Action Ware 12: Heretic & Hexen/actionware12.iso/acware12/hrt_v1_2/readme.txt

Text File | 1995-06-28 | 20KB | 459 lines

------------------------------------------------------------
HERETIC Version 1.2 release notes:
------------------------------------------------------------

Welcome to the Heretic README file. There was an unofficial
v1.1, but a couple more bugs were found and fixed, so here
we are at v1.2.

Fixes/Features since v1.0:
--------------------------
* Fixed "green screen" startup bug (mostly on 386's)
* Added Virtual I/O i-glasses! support
        (run VIOHT.EXE to use i-glasses! Tracker)
* Fixed a SETUP.EXE savegame restore bug
* Latest DWANGO v2.01 w/server choices!
* Latest DM.EXE v1.1
* A few sniggling little bugs too esoteric to mention!

To register the entire Heretic trilogy call 1-800-IDGAMES.
If you live outside of the USA, or if you wish to purchase
Heretic with a check or money order please refer to the text
file, (ORDER.FRM) located in your Heretic directory.

id Software respectfully requests that you do not modify the
levels for the shareware version of Heretic.  We feel that the
distribution of new levels that work with the shareware version
of Heretic will lessen a potential user's incentive to purchase the
registered version.

If you would like to work with modified levels of Heretic, we
encourage you to purchase the registered version of the game.

------------------------------------------------------------
Additional support
------------------------------------------------------------

If you are looking for external PWADs for Heretic, DOOM or DOOM2,
these boards are full of add-ons and utilities:

Software Creations BBS
[phone] : 1200-2400 bps. USR Courier v.32/.42bis
[phone] : 14.4-16.8k bps. USR HST/Dual Standard
[phone] : 14.4-28.8k bps. USR v.everything Member Lines

The MetroDOOM BBS
[phone] and [phone]

------------------------------------------------------------
Auxiliary programs
------------------------------------------------------------

There are a number of auxiliary programs that come with Heretic. These
are DM.EXE, the DeathManager you use as a front-end for network and
modem play; DWANGO.EXE, the client software for the NEW multiplayer
gaming environment of the future; IPXSETUP.EXE, the IPX Network Device
Driver that enables you to play Heretic over an office network that uses
the IPX protocol and SERSETUP.EXE, the Serial Device Driver that enables
you to play Heretic over the modem or serial cable.

The documentation for the DM.EXE program is named DM.TXT, the documentation
for the DWANGO.EXE program is named DWANGO.TXT. The documentation for the
IPXSETUP.EXE and SERSETUP.EXE programs follow.

------------------------------------------------------------
Heretic ADDENDUM
------------------------------------------------------------
Welcome to Heretic. Before playing, you might want to read this
addendum which contains information for playing in Multiplayer mode,
as well as technical support and troubleshooting instructions. To
avoid compatibility errors, please make sure that your machine and
network conform to the system requirements listed below.

-------------------------------------------------------------
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
-------------------------------------------------------------
Heretic(TM) requires an IBM compatible 486 or better with 4 megs of
RAM, a VGA graphics card, and a hard disk drive. A 486/66 or
better, a Sound Blaster Pro(TM) or 100% compatible sound card
is recommended. A network that uses the IPX protocol is
required for network gameplay.

-------------------------------------------------------------
MULTIPLAYER MODE
-------------------------------------------------------------
GETTING STARTED
-------------------------------------------------------------
1. Install Heretic as described in the manual.

2. Launch Heretic from the SETUP program, by going to the
directory in which you installed Heretic, type SETUP, and press
the ENTER key. (If you are installing Heretic for the first
time the SETUP program will be automatically launched.)
Unlike playing Heretic in single player mode, Heretic in
multiplayer mode must be run either from the DM program, the SETUP
program or by using the command line parameters mentioned later in
this addendum.

3. The SETUP program not only allows you to configure Heretic
to your system but lets you tell Heretic information that is
necessary for the multiplayer game, (i.e. number of players,
skill level, mode, etc.), although the DM program is the preferred
method of starting a network game.

NUMBER OF PLAYERS: A maximum of four people can play
multiplayer Heretic on a network.

COMPATIBLE NETWORKS: To play multiplayer, you must have a
network that uses the IPX protocol. Check your network
manuals for information regarding your protocol. Novell
networks use the IPX protocol.

