Proto:Duke Nukem Forever/2001/Weapons and Items

This is a sub-page of Proto:Duke Nukem Forever/2001.

To do:

Dig up and document the unused Freeze Cannon code.
Rip the selection icons of the weapons and compare with the final hud ones.
Can Trip_BAK be use in-game? What differences does it have compared to the used one?
Document weapon damage and compare it to the final game's weapon damage.
Replace images with gifs in sections about animations (reloading, firing) especially for the Shrink Ray.
Add animations for the Chainsaw.

Weapons

The Duke Nukem Forever 2001 prototypes contain 12 usable weapons. Several of these weapons would end up cut, with others being heavily tweaked between this prototype and the final game.

This prototype features a secondary fire system that was cut from the final game. Most of the weapons in this prototype have their own alternate fire mode that either load alternate ammo types into the gun or are a completely different firing mode, such as lobbing an explosive projectile. By default, these can be used with the right mouse button.

The 2001 builds lack the AT Laser, AT Captain Laser, Enforcer Gun, Ripper, and Devastator.

Mighty Foot

Duke's trademark kick is in this prototype. It can be used as a separate weapon or as via a hotkey (~ by default), just like in Duke Nukem 3D. Duke will kick with his left foot, no matter what button is used.

The kick does a low amount of damage.

The Mighty Foot can be used to open doors.

The final game cut this weapon and replaced it with weapon bashing via a hotkey, though remnants of it can be found in the game's files.

Kicking while holding a Pistol.

Chainsaw

A red arm-mounted Chainsaw that looks suspiciously like the one used by Ash in Evil Dead 2 is in the game. When pulled out, Duke will rev up the chainsaw.

The weapon uses fuel for ammo. The maximum amount of fuel that can be held is 200, and it will slowly decrease while the player is holding down the fire key. This weapon shares an ammo reserve with the Flamethrower.

When attacking with the Chainsaw, Duke will thrust it forward while the chainsaw's blades move. Once the animation is done, it will restart instead of staying locked into a "cutting" animation, despite one existing in the game's model file. Enemies will not react to being hit with the Chainsaw nor will they spew blood; they will simply slump over dead once their HP has been depleted.

The weapon has several unused animations. There is an entire set of animations showing the weapon with the engine deactivated that go unused, along with an animation showing Duke shutting down the engine. In game, the weapon becomes unusable once it is out of fuel.

There are also animations showing Duke swinging the Chainsaw horizontally and vertically. None of these attacks can be performed in-game.

Another animation shows Duke revving the engine twice. Again, this is something that cannot be done in the game.

This weapon has a few bugs:

Holding down the fire key, then holding down the secondary fire key, then releasing the primary fire key will cause the weapon to get stuck and make the player unable to select any other weapons. The only way to draw another weapon without restarting is to drop the Chainsaw.
When the Chainsaw is drawn, it will freeze in place once Duke is done revving the engine. After being fired once, the weapon's idle animation will play.

1999 New Year's card from 3D Realms showing the chainsaw.

Pistol

The Pistol, called the Desert Eagle in this prototype, has a completely different model in the prototype. The 2001 Pistol is, as the proto's name suggests, a gold Desert Eagle, while the final's Pistol is a gold 1911.

The gun behaves as you'd expect; it's a semi-auto weapon that fires faster the faster you press the fire key.

A gray Pistol exists and can be found in a few levels and is held by some EDF soldiers, but cannot be used as a weapon by the player. The game is hard-coded so that the player always has the gold Pistol, even if you pick up a gray Pistol while not already holding one. The final game lets the player pick up a gray pistol if the player currently does not have a Pistol.

It has three ammo types; .50 Cal, Hollow, and Piercing. The gun automatically empties the magazine, then reloads the new ammo type when the secondary fire key is pressed.

.50 Cal is the standard ammo type. Accuracy is quite good, with shots being placed in a tight square.
Hollow significantly increases damage to the point where a single headshot kills a regular EDF soldier in one hit. The fire sound is much bassier than the regular firing sound. Accuracy is notably lower, with shots being spreading in a fairly large square pattern that would make long range shots very difficult to do.
Piercing bullets deal extra damage to armored targets and enemies with shields. It changes the weapon's firing sound to a typical Hollywood suppressed gunfire sound. With Piercing ammo, the gun is pin-point accurate, no matter the range the player is at.

The prototype Pistol has a 15 round magazine, while the final one has an 8 round magazine.

