BUILD HELPER'S PAGE 


I know many of you, including me, have a lot of trouble with a lot of the more basic things in the build editor. Unlike some people, who understand the Build editor with perfect clarity. Oh well, heres a page where you'll find a help file that covers a lot of the basic info on the build editor. I'm modifying it now, so that it's more suitable for the www. Authors of this ducoment, if you have a part in this, and do NOT WANT IT ON HERE. Then please  


Many thanks to tomwhore For Compiling and emailing this to me.


+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-
Duke Nukem 3d---Build Editor Notebook---compiled by your humble narrator
                                               tomwhore@interport.net
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-


----------------------------------
Introduction
----------------------------------
   "What are you waiting for...
        Christmas?"


----------------------------------
GOLDEN RULE NUMBER ONE
----------------------------------
  "When I try to use the 3D mode
    I get a screwed up screen"


----------------------------------
DOORS
----------------------------------
   Making doors that move up
   Making swinging doors
   Star Trek doors
   Split Star Trek doors
   Swinging Doors
   Making a simple Door

----------------------------------
GLASS
----------------------------------
   How to make breakable glass

----------------------------------
MIRRORS
----------------------------------
   Making mirrors

----------------------------------
SECTORS
----------------------------------
   Stacked Sectors
   SE36
   Parallax Sky Effects
   Teleporters
   Rotating Secotrs
   EaRtHqUaKeS
   Subways
   Mobile Gun Platforms

----------------------------------
WINDOWS
----------------------------------
   Making glass windows

----------------------------------
WALLS
----------------------------------
   First Walls
   One Sided Walls
   Making a Vent

----------------------------------
WATER
----------------------------------
   Making an underwater area

----------------------------------
SPRITES
----------------------------------
   Sprites on Horizontally Moving Walls
   Sprites on Moving Sectors
   Falling Bridges 
   Setting Objects for Multiplay Only
   Cameras and Viewscreens

----------------------------------
COMMANDS FOR BUILD
----------------------------------
   Pallets
   Function Keys
   Understanding the Flags of Objects

----------------------------------
Resources
----------------------------------
   People
   Places

=====================================================================
=====================================================================


----------------------------------
Introduction
----------------------------------
   We all all reading this for one very good reason.We all have this
burning need to make well crafted Duke levels so when the real money gets bet we can kick the asses off our opponents, smile, and say "Hail To The Build King Baby!!"

   Begining the process is tough. The editor has only been available to 
most of us for a few scant weeks. Folks are still trying to figure out
how to make it show the 3d view. Places to turn for info and tips are 
none to plentifull; its not like Sybex was ready with a "Duke Editing
For Gurus..with CD. They should have been, given the impact of all the Doom
editor books, but go figure.

  So of course we turn our eyes to the Net. Where else would Duke
editing fanatics start the process of spreading the tips? After a few 
days of pleading, searching, and keeping my Blue Sqrl running about
I found enough to get me started. Now its begining to trickle faster still.
I get the feeling in the next months the flood is going to hit us.

  In the mean time I though it would be good for me, and for everyone else,
if I gathered up all the bits I found on using Build. So here it is.
Its not aimed a being the well formated, well upkept FAQ we are all 
awaiting. Its just the stuff I have found.

  I have listed the folks who wrote these tips at the begining of each
section; their Email addresses are listed in the Resource section.
        
   Use, abuse and run with this file. If you find more Build tips (and
you will) or hard to answer questions (and you will) post it
to one of the Resources listed at the end of the file. Hopefully
someone or ones will gather them up and work them into a coherent 
FAQ.

   Now get to work on your map and make it as balls out as you can.
                 What are you waiting for...Quake??

==================================================================


+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

                    GOLDEN RULE NUMBER ONE
    "When I try to use the 3D mode I get a screwed up screen"
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The build.exe and the build files NEED to be (this means they HAVE TO BE)
in the same directory your DUKE.GRP is; ie the same directory
Duke is installed in.

If its not then you are going to be shit out of luck if you want
to see the pretty 3D view of what your building.