MULTIPLE GAMES ON THE NET: To play a multiplayer game while
another group is also playing the multiplayer game, you'll
need to change your network port address from the SETUP
application. The port address tells your server where to
send information that is sent over the network. Network
addresses range from 1-64000. You should refer to the person
in charge of your network for possible port addresses.

-------------------------------------------------------------
MULTIPLAYER INSTRUCTIONS
-------------------------------------------------------------
Many of the rules for playing Heretic change for the
multiplayer game. Read the following information carefully
before you begin to play Heretic in multiplayer mode.

MENUS: When you activate the Options menu or submenus, the
game KEEPS RUNNING so that other players can continue with
the action. So it is best to find a safe place before
adjusting screen sizes or sounds.

UNPAUSE: A player may Pause the game by pressing the PAUSE
key, but any other player can Unpause the game by pressing
the PAUSE key again. Make sure it's OK with your buddies
before taking a breather.

SAVE: When you do a savegame during a network game, it saves
on every player's system in the savegame slot you select,
writing over whatever was there. Before saving the game,
players should agree on a safe slot to save in.

LOAD: You cannot load a saved game while playing a
multiplayer game. To load a game everyone must quit from the
current game and restart the game from the saved game. To
start a game from a saved game, you can either select it
from the SETUP program or identify it as a command line
parameter.

DEATH: If you die and restart in the level, previously
destroyed monsters DON'T reappear. Even though you've died,
other players have survived. We didn't want to undo all of
their fine destruction by reviving every monster in the area.
However, this also means the level will eventually run dry of
monsters. You'll have to decide when the level is played out.

UNIFORM COLORS: In net games, each player's uniform is a
different color. The color of your character is the color
of the life gem on the status bar's life chain. The colors are
BLUE, YELLOW, GREEN, and RED.

CHAT MODE: In a multiplayer game you can communicate with
other players in the Chat mode. To enter into Chat mode and
broadcast a message to all the players, press the letter t.
A cursor will appear where your messaging is normally
placed. To broadcast to a specific player, instead of
pressing t you'll need to press the first letter of the
player's color. (B)lue, (Y)ellow, (G)reen, and (R)ed. For
example, to send a message to the blue character, you would
press the letter b.

CHAT MACROS: In a multiplayer game, you can send your own
pre-defined macros (defined in the SETUP program) by initiating
Chat mode (as stated above), then holding ALT and pressing the
number key that corresponds to the macro you wish to send. For
example, if macro #2 is "Eat it and die!", initiate Chat mode
by pressing 'T', then hold down ALT and press 2.

EXITING A LEVEL: When one player exits a level, all players
instantly exit with him, regardless of their position or
their status.

-------------------------------------------------------------
COOPERATIVE OR DEATHMATCH MODE
-------------------------------------------------------------
There are two ways to play multiplayer--DeathMatch and
Cooperative. In Cooperative mode the players work together.
In DeathMatch mode your mission is to kill everything that
moves, including your buddies. You can choose which mode you
wish to play from the DM or SETUP applications. The differences
between Cooperative and DeathMatch mode are as follows:

WHERE YOU START: In Cooperative mode each player begins in
the same area. In DeathMatch mode the players begin in
completely different areas--if you want to see your buddy
you'll need to hunt him down. Plus, each time you die,
you'll restart in one of several random locations.

KEYS: Unlike in single-player or Cooperative mode gameplay,
in DeathMatch mode the players start each location with the
keys necessary for opening any locked door in that area.

STATUS BAR: In DeathMatch mode the LIFE section on the
status bar is replaced with KILLS. The KILLS section
displays the number of times you've killed your opponents.

AUTOMAP: In Cooperative mode the Automap works the same way
it does in single-player mode. Each player is represented by
a different color arrow. In DeathMatch mode you won't
receive the pleasure of seeing your opponents on the map.
Just like the monsters, your friends could be just around
the corner, and you won't know until you face them.

SPY MODE: If you're playing in Cooperative mode, press F12
to toggle through the other players' viewpoint(s). Press any
other key to return to your view. You still retain your own
status bar at the bottom, and if your view reddens from pain
it is YOU, not your partner, who has been hit.

INTERMISSION SCREENS: In both Cooperative and DeathMatch
mode the intermission screen tallies your achievement. In
Cooperative mode the intermission screen lists the
achievements for all players in the game. In DeathMatch mode
the intermission provides a death count on everyone, letting
you know who killed whom.

