GRINS OF DIVINITY
EPISODE 1 : SYSTEM SOL INVADED

Introduction Installation Common problems Story Comic Levels Items Weapons Enemies Characters Other stuff Credits Thanks The Future User maps GoD website Contact us |  | INTRODUCTION Grins of Divinity is a complete (well, almost...) modification or total conversion (TC) of the 3D Realms game Duke Nukem 3D - Atomic version. TCs are usually non-commercial projects consisting in replacing most parts of an original game, creating a whole new one over it. Most of the time, the amount of work requires the participation of many people specialized in one or more part of the game, like levels, textures, enemies, weapons, sound effects, ... Grins of Divinity is a Duke Nukem Atomic TC, and it is divided in 2 distinct episodes. You now have the first episode, System Sol Invaded, which took us 19 months to complete. The next one should take us a lot less time to make, for obvious reasons (we already have a team, a site, lots of textures, a story, we know what to do and we do it faster). Anyway, the very first episode of Grins of Divinity is now complete. It's not perfect, but we hope you will enjoy playing it as much as we did creating it. Father-Marrow (known by some as Vincent A-Chapdelaine) INSTALLATION Here are detailed informations on how to install Grins of Divinity. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS A 75 mhz computer will be able to play the low quality of GoD, but even there, it will run rather slowly. We recommend a much faster system, like a Pentium 500 mhz. At least 16 megs of RAM Duke Nukem 3D Atomic version (1.4/1.5) - To play Grins of Diviniy, you must absolutely have DN3D Atomic. If you have DN3D v. 1.3d, you can download a patch from 3D Realms. If you don't have any version of Duke, you can order one from 3D Realms and ask yourself why you downloaded this. INSTALLATION PROCEDURE Install a clean copy of Duke Nukem Atomic in a new directory. Run setup.exe to configure your sound and screen to optimal settings. Place all the files contained in godtc.zip in your Duke Nukem Atomic directory LAUNCHING THE GAME Launch godtc.bat and make your selection If godtc.bat causes problems, type "duke3d /xgod1.con /ggodtc.grp" in DOS for the high quality version and "duke3d /xgod2.con /ggodtc.grp" for the low version

COMMON PROBLEMS

Here are a few problems you might encounter:

- "Duke doesn't recognize my sound card"
  From setup, set the Soundblaster as your sound fx card and configure it as follows: "0x220 / Sound Blaster or compatible / 5 / 1 / 7" and the music card as General Midi at 0x330 port. If that doesn't work and everything else doesn't work either, you can still play the game by putting none from the sound and music card selection in setup.
- "Grins of Divinity runs too slow"
  Be sure there aren't any open programs from Windows. Sometimes, antivirus programs are continually activated and take a lot of space, so close them. If it still runs too slowly, play the low quality version, disable some options from the game's option menu, like sounds and shadows or lower the screen resolution. Also, try running GoD from DOS.
- "The game crashed!"
  This is probably because you fired many rockets or many plasma in a small period of time. This might result in a game crash due to too many sprites spawned simultaneously. Just don't shoot 5 rockets (weapon 5) or plasma cells (weapon 7) at a time and you shouldn't have any problems.
- "The items in the game behave strangely"
  This is probably because you used cheat codes. Cheats will mess up most items and enemy behaviors, and will spoil all the fun of the game. So don't use them.

If you have any other problems we haven't listed here, please post them in the Grins of Divinity forum and someone will help you out.

STORY

The Grins of Divinity story was written by the author Mark Antony Rossi, based on an original idea I (Father-Marrow) had. The novella is divided in 7 chapters, the last 3 being used as the game's storyline and System Sol Invaded (which introduces character Alex Hudson) being the fifth chapter. The first 3 chapters describe the Shoven Elect's attempt to conquer space. Mark Antony Rossi and I are currently seeking an editor to publish the novella as an eBook.

A preview of the story corresponding to the 5 first levels of System Sol Invaded can be found in the story section of the Grins of Divinity website.

COMIC

The Grins of Divinity story has also its very own comic. Julien Dykmans, an amateur Belgian comic artist, decided to draw his interpretation of the game's story. The first ten pages of the comic are at the moment finished and can be viewed on the Grins of Divinity website.

LEVELS

GoD episode 1 contains 10 new maps, which includes: 7 full-size levels (one of them being secret), one deathmatch map, one training map and one shopping map.