Asking this question on IRC, Usenet or in person might get you killed.
Its been asked about three billion times and some folks are getting
a bit twisted and all TravisBickely when they hear it asked.



----------------------------------
DOORS----------
----------------------------------

=====================================================================
                 *** Tempest's BUILD Tutorial ***
                   Making doors that move up                               
=====================================================================
Purpose:
   A tutorial on making doors that move up in Duke Nukem 3D using
   Build.

Step 1:
   Make a door opening. Choose some cool textures.

Step 2:
   Move the ceiling of the door to the floor. Do this by aiming at the 
   wall or the ceiling of the door sector and pressing PgDn. If you
   want the door to open without the walls also moving, press 'O' on
   the sides of the wall. You'll notice that when you move the ceiling
   up or down, that the walls move differently. In fact, they don't
   move at all anymore.

Step 3:
   Now that you have moved the ceiling of the door sector all the way
   down to the floor, we're ready to make the door work.

Step 4:
   For a door that opens up by moving upwards, you have to give the
   door sector a Lo-tag value of 20. Do this by going to 2D-mode,
   moving the mouse cursor to the door sector, press 'T' and then
   enter the value "20". You'll see a white rectangle within the 
   sector with the text "0,20" in it. That's it!
   If you want the door to make a sound, insert a Music & SFX sprite.
   Insert a sprite in 2D-mode by pressing 'S'. In 3D-mode you'll have
   to point to the floor and then press 'S'. Press 'V' twice to
   get a listing of all sprites. Select the blue M, that's sprite #5.
   You can press 'G' to select the sprite# to jump to. Move the
   sprite inside the door sector and give it a Lo-tag value of 166
   or any other sound you want for the door. Giving sprites a Lo-tag
   value requires you to be in 2D-mode, moving the mouse cursor on
   the sprite and then press 'Alt-T'.
   Give the door a certain speed by adding a Speed-sprite (sprite#10).
   It's Lo-tag value must be the speed of the door. I used 256 in
   my example map.
   You can make the door close after a while by adding a Sector 
   Effector sprite (sprite#2). The Lo-tag value must be 10. The
   Hi-Tag value must be the time that the door waits before closing.
   Give the SE (Sector Effector) a Hi-tag value by pressing 'Alt-H'
   in 2D-mode.

=====================================================================
                 *** Tempest's BUILD Tutorial ***
                      Making swinging doors
=====================================================================
Purpose:
   A tutorial on swinging doors in Duke Nukem 3D using Build.

Step 1:
   Make a door opening. Choose some cool textures.

Step 2:
   Now create a sector that is to be used as the door.
   Notice that the door sector is not connected to any other sector.

Step 3:
   Move the door sector into position. Notice that the vertices of
   the door will not connect to the vertices of the wall. Make
   sure they aren't connected by moving the vertices around.

Step 4:
   Give the door sector a Lo-tag value of 23. Now comes the crucial
   part. You will have to define a pivot point that the door will turn 
   around. Create a sector effector sprite (sprite #2) and put it in 
   a logical place. Remember that the door sector must rotate around 
   the sector effector. The SE (Sector Effector) MUST BE INSIDE THE
   DOOR SECTOR!!! Do not put the SE on a door vertex, but near it.
   Undo grid locking by pressing 'L' in 2D-mode and move the SE as
   close as possible to a door vertex without going outside the door
   sector. If you want the door to open clockwise, make the SE point
   downwards. If the door needs to open counter-clockwise, make the
   SE point upwards. Use the  and > keys to rotate the sprite.
   That's it! You now have a swinging door! Add a Music & SFX sprite
   (sprite #5) for door sounds. In this example I made the M&SFX
   sprite Lo-tag and Hi-Tag values of 165. (Change the Lo-tag value
   by pressing 'Alt-T'. Use 'Alt-H' for changing the Hi-Tag value).

NB: 
   Your door is initially placed inside some sector. You must take
   care that the door stays inside this sector, even when opened!
   You will get strange effects when your door opens onto another
   sector than the one it was originally placed in. Beware!!!




