First, make sure you have your Duke3D CD in your CD/DVD drive or an existing installation of the game. You can also just have the "duke3d.grp" file somewhere on your system.

Then run the self-extracting archive (the file you downloaded) by double-clicking it. Choose any hard drive/subdir of your personal preference for installation.

After the extraction process is complete, you may copy over any existing "duke3d.grp" file you already have (either directly from the installation disc or from the folder which contains your digital copy). Be sure to overwrite the existing "duke3d.grp" since this one only contains the shareware episode.
[If you have the Megaton Edition installed, you do not have to do anything. EDuke32 will detect and use the Steam version automatically, offering you to launch either Duke3D shareware or full release at startup.]

After you are done, start the game by clicking "eduke32.exe" in the Duke3D folder. You can also create a shortcut by right-clicking the file and choose "Send to" --> "Desktop (Create shortcut)".

To see the high resolution textures and models, you have to change the render mode to 32-bit "Video Settings" under "Options" in the game menu (if it is not already set up that way).

The game should automatically find and load the HRP content if installed correctly. To see the high resolution textures and models, you have to change the render mode to 32-bit under "Video Settings" --> "Options" in the game menu.

Make sure the game is running in 32-bit mode and that both models and high res textures are enabled in the ingame "Options" menu. If it still does not work, check the "eduke32.log" file in your Duke3D folder for errors and email us the errors, post them over at the Duke4.net forum or ask in the #eduke32 channel.

Step 1A (preferred method):
Get the Polymost HRP Override Pack by LeoD and place it into the same directory as the HRP zipfile (usually \autoload within your EDuke32 folder).

Step 1B (alternate method):
Create a shortcut to eduke32.exe (if you have not done so already). To do it, right-click on eduke32.exe in your Duke3D directory, choose "Send to" and "Desktop (Create shortcut)".
Edit the shortcut by right-clicking it on the desktop and choose "Properties". The "Shortcut" tab will be opened directly.
Add the parameter -hduke3d_hrp_polymost.def to the "Target" command line. Click "Apply" to confirm your changes.

Step 2:
When launching EDuke32 via the shortcut, a launcher will pop up. There, be sure to deactivate (i.e. untick) the Polymer renderer option. You should now be ready to enjoy the HRP with Polymost!

Easiest way used to be YANG. However, the service was discontinued in early 2015. Right now, there are only some programs left which violate the GPL (promoting illegal acquisition of game files) which we cannot recommend here.
EDuke32 multiplayer support is still WIP and currently too unstable to use, but the coding team stated that they will focus on multiplayer after the release of the Hail to the King Collection (Eduke32 port for Android).

This most likely means your video card does not support OpenGL. Unfortunately, in this case there is not much to do except buying a new card that supports OpenGL. Make sure this is the case first though since this might not be the only thing that can cause this issue.

Yes. There are two ways now: Getting the Megaton Edition on Steam (easy) or installing manually (not so easy).

If you have the Megaton Edition installed, it's not a big deal. Just use a recent EDuke32 snapshot and the port will detect the installed groupfiles all by itself. You will be able to select which game you want to play from the EDuke32 launcher menu. Another option is to copy the groupfiles (dukedc.grp, vacation.grp, nwinter.grp) over from your Steam app dir to your EDuke32 folder if you like (as a standalone solution in case you uninstall Megaton later).

In case you want to create your own groupfiles from original CDs: You need to extract the necessary files from the Sunstorm Installer (.SSI) files on your CD, slightly rearrange them and either repack them to a new .GRP file or a simple zipfile (the easier method) which can be loaded as a startup parameter. Jonathon Fowler has written a small tool called UnpackSSI which can extract contents from SSI files.

For more information, it's probably best to consult The Official Addon Installation Guide over at the EDuke32 Wiki. If this still does not cover all your issues regarding this topic, feel free to ask the community in this Duke4.net forum thread.

Yes! Just load the mod files after the HRP and it should work. Note that if the mod replaces art in the original game, the highres art will override them. This can be solved by adding undef commands after the loading of the HRP def code. See the def language documentation over at the EDuke32 Wiki site. Using the HRP with total conversions is pretty pointless since most (if not all) the graphics have been replaced with custom ones, anyway.

The preferred structure is to put all the content of the mod inside a zip file then loading it after the HRP. A short example:

mymod.zip

duke3d.def

include duke3d_hrp.def
include mymod.def

mymod.def
myhighresart (folder with models and highres textures)
tiles000.art
mymap.map
game.con
user.con
defs.con
...

mymod.bat

eduke32.exe /gduke3d_hrp.zip /gmaphacks.zip /gmymod.zip

Assuming there are no lose content files in the folder, the mymod.zip file will override duke3d.def in duke3d_hrp.zip, causing both the HRP definitions and the new mods definitions to load. Anything that is redefined in mymod.def will override the definition in the HRP def files. The mod will still work perfectly fine without the HRP.

The same way as mods. See question 2.3 for details.

It depends. See the HRP art license for details.

There are a number of things you can do. If you want to contribute, just create stuff and post it on the Duke4.net forum.

A short list of things you can do to support the project:

• Just download and use it
• Make textures or models
• Add maphacks (used to fix issues cause by sprites turning into models)
• Write code for the ports
• Write useful tools like launchers etc
• Mirror the files

Head over to the "Links" section to find tools and links to get you started. The Duke4.net forum is a good place to find information on how to do all the things and the resource thread may be especially useful.

It is managed by a different team. A port and a work-in-progress HRP for the game can be downloaded over at ProASM's homepage. You can also find useful launchers for both Duke3D (PlayDuke) and Shadow Warrior (PlayWang) over there.

Either you use one of the music packs (the easier way, but it will cost you some space on your hard drive and would override custom music that comes with many addons) or you go for improving the MIDI synth of your OS. Most common programs for this purpose would be OmniMIDI or CoolSoft VirtualMIDISynth.

You will need a good soundfont (*.sf2) in combination with these synthesizers. There are many of them, and which one is the best for you depends on your personal preference. Personally, I have achieved good results with one of the following:

SOUNDFONT	AUTHOR	SIZE	DESCRIPTION
8MBGM	Creative	8 MB	8MBGM E-MU Rev B (Creative Sound Blaster Live), quite balanced
GeneralUser GS	S. C. Collins	31 MB	Sounds great with anything. Latest v2.x is excellent for gaming!
SC-55 soundfont	EmperorGrieferus	53 MB	One of the best SC-55 soundfonts available. Final version
Arachno Soundfont	Maxime Abbey	148 MB	Clear instruments with nice drumsets, but loud. Optimized for games

Another great option is the portable Yamaha S-YXG50 VSTi plugin (edited by Evgeny Vrublevsky). This is an accurate software emulation of the Yamaha DB50XG with small filesize (4 MB), yet great sound and free of charge. You need:

1) Yamaha S-YXG50 VSTi plugin
2) VST MIDI Driver (Falcosoft Edition) (to load/host the plugin)
3) Coolsoft MIDI Mapper (to change default MIDI device on Win 8/10 systems)

Check this EDuke32 forum post for setup instructions.