Proto:Duke Nukem Forever/2001

This is a sub-page of Proto:Duke Nukem Forever.

This page or section details content from the Duke Nukem Forever 2001 Prototype Leak.

On May 8, 2022, a group calling themselves "x0r_jmp" posted several never-before seen screenshots and clips of the infamous 2001 Duke Nukem Forever prototype to 4chan's /v/ board. Although they originally planned to release the files in June, they were instead released the next day. Included in the leak are the assets, source code, editor, and binaries for two builds dated August 21st and October 26th, 2001.

Despite having a spectacular trailer shown off at E3 2001, much of the gameplay it presented was staged, and the game as a whole was still very incomplete. A huge chunk of the campaign is playable, but it was said to have largely consisted of blockout levels with no enemies or scripting.

The October build has more content, with the first half of the campaign being fully playable albeit buggy. The middle part of the campaign is partially finished, and the last part of the campaign consists only of props and staged assets without any scripting or enemies. Most notably, Multiplayer is fully functional with a playable Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch mode and an array of maps designed for the mode.

To do: The Levels subpage needs some serious work done on it. Document source code here. There's bound to be leftovers from long before this build in things like comments. Extract all textures and add them into a sub-page. Document the following: The early plot. NPCs. Dialogue (both voice lines and text). Music. The .CPJ files have timestamps, which the other files do not (source). Some files from the final game are present here, look for any noteworthy differences.

Sub-Pages

General Differences Much of the cool stuff that didn't make the final cut.

Weapons and Items Old designs, cut weapons, removed alternate fires, heat vision, and more.

Levels Includes campaign levels, test maps, and maps used for the E3 trailer.

Minigames and Touch Screen Devices All the stuff to get sidetracked and distracted with.

Enemies Meet the many enemies that didn't make the final cut.

Text Various text from the build.

Multiplayer Functioning multiplayer with a taste of Unreal and Unreal Tournament.

Menus Not one, but two very different menu systems compared to the final game.

Character Models

Duke Nukem

The model used for Duke in this build is a very rough placeholder that had yet to be replaced with the final in-game model. It has no pupils, a cartoonish yellow hair-style, and a somewhat older-looking face. His finger gloves are not quite UV'd correctly. It uses the same humanoid animation sets as other humanoid characters in the game.

(Source: Matt T. Wood on Twitter: "Super temp. The newer duke model that I made isn't in this build.")

NPC_M_FatB

A reskinned version of NPC_M_FatA to have a different face and a Duke Nukem 3D t-shirt. Based on the existence of an unused multiplayer model icon in the files, this was presumably intended as a depiction of George Broussard.

Unused Graphics

Early Duke and Bombshell textures

File directory: Textures\m_al_models.dtx

Early textures for Bombshell and Duke are present. The Bombshell texture appears to stem from the Quake engine iteration of Duke Nukem Forever. An identical copy of Bombshell's texture can also be found in m_bombshell.dtx.

Key Art

File directory: System\oldlogo.BMP

An image of key art, was used as a mock-up of boxart.

Unused DukeEd Splash

File directory: System\EdSplash.bmp

A splash image featuring Rei Ayanami and Pen Pen from Neon Genesis Evangelion, more specifically Groundwork of Evangelion Vol. 1. When booting the editor up, the Duke Nukem Forever logo is shown instead.

Unused Freeze Cannon Kill Icon

File directory: Textures\hud_effects.dtx

Since the freeze cannon does not do any damage, this kill icon for it in DukeMatch goes unused. Killing a player with the alt-fire uses the M16's kill icon instead, as the projectile is only a reskinned 40mm grenade.