ITEMS

Here's a description of every items Grins of Divinity features, including the unchanged ones:

TIME-BOMB (Duck+Use, usually Z+space): This time-bomb will leave you 10 seconds to run before creating an insanely powerful explosion. QSR DEVICE (R): A drink from this highly chemical liquid will temporarily make you invisible to the enemy eye. WALLET: A wallet containing 5 dollars is dropped by every dead Bakpri (yes, they are pickpockets) and civilans. But this doesn't make it right to kill an innocent civilan! BARREL (Use button, usually space): The moveable barrel is a never before seen feature in a Duke mod. The player can pick it up by pressing space 2 seconds in front of it, and drop it where he wants (even on top of another one) to reach high unreachable areas. INFRARED GOGGLES (N): These goggles come in handy when you are in a dark area. They give you a better vision and help you distinguish other living creatures. JETPACK (J): The jetpack gives you the possibility to fly. To add realism, the jetpack now can only move up. Pressing the duck (usually Z) button will however slow the jetpack. Also, Grins of Divinity's particle effects now makes the jetpack produce smoke. ARMOR: The armor will make you less vulnerable to the enemy's attack. ATOMIC HEALTH: This atomic energy will boost your health up 50 credits. It is of course extremly rare. MEDKIT (M): This portable medkit contains 100 health credits. At each use, it will rise your health as much as it can until it is empty. HEALTH (30 Credits): This will instantly give you 30 health credits if your health is below 100. Otherwise, you will not be able to pick it up. HEALTH (10 Credits): Same thing as above, except that this one will give you only 10 health credits.

WEAPONS

This first episode of Grins of Divinity offers you 7 new weapons:

PISTOL (2) MAX ROUNDS: 192 PRICE: 25$ CLIP (24 ROUNDS): 10$ DAMAGE: Minor ADDITIONNAL INFORMATION: Pistol clips are spawned by Bakpris when they die. SHOTGUN (3) MAX SHELLS: 40 PRICE: 30$ 10 SHELLS: 15$ DAMAGE: Medium CHAINGUN (4) MAX ROUNDS: 240 PRICE: 50$ 30 ROUNDS: 35$ DAMAGE: Medium INCENDIARY ROCKET LAUNCHER (IRL) (5) MAX ROCKETS: 5 PRICE: 30$ 2 ROCKETS: 40$ DAMAGE: High (deadly) ADDITIONNAL INFORMATION: This extremly powerful weapon is perfect to "take care" of far away enemies. It will however become dangerous used up close but might come in handy to make things explode, like cracked walls. ALIEN PLASMA WEAPON (7) MAX PLASMA CELLS: 20 PRICE: N/A 10 PLASMA CELLS: N/A DAMAGE: High (deadly) ADDITIONNAL INFORMATION: This weapon is used by the Voystagg and is also known as XP-1. According to the story, it was an experimental weapon created by the Shoven Elect to conquer space. It is best used to shoot distant enemies. M-16 (7) MAX ROUNDS: 150 PRICE: 40$ CLIP (60 ROUNDS): 25$ DAMAGE: Medium ADDITIONNAL INFORMATION: This weapon is used by the CIA Agents. TAM GUN (0) MAX TAM PLASMA: 200 PRICE: 80$ 50 TAM PLASMA: 50$ DAMAGE: High ADDITIONNAL INFORMATION: This weapon, also used by the Voystagg, will permenantly make your enemy disappear. It however requires a precise aim.

ENEMIES

This first episode contains only 4 new enemies. Here they are:

BAKPRI GLYDER The Bakpri Glyders are the Bakpri's own flying ships. They will most of the time follow a regular path, stopping only to aim at you. If you destroy the Glyder, it will crash but the Bakpri inside will survive. Here's a description of the Bakpri Glyder, written by conceptual artist Rick_Randy: Superior to any aircraft in speed, manueverability and performance, the Bakpri Glyder is the product of Shoven ingenuity, intelligence and creativity. It's general appearance resembles that of a painted scallop shell with wings. The very shape, aerodynamically well suited to pass at incredible speeds in dense atmospheres. It measures about 2.31 meters in length. It can reach speeds well above mach 10 without so much making the pilot suffer g-forces and heat created by friction at that speed. Upon close inspection reveals that the cockpit can be filled with an unknown gel, that enables the pilot to both withstand such pressures and survive planetary re-entry. the canister is located behind the pilot's seat and can both expand the gel to fill the whole cockpit and take it back in. although this cooling system is very efficient, it is designed to be used for only a matter of a few minutes, before the gel itself becomes, "HOT". On normal strafe and search missions, it only flies at a modest 250 kph and can hover slowly above any target. How it works remains a mystery, but it seems to work on some sort of electromagnetic propulsion possibly enabling it to move in space. The Glyder itself is made of a material similar to that of the pulse weapon, but it is silver in appearance and has a heat resistant properties that surpass that of any earth metals, making the craft almost invincible to low intensity focused beams. Its very hull can even repel small arms fire. To make things worse for the airforce, it too had weapons. On the lower hull, there are two sets of holes on the front. the two outer holes fired plasma rockets that were effective against ground targets and slow moving aircraft. the other two where housed modified rapid fire pulse weapons that were modified to fire a full burst of 700 shots per minute, some even at 900 shots per minute. This particular weapon can shred a fighter plane wide open and can punch a hole into an M1 Abrahms tank with one shot. In air to air combat, this weapon is used more, because, the plasma rockets can be easily evaded by expert pilots. When the Glyders first appeared, to the earth defense force, they seemed almost invincible, even to rocket propelled projectiles. The Shoven have made this craft well, maybe a little too well. A little later in the conflict, however, showed the craft's " achillies heel". The glyder was designed to be superior in a dogfight, hence its very lines are smooth and the craft itself is rather compact with little space between, the various weapon systems, cockpit and engines. The cooling system located just below the cockpit is satisfactory to cool any weapon system and cockpit one at a time. (the weapons get incredibly hot, especially the pulse weapons.) At the onset of the earth's invasion, the bakrpi would fire both plasma rockets and pulse weapons at the same time. For a while, the cooling system could keep up, and let the Bakrpi suit cool the pilot, however if the Glyder, fired a "sustained" salvo of both plasma rockets and pulse weapons (even just sustanied pulse weapons) It was sufficient enough to "COOK" any unweary Bakpri in the cockpit. This also goes for any Glyder hit with any, flame, energy weapon or flammable chemical warhead missile after it has strafed an enemy column in FULL AUTOFIRE. Because of this, the development of "napalm" rockets was very popular, and any "veteran" Bakpri would just fire the plasma rocket cannons or the pulse weapons in short controlled bursts. The Shoven however was aware of this problem, well before hand hence the reason they designed the Glyder to have the ammunition on the outer part of the craft, so that all/any of the weapons can still be fired before he passed out due to heat Exhaustion. A few Glyders with plasma rockets mounted on the inside while the plasma cannons on the outside, often had an ammo "cook off" (The ammo inside is sensitive to heat well above 300 degrees C*) which exploded the ammo (2x 289 rockets), killing the pilot. The Shoven, experimented with craft with just plasma rockets, but found them to be ill suited to air to air combat and as tank and troop killers. So this was the optimum configuration. The Bakpri was considered expendable, so no effort was made to improve the glyder, until its major flaws were revealed consistently in surface to air combat, though it moved fast enough on ground attack mode to avoid fire. BAKPRI The Bakpri are fairly intelligent creatures, especially when they are in group. However, when its enemy is close to it, the Bakpri might panic and will be unable to attack. The Bakpris will try to group and will continually seek their enemy. At a good firing distance, they will shoot small lasers. They will attempt to dodge rockets and other slow moving projectiles, and will run away when they are hit. While one Bakpri runs away, the others will move in position to attack. Here's a description of the Bakpri written by author Mark Antony Rossi: Species: Alien Born: 2 millions years ago Place: Homeworld of Bakpra, (Clyris Binary Star System) Vital Info: The Bakpri are residents of the plasma volcano covered planet Bakpra, once primitive creatures who dwelled in cavenous structures for fear of the plasma-induced volcano and weather shifts, the Bakpri’s evolution was radically altered by the landing of the Shoven Elect who once presented were worshipped as gods. The Bakpri society was transformed from primitive weapons and land transport vehicles to learning and using the knowledge of the Shoven to harness the plasma from their planet as weapons and recreate the climate and living arrangements for the entire Bakpri society in less than 50 earth years. Whereas disease and dangerous weather patterns kept the Bakpri from overpopulating the planet, the Shoven’s technology and philosophy cause the Bakpri to explode to an enormous population which serves the Shoven as warriors, priests and industrial laborers on the Shoven Prime homeworld. The Bakpri are cunning warriors and ultra-loyal followers of the masters, the Shoven Elect. VOYSTAGG The Voystagg is not an enemy seen in the original GoD story. It was imagined by Eliseu Gouveia. Here's what he wrote concerning it: The lowest on the hierarchy ranks, they serve as cannon fodder. Their vicious claws can cut through the toughest armour and their fast manoeuvering can catch even the most experienced warrior off guard. Do not favour close proximity confrontation with them. A direct hit on the head and they’re done for it. Watch out, though, since when near death, they can chose to self destruct, taking anything around with them. The description is pretty accurate. The Voystagg is made of a metallic structure. Its method of defense is by spitting two different kinds of plasma. When its enemy is close, it will spit TAM plasma, and when enemy is far, it will spit normal alien plasma. CIA AGENT The presence of the CIA agent as an enemy in the game is rare since Alex is officially on "the same side". However, those agents attack Alex in level 6 because Alex accidently crashed on the White House. In level 7, the CIA headquarters, there are a few CIA agents that take Alex for an intruder or a spy. The CIA agent is one of the game's most intelligent enemy. They dodge rockets and other slow moving projectiles, run away when fired at, and fire only when at a safe distance. Like the Bakpri, they are more intelligent in groups of 3 or more. While the player is usually firing at one or two, the others attempt to flank the player and fire at him from the sides and from behind.

