Duke Nukem

Duke Nukem
Duke Nukem	1991
Duke Nukem II	1993
Duke Nukem 3D	1996
Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project	2002
Duke Nukem Forever	2011
Duke Nukem 3D: Megaton Edition	2013
Duke Nukem 3D: 20th Anniversary World Tour	2016
Duke Nukem Forever (2001)	2022
Duke Nukem Forever: Restoration Project (unofficial)	Early access

Key points

Version 2.0 is named Duke Nukum due to trademark concerns; this was resolved for the sequels.^[5]

General information

Official site

Official 3D Realms forum for game series

GOG.com Community Discussions for game series

GOG.com Support Page

Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail		Sold separately or on the Duke Nukem 3D disc. Use DOSBox.

This game is no longer sold digitally.^[6]

Essential improvements

Level editor

A Level Editor is available. Run using DOSBox.

Mods

Duke Nukem 1: The Returning

Duke Nukem 1: The Returning is a fan-made episode containing 10 levels.

Run in DOSBox (retail)

Duke Nukem runs in DOSBox at default settings. Ensure cycles= is still at its default setting of cycles=auto.^[7]

Episode Launcher

Duke Nukem had each episode as it's own executable, making it annoying to configure if you have the retail version. Luckily you can save the following as a .bat file and run it in DOSBox to get around this annoyance.

@echo off
:start
@echo off
CLS
echo                          	ÕÕÕÕÕÕÕÕÕÕ
echo                          	Duke Nukem  
echo                          	ÕÕÕÕÕÕÕÕÕÕ
echo.
echo      ⁄ƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒø
echo      ≥ [Q] Quit!                                                     ≥
echo.     √ƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒ¥
echo      ≥ [1] Episode 1: Shrapnel City                                  ≥
echo      ≥ [2] Episode 2: Mission: Moonbase                              ≥
echo      ≥ [3] Episode 3: Trapped in the Future                          ≥
echo      ≥ [4] Episode 4: The Returning (custom)                         ≥
echo      ƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒ
echo.
:choice
choice/c:1234q/n Choose Number:
if errorlevel 5 goto exit
if errorlevel 4 goto epi4
if errorlevel 3 goto epi3
if errorlevel 2 goto epi2
if errorlevel 1 goto epi1
if errorlevel 0 goto exit

:epi1
CLS
dn1
goto start
:epi2 
CLS
dn2
goto start
:epi3
CLS
dn3
goto start
:epi4
CLS
cd return
dn3
cd ..
goto start
:exit
CLS

Support the custom episode "Returning", though requires it to be placed in the return directory. Also requires only one (not both) versions of the add-on to be installed.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

Template:Game data/row Template:Game data/row Template:Game data/row Template:Game data/row

System	Location
Steam Play (Linux)	<SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/240160/pfx/^{[Note 1]}

All files have a number (1-3) corresponding to the episode.

It's unknown whether this game follows the XDG Base Directory Specification on Linux. Please fill in this information.

Save game data location

Template:Game data/row Template:Game data/row Template:Game data/row Template:Game data/row

System	Location
Steam Play (Linux)	<SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/240160/pfx/^{[Note 1]}

Saves are SAVED*.DN* with a number for the save number and the episode number.

High scores are stored in <path-to-game>\HIGHS.DN*

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
Steam Cloud

Video settings

General settings.

Template:Video settings

Input settings

Template:Input settings

Audio settings

Template:Audio settings

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
DOS video modes	EGA	Uses VGA only for menus

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows
macOS (OS X)
Linux

System requirements

These are the system requirements for the Steam version.

Windows
	Minimum
Operating system (OS)	XP
Processor (CPU)	1.8 GHz
System memory (RAM)	512 MB
Storage drive (HDD/SSD)	7 MB
Video card (GPU)	DirectX-compatible graphics card

macOS (OS X)
	Minimum
Operating system (OS)	10.6.8
Processor (CPU)	Intel Core Duo 2 GHz+
System memory (RAM)	1 MB
Storage drive (HDD/SSD)	7 MB
Video card (GPU)	64 MB of VRAM

Notes

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1
Notes regarding Steam Play (Linux) data:
- File/folder structure within this directory reflects the path(s) listed for Windows and/or Steam game data.
- Use Wine's registry editor to access any Windows registry paths.
- The app ID (240160) may differ in some cases.
- Treat backslashes as forward slashes.
- See the glossary page for details on Windows data paths.

References

[Proton_path_note-8] 1.0 ^1.1 Notes regarding Steam Play (Linux) data:
File/folder structure within this directory reflects the path(s) listed for Windows and/or Steam game data.
Use Wine's registry editor to access any Windows registry paths.
The app ID (240160) may differ in some cases.
Treat backslashes as forward slashes.
See the glossary page for details on Windows data paths.

[2] File/folder structure within this directory reflects the path(s) listed for Windows and/or Steam game data.

[3] Use Wine's registry editor to access any Windows registry paths.

[4] The app ID (240160) may differ in some cases.

[5] Treat backslashes as forward slashes.

[6] See the glossary page for details on Windows data paths.

[1] Duke Nukem 1 - 3D Realms - Firepower Matters

[2] Release: Duke Nukem 1+2 ● GOG.com

[3] News - Now Available - Duke Nukem, Duke Nukem 2 & Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project

[4] Changelog, page 1 - Forum - GOG.com

[5] 3D Realms Site: Duke Nukem I

[6] Farewell For Now, Duke + Last chance to get Dragonsphere free - GOG.com

[7] Settings recommended by Gemini in Ancient DOS Games --- Episode 51: Duke Nukem

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[Note 1]

Developers

	Apogee Software
Release dates
DOS	July 1, 1991^[1]
Windows	December 6, 2012^[2]
macOS (OS X)	July 2, 2013^[3]
Linux	May 21, 2015^[4]