It has an unused jam animation. The animation starts with Duke holding the Pistol at an angle while it's slide is locked back, then has him shake the gun for a second. Duke then tugs on the rear of the slide for a bit, which unjams the gun and makes the slide go forward.

Pistol accuracy. The left bullet hole spread is with .50 Cal ammo, center is with Hollow ammo, and right is with Piercing ammo. This was shot at the first double doors found in !z1l1_1 with the player aligned against the door knob on the first door to the right of the double doors.
The Pistol's jam animation.

Prototype	Final

Shotgun

The Shotgun follows the same design that the final one has, but uses a much more primitive model with very different textures. Both the proto and final Shotguns have a magazine capacity of 7 rounds.

The Shotgun contains two ammo types; 12-Gauge and Acid. The gun automatically empties the magazine, then reloads the new ammo type when the secondary fire key is pressed. Despite being loaded one shell at a time, there is no way to mix and match 12-Gauge and Acid shells; the gun can only be loaded with one or the other.

12-Gauge is the standard ammo type
Acid deals 60% less damage on hit but applies a damage over time effect for the next three seconds. It also causes an acid effect to appear on surfaces the gun's pellets hit.

Shooting acid rounds from the Shotgun.

Prototype	Final

M16

The M16 is the prototype's token automatic weapon. As the name suggests, this is an M16, but with a 40mm grenade launcher mounted on it and an American flag wrapped over the carry handle.

It has two fire modes: bullet and grenade.

The bullet mode is represented with the text "7.62mm" in the HUD. It shoots typical hitscan bullets and is nearly dead-on accurate. However, the gun's recoil makes it climb upwards, meaning that burst firing it is the most effective way to use it. This firing mode contains a 30-round magazine that can be reloaded at any time.
The grenade mode, represented with the text "40mm" in the HUD, shoots a bouncing grenade that detonates a few seconds after being fired or if it hits an enemy. An animation of Duke reloading the grenade launcher will automatically player after firing it. This firing mode has its own ammo reserve.

This weapon was replaced with the Ripper in the final game. The Ripper is still referred to as an M16 (or as a machine gun) in the files of the final game.

Its world model lacks the American flag and has a standard M16A2 handguard instead of the proper M203 mount handguard used in the prototype. A pre-release screenshot shows a first person M16 model with the M16A2 handguard, suggesting the world model in 2001 might be based on an older M16 design.

Like the Pistol, the M16 has an unused jam animation as well. It has Duke pull back the gun and tug on the empty space under the carrying handle.

There is also an unused set of three animations where Duke puts the M16 up. Based on the word "NPC" in their name, these were animations meant to be played when near an NPC so that Duke wouldn't be pointing the M16's muzzle at them.

Firing a grenade from the M16.
Screenshot showing the M16's recoil. This was shot at the first double doors found in !z1l1_1 with the player aligned against the door knob on the first door to the right of the double doors.
The M16's jam animation.
Duke holding up the M16 as part of the unused "NPC" set of animations.

Prototype	Final

Prototype	Pre-release screenshot

Sniper Rifle

The Sniper Rifle seen in the 2001 prototypes is an earlier version of the final's Railgun. It has a much longer delay in-between shots compared to the Railgun in the final game. The time needed left before it can fire is represented via a meter that is on top of the gun. The rectangles on the meter become red the closer it is to being ready to fire again.

Unlike the final game, the player cannot make an enemy's head enlarge, then explode with this weapon.

The prototype has two zoom levels, x10 and x40, while the final only has one.

The scope graphic is significantly different in the prototype. The proto scope has a green tint, a completely different crosshair, and several effects, such as a "lens bacteria" image that moves.

The firing effect lacks the final's wavey effect and has a deeper red than the one in the final game. The final version also lacks the impact graphic that plays where the gun's shot hit.

The prototype Sniper Rifle has a 20-round magazine and can hold up to 100 rounds of ammo in reserve, while the final one has a three round magazine and 12 rounds can be held in total.

Unused design

A very rough version of the prototypes' sniper rifle model can be found in the game's files in the directory "\Meshes\Models\weapons\Test_SniperGun". Its body has a gray body with a very simple texture compared to the used model, no recharging meter, an emitter with a solid light gray texture, simpler and red lenses, and a roughly-textured magazine.

If this model is used in the game, the only way to swap weapons after taking the Sniper Rifle out is to drop it.

