Installing the Build editor

If you bought the game and have the cd: Copy ALL the files from the \goodies\build\ directory of the cd to the \Duke3d\ directory of your hard drive and run "Build.exe".

If you copied the game from a friend and don't have the cd: Screw you. You don't deserve to be playing Duke3d at all, much less editing levels.

Getting the Build editor to run properly

If your screen shows a bunch of jumbled colors when you go into 3d mode, you must copy ALL of the files from the \goodies\build\ directory of your cd to the \Duke3d\ directory of your hard drive. Make sure to copy these files IN DOS, NOT WINDOWS. This should solve your problem. If it doesn't, run bsetup.exe and experiment with different video modes. Make sure its set to one that is compatible with your video card.

Guide to sector effectors

Note: before you start learning about sector effectors, you need to learn about basic sprite manipulation. Run Buildhlp.exe first. Then, download Mapfaq V1.3 from this site and read the following about sector effectors. Then, you can go on to more advanced things.

If you're just getting started with Build, you're probably hearing the term "sector effector" alot. Don't be scared. Sector effectors are quite simple. They are what make things happen in Duke. Things like rotating sectors, earthquakes, explosions, etc. are caused by sector effectors in those sectors. Here is how to make a sector effector: place a sprite and change it to sprite #1, the blue "S" on a black backing in the first row of textures. Another thing you hear associated with sector effectors is their "number," like sector effector #4, or sector effector #15. This refers to the lotag of the sector effector sprite. The sprite's lotag (i.e., the se's "number") determines what effect the SE will have on the sector its in. Refer to buildhlp.exe (included with Build) if you don't know how to change a sprite's lotag. So, if you ever hear someone say, "place sector effector number 23 in the sector," hopefully now you'll know what to do.

Doors

Regular doors (like from Doom) - Step 1: Make 3 sectors - the 2 sectors to be connected by the door, and the actual door sector. Give the door sector a lotag of 20. Step 2: Bring the ceiling of the door sector down to it's floor. Done.

Down doors - Step 1: Make 3 sectors - the 2 sectors to be connected by the door, and the actual door sector. Give the door sector a lotag of 21. Step 2: Bring the floor of the door sector up to it's ceiling. Done.

Up and down doors - (splits in the middle) Step 1: Make 3 sectors - the 2 sectors to be connected by the door, and the actual door sector. Give the door sector a lotag of 22. Step 2: Bring the floor and the ceiling of the sector together, matching heights in the middle. Done.

Light switches - Put a sector effector in the sector that you want to light up with the switch. Give the sector effector a lotag of 12. Change its shade to how bright you want the sector to be when the light is ON. Give the sector effector a hitag. Now, put a light switch on the wall. Give it a lotag. Doesn't matter what the lotag is, as long as no other light switch has the same lotag. Now, give this lotag to the sector effector as a hitag. For example, if you gave the switch a LOTAG of 20, you would want to give the sector effector a HITAG of 20. Done.

Pulsating lights - Put a cycler sprite (the C in the top row of sprites) in the sector that you want to have pulsating lights. Put a gspeed sprite in the sector to adjust the speed of the pulsation. The lotag of the gspeed determines how fast the lights will cycle. The shade of the cycler sprite is the brightest the lights will cycle to. The way the sector starts is the darkest it will cycle to. If you want two sectors' light to cycle in unison, give the two cyclers matching lotags and make sure the gspeed sprites in the two sectors have the same lotag.

Random lights - Put a sector effector in the sector that you want to have random lighting. Give it a lotag of 4. Make the shade of the sector effector sprite the brightest you want the sector to flash. The way the sector starts is the darkest it will be. If you give two random light sector effectors the same hitag, the sectors they are in will flash in unison. If you want to make the lights flash a color, than change the palettes of the walls, ceiling, and floor of the sector to the color you want them to flash. For example, if you want the lights to flash red, go into 3d mode and change the palettes of the floor, ceiling, and walls of the sector to 2. (To change a wall, ceiling, ot floor's palette, point at it 3d mode and press Alt-P. This also works with sprites.)

Open a door, room lights up - Put a sector effector in the door sector and in each of the sectors to be lit up. Change the shade of the sector effectors to how bright you want it to be when the door is open. Give all the sector effectors the same hitag, and a lotag of 4. Note - this will not work with swinging doors.

Shoot the ceiling, random lights - This is a great effect. With it, when you shoot the ceiling of a sector, (i.e., shoot the lights "out") the lights in the sector begin to flash. Put a sector effector in the sector to be effected. Give the SE (sector effector) a lotag of 3. The SE's hitag should match the hitag of the sector it's in. The shade of the SE will determine how bright the sector starts, and also the brightest it will flash after it's ceiling is shot out. The way the sector starts is the darkest it will flash after it is shot out. Note - Make sure the texture of the ceiling is that of a light that can be shot out.

Dropping (floors) - Make the sector that you want the floor of to drop. Give this sector a lotag of 28. Put the floor at the height you want it to start at. Put 3 sprites in the sector - a sector effector, a gspeed, and an activator. Give the SE a lotag of 21. Change the angle of the SE to point towards the BOTTOM of the map. Give the switch or touchplate that makes the floor drop a unique lotag. Give this same lotag to the activator sprite in the dropping sector. Change the height of the SE to the height you want the floor to drop to. If you want the sector to make a sound when it drops, put a music and sfx sprite in the sector with a lotag of 80 or 81. The lotag of the gspeed determines how fast the floor will drop.

Dropping (ceilings) - Exactly the same as above, except the SE sprite should point towards the TOP of the map. Set the ceiling to the height you want it to start at, and put the SE at the height you want it to drop to.

Rising (floors) - Exactly the same as dropping floors. Set the floor to the height you want it to start at, and put the SE at the height you want the floor to rise to.