CHARACTERS

Including the player and the passive Emma Velvitz, there are 4 non-enemy characters in the game :

ALEX HUDSON That's you. Here are your informations as they were written by Mark Antony Rossi: Name: Alexander Julius Hudson Species: Human Born: February 19, 1965 Place: Anapolis, Maryland, United States, Earth Vital Info: Born to Maj. Charles Julius Hudson, a Vietnam MIA fighter pilot, and the former Sandra Petros, a grammar school vice principal, Alex is a USAF Gulf War veteran, winner of Bronze Star for pinpointing and participating the rescue strategy for two downed pilots over Iraq. Combat communications intelligence specialist, expert in mobile satellite communications, military close-combat weaponry, communications software, current employee of TelStat, Inc., a communications defense industry giant based in Maryland. Holds a B.S. in Computer Science from Univ. of Maryland. Single. Never Married. No Children. EMMA VELVITZ While not a real moving character, she is important to the story. Here's Rossi description of her: Name: Emma Velvitz Species: Human Born: June 26, 1968 Place: Hamburg, West Germany, Earth Vital Info:Born to the world-famous Russian Jewish nuclear scientist Constantine Velvitz who defected with his then pregnant wife with the help of the United States to West Germany in 1967. Joining the Defense Dept in 1969 under a sentence of death in absentia which was lifted by Russian president Gorbachev exactly 22 years later in 1989. Emma is a graduate of Princeton University, B.S. Political Science, and holds a masters in the same field from NYU. She is an adjunct Professor of Political Science at Washington University while maintaining a full-time position as executive aide to Senator Hollis Eatonbrook, Chairman of the Joint Armed Services Committee in the Senate. Considered an expert on international politics, Emma speaks fluent French & Russian. Single. Never married. No children. THE CIVILANS There are 2 civilans, one man and one woman. They are purely innocent strangers, so don't kill them. However, if you do, you will be able to take their wallets. Their artificial intelligence is unfortunately very low. Sorry.

OTHER STUFF

Here are some other features included in Grins of Divinity:

MONEY SYSTEM A rarely seen effect in a Duke mod is the use of a money system. Grins of Divinity offers its players the possibility to gather money and use it to buy weapons in 2 different levels: level 3, which is a shopping only level, and level 6, a full-size level including a shop named Atlantic Guns. The player has two ways to gather money. The first one is to kill Bakpris and take their wallets (civilans also leave away their wallets when they die - for realism - but it wouldn't be right to kill such innocents...). Each wallet contains 5 dollars. The other way to collect money is to use ATM machines when you see one. They will give you 50$ unless they are broken, so be careful. The maximum amount of money the player can have at once is 250$. To get a price list of the weapons during the game, press F1. The prices are also written over each weapons for sell in the shops. LADDERS One of Grins of Divinity's new feature (but frequently seen in other Duke mods), is the ladder. To use it, you must get in front of it, THEN hit space if you want to move up or A if you want to move down. PARTICLE EFFECTS Grins of Divinity uses a particle effects engine created by Reaper_Man. This adds a touch of realism to the game, like smoke trails to the rockets and jetpack, more realistic blood,...

