Suck Hole is the third episode in LameDuke. This episode begins in a jail cell. After breaking free, Duke boards a large ship and then travels to an oil rig. Inside the oil rig, he goes down an elevator that leads to an underwater base, which has some sort of alien growth in it. There is no ending for the episode.
E3L1[]
E3L1 begins in a jail cell. After escaping, the player must activate a long series of switches throughout the prison in order to open the front doors, which lead to the ocean.
A similar prison, with a comparable system of switch-activated force fields and cell doors, appears on Death Row in the commercial release. Although the two levels do not appear to share a development lineage, it is possible Death Row may have drawn inspiration from this map.
E3L2[]
Although small parts of other levels in LameDuke were recycled in Duke Nukem 3D, this is the only fully formed level to appear in the final game. E3L2 is an early build of the level Derelict, which was later released as part of Duke Nukem 3D: Atomic Edition (Plutonium PAK). This version of the level is nearly identical to the final build, making Derelict one of the oldest levels to appear in the commercial release.
E3L3[]
The beginning of E3L3 seems to suggest a direct continuity with the previous level. Duke has apparently left the ship from E3L2 and has now boarded an oil rig. An elevator inside the oil rig leads to an underground base.
E3L4[]
E3L4 is mostly comprised of long rock tunnels in an underground base.
E3L5[]
E3L5 is again mostly comprised of rock tunnels. A central hub contains elevators, leading to other parts of the base. Some rooms contain a strange, fleshy pink texture not seen anywhere else in the game.
E3L6[]
E3L6 is comprised of a series of moon pools, connected via tunnel bridges as part of an underwater base. The base itself appears to be located inside a cavern, rather than out in the open ocean.
A screenshot from the November 1995 prototype shows that this level was later further developed, with Assault Troopers and an Enforcer in one of the rooms with a moon pool. The level was ultimately scrapped.
E3L7[]
E3L7 is mostly empty, except for a series of conveyor belts and cranes.
One section of this level may have been an inspiration for the conveyor belt with mashing pistons before the first Access Card on Dark Side. However, two other sections of the level appear to have been directly copied-and-pasted into the final game. First, the crane and conveyor belts on Toxic Dump follow a very similar geometry to one area of this map, suggesting Toxic Dump may have used a modified copy-and-paste. Second, the room with the spinning cylindrical gears on Death Row was very clearly copied-and-pasted from this level. This latter fact is made certain by a promotional screenshot (see here) from the May 1995 prototype in which an Enforcer is shown standing atop the spinning gears, shooting into a railed-off walkway beside the gears. Although the height of the gears has been changed, the walkway corresponds to the room above the gears on Death Row, and the railing perfectly corresponds to the ledge with the Atomic Health. Textures for the ledge and for the surrounding walls do not appear to have been changed between the May 1995 prototype and the final version.
Copying-and-pasting elements from other levels was not uncommon for the development team at 3D Realms, and in the 20th anniversary developer commentary, both Allen Blum and Richard "Levelord" Gray admit to copying-and-pasting elements from other levels.
Footage exists from a later build of this level, dated May 9, 1995.
Richard "TerminX" Gobeille, who signed a non-disclosure agreement and was given an archive of Duke Nukem 3D development data, has stated this footage actually comes from a separate test map. Gobeille shared the map blueprints online, which show that it is clearly a separate map from E3L7 but borrows apparently copied-and-pasted elements.
E3L8[]
E3L8 is a duplicate of E2L8. This map is identical to the waterfall room from Overlord but without the alien textures.
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