Creating custom ANM files

Duke Nukem 3D uses the DeluxePaint Animation format for displaying its cutscenes and logos. These are a sequence of ZSoft PCX images within the ANM file.

You can create your own ANM files, as well as extract the PCX files from an existing ANM file by using the ANIM2PCX tool. FFmpeg (and its descendents ffplay and mplayer) also support ANMs as input.

Although ANM files are limited to an 8-bit palette, each ANM holds its own palette, independent of any stored in the game. This palette remains constant for every frame of an ANM. Please note that the first color index in the palette used is used as background color during blitting and filling of the screen. All resulting pillarboxing will use this color as the background color. While the animation changes, it's also possible that you will see the screen filled with this color for a single game tic. Therefore, it is highly recommended to ensure the first palette index is RGB #000000, black.

List of animations

These are all the animations that exist by default in Duke Nukem 3D (1.5) and their framerates. All animations are played in sequence with the exception of RADLOGO and DUKETEAM, which only have a single frame and are displayed until the user gives any input. You can edit the framerates in the source file anim.c.

#	Name	Framerate	Description
1	cineov2	120/10 = 12 fps	Episode 2 ending
2	cineov3	120/10 = 12 fps	Episode 3 ending
3	RADLOGO	120/10 = 12 fps	Duke Nukem 3D logo at the end of Episode 3
4	DUKETEAM	120/10 = 12 fps	Development team with big heads
5	logo	120/9 ≈ 13.3 fps	Intro with missile exploding behind the nuke sign
6	vol41a	120/14 ≈ 8.571428 fps	Episode 4 intro part 1
7	vol42a	120/18 ≈ 6.6 fps	Episode 4 intro part 2
8	vol4e1	120/10 = 12 fps	Episode 4 ending part 1
9	vol43a	120/10 = 12 fps	Episode 4 intro part 3
10	vol4e2	120/14 ≈ 8.571428 fps	Episode 4 ending part 2
11	vol4e3	120/10 = 12 fps	Episode 4 ending part 3

By default, the game looks for a file with the extension .ANM for each animation file.

VP8 replacement

You can also use the VP8 video codec inside an IVF container for custom animations. Simply give your IVF file the same name as an ANM and place it in one of EDuke32's search paths. For example: LOGO.IVF.

Note that VP8 videos will only display when using 32-bit OpenGL video mode--not the 8-bit classic software renderer. Also note that the hardcoded sounds (listed below) of any ANM replaced by an IVF will not play. Instead, use the animsounds def command to specify new ones. Further note that the IVF container does not hold audio--all audio for a VP8 video must be added via animsounds.

To create VP8 video, see the Utilities page.

Full list of sounds played for each animation

By replacing these sounds, you can customize your own animation files with new sound files. The frames they're played on are hard-coded, but listed here for ease of use. As with the framerates, these can be edited further in the source file anim.c.

cineov2 Frame Sounds 1 WIND_AMBIENCE 26 ENDSEQVOL2SND1 36 ENDSEQVOL2SND2 54 THUD 62 ENDSEQVOL2SND3 75 ENDSEQVOL2SND4 81 ENDSEQVOL2SND5 115 ENDSEQVOL2SND6 124 ENDSEQVOL2SND7

cineov3 Frame Sounds 1 WIND_REPEAT 98 DUKE_GRUNT 102 THUD SQUISHED 124 ENDSEQVOL3SND3 134 ENDSEQVOL3SND2 158 PIPEBOMB_EXPLODE

logo Frame Sounds 1 FLY_BY 19 PIPEBOMB_EXPLODE

vol41a Frame Sounds 1 INTRO4_1 12 INTRO4_2 7 INTRO4_3 26 INTRO4_4

vol42a Frame Sounds 1 INTRO4_B 12 SHORT_CIRCUIT 34 SHORT_CIRCUIT 18 INTRO4_5

vol4e1 Frame Sounds 3 DUKE_UNDERWATER 35 VOL4ENDSND1

vol43a Frame Sounds 10 INTRO4_6

vol4e2 Frame Sounds 11 DUKE_UNDERWATER 20 VOL4ENDSND1 39 VOL4ENDSND2 50 (all sounds stopped)

vol4e3

Frame	Sounds
1	BOSS4_DEADSPEECH
40	VOL4ENDSND1 DUKE_UNDERWATER
50	BIGBANG

RADLOGO plays the sounds ENDSEQVOL3SND5, ENDSEQVOL3SND6, ENDSEQVOL3SND7, ENDSEQVOL3SND8 and ENDSEQVOL3SND9 sequentially after another.

DUKETEAM plays ENDSEQVOL3SND4 (a variation of Grabbag). The sound starts when the "Thanks for giving us big heads" screen (see LOGO_FLAGS) is shown and continues until any user input is given during the DUKETEAM animation.