=====================================================================
                 *** Tempest's BUILD Tutorial ***
                        Star Trek doors                            
=====================================================================
Purpose:
   A tutorial on making Star Trek doors in Duke Nukem 3D using Build.
   Note that a Star Trek door and a Split Star Trek door are two
   different kinds of doors. I'll explain Split Star Trek doors in
   a later lesson.

Step 1:
   Make a door opening. Choose some cool textures.

Step 2:
   Watch carefully at the map. I've added 3 vertices on each side of
   the door sector, and moved them inwards. Star Trek doors are
   actually made out of the side walls. Assign your door texture now
   before you close the door.

Step 3:
   Construct a vertical-split door by moving the vertices to their
   correct position. Easy, eh? You'll have to make sure that you don't
   accidently connect the two side walls together at their meeting 
   point.

Step 4:
   A Star Trek door needs a Lo-tag value of 9. Add a Speed sprite
   (#10) to determine the speed in which the door will open. Add
   a Music&SFX sprite (#5) for the door sound. You'll notice a bug
   in Duke Nukem 3D. The sound will be played twice. It doesn't
   sound quite right. It's odd that I haven't seen a Star Trek door 
   in the game itself.


=====================================================================
                 *** Tempest's BUILD Tutorial ***
                      Split Star Trek doors                                
=====================================================================
Purpose:
   A tutorial on making Split Star Trek doors in Duke Nukem 3D using 
   Build. Note that a Star Trek door and a Split Star Trek door are 
   two different kinds of doors. I explained ordinary Star Trek doors
   in lesson 4 (door9.zip).

Step 1:
   Make a regular Star Trek door.

Step 2:
   Move the ceiling and the floor of the door sector. Point at the 
   door and press 'PgDn' to move the ceiling down. Point at the little 
   triangled area of the door sector that is still visible when you 
   look at the floor, and press 'PgDn' to get the floor up. Choose a
   cool texture for the door.

Step 3:
   Let the ceiling and floor meet together halfway. You're now
   finished with constructing the split Star Trek door. Now we're
   ready to add the finishing touches.

Step 4:
   Give the door sector a Lo-Tag of 26. Add a Speed sprite and
   a Music&SFX sprite as necessary. Again you'll get to hear the
   sound twice when you open the door. I guess there's no way to
   fix this problem. Either accept the buggy sound or make the door
   silent.


=====================================================================
                                Bullethead's DN3D Lab Notes                     
                                Swinging Doors   
=====================================================================

Door rotates around the sprite so place the 
SE where you want the hinge, but it must be inside the door--can't be on a 
line.  Use L to unlock the grid and put the SE11 just an RCH inside the door
sector.  Docs appear to be wrong--changing pallet seems to have no effect on 
direction, but the angle of the sprite will change the direction.  Don't 
connect the opening's lines to the door's vertices; instead draw the 
opening and then move the door's vertices so they are on top of these 
lines.  If you connect the opening to the door, the sides of the opening 
will deform when the doors rotate to the open position.


=====================================================================
                    DuvalMagic's Build Editor Help File
                           Making a simple Door
=====================================================================

        This door is like the standard doors in DooM.  The door is a sector between two other sectors that determine the height of the door.
        A door is just a sector who's ceiling is the same height as its floor, when opened the ceiling raises to the height of a nearby sector.
        Before the sector's ceiling is lowered to the floor it is important to add whatever sector effects are required for the door to work.
        For a standard DooM type door, the sector needs to be given a Sector LoTag of 20.  This is done by hitting the "T" key in 2d mode while the mouse pointer is within the sector that is to become a door.
        You may add a Sector Effect Sprite (represented by Sprite #1, a large "S") to cause the door to auto close after a time delay.  The Sector Effect Sprite must be given a LoTag of 10.  This is done by hitting Alt-T in 2d mode while the mouse is pointing at the Sector Effect Sprite.  The HiTag of the sprite will determine the delay of the closing operation.  Set HiTag with Alt-H while the mouse is pointing at the Sector Effect Sprite.  32 units = 1 second.
        You may also give sound to your door by adding a MusicandSFX Sprite (represented by Sprite #5, a large "M").  I suggest a LoTag of 166 for typical door sound.
        Make sure the sector's ceiling is lowered to the floor level after the Sprites have been placed, then save the map and try out your door!



