find it for you (using the same mechanism as the browser) when you first start DukeWeb. If you configure your browser to use DukeWeb as a helper app for .DWS files you can t start a Duke Nukem game directly by activating START.DWS

This map is the official starting point for DukeWeb. Currently, this links to my map The Harbor, which has links of it own, and a variety of map archives elsewhere on the net. The START and HARBOR maps are linked together (using link #1) to demonstrate the linking mechanism, and each have 8 other links to standard Duke Nukem mapfiles located somewhere on the net. There are custom sounds and artwork and in the START map to demonstrate the ease by which custom map users are able to use maps with special sounds and images. Normally, users have to download, unzip, and run the program with the right arguments... DukeWeb automates the whole process making it possible for a complete beginner to access any Duke Nukem user map from the net with ease. And the linking of maps may not be as refined as Quake's, but it does work!

This system would operate much more smoothly if there was a new sprite created for the specific purpose of IMMEDIATELY exiting the duke3d.exe with a status output that describes the player's coordinates, inventory and the sprite's hitag value. The current method requires users to look at a stat screen after every map and listen to duke say stuff every time, which takes far too long as is not in the least bit desirable in this environment. Ideally, the player would walk into a sprite and the game would immediately shutdown with a status output. It couldn't take too long to add this code and put a new unofficial unsupported patchfile on your server - it would be a piece of cake. If you see this, please let me know. Thanks! One other thing that would be GREAT to add would be a command sprite that will execute a command in a text file (DUKECMDS.TXT for instance) on a line determined by the hightag of the sprite without exiting the game. This would allow a user to walk up to a viewscreen and activate a web browser - or anything else! Another more basic feature would be to implement command line options to load a saved game for a map. This would allow maps to jump to specific points in another map. I'm sure you have all the time in the world for this, right?

Well, anything you can do to help would be appreciated. Thanks for the amazing game!

Linking DukeWeb Maps

The mechanism for leaving a map and going onto another one is by use of a modified user.con and appropriately configured bonus round autodestruct buttons (sprite #142 palette 14). When a bonus round button is activated, it will link the user to one of ten available dukeweb links. By this I mean Duke3D will exit, DukeWeb will retrieve the new map & other data in a zip file, and the new level will then be started. The new level can have a completely different set of links leading into other maps on the Internet. The button's lotag must be set from 2-11 to access link1-link10 in DUKEWEB.DWD.

Archive Naming Conventions

Can find and play any archive containing files ending with .MAP. If there is no USER.CON included with the archive then it checks for <mapname>.CON and uses it if found. This must contain the definelevel entry for level 1 (see the start map archive for an example). Archives can contain any number of maps ending with .MAP and the user can select which map to play. Only maps with a file named <mapname>.dwd within their archive can use the DukeWeb map linking mechanism. See START.DWD for an example. If a .DWD file is not present the game will return to the last map that had one, if any.

You can also add the files that are associated with the first level, such as STEALTH.MID and have them used with the map. Replacing sounds and adding artwork (TILES015.ART) is just as easy.

Standardized Screenshot Links

The map files contain DUKEWEB.MAP, DUKEWEB.DWD, and optionally other files. Authors are encouraged to include the standard map author form as well as an http link to a distinctive screenshot in the file MAPLINK.DWD. This file simply contains one line: an http: link that should point to an actual image available for retrieval from the Internet. This image can also be used by the author's web page for his maps. Other authors could potentially use this image as artwork for a sprite near their link to your page. The next version of DukeWeb may access this image link on demand for it's user interface. The only link in the MAPLINK.DWD is to a zipfile, and the link should point to a zip file which contains the PCX screenshots saved from the game.

Link Comments

DukeWeb will detect http: links from within normal text when scanning the .DWD link files, allowing you to embed comments within the link file. Single player/Multiplayer map, file size, author information and other information of this kind could be shown for the users benefit.

The .DWD files are plain text and you should be able to paste bookmarks from the clipboard (probably copied from your Web Browser's bookmarks) into a text editor in order to accumulate links easily.

Secret Links

Secret links can be examined only by registered users who actually play the DukeWeb game and press the link's autodestruct button. Once the link is found, it is recorded in the DUKEWEB.LOG file along with the other maps, but until then the link's http: information in the DUKEWEB.DWD is represented by a string beginning with SECRETn:[scrambled data]

To create the scrambled link entry, use command X at the DukeWeb command prompt. The requested id should be responded with SECRET1 through SECRET10. The next prompt will request the information to scramble. A line will be appended to the current link file containing the scrambled information entered here. After the map containing this information in it's DUKEWEB.DWD file is played and an auto-destruct button matching the secret link number (button lotag = link# +1 ) is activated, the Duke Nukem game will end and this secret link will be decoded by DukeWeb and downloaded. DukeWeb now continues to check the logfile and perhaps download the file in it's normal manner using this decoded link instead of the standard LINKn entry. The link URL is shown to the user and added to the DUKEWEB.LOG at this time so links don't really stay secret forever, just to new users.

I think that once all the talented mapmakers out there start hooking their maps together we will all be amazed at how natural it is to progress through the DukeWeb, solving one map in order to proceed to another. Or a different one, depending on how you got out!

I am anxiously awaiting email from users who want to link their maps to the DukeWeb - I'd be glad to hook your maps in somewhere.

Have fun and let's get some links happening!

Send Mail to Eric Cosky - Visit Eric's Homepage - Go to DukeWeb IPX Central

Please make links to this page using this image



Thanks!

See http://www.az.com/~ericc/dwdocs.htm for the latest version of this file.

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This program, documentation, and related and included files are Copyright 1996 Cosky Designs.

DukeWeb and The Interconnected Map System are Trademarks of Cosky Designs.

Duke Nukem 3D is a Trademark of 3D Realms Entertainment

Cosky Designs is not affiliated with 3D Realms Entertainment in any way and this product is in no way endorsed or supported by them.