Sniper Rifle zoom level 1.
Sniper Rifle zoom level 2.

Sniper Rifle concept art that has similarities to the one in the prototypes.
Ditto.
Ditto.

Prototype	Final

Prototype	Final

Prototype fire effects	Final fire effects

Unused model	Used model

Multi Bomb

The Multi bomb contains two firing modes; pipe bomb and sticky bomb.

Pipe bomb mode functions as a remote-detonated bomb, like Duke Nukem 3D's Pipe Bomb. Pressing the fire key once throws the bomb, while pressing it again detonates it. Unlike the final game, thrown pipe bombs cannot be picked up.

The alternate fire turns the bomb into a sticky bomb. This is signified by the bomb's font turning blue and changing to "Sticky Bomb Mode", along with several triangular objects coming out of the bomb's top. In this mode, the bomb cannot be remote detonated, but sticks to any surface it lands on when thrown, including enemies. If a bomb is attached to an enemy, it will automatically detonate after a few seconds.

In the prototype, the Multi bomb must be taken out like a normal weapon in order to be used. The final game changes this so that the player can throw Pipe Bombs at any time via a hotkey.

The final game cut the alternate fire mode and renamed it the Pipe Bomb since it could only be used in pipe bomb mode.

The Multi Bomb in sticky bomb mode.
Sticky bomb on a wall.
Sticky bomb on an EDF soldier's face.

Prototype	Final

Prototype	Final

Trip Mine

Design-wise, the prototype and final Trip Mine follow the same overall theme, but have several major differences in terms of details. The prototype Trip Mine has a much more angular look compared to the rounded look the final has. In addition, the prototype Trip Mine has several white sections, all of which were removed in the final game.

The prototype Trip Mine's laser is much more noticeable than the one in the final game.

The 2001 prototype has the Trip Mine as a normal weapon. The final game changes it so that Trip Mines are throw onto walls via a hotkey that can be used at any time.

The Trip Mine has three fire modes: standard, roaming, and shielded. The later two were removed in the final game.

Standard attaches the mine to a wall. Mines are deployed instantly in this mode. Any mines in this mode can be destroyed with other weapons if they hit the mine.
Roaming is the same as the standard mine, but has the laser move up and down. Arming a Trip Mine in roaming mode increases the duration of the arming sequence by having Duke go through a few menu screens on the mine. Like with standard mode, the mine can be destroyed by gunfire.
Shielded has the same behavior that standard mode, but has a shield that prevents it from being exploded via gunfire. Shooting a mine in this mode will cause a blue shield to appear instead of destroying the mine. The arming sequence is the longest out of them all, with Duke going through the same sequence that roaming does and flipping on a switch after he's done fiddling with the screen.

Unlike the final game, the Trip Mine cannot be mounted on enemies. It also cannot be mounted on props that have a name appear in the HUD, such as barrels, and on brushes in levels that move, such as doors.

An earlier Trip Mine model can be found in the folder"\Meshes\Models\weapons\TripMine_BAK". This appears to be an older version of the used Trip Mine. When imported for use in-game, the weapon does not function.

Holding a Trip Mine while facing a wall it can be mounted on.
Trip Mine in standard mode
Trip Mine in roaming mode. Note that the beam is pointed down.
Trip Mine in shielded mode. The bomb is flashing blue while being shot to indicate that it is shielded and can't be blown up via gunfire.
Extended arming sequence used for roaming and shielded modes.
Extended arming sequence used for shielded mode. This is played after the sequence shown in the previous image.

Trip Mine concept art that has similarities to the 2001 prototype ones.
Ditto.

Prototype	Final

Prototype laser effect	Final laser effect

RPG

Both the prototype and final game RPGs are based on the one found in Duke Nukem 3D, but have differences in how they are based on it. The 2001 design sticks very close to the 3D design while the final one adds a lot of greeble and some dark blue patches to the gun.

The 2001 prototypes' RPG cannot lock onto enemies like the final game's can.

The prototypes lets the player hold 50 RPG rockets. The final game heavily nerfed this to 5 rockets in reserve.

Duke Nukem Forever 2001 has an alternate fire for the RPG called Tac-Nuke that was cut from the final game. When activated, Duke presses a button on the RPG and loads a glowing rocket into the gun's muzzle. Afterwards, a red holographic screen with "NUKE ARMED" on it juts out of the gun's left side.