----------------------------------
GLASS------
----------------------------------
=====================================================================
                                Notes from Loach
                  How to make breakable glass
=====================================================================

 - This is how to make breakable glass :D

 - It's easy!

STEP 1: First make a sector.  Then make a sector connected to the one you just made and this will be the sector with the window in it.  Now make a sector connected to THAT sector to be the opposite room.

  ex -
           __________
          | Room 2   |
          |__________|
 glass-->  _|______|_
          | Room 1   |
          |__________|

STEP 2:  The glass is actually on one line, it is not the whole sector.
So first, select the line in the middle sector there which you want to contain the glass.  In 2d mode, press "B" to make it purple. which means it will block hings from walking through.  now hit CONTROL-H on the line and itll make it omewhat fatter of a purple line, Which means it will now do something on a it.

STEP 3:  Now go in 3d mode and point to the ceiling of that sector and hit "M" to MASK it and show the line you want to make the glass on.  A big solid
wall will appear, which is really the line you want to put the glass texture
on.  So point at it and hit "V" and select the glass texture with the streaks.

It will appear to have a hotpink background in the selector.. but that
indicates transparency.  Now insert that texture, and now you have glass!

STEP 4 (optional):  You can point to the glass and make it more transparent
by hitting "T" for transparency. This will tone it down, AND OTHER textures.
The streaked glass is about the only breakable glass texture though.  You can make glass out of other textures like the glass window BEHIND the breakable one in the example.  However it is not breakable..




----------------------------------
MIRRORS----
----------------------------------
=====================================================================
                 *** Tempest's BUILD Tutorial ***
                        Making mirrors
=====================================================================
Purpose:
   A Tutorial on making mirrors in Duke Nukem 3D using Build.

Step 1:
   The way a mirror is created is quite odd. You might not expect it,
   but a mirror needs a big room behind it. Try turning clipping off
   (type DNCLIP) and walk through a mirror. You'll see that the room
   where you came from has been duplicatded behind the mirror. To
   create a mirror, make a big room behind the sector where your mirror
   will be. It's best to make it at least twice as large as the room
   where you'll be viewing the mirror from. The example uses relatively
   small rooms and you'll notice weird effects when you look at the 
   mirror from certain angles.

Step 2:
   Mask the wall (point at the floor or ceiling and press 'M'). This
   will be your mirror.

Step 3:
   Assign the mirror texture (sprite #560) to the masked wall.

Step 4:
   This is important: make the masked wall singled sided by pointing   
   at the mirror and pressing '1'. All the transparent parts of the
   mirror will be replaced by an opaque magenta color.

Step 5: 
   Point at the mirror and make it blockable (press 'B') and
   hittable (press 'H'). Your mirror is now finished. Go break it! 





----------------------------------
SECTORS-----
----------------------------------
======================================================================
                Bullethead's DN3D Lab Notes 
                    Stacked Sectors
====================================================================

Make a big room with a high ceiling and a low 
floor, then drawn a long, narrow sector and move it so it sticks through 
the middle of the big sector.  Then connect the 2 via a hallway and ramp. 
Inside the big room, the sector passing through the middle is totally 
invisible and doesn't affect movement in the big room.  As long as you 
can't see both the inside of the "piercing" sector and where it would go 
through the big room, there is no HOM.  In fact, there is no HOM anyway, 
just the inside of the narrow sector gets drawn in the big room at certain 
angles.  Basically, don't make a level where you can see into 2 stacked
sectors at the same time--put the windows on opposite sides of the building.


=======================================================================
                Bullethead's DN3D Lab Notes 
                        SE36
====================================================================


This will not move with a moving sector such as a subway car. 
However, it will always shoot at the player as long as it has an LOS, 
regardless of the direction the sprite is pointed.  Only when it has no 
target will it shoot in the given direction.

=======================================================================
                Bullethead's DN3D Lab Notes 
                 Parallax Sky Effects
====================================================================
Hard Vacuum:  If you parallax BigOrbit, that sector becomes instant death for Duke as soon as he enters it, even in God Mode.


