3D Realms/Apogee History: Screenshot Series Map Release Article - Hoover Dam Guide (November 1999) news - Duke Nukem Forever: Restoration Project mod for Duke Nukem Forever 2001

What is the Goal of the Screenshot Series?

Wait! If this is your first time checking out our Screenshot Series please start your experience by checking out the first entry based on a November 1999 Area 51 screenshot here! We released this one in January 2023!

Step into 3D Realms' development past with us, as we join them on their tour of the Hoover Dam. Today, along with our latest Duke-It-Out patch we are releasing the second entry in our Screenshot Series! These Screenshot Series maps aim to restore the original screenshots revealing Duke Nukem Forever in the Unreal Engine such as in the December 1999 issue of PC Gamer. Along with other notable media when the build of the game we are working on was revealed to Duke fans around the world. PC Gamer got their hands on the screens for print first, so most other magazines had their reveal in the January 2000 issues like Incite Magazine.

You can expect more Screenshot Series maps in the future but of course we also want those amazing moments from screenshots and trailers to be experienced for the first time in the actual game! So we will essentially restore all those moments but some will have to wait! Also these are small maps, so don’t expect a full level with a gameplay loop, puzzles etc. Also please note this map is not indicative of anything you will see as final in the Restoration Project. Other than the screenshot area, it has been left as 3D Realms was working on it in 2001.

As mentioned we have a large update out today as well for the project with the Duke-It-Out Update 0.2.1, please check the article here for all the details about that amazing release you can also play today!

What is this Release for the Screenshot Series?

Today’s Screenshot Series map is again from November 1999, when 3D Realms released the first screenshots of the Unreal Engine build of the game online. That same month the December issue of PC Gamer mentioned earlier was released as well. This issue of PC Gamer along with 3D Realms’ website ushered in the first screenshots and details of Duke Nukem Forever running using the Unreal Engine.

This Screenshot Series map focuses on a part of Duke Nukem Forever that was a part of the game from inception, the Hoover Dam. The idea to include the dam began shortly after Duke Nukem 3D released in 1997 and stuck with every version of Duke Nukem Forever until its eventual release in 2011. It was as early as 1996, shortly after Duke Nukem 3D’s launch, that George Broussard saw a user made Hoover Dam map for 3D and decided that the next Duke game needed to involve the Hoover Dam. At this early stage of development the game was known as Duke Nukem 3D II. We believe the map he was inspired by in 1996 was hoovrtwo by Steve G (Nailer), if you want to play that map today here is a screenshot and a Steam Workshop link to it:

Steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=204043630

Hoover Dam Guide November 1999 Screenshot

This iconic screenshot left many fans excited for the incredible realism on display with these latest screenshots. This location at the Hoover Dam looked real and this Dam Guide was the first of many human NPCs that used amazing technology for the time to import real faces into the game to be used as face textures for these models. This was a newer technology at the time which 3D Realms/Apogee was also pioneering with the excellent Max Payne which released in July 2001, just a couple months after the Duke Nukem Forever 2001 trailer was revealed at E3 in May 2001.

Going back to the realistic look of the art direction and graphics technology, this became a benchmark for the industry. Videogames in 2001 were still adopting 3D technology and it was advancing at an alarming rate at this time, a vast difference to 2023. Most websites and gaming magazines were arguing between Shenmue, Max Payne and Duke Nukem Forever when it came to the most realistic looking humans in videogames at that time. This was not only used on human characters, but also for anything within the game world. Textures for walls, doors and whatever else that developers could take pictures of and get into their games. This ushered in a variety of games that had this ultra realistic look with that early 2000s level of polygons on those characters.

How Did We Recreate It?

The 2001 build of Duke Nukem Forever we are working on is roughly 2-3 years after the 1999 screenshot was taken. This area in the 2001 build was fairly well developed, while empty of enemies or NPCs (including the Dam Guide) this map and the other Hoover Dam maps are very far along from a level geometry perspective. Given George’s desire to bring the Hoover Dam to the next official Duke Nukem game it seems plausible that this was one of the first areas developed using the Unreal Engine 1.0 that would be used in the 2001 build we are modifying. Here is what the map looks like in the original 2001 build:

As you can see, when comparing it to the screenshot, the level geometry is fairly complete, but it is missing props, NPCs, the area is more closed in and other little things. The lighting also is a lot brighter in the 2001 build, with the more dramatic and darker lighting being missing.