In Tac-Nuke mode, pressing the fire key will begin a three second countdown, which is printed on the gun's holographic screen. Once the countdown has reached zero, the gun will fire a powerful rocket. When the rocket hits something, it will make a gigantic explosion that deals very heavy damage to anyone caught in the blast. Once the explosion is complete, a cloud of radiation will appear near the detonation site for a decent amount of time, doing radiation damage to anyone that is in the cloud.

This mode was cut in the final game, but some remnants of it can be found in the final game's resources.

The code for the weapon in the October 2001 prototype has a commented out line for using the muzzle flash class "dnMuzzleRPG". However, this does not exist in either the August nor October 2001 prototypes.

A screenshot from a 2002 build shows the a remodeled version of the 2001 RPG design. Notably, it has modeled screens on the left side and lacks the screws the 2001 RPG has.

The RPG in Tac-Nuke mode.
Countdown that appears before a Tac-Nuke is fired.
Firing a Tac-Nuke at an enemy.
Explostion caused by a Tac-Nuke.
Radiation cloud that appeared where a Tac-Nuke detonated.

Prototype	Final

Prototype	2002 RPG

Shrink Ray

The Shrink Ray has a radically different design in the prototype. It is a gray machine with a circular pod containing of an alien brain in it instead of being a sleek sci-fi weapon with a bottle of green goo jutting on of its left side.

Unlike the final Shrink Ray, the prototype one must be reloaded. The "magazine" capacity is 40 rounds of ammo. The reload animation shows Duke swapping one dish-mounted brain with another and shows a heavy amount of blood underneath where the brain sits.

The weapon has two fire modes, projectile and beam. The beam fire mode does not work in the original version of the October build, but is restored with the optional Megapatch bundled with it.

The projectile mode is the primary fire mode. It shoots a projectile that looks very similar to the projectile fired by the Octabrain in this prototype and it's firing sound is the same as the sound the Octabrain uses when firing a projectile, suggesting this weapon has a connection with them. Any enemy hit with by the projectile will shrink after playing a shrinking animation that lasts around three seconds. The projectile will bounce off a single wall if it does not hit an target. Each shot uses 5 rounds of ammo. This bouncing was removed in the final game.

The alternate fire is a beam. Enemies struck by it will shrink like enemies hit by the projectile does. Holding the beam on a target is not needed; simply hitting the target with the beam will being the shrinking process.

Shrunk enemies can be killed by walking over them.

Shrinking strippers and NPCs based on them, like the naughty schoolgirl-themed woman seen in the E3 2001 trailer, is a bit buggy. Their bodies will shrink, but their hair will not.

An unused firing sound that is radically different from the one used and charging sounds exist in the prototype's files. The charging sounds are of particular interest, because they, along with unused code, suggest the Shrink Ray had to be charged before it could be fired at one point. In the prototype, projectiles are instantly fired as soon as the fire key is pressed.

Unused Design

An unused design for the Shrink Ray can be found in the game's files in the folder "\Meshes\Models\weapons\Shrinkray2". "Shrinkray2" follows the basic design principles that the used Shrink Ray does, but is much more boxy, and most importantly, uses green crystals for ammo instead of a brain-like object. The reload animation shows the crystal being ejected and then quickly put back in the gun; the latter part is certainly incomplete.

This design is timestamped August 30th, 2000, while the used Shrink Ray is timestamped May 10th, 2001. This suggests that the unused design is an older design that was cut, but not removed from builds when the prototype was compiled. Additionally, this design is missing an equivalent to the projectile fire animation from the used design and due to the latter's primary fire animation being named "AltFire", it implies that when the unused design was created, the projectile attack didn't exist and in the timespan between the two design's timespans, the projectile attack was added, initially conceived as a secondary attack and eventually changed to be the primary attack.

Concept art for this design exists.

Of note is that the Duke Nukem 3D Shrinker uses crystals for ammo, so this might've been a design meant to be more faithful to the DN3D design.

Reloading the Shrink Ray. Notice the pool of blood underneath where the brain-like object would be.
The Shrinker's primary fire.
The Shrinker's beam secondary fire mode.
A shrunk enemy.
Duke crushing a shrunk enemy.
Shrinking an enemy with the Shrink Ray's secondary fire mode.
A shrunk stripper. Notice that her hair is still the same size it normally is.

Unused Shrink Ray firing sound.
Unused Shrink Ray charging sound.
Unused Shrink Ray release sound.