CREDITS

Grins of Divinity was created by BIG Productions, a team founded and leaded by I, Father-Marrow. It is composed of 27 members from all over the world. BIG Productions is:

- Father-Marrow - Project coordinator, main level designer, webmaster
- Reaper_Man - Con hacking
- Theeth - Main weapon and item designer, intro and ending animations
- Michael Sharp - Main enemy designer
- Kef Nukem - Level designer, character artist
- Philipp Kutin - Level designer (The Mission)
- Bomber - Level designer (secret level)
- Cal Kveder - Level designer (deathmatch level)
- OCETB - Enemy designer (CIA agent)
- Gareth Croson - Weapon designer (pistol)
- Shawn Hawkins - Weapon designer (shotgun)
- Shoma - Voice talent
- Raziel - Sound effects, voice talent
- Mel Havok - Sound effects
- Mr Blackwell - Sound effects
- Rusty Nails - Sound effects
- Anthony - Conceptual art
- Chris Phyffer - Conceptual art, font design
- Eliseu Gouveia - Conceptual art, novella cover art
- Rick_Randy - Conceptual art
- Tom Miller - Music composer
- Mikko Sandt - Beta-testing

  Special participation of:

- Mark Antony Rossi - Story author
- Julien Dykmans - Comic artist

  Members working only on the next episode of GoD:

- Alejandro Glavic - Level designer
- Billy Boy - Level designer
- Mike von Skellington - Level designer

  Note: while almost all the GoD content is original, some textures and midis were taken from the public domain, in websites offering free textures and free midis. A special thanks to Lunaran who generously donated a few of his textures.

  THANKS

  A special thanks to:

- Of course, 3D Realms, for creating Duke Nukem
- Ken Silverman, for creating the awesome Build engine
- PlanetDuke.com, for being a great host
- Billy Boy, Pascal, Bob and the others, for providing the proof that a Duke map can be good
- Starship Troopers (and some others) for providing the proof that a Duke mod can be good
- Mark Antony Rossi and Julien Dykmans for agreeing to participate to my crazy project
- Everyone who got interested in GoD but didn't make it in the team
- Everyone who did make it in the team and who worked like hell
- Everyone who downloaded GoD (that would be you)
- Everyone I forgot
- Chris Phyffer

  THE FUTURE

  System Sol Invaded is the first episode of Grins of Divinity. Another episode is scheduled and we have already begun working on it. Episode 1 took 19 months to finish. I evaluate the other one will not take more than a year to create, unless something bad happens, of course.

  We will keep you updated on the progress of episode 2 on the Grins of Divinity website.

  If you wish to participate on the GoD sequel to help getting it finished earlier, you must be sure you can produce as good or better content than what is in episode 1 (in the field of your choice, of course). If you are sure you can, then do not hesitate and e-mail us with a sample of your past work, wheter it is a level, a weapon or an enemy. If your help is accepted, you will become a part of the team and will be fully credited for your work.

  While originally planned to be released in 3 episodes, we have decided to regroup the scheduled E2 and E3 into only one large episode. It will feature at least 8 new maps, 4 new enemies and 4 new weapons. The story will start where System Sol Invaded ended.

  USER MAPS

  We are aware some level builders are tired of the same old textures and effects found in the original Duke Nukem game. If you wish to create your own Grins of Divinity user maps, we invite you to do so. If you ever create any, then send them to us. We will put them on the website and review them.

  To know how to include the new effects we created in your maps, you are free to study how we included them in ours, as long as you do not use any content of any of GoD's maps in one of yours.

  Also, please note your are not at all aloud to take any GoD content (like textures or con filess) and use it for your own projects (TCs, mods, maps...) without our written permission. However, since some of our textures were taken from the public domain, we would be happy to share our sources and give you some URLs to some free textures websites. Just don't take them directly from our art files.

  GOD WEBSITE

  The Grins of Divinity website, currently hosted by Gamespy's Planetduke, includes a vast quantity of Grins of Divinity information. You will find frequent updates on the progress of Episode 2, the entire GoD comic by Julien Dykmans, a preview and information on the GoD novella and its release date as an eBook, interviews with GoD team members, and a lot more stuff. So head over there right away: www.planetduke.com/god

  CONTACT US

  If you want to contact BIG Productions, the Grins of Divinity team, you can send us an e-mail: godtc@hotmail.com.

  We would love to hear your comments and your suggestions! Send them by e-mail or post them on the Grins of Divinity forum.

  Also, if you have problems installing or playing the game, or if you're stuck in a level, please use our forum and someone will help you out. Please don't email us for these kinds of questions.

  This readme page was written by Father-Marrow (Vincent Audette-Chapdelaine) on 17/01/2002.