DEBUILD, a Duke Nukem level editor in QuickBASIC (early WIP)

[MikeHawk]

Ten days ago, I started working on a Duke Nukem level editor out of curiosity. I never really looked into the game files and thought it would be fun. Here's an early preview. It's a pretty good first draft but it doesn't contain some key features such as a proper load/save menu, the ability to load custom backdrops, etc. There's a whole ToDo list at the beginning of the program to give you an idea and the code is riddled with "TODO" and "FIXME" comments.

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If you want to give it a try, place all the .DN1 files of the shareware edition of Duke Nukem 1 into the DATA/ subdirectory and run LOAD.EXE: it will load the 1st level of the 1st episode so you can view, edit, and save it. I'm also leaving the source with it if you want to have a look (yes it's mode 7, and yes, it's as painfully slow as you think it is.)

Oh, and Duke was released on July 1st, 1991! So it's kind of like a belated anniversary thing.

[MikeHawk]

New version is out, it's getting there!

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• Added a button to "Quit to DOS" (the X to the left)
• Added "Customize Tilebox" (it's the eye button to the right) When the customize tilebox button is pressed, it is possible to hide/display tiles (right click) and organized the list (it works by dragging-and-dropping tiles with the left mouse button.)
• Each episode has its own set of clipboard prefabs and unique tilebox organization. Those are saved when the episode number is changed, or when the program exits.
• The mouse cursor is now locked within the controller it is interacting with; it is also possible to automatically scroll the map view and tile box while selecting or placing tiles (just keep the left or right mouse button pressed and push the cursor to the edge of the view.)
• Added a rectangle drawing tool. It works with the active clipboard, like all the other drawing tools.
• When using the rectangle, bucket, or replacement tool, unique active items are no longer being duplicated. Use the pen tool for the placement of those items.
• Fixed a bug in the backdrop propagation code where the program would freeze in some edge cases.
• Added a "clingable" overlay for tiles that can be used with the claw hand (visible when the white flag button is pressed.)
• Got a bare bones file picker working for loading files. The save icon can be used to save the currently loaded level but will not allow to change its name (or even save a brand new level from scratch, so be careful.)
• When loading a level, the program will also reload the two backdrops and tiles when applicable.
• The title bar now provides the name of the level currently loaded.
• Added pop up messages before shutting down or clearing the board.

There's still plenty of bugs and weird issues, but there's one particular thing I absolutely need to fix under Windows XP's DOS emulation: the mouse cursor is not displayed in EGA mode 7. It's a HUGE problem but I'll get to it.