Prototype	Final

Prototype	Final

Prototype Octabrain projectile	Prototype Shrink Ray projectile

Unused design	Used design

Unused design's reload animation	Used design's reload animation

Unused design	Concept art

Flamethrower

The Flamethrower is a weapon that was cut from the final game. It has three fire modes: flamethrower, fire wall, and gas.

Flamethrower makes the weapon behave like your typical flamethrower. Holding down the fire key sprays napalm that lights any enemy it touches on fire.
Fire wall shoots a projectile that quickly hits the ground. When the projectile hits the ground, it explodes, then sends a wall of fire rushing forwards from the impact site.
Gas makes the gun shoot out of a cloud of gas at the cost of 5 rounds of ammo. Anything in the cloud will take poison damage. If fire touches the gas cloud, it will explode, dealing damage to anything inside and near the gas cloud.

The player can hold up to 200 rounds of ammo for the Flamethrower. This weapon shares an ammo reserve with the Chainsaw.

Taking out the Flamethrower or swapping to a flame-based fire mode from the gas fire mode makes Duke pull out a lighter and ignite the weapon's pilot light with it, then put the lighter away. The fire from the lighter can detonate the gas cloud shot by the gas fire mode.

Concept art for the Flamethrower exists

The flamethrower fire mode.
The fire wall fire mode.
The gas fire mode.

Flamethrower concept art.
Ditto.

Freeze Cannon

The Freeze Cannon's design is radically different from the Freezer in the final game. It looks like a metal water gun, complete with container with liquid in it mounted on top of the gun, instead of the modernized take on Duke Nukem 3D's Freezethrower than the final game uses.

The weapon has an usual ammo system for the prototype: the player can hold up to 300 "rounds" of coolant in total. The weapon has a 50-round magazine that is replenished by Duke pumping the gun. Each pump restores 10 "rounds" into the magazine. The final game simplifies this by giving the player 200 total "rounds" of ammo as soon as it's picked up and no magazine that has to be reloaded. In addition, the final Freezer's ammo automatically and quickly replenishes its ammo reserve back to 200 "rounds" when it is not being fired.

It has two fire modes: stream and projectile.

The primary fire shoots a stream of snow at the target. After between 13 to 12 rounds have been depleted or the fire key has been released (whichever comes first), Duke will automatically pump the gun until the ammo reserve hits 50 again. The gun will continue to fire once the pumping sequence is done if the fire key is still held down while doing it. The stream does a very low amount of damage, with several streams required to skill a simple EDF soldier.
The secondary fire mode shoots a grenade that arcs downward from its initial firing point and explodes on contact. It can gib enemies. The projectile will release a large cloud of snow from the impact site, but it does nothing to enemies nor the player. Using this fire mode depletes all of the weapon's ammo, but it can be reloaded by pressing the reload key. This will cause Duke to pump the gun until ammo is back at 50, allowing the player to lob another grenade. The animation suggests that the weapon is meant to shoot the Freeze Cannon's canisters at enemies, but the projectile fired is the grenade fired by the M16's alt-fire mode.

Despite the name, the weapon cannot freeze enemies in this prototype.

The weapon is quite buggy. This, combined with it not freezing enemies, suggests the weapon was still very much WIP when this prototype was compiled. Some bugs include

Duke being stuck in the pump animation after using the primary fire for some time.
The player being unable to swap to other weapons after shooting the projectile fire mode a few times.
The firing animation for the secondary fire mode does not have the canister fully clear the slot it's held in.

This weapon has no ammo (although an uninplemented model exists) or weapon overworld model, with the M16 Clip and Shrinkray being used as placeholders, respectively. When looking at the ammo, it's name will be "Freezer Ammo Thing". The uninplemented model for the ammo has a slightly different design, with the Atomic symbol on both extreme ends, while the viewmodel lacks the symbols and is much larger.

It has two unused reload animations, one for the primary fire that has Duke pull out the canister, then put a new one in, and the other for the secondary fire, that has Duke put a new canister. In-game, hitting the reload key has Duke pump the gun like a water gun.

Concept art for the Freeze Cannon has been posted online.

The Freeze Cannon's secondary fire exploding.
The cloud of snow that appears where the Freeze Cannon's secondary shot detonated.
Part of the Freeze Cannon's unused reload animation.
The Freeze Cannon's unused ammo mesh, with a different design when compared with the viewmodel for the weapon.