The Dam Guide is of course the main part of this screenshot, with the intention of this shot to convey the realistic graphics they were able to achieve in 1999. Given what we see happening during these chapters, it is unlikely a Dam Guide would be waiting leisurely to take you on a tour. However,their intention with the screenshot was to display these areas as alive and real and they got amazingly close to photo realism for 1999.

3D Realms’ Visit to Hoover Dam

In January 2023 an asset CD dated December 23, 1999 from a 3D Realms employee at the time, was released online. This developer likely burned this CD to bring some assets home to work on, as this was 1999 and online cloud storage to easily share files with a development team was not a simple thing. Our 3D Modeling Lead, Daniel, has been carefully digging through this CD and recovering and remastering assets. Some models had missing UVs that had to be fixed, or simply needed the correct texture added. Spider-Man, one of our Narrative Designers and Voice Acting Lead also loves to dabble in Level Design and worked on this entry for the Screenshot Series and also helped with the last one too! As noted some adjustments to textures were done, better lighting was added more in line with the original shot, the Dam Guide was added and ensured to make the starting point of the map the perfect spot that has an angle as close as possible to the screenshot. We also added some ambient sounds so it wasn’t so quiet in the Dam.

As you can see 3D Realms took a lot of time to take pictures and really ensure what they saw was brought to life in the game. They took several pictures of jewelry from the Gift Shop and of the snack shop areas as well at the Hoover Dam which can be found in game too, check out some more comparisons. We cannot 100% guarantee every image on the 1999 asset CD was taken by 3DR but the influence of many of these images can be seen in game.

This asset CD has been an absolutely amazing piece of gaming history that was unearthed, its contents and history will be preserved by Mighty Foot Productions and many other Duke fans around the world. It has been fantastic looking into the past and seeing the painstaking lengths that 3D Realms went to create such a realistic looking game when it was shown off with Unreal Engine 1.0 in November 1999.

To fully finish off the Dam Guide screenshot scene, we had to do some hunting to find the microwave and coffee maker that can be seen behind the Dam Guide on the left. Spider-Man and Daniel were able to track these down! The microwave was found on one of the EDF base levels in the 2001 build (Z4L1_3) in an EDF breakroom. However the coffee maker required some digging as it wasn’t an activated prop in the 2001 build and we were able to recover it, adjust its textures to ensure it looked correct and added the proper animation and interactivity to watch it make coffee!

What do you think? It is extremely accurate to the original screenshot with some minor differences. One being how the lighting effects NPCs like the Dam Guide, it seems they may have been working with a much more advanced lighting method in 1999 that had to be pared back. Other than that the map seems perfect!

If you haven’t played this map and the other Hoover Dam maps in the 2001 build they are included with the First Slice so you can take a look at the Hoover Dam as it was in 2001 and take an even closer look at the shape it was in during that time of development.

2001 and 2023 Use of the Map

The Hoover Dam will remain where it is as part of the Restoration Project just as it is in the Chapters of the 2001 build. The Dam Guide (Tim is his name based on the build files) will be an important part of the Restoration Project story as Duke travels through the Hoover Dam on his Nevada adventure. We also discovered a holographic version of the Dam Guide, while not used in the Hoover Dam levels in the 2001 build, we are planning to include the Holo Guide in the tourist areas of the Dam that helps build that near future art direction DNF 2001 had. These details are still loose but what we have established so far! Note that this map is the 2001 3D Realms map from the build with only the additions we made such as the props and more. This is not indicative of how this map will be in the Restoration Project, it is an unfinished map. Explore and have fun seeing how accurate 3D Realms was able to make the Hoover Dam digitally and the realistic graphics they were able to achieve in 1999.

Play it Today!

This small map is available today! The map includes all the new additions to lighting, props, AI friendlies, geometry and more to make it as accurate as possible! There may also be a hint in this article about some other secrets to find on this map...

All you will need to do is copy and paste this map file into your “Maps” folder wherever you have our latest release downloaded. No other items needed, just this one .dnf map file that isn’t even 10MB in size!

We hope you enjoy another amazing piece of Duke Nukem Forever history restored and preserved in its original screenshot form for you to play and explore today!

We recreated another screenshot series moment, it is the other November 1999 Hoover Dam screenshot…if you know it you can find it! That screenshot can even be found in this article! Oh…and Dopefish is hidden somewhere too. Good luck! We have trapped you in the room with the Dam Guide. Let us know in the comments below or in our Discord server how you may have escaped without the use of cheats ;)