-------------------------------------------------------------
DEATHMATCH MODE GAMEPLAY NOTES
-------------------------------------------------------------
The rules for completing or winning a DeathMatch game have
intentionally been left general. Any player can exit an area
and force all of the players to move to the next area. Also,
there is no limit on how many kills are required to declare
a player the winner. We decided to leave this up to you. You
know what you like best!

Note: Before you play Heretic in DeathMatch mode you should be
familiar with the layout of every area in Heretic. As you know,
in DeathMatch mode your startup location is random and often
in an area that is very hostile.

-------------------------------------------------------------
MULTIPLAYER DEMO RECORDING
-------------------------------------------------------------
You can record your tournaments for posterity!  To record multi-
player demos, add the line "-record demoz" to the command-line.
Make sure the other player is recording also, or it won't work.
If you need more time, add the "-maxdemo <K>" option to increase
demo buffer space.  Make sure both of you specify the same amount.
Heretic defaults to 128K of demo buffer space, to specify 1meg you
would type "-maxdemo 1024" on the command-line.

IF HERETIC BOMBS TO DOS WITH A "Z_MALLOC" ERROR, YOU DON'T HAVE
ENOUGH MEMORY FOR THE MAXDEMO AMOUNT SPECIFIED!

When you wish to stop recording, press the Q or F10 keys and both
players will exit to DOS.  To play the demo back, merely type,
"heretic -playdemo demoz" and the demo will play back.  To see the
other player, press the F12 key.  Press F12 to toggle between all
players in the demo.  The TAB key will display the automap.

You can set the name of the demo file to anything you want. "demoz"
was just an example name.

-------------------------------------------------------------
RUNNING HERETIC FROM THE COMMAND LINE
-------------------------------------------------------------
Much of the information you give to Heretic through the DM and
SETUP program can be provided by passing program parameters to
the appropriate device driver on the command line.

NETWORK PLAY
------------
When you want to run a network game, you use IPXSETUP.EXE which
is the device driver for Heretic's network mode. The parameters
are as follows:

-NODES starts Heretic as a network game and sets the number of
players who are going to play. If you don't specify the number
of nodes, the default is 2.
-nodes <# of players>

-PORT sets the port from which to play Heretic multiplayer on
the network. By setting a different port, more than one
group of players can play Heretic on a single network.
-port <# of the port>

MODEM PLAY
----------
When you want to play a modem or null-modem game, you need to
run SERSETUP.EXE which is the device driver for Heretic's serial
communications mode.  The parameters are as follows:

-DIAL tells the program which number to dial, if you're going
to do the calling.
-dial <phone number>

-ANSWER puts your modem into Answer mode so someone can call
you and play Heretic.
-answer

-COM1, -COM2, -COM3, -COM4 specifies which COM port your modem
or serial cable is connected to. Very important!
-com1

-8250 tells SERSETUP to set the UART to 8250.  Just in case your
16550 UART is acting up at the higher speed.
-8250

-IRQ sets the IRQ for the COM port.
-irq <irq number>

-PORT sets the COM I/O port that SERSETUP uses to communicate
with your modem.  To use hexadecimal, such as the number 0x3f8, you
would type "-port 0x3f8".
-port <port number>

-<#> sets the baud rate of your COM port, overriding the value in
the MODEM.CFG if you're running a modem game.  Legal values are
9600, 14400, 38400, 57600.
Example: -14400

Note that to run a null-modem game, you must have a null-modem
cable plugged into a serial port on both computers and each
computer runs SERSETUP.EXE with a -COM# parameter as well as
any General Parameters.  Do not use the -ANSWER or -DIAL
parameters, or SERSETUP will think you're using a modem. To get
a null-modem cable, go to CompUSA or Radio Shack and say,"I need
a null-modem cable to run a Heretic multiplayer game."

VERY IMPORTANT!
You will need to run the SETUP program and select Choose Modem
from the Network/Modem/Serial menu so you can set your modem
init string correctly.  Merely select the modem and press Enter
and SETUP will create a new MODEM.CFG file that corresponds to
your modem (the MODEM.CFG file is used by SERSETUP for initing
the modem.)