Concept art for the Freeze Cannon.
Ditto.
Ditto.
Ditto.

Prototype	Final

Prototype	Final

Turrets

The prototypes have two kinds of turrets: the EDF .50 Autogun and EDF High-Velocity Cannon.

These weapons have a screen placed over the user that shows a crosshair in the center of the screen and overheat gauge underneath it, along with plenty of eye candy to make it look futuristic when the player mounts them.

Both weapons will overheat after around six seconds. The weapon’s heat is represented by a circular gauge, ala a speedometer, on the lower part on the gun’s screen. Once it’s overheated, they cannot be fired again until the line on the right side of the heat gauge is thin instead of thick.

Due to how the guns are positioned, none of the shots from them will hit the center of the screen. Instead, they hit slightly to the left and right of it.

Image showing that the guns on turrets do not hit the center of the screen.

EDF .50 Autogun

The EDF .50 Autogun consists of two miniguns mounted onto a turret. The miniguns need to spin for a little bit before they can begin firing. Each bullet from the gun does 20 damage by default, but level designers can change the damage it does if needed.

This weapon prominently features in !z2l1_1, where Duke has to defend a speedboat he is riding from enemies with an EDF .50 Autocannon.

It appears in footage from 2003 with a new and much less blocky model and heavily simplified screen, and in a video of a 2006 with a newer model that lacks the screen entirely.

Front view
Rear view.
Tsing the EDF .50 Autogun.
EDF .50 Autogun overheating.

2001 prototype	2003 build footage	2006 build footage

EDF High-Velocity Autocannon

The EDF High-Velocity Autocannon consists of two large cannons mounted on a turret. Each cannon shoots explosive shells that do 35 damage by default and have an explosive radius of 100 by default, though both of these can be adjusted on an individual basis by level designers. The guns recoil back when fired.

This turret has several variants available.

Cannon type	Description
cannon	The only one used in the prototype’s levels. Has a shield protecting the users’ legs underneath the guns.
cannonb	The same as cannon, but with a stand for the user to put their feet on.
cannonbns	Cannonb, but without a shield underneath the turret itself
cannonns	Cannonbns, but without the stand.

Interestingly, the cannonbns variant is the only turret in the prototypes that can move around at a full 360 degrees. The other turrets are limited to 180 degrees.

Front view.
Rear view.
Using the EDF High-Velocity Autocannon.
EDF High-Velocity Autocannon overheating.

cannon	cannonb	cannonbns	cannonns

cannon	cannonb	cannonbns	cannonns

cannon	cannonb	cannonbns	cannonns

Items

These items have been cut from the final version of the game unless otherwise noted.

Med Kit

The Med Kit is a portable healing item that contains 100 ego. When obtained, it can be used at any time to heal until it’s out of ego. Each usage will heal the player to 100 ego, or if there isn’t enough ego in the Med Kit to reach 100, as much as it can to reach 100. If more than 33 health is healed with one Med Kit usage, Duke will say “Aahhh, much better!’.

It behaves nearly the same as the Portable Medkit does in Duke Nukem 3D.

HypoSpray Gun

The HypoSpray Gun is a futuristic needle that has three liquids containing beneficial effects the player can inject themselves with: health, steroids, and antidote. The “gun” must be reloaded every time it is used or the player swaps what kind of liquid is loaded into the HypoSpray Gun.

Health and steroids vials can be purchased from vending machines in certain levels.

All of the healing effects offered by this item can overheal the player.

Health is a blue liquid heals the player for 20 ego without any downsides.
Steroids is a red liquid heal the user for 50 ego points, increases player speed by x1.2, doubles Mighty Foot damage, and causes a red flashing effect to appear on the screen for 30 seconds. Any ego that’s over 100 will quickly bleed out while steroids are active. Once the effect has run out, Mighty Foot damage and player speed will be reverted back to normal and the screen effect will be gone. In addition, the player will enter “burnout” mode, which causes them to lose 20 HP over the span of several seconds.
Antidote is a light green liquid that instantly cures the player if they are being harmed by poison damage, such as walking into a gas cloud expelled by the Flamethrower’s gas fire mode. If used while the player is under the effects of steroids, it will remove the increased speed and Mighty Foot damage in exchange for the player not going into Burnout mode. It also greatly cuts out the bleedout rate for overhealed health gained from Steroids.