=====================================================================
                DuvalMagic's Build Editor Help File
                        Teleporters
=====================================================================
        A teleporter works exactly like an underwater/above water transition, except no underwater or above water sector tags are required
        
        
        
        First place Sector Effect Sprites on both teleporter pads.  Set the LoTag of the Sector Effect Sprite to 7 for each pad.  Set the HiTag number of one teleporter to match the HiTag number of another teleporter.  It is the HiTag of the sector that links one teleporter to another.


=====================================================================
                DuvalMagic's Build Editor Help File
                                Rotating Secotrs
=====================================================================

        A rotating sector is accomplished with two Sector Effect Sprites.  This first one (SE LoTag 0) indicates the sector to be rotated, and the second one (SE LoTag 1) indicates the "pivot" point for the rotation.

        First, place a Sector Effect Sprite in the sector that you would like to rotate.  Give that Sector Effect Sprite a LoTag of 0.  Set the HiTag of the Sector Effect Sprite equal (arbitrary number) to the "pivot" point Sector Effect Sprite explained below.

        Place a second Sector Effect Sprite at the "pivot" point of the rotation.  If you would like the sector to simply spin, place this sprite in the exact midpoint of the sector.  If you would like the sector to rotate around another object or sector, place the sprite at that point instead.

        Give the second (pivot) Sector Effect Sprite a LoTag of 1 and a HiTag matching the Sector Effect Sprite HiTag of the Sector Effect Sprite you placed in the sector that will rotate.

        Angle the Sector Effect Sprite (SE LoTag 0) up to rotate all points around the Sector Effect Sprite LoTagged 1. Or, angle the Sector Effect Sprite (SE LoTag 0) down to rotate just the sector around the Sector Effect Sprite LoTagged 1.

        Angle the Sector Effect Sprite (SE LoTag 1) up to rotate the sector clockwise. Or angle the Sector Effect Sprite (SE LoTag 1) down to rotate the sector counter-clockwise.

        If Relative alignment "R" key is set on the floor texture, all the sprites on that sector will rotate with the sector.

        You may link several rotating sectors to a single pivot point by matching the HiTags of the pivot Sector Effect Sprite (SE LoTag 1).


=====================================================================
                DuvalMagic's Build Editor Help File
                        EaRtHqUaKeS
=====================================================================

        Earthquakes require a few things to work.  First, you'll build your map so that the *result* of the earth quake is showing.  Also, you'll need some sort of trigger for the earthquake.  Earthquake sounds are automatic, but earthquake jibs must be added by you.

        First step is to create the result of the earthquake.  Try building a sector within a sector, then split that sector with a jagged line (add vertexes to the split line and move the vertexes around to make it jagged).

        Then, use the [ and ] keys to tile half of your new sector into the ground.  You can use the Alt-F key in 2d mode to reset the "first wall" of the sector.  Tilted floors pivot along the "first wall" of a sector.

        The way your sector looks in 3d mode will be how your sector will look after the earthquake is triggered.

        Build another sector in sector a short distance from your quake result sectors.  This is going to be your "touch plate." Raise the floor a bit so you'll be able to see the "touch plate" sector when your play your map.

        Now to add the correct Sector Effect Sprites, Master Switch Sprites, and Touch Plate Sprites. First, place a Sector Effect Sprite with LoTag 2 on the sector that will be affected by the earthquake.  You may adjust the direction of the SE 2 Sprite to indicate the direction the sector will move during the quake.

        Add a Master Switch Sprite (Sprite #8) near the SE 2 Sprite within the sector that will be moved.
You'll need to raise the height (Page Up in 3d mode) of both the Master Switch Sprite and the Sector Effect Sprite to be equal with the normal floor level.

        Now, place a Touch Plate Sprite (Sprite #3) on the touch plate sector.  Give the Touch Plate Sprite and the Master Switch Sprite matching LoTags. This is one instance where the two Sprites (Master Switch and Touch Plate) will be linked with "LoTag" and not "HiTag."

