DA Patching Program by nyk in 2000:
(Patches DUKE3D.EXE v1.3d)

dapatch.exe changes:
- some global sounds (footsteps and other sounds)
- the episode names
- skill names
- the game.con is renamed internally
- Launches the Game


(patching is not required to use DA)
To Play without Running the installer/patcher, launch DA as follows:
From the Command line: duke3d.exe /xda_game.con
(You will loose the features described above, and the footsteps and others sounds will not be heard correctly).

Some anti-virus scanners may misinterpret the dapatch.exe code as a virus 
(because it changes some values in the DUKE3D.EXE), IT IS NOT A VIRUS.



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Duke Arena patching program?
-=CHE@TER=- <_>	Thu, May 28, 2026
To: corvin rtcm <>
Hello!

For old Duke Arena TC there is a tool called "dapatch.exe".
It reads the following options from the "dapatch.ini" file (I add comments with ";" but the "dapatch.exe" didn't support it - it's here to explain keys purpose):

; !!! string/text options
; "GAME.CON" custom file name [12 characters max]
CN=...
; "DUKE3D.GRP" custom file name [12 characters max]
GP=...
; episode 1 custom name [32 characters max]
E1=...
; episode 2 custom name [32 characters max]
E2=...
; episode 3 custom name [32 characters max]
E3=...
; skill 1 custom name [19 characters max]
S1=...
; skill 2 custom name [19 characters max]
S2=...
; skill 3 custom name [19 characters max]
S3=...
; skill 4 custom name [19 characters max]
S4=...

; !!! number options
; xyzsound() options
; https://github.com/videogamepreservation/dukenukem3d/blob/master/source/SOUNDS.C#L372
; global sounds value [default value: 14 - PIPEBOMB_EXPLODE]
GS=...
; [default value: 17 - LASERTRIP_EXPLODE]
TA=
;  [default value: 9 - RPG_EXPLODE]
PT=...
; pan3dsound() options
; https://github.com/videogamepreservation/dukenukem3d/blob/master/source/SOUNDS.C#L599
; [default value: 14 - PIPEBOMB_EXPLODE]
TB=...
; [default value: 17 - LASERTRIP_EXPLODE]
T1=...
; [default value: 9 - RPG_EXPLODE]
T2=...



Note that you can write:
con=...
episode_1=...
Skill_level_1=...
global_sounds=...
Instead of:
E1=...
S1=...
GS=...
This is because "dapatch.exe" only reads the first and last character from the option name. Also "dapatch.exe" works only with "DUKE3D.EXE" of 1179131 bytes in size (Duke Nukem 3D Full Version v1.3D).

Anyway - What does the program do?: As I understand from the code it changes id for the sounds. 
Line: global_sounds = 30
In "dapatch.ini" replaces "PIPEBOMB_EXPLODE" (14) with "ENDSEQVOL3SND3" (30) identifier which reduces sound distance to 6144  units if it's bigger according to Duke3D code and thus makes it always louder than it should be if you too far away.


Here is a partially reverse-engineered code. _dapatch.c 

---

With best regards,
-=CHE@TER=-

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