It can be used on friendly NPCs. When the player is close enough to an NPC that it can be used on him or her, Duke will point the HypoSpray Gun towards the direction of the user. Pressing the fire key will make Duke use the current content of the

The file HypoAir.uc states that the Hypo Gun needed to use air as ammo at one point, but it no longer needs to. Hwoever, the map !z1l5_5 has air canisters for the HypoSpray Gun available for sale in one of its vending machines, which is likely an oversight from the level designer assigned to it.

HypoSpray Gun loaded with health.
HypoSpray Gun loaded with steroids.
HypoSpray Gun loaded with antidote.
Health vial.
Steroids vial.
Antidote vial.
The player under the effect of steroids.
Burnout effect after using steroids.
An air can for the HypoSpray Gun.
Using a HypoSpray Gun on a friendly NPC.

Riot Shield

The Riot Shield is a glass shield that protects the player from enemy attacks. After being obtained, the player can activate it at anytime by pressing the “use” key. The player cannot attack while the shield is up. It’s important to note that the riot shield does not protect the player from melee attacks.

It contains a "Shield" meter that starts at 100. Enemy attacks decreases the Shield's charge, Once it is zero, the shield will break, causing Duke to toss it on the ground. The amount of charge the shield has is represented visually by the damage the shield has taken.

If the charge is between 89 and 81, it will show very slight damage
If the charge is between 80 and 51, it will show a moderate amount of damage
If the charge is between 50 and 31, it will show heavy damage
If the charge is between 30 and 11, it will show severe damage
If the charge is between 10 and 0, it will show extreme damage.
If the charge is at 0, the glass will break.

EDF Soldiers can be seen using the Riot Shield. Unlike Duke, they can attack with a Pistol while holding it. Killing an EDF Soldier that is using a Riot Shield will usually make him drop a broken shield.

Riot Shield item.
Riot shield with 90 or more charge.
Riot shield with a charge between 89 and 81.
Riot shield with a charge between 80 and 51.
Riot shield with a charge between 50 and 31.
Riot shield with a charge between 30 and 11.
Riot shield with a charge between 10 and 0.
Riot shield with 0 charge.
A broken Riot Shield that has been discarded.

Jetpack

Duke’s classic jetpack is in this prototype. Unlike the final game, it appears in single player mode.

Controls are simple: holding down the jump key moves Duke up, while holding down the crouch key makes Duke fly down. The movement keys make Duke fly forward, backwards, to the left, or to the right, depending on the key pressed.

The jetpack comes equipped with 100 fuel. The fuel consumption rate is based on what the player is doing with the jetpack.

Floating will consume the fuel at a medium rate.
Flying upwards will consume fuel at a very fast rate.
All other actions, such as moving, will consume fuel at a fast rate.

Rebreather

The Rebreather is yet another item cut from the game. When activated, it lets the player swim underwater without having to worry about coming up for air. It can also protect the player from poisonous gas, such as gas expelled by the Flamethrower’s gas fire mode. However, in order to protect the player from poison, it must be activated before walking into the gas.

The model that appears when it is active has a slight clipping issue with a small amount of weapons, such as the M16.

Rebreather being used.
M16 clipping over the Rebreater's HUD model.
Rebreather protecting the player from poisonous gas.

SOS Power Core

The SOS Power Core is a consumable item that recharges the player’s sunglasses. A core gives 25 energy for the shades when used. Cores can be found in vending machines and on dead NPCs.

Money

Money is in this prototype. It is used to purchase items from vending machines and play casino games. It can be obtained by picking it up form the ground or from dead bodies (both preplaced bodies and certain kinds of dead enemies).

It comes in several amounts. These are

$1
$3
$5
$10
$25
$100

A single dollar bill.
A wad of dollar bills.

Food

Food can be found in levels or purchased from vending machines. These items are used to restore the player's Ego. They are consumed as soon as the player picks them up.

Several food items exist. These are

Burrito: Gives the player 5 Ego back and costs $1.
Chips: Heals the player for 15 Ego and costs $1
Cowpie: Heals the player for 15 Ego and costs $1.
Ham sandwich: Heals the player for 5 Ego and costs $1.
MRE: Heals the player for 20 Ego. Does not appear in vending machines.
"Power Trip" amino acid: Heals the player for 25 Ego and costs $25.
Sports bar: Heals the player for 5 Ego and costs $1.
Sports drink: Heals the player for 15 Ego and costs $15.
Vegetarian MRE: Heals the player for 15 Ego. Does not appear in vending machines.