        Finally, if you want little chunks of rock to fall or bounce around while the earth quake is taking place you may place some Spawn Earthquake Jib Sector Effect Sprites (SE 33) around the earthquake area.

        If you leave the EQ JIB SE 33 on the ground, you'll just get little chucks bouncing around, if you raise the SE33 Sprites to the ceiling, rocks will rain from above....kinda cool.





=======================================================================
                Bullethead's DN3D Lab Notes 
                       Subways
====================================================================

All Locators must be in 1 sector.  The SE6 must be in the sector you want
to have other sprites move on, ie, any goodies or decorations, gun 
turrets, etc.  The player, however, can ride on any part of it regardless 
of R key use.  GPSPEED has no effect on speed.  If you have a stop 
(Locator w/HiTag1), put it up the track a bit as the train coasts to a stop 
after hitting this Locator.  The path of Locators can cross itself (ie, a 
figure-8).  47 Locators is not too many, but there has to be an upper limit 
somewhere.  Put more Locators coming out of a turn than going in to get the 
car centered on the track down the straightaways.  If car has more than 1
sector, the sector with the SE6 must have at least 1 wall adjacent to the
track sector on all 4 sides of the car.  Jumping onto or shooting through
a subway is relative to the floor, even if the car is going around a curve,
so you can do skateboard tricks like jumping over a tripbomb laser across 
the tracks and still land in the car--missiles will move sideways with the
car as they pass through its sector.  If you put a sloped floor on the front
of the car, it will not squish the player unless there is at least 1 click of all showing below the bottom of the slope, regardless of how high up the slope is.


=======================================================================
                     Bullethead's DN3D Lab Notes 
           Mobile Gun Platforms (special subway engines)
====================================================================

Draw a box inside the sector you want to use as the subway track.  Then 
draw the other sectors within this box to make your vehicle, raising 
and lowering the floors and ceilings as required.  If you want to make 
a cruising spaceship like in E2L1, make it out of lowered ceilings, 
bringing the ceiling of the box down to where you want the top of the 
ship to be.  If you want a tank, make it out of raised floors and leave 
the floor of the box even with the floor of the track.  All sectors 
making up the vehicle have at least 1 side common with the outer box.  
Put the SE6 sprite in the box, not in any sector of the vehicle itself.  
Do not put any tags in the box, but give 1 sector of the vehicle a HiTag 
and the rest the same LoTag.  Now, give the ceiling of the box (and vehicle 
sectors, if a tank) a sky texture like LA or BigOrbit and (HERE'S the KEY), 
parallax it.  Once this is done, the SE6 sprite will spawn RPG rounds and 
fire them at the player as long as it has an LOS, which can be blocked by 
the vehicle.  The standard subway railroad SFX is also replaced by silence.
If you want more guns, you can add laser turrets, but these must be in the 
outer box, not in a vehicle sector or they will not move with the vehicle.  
These gun platforms move at subway speed (a little faster than Duke can run) 
and CANNOT be slowed with a GPSPEED sprite.  Nor can they be destroyed, so
use them sparingly.


----------------------------------
WINDOWS-----------
----------------------------------

===================================================================
                 *** Tempest's BUILD Tutorial ***
                       Making glass windows                                
=====================================================================
Purpose:
   A Tutorial on making glass windows in Duke Nukem 3D using Build.

Step 1:
   Make a base for the window. 

Step 2:
   Point the mouse cursor to the wall of the base where you want the
   glass window. Press 'M' to mask the wall. You will see a texture
   appear between the floor and the ceiling of the sector.

Step 3:
   Point the mouse cursor to the texture and change it to the window
   texture (sprite #503). 

Step 4:
   Point the mouse cursor to the glass and press 'B' to make it
   blocking. You can't move through the glass this way. Press 'H' to 
   make it hittable. If you shoot at the glass it will break. Press
   'T' once or twice for a transparent effect. You now have created
   a glass window.