Rising (ceilings) - Exactly the same as dropping ceilings. Set the ceiling to the height you want it to start at, and put the SE at the height you want the ceiling to rise to.

Teleporters

Teleporters - Make the teleporter sectors. Put a sector effector in each sector. Give both these SEs lotags of 7, and matching hitags. Both sectors MUST be EXACTLY the same size.

Water

Lifts

Lifts - Make 3 sectors - the 2 sectors that will be connected by the lift, and the actual lift sector. Give the lift a lotag according to the desired behavior of the lift. Starts at top and comes down, ceiling stays put - 16. Starts at bottom and comes up, ceiling stays put - 17. Starts at top and comes down, ceiling and floor stay together - 18. Starts at bottom and comes up, ceiling and floor stay together - 19. Put a music and sfx sprite in the sector. Give it a lotag of 71 and a hitag of 73.

Spawning stuff (enemies and items)

Spawning stuff - First, put a respawn sprite (the R in the first row of sprites) where you want the enemy or item to spawn. Give the respawn sprite and the touchplate or switch that activates the spawning matching lotags. The hitag of the respawn sprite should be the number of the sprite you want to spawn. To find out the number of a sprite, place the cursor on it in tile view mode (press v twice while pointing at a sprite in 3d mode), and the number of the sprite will appear in the lower left hand corner of the screen. For example, if you wanted to make a touchplate spawn an Enforcer, you would give the touchplate and respawn sprites matching lotags, and the respawn sprite a hitag of 2120.

Earthquakes

Earthquakes - Make the sector or sectors to be affected during the earthquake. Make it look like it should look after the earthquake, i.e., altered floor/ceiling heights or slopes. Place two sprites in each sector that will be effected - a sector effector and a masterswitch. (The D in the first row of sprites.) Give the SEs lotags of 2, and matching hitags. Change the heights of the SEs and masterswitches so that they are at the height that you want the sectors to start at. Make another sector. This will be the sector that, when stepped on, activates the earthquake. Put a touchplate in this sector. Give this touchplate and all the masterswitches the same lotag. Note - Any one earthquake can either slope a floor OR alter the floor's height, but NOT both.

Subways

Subways - Make the sector that will be the subway. Go into 3d mode. Bring the floor up, add textures, whatever. Point to the floor of the sector and press R. Put a sector effector in the sector. Give it a lotag of 6 and a hitag of 1. Now, put Locators (sprite #6) around where you want the subway to go. These will define the track. Give the locators lotags. The subway will go to the locator with a lotag of 0 first, then the one with a lotag of 1, and so on. It is essential that you leave the first locator's lotag at 0, or the game will crash. To make the subway stop for 5 seconds at a locator, give that locator a hitag of 1. If you want to have 1 or more cars following the subway, make the car(s), and put an SE with a lotag of 14 in it. Making multiple subways in 1 level is possible, but it would be pretty difficult for me to explain how to do. If you really want to know how, E-mail me. (See the top of the page.)

Destructable walls

Crushers

Crushers - These are super simple. Put a sector effector with a lotag of 25 in the sector you want to be the crusher. Done! You may want to put a gspeed sprite in the sector. The lotag of the gspeed sets the speed at which the crusher crushes. 100 is good.

Glass

Vents

Security Cameras

Security cameras - Place the security camera sprite where you want it to be. Give it a unique lotag. If you want it to turn, give it a hitag. The hitag is how many degrees it will turn. The shade of the security camera sprite is how much it's tilted up or down. To make it tilt down, go into 3d mode. Give it a shade of 0. Point at it, and press + on the number pad about 20-25 times. This will make it tilt down at a good angle. Now, put a security monitor somewhere, and give the lotag you gave to the camera to the monitor as a hitag. For example, if you gave the camera a lotag of 10, the monitor should have a hitag of 10.

Fun with C-9 explosives

C-9 with a touchplate - Put the C-9 around. To make the C-9 invisible, so an explosion will just occur in thin air, decrease it all the way widthwise using the 4 and 6 keys on the number pad. Put the touchplate that you want to cause the explosion. Put a MasterSwitch sprite in each of the sectors that have seenine in them. Give the masterswitch and the touchplate matching lotags. Also give this same number to the seenine sprites as a hitags. For example, if you gave the masterswitch and touchplate lotags of 9, give all the seenine sprites hitags of 9. For a cool delay effect, give the seenines lotags. The higher the number of the lotag, the longer the delay before the seenine explodes. So give one of the seenines a lotag of 20, one a lotag of 40, and so on. This will create a really cool effect.

C-9 with a switch - Just the same as with a touchplate, except put a switch on a wall somewhere instead of putting a touchplate on the ground.

Mirrors

Sectors over sectors

Forcefields

Conveyor belts

Conveyor belts - Make the sector that you want to be the conveyor belt. Put a sector effector with a lotag of 24 in it, and point it in the direction that you want the conveyor belt to move. If you want to make the belt activated by a switch, give the switch a unique lotag. Give this number to the SE as a hitag. For example, if you gave the switch a lotag of 6, give the SE a hitag of 6. To make water current, just give the conveyor belt sector a lotag of 1, and change the floor texture to water.

Pig Cop Recon Patrol Vehicles

Pig Cop Recon Patrol Vehicles - Put the recon vehicle sprite. Put locators around to define the path of the vehicle. The vehicle will go to the locator with a lotag of 0 first, then the locator with a lotag of 1, then 2, and so on. It is essential that you leave the lotag of the first locator at 0, or the game will crash. Making multiple recon vehicles in 1 level is possible, but it would be pretty hard for me to tell you how to do. If you really want to know how, E-mail me. (See the top of the page.)

"Parallaxed walls"

Weaponless Duke