If your modem is not in the list, you will most likely need to
edit the MODEM.CFG file in the Heretic directory.  The first line
of the file is an initialization string that:
    * Turns off error-correction
    * Turns off data-compression
The MODEM.CFG file has a Hayes-standard init string like this:
AT Z S=46 &Q0 &D0
You just add your own commands after the "AT Z " if your modem
doesn't work with these settings -- dig up your modem manual for
the correct settings.

The second line is a hangup string used when you quit Heretic.

The third line is the baud rate at which you want your COM port set.
The legal settings are: 9600, 14400, 38400, 57600.

If the modem connection isn't working when you call your friend,
have him call you instead.  Try setting the modem to GENERIC (in the
SETUP.EXE program) if your modems don't connect.

If you STILL can't get the modems to connect, both of you should
run your favorite COMM programs and connect with 9600, no error
correction and no data compression.  Then quit the COMM program
and keep the connection going.  Then just run SERSETUP with a -COM#
parameter (as if you were running a null-modem game) since you're
already connected.

If you had trouble connecting, but figured out some settings that
work, please fax them to us at [phone] so we can expand our
modem init string database and perhaps have the SETUP program ask
you for your modem type in a future version of Heretic.

GENERAL PARAMETERS
------------------
These parameters can be passed straight to Heretic, or passed
to IPXSETUP or SERSETUP, which then pass them to Heretic.

-LOADGAME allows you to start Heretic from a specified save
game. Instead of using the saved game name, simply enter the
number that corresponds to the slot you saved the game to on
the SAVE GAME screen (0-5).
-loadgame <# of the game>

-DEATHMATCH starts Heretic as a DeathMatch game. If you don't
enter DEATHMATCH as a command line parameter, Heretic will
default to the Cooperative mode. All items picked up will
appear 30 seconds later and the Shadowsphere and Invulnerability
Ring will not come back.
-deathmatch

-SKILL sets the skill level (1-5) you wish to play.   Only useful
with -warp -- see below.
-skill <# of skill level>

-EPISODE sets the episode (1-3) you wish to play. The default
episode is Episode One, City of the Damned.
-episode <# of the episode>

-CONFIG allows you to use your configuration file from any
directory you choose. This is primarily for diskless workstations
that don't have a C: drive to save config information to. You
need to rename the heretic.cfg file created by the SETUP program
to a directory and name of your choosing to avoid conflicts.
-config <pathname>  ex. -config f:\heretic\data\myconfig.cfg

-NOMONSTERS allows you to start playing with NO MONSTERS running
around!  This is great for DeathMatch where, really, the monsters
just get in the way.  Only useful with -warp -- see below.
-nomonsters

-RECORD tells Heretic to record the game you are starting.
Demo files will be saved as <filename>.lmp.
-record <filename>

-RESPAWN tells Heretic that, yes, you are a badass, and yes, you
want all the monsters to respawn around 8 seconds after you kill
them.  The NIGHTMARE skill level already does this. Note that
using -respawn and -nomonsters at the same time is a dumb thing
to do.  Only useful with -warp -- see below.
-respawn

@<filename> will allow you to specify a Response file that Heretic
will read additional command-line parameters from.  For example,
typing 'Heretic @MYPARMS' will tell Heretic to look in the MYPARMS file
for additional command-line parameters.  The file format is simply
one parameter per line with a carriage return to terminate the line.
Each parameter is typed exactly as you would type it on the DOS
command-line.

-TIMER <# of minutes> will make Heretic exit the current level after
a specified amount of minutes, going to the intermission screen.
This option is only useful in DeathMatch mode.
-timer xxx

An example line for entering the above information would be:
Heretic -loadgame 3 -deathmatch -skill 4 -timer 10

IMPORTANT:  Only the following command-line parameters are available
while using the -WARP parameter:
-skill, -respawn.

-------------------------------------------------------------
TROUBLESHOOTING: WHERE TO GET HELP
-------------------------------------------------------------
If you require technical assistance to run Heretic, call id
Software's technical support line at [phone] or
e-mail [e-mail].  We've included a file named
HELPME.TXT that will point you toward many other sources
of information that could solve your problems.

If possible, please be near your computer when calling id
Software's technical support. Please have information
regarding your system setup and configuration available.

Before changing your system or software setup we recommend
that you review your system manuals to ensure that your
modifications will not endanger any existing information or
hardware on you system or network. Modifying your system or
your software setup can be dangerous, and we cannot help you
with any resulting problems.