----------------------------------
WALLS--------
----------------------------------

=======================================================================
                Bullethead's DN3D Lab Notes 
                      First Walls  
====================================================================
Important for a number of things.  They are the hinge 
for sloping floors/ceilings, and are also what is used to determine when 
floor and ceiling are touching during premap.  This is like when you have 
set up a crack in the wall to blow open--the crack moves floor and ceiling 
together until the First Wall sides touch.

=====================================================================
                DuvalMagic's Build Editor Help File
                        One Sided Walls
=====================================================================
        Sometimes, you want to cover an open area (like a window) with a texture on one or both sides.  This can be done with the "M" key for both sides, or Shift-M for one side.

        First aim the mouse at a texture above or below (on the same line as) the area you want to fill in with a texture in 3d mode.

        Then hit either the "M" key or Shift-M and a texture will appear.  This texture can be manipulated as normal by applying new textures, or stretching and panning as you wish.

        If you used "M" don't forget about the back side!

=====================================================================
                DuvalMagic's Build Editor Help File
                        Making a Vent
=====================================================================
        Vents are fairly easy.  They just require placing a sprite against a wall and changing that sprite to look like the vent you'd like to shoot out.

        The key is to place the Sprite on the line between your sectors (red line) in 2D Mode, not 3d mode.

        After the sprite is placed in the exact right spot, you'll go into 3d mode to select the texture ( "V" key) and set "relative alignment" ( "R" key).

        At this point you may stretch your texture (keypad arrows) to fit the opening you need.



----------------------------------
WATER--------
----------------------------------

=====================================================================
                DuvalMagic's Build Editor Help File
                  Making an underwater area
=====================================================================

        Underwater areas are indicated by sectors with a LoTag of 2.  All areas that have LoTags of 2 will behave as if they are underwater.
        
=====================================================================
                DuvalMagic's Build Editor Help File
        Linking an undwater area to an above water area.
=====================================================================
        Both the above water area and the underwater area must have a sector of exactly the same size and dimensions.

        The above water area has a Sector Effect Sprite sitting on the water texture with a LoTag of 7. This is set by using the Alt-T key while the mouse is pointed at the sprite.
        The below water area has a Sector Effect Sprite with a LoTag of 7.

        Both the above water area and below water area must have the same Sector Effect Sprite HiTag number which may be chosen arbitrarily.

        The above water area has a Sector LoTag of 1, while all of the underwater areas must have a Sector LoTag of 2.  This is done with the "T" key while the mouse is inside the sector you wish to set a LoTag to.

        A common mistake is to only set the transition sector underwater to LoTag 2.  All the sectors around the transition sector would then behave as if they were above water.

        You may also set the palette of the underwater area to 0 = Water or 8 = Green Slime.



----------------------------------
SPRITES------
----------------------------------

=======================================================================
                  Bullethead's DN3D Lab Notes 
                Sprites on Horizontally Moving Walls
====================================================================

This requires further research.  If you just paste a decorative sprite on
a wall (a door handle, for example), it won't move with the wall.  However,
I've seen this done enough times (2-way trains springs to mind) that I
think you have to set some of the sprite's tags correctly.


=======================================================================
                     Bullethead's DN3D Lab Notes 
                      Sprites on Moving Sectors
====================================================================

To move with the sector (ex, subway car), the sprites must be in the
sector with the SE sprite.


=======================================================================
                    Bullethead's DN3D Lab Notes 
         Falling Bridges (like to the exit of E1L1):
====================================================================


Bridges that collapse when hit with an RPG are made of sprites, not sectors.  
In 2D mode, create a sprite where you want it and hit the B key to turn it 
purple so you can walk on it.  Then in 3D mode change its graphic as 
appropriate.  Aim at it and hit the R key to cycle its rotation (facing, 
flat as wall, flat as floor), then use PGUP and PGDN to position it.  You 
can make entire building floors this way, all overlapping, or airducts 
hanging below the ceiling of a room.  To make sections collapse when hit, 
give the sprites a HiTag.  It doesn't matter what HiTag you give them, just 
as long as it's unique to the sprites you want to collapse at once.