Burrito
Chips
Cowpie
Ham sandwich
MRE
"Power Trip" amino acid
Sports bar
Sports drink
Vegetarian MRE

Holoduke

Code for the Holoduke item from Duke Nukem 3D exists. It can be spawned, but uses a generic placeholder model and cannot be activated.

Examining the code for the Holoduke reveals that work on it has barely been started. There's code to set up it's timer, but that's it.

The final game has the Holoduke as a regular item the player can pick up.

Shades abilities

Duke’s shades have several alternate modes that either improve his vision or give him an extra attack. Only one of these managed to make it to the final game.

Most of these abilities use power, which is indicated on the HUD. Power can be restored with SOS Power Cores found in levels and purchased from vending machines.

Weapons can be fired while using the shades' abilities.

Except for the Electromagnetic Pulse, all of these abilities add a futuristic binoculars-style overlay on the screen.

Zoom Vision

Zoom Vision lets the player zoom in by either 5.0x or 10.0x. Activating Zoom Vision will have the ability start at 5.0x. Using it again while this mode is active will make it go to 10.0x. Using it again a third time will disable it. While active, it will give the player’s screen a slight static overlay.

It can also be used when other shades abilities are active. If used in conjunction with other shades abilities, the static overlay will not be displayed.

This mode does not consume any power.

Zoom Vision at 5.0x
Zoom Vision at 10.0x
Using Zoom Vision while Night Vision is active.

Night Vision

Night Vision gives the screen a green tint and disables lighting so that dark areas can be easily seen. As the name suggests, it works well for navigating through dark areas.

This is the only shades mode that appears in the final game. However, it’s been drastically reworked: it’s called Duke Vision, gives the screen a blue tint, has a moving screen overlay that makes it look like a TV screen, and brightens up areas instead of disabling lighting.

It consumes power at an above average rate.

Prototype Night Vision	Final Duke Vision

Heat Vision

Heat Vision gives the screen a dark blue tint, but lets the player see heat outlines produced by NPCs and some objects, such as armed Trip Mines. This item does not produce heat lines for NPCs that are actually static props, such as Janet or Jay in !z1l1_1.

Killed NPCs will slowly lose their heat signature the longer they are dead.

This glasses mode has a unique effect for weapons. When a weapon is taken out, it will have no heat signature, but after firing for a while, the weapon will start to turn red to show it is heating up from being fired. After not firing for a few seconds, the weapon’s heat signature will start to disappear. Some weapons, such as the Shotgun and RPG, cannot be fired fast enough for this effect to trigger due to delays between shots.

Sprites on weapons do not render correctly while in this mode.

It consumes power at an average rate.

Two alive NPCs being seen with Heat Vision.
One dead NPC and one alive NPC. Notice that the one on the left is starting to have his heat signature fade.
Same as before, but the dead NPC has been dead for a while. He is no longer producing any heat.
Using Heat Vision while holding a weapon that hasn't been fired.
The same weapon is now showing a heat signature because it has been shot multiple times over the span of a few seconds.
Example showing the rendering issue Heat Vision has with sprites on weapons.
Looking at the Jay NPC in !z1l1_1 without heat vision active.
Looking at the Jay NPC in !z1l1_1 with heat vision active. He is not giving off a heat signature because he is a static prop, not an NPC.

Electromagnetic Pulse

Electromagnetic Pulse, or EMP, is unusual in that it’s an attack activated via the shades. When used, it releases a blue electric wave that reaches up to around a yard or several meters.

The name suggests that it’s meant to disable electronics, but it only works on EDF-209s. All other electronic items are not affected by it.

It costs 30 power to use.

An EDF-209 disabled by an EMP blast from Duke's shades.

Misc.

Ammo Case

The Ammo Case is grey box that can be opened to reveal items such as ammo, weapons, or healing items inside it. By default, it contains two .50 Cal ammo pickups for the Pistol, but level desingers can set up to five items to appear in the Ammo Case. Designers can also set how the items are positioned and rotated.

interestingly, enemies can be set to be in Ammo Cases, as seen with the Snatcher that appears in !z1l5_2b's Ammo Case.

This item does not exist in the final game, but a similar object, marked crates filled with items the player must break, do.

Front view.
Open Ammo Case.
A Snatcher inside an Ammo Case in !z1l5_2b.