=======================================================================
                Bullethead's DN3D Lab Notes 
             Setting Objects for Multiplay Only:
========================================================================

This appears to be done with the pallet control, ALT-P.  Look near the start
of E1L1 at the weapons that don't show up in solo play.  You'll see their
sprites are a different color than normal but that they have no tags set.
Thus, the only difference is the pallet.  Looks like pallet 1 is co-op at
least, could also be deathmatch.  I suspect setting monsters for different
difficulty levels is done the same way but haven't checked.


=======================================================================
                Bullethead's DN3D Lab Notes 
                 Cameras and Viewscreens
====================================================================

Docs are correct for the Viewscreen (no LoTag, HiTag = Camera LoTag) and wrong for the camera (should say LoTag = Viewscreen HiTag).  Set angle of camera sprite to face CENTER of arc to be panned.  Set Camera HiTag = 1/2 the desired panning arc.  That is, in DN3D, 90^ = 512 in sprite angle, so if you want to pan 90^, set the HiTag = 256.  Camera normally hangs from ceiling and can be flipped to a pole mount only if it doesn't pan, as flipping the sprite with the F key only affects the 1st frame of the animation.  The camera will still work but will look bad.


----------------------------------
COMMANDS FOR BUILD------
----------------------------------

=======================================================================
                   Bullethead's DN3D Lab Notes 
                           Pallets  
====================================================================

Pallet for sprites and walls can be changed in 3D mode by 
pointing at them and hitting RALT+P.  0-9 seem to be the only valid 
numbers, anything else appears to either duplicate these or give ugly 
Medusa effects.

=======================================================================
                  Bullethead's DN3D Lab Notes 
                        Function Keys
====================================================================

F1 = abbreviated help, F2-F4 move 2D cursor 1 pixel, 
F5-F6 are SE and ST cheatsheets, F7-F8 are level status lists, F9-F11 
appear useful but I haven't figured them out, and F12 does screenshots in 
both 2D and 3D modes.



=======================================================================
                Bullethead's DN3D Lab Notes 
          Understanding the Flags of Objects:

=========================================================================

When you hit TAB on a sector or ALT+TAB on a sprite or wall, you will see its stats.  One of these is called Flags (hex) X, where X is a number.  This
number is in hexadecimal, ie, base 16.  To make sense out of it, convert it
to binary by breaking each digit down into 4 base 2 digits.  For example, a
mirror wall seems to have a Flag of 59.  To convert it, the 5 becomes 0101
and the 9 becomes 1001, so the whole number in binary is 01011001 = 59 hex =
89 base 10 (5x16 + 9).  Now look in the section of the docs called "Build Map Format" and turn to the section describing walls.  Find the part where all the bits are listed (and the commands for setting them, BTW).  In this
example, 01011001 is read from right to left, with the rightmost 1 being bit
0 and the leftmost 0 being bit 7.  Then for every bit that is a 1, see what
function that does.  Thus, the mirror wall has bits 0, 3, 4, and 6 set to 1.
This means it's a blocking wall (bit 0), it's x-flipped (bit 3), it's masking (bit 4), and it's also hitscan blocking (bit 6).  Use the same method for sector and sprite flags. 





----------------------------------
Resources
----------------------------------

People
=====================================================================
 Cho Yan Wong (aka Tempest)
  pwong@pobox.leidenuniv.nl
  http://www.wi.leidenuniv.nl/~cwong/myindex.html 
=====================================================================
 Bullethead
  jtweller@delphi.com
=====================================================================
 Loach 
 killer@raven.cybercomm.net
=====================================================================
 DuvalMagic
 DuvalMagic@mpb.com
 75567.473@compuserve.com
===================================================================== 


Places
===================================================================== 
Stereo's Duke Nukem Homepage--For All Your DukeNukem Needs
http://www.servtech.com/public/duke3d/
===================================================================== 
Avenger's Nuclear Powered duke Nukem Site
http://www.newreach.net/~avenger/
===================================================================== 
3D Realms BBS   The home of the Duke Nukem Editors Message Base
http://www.3drealms.com
===================================================================== 
(there are a ton more..but these three places should point you in 
the right directions)
===================================================================== 

===================================================================== 
IRC
#duke3dedit  (read The Golden Rule Number One before entering)
