Night Owl 19/Night Owl (The Best of Shareware)(NOPV 19)(1996).ISO/034a/hexenv03.zip/HEXENV03.TXT

Text File | 1995-11-10 | 45KB | 892 lines

Hexen FAQ 0.3  [Insert big hexen ascii logo here]

[Someone make a good one and send it to me! email [e-mail]]
[the best one gets his put here and his name in the credits! Woohoo!]
[Try and make it fit into 75 coloumn text please.]

------------------------------------------------------------------------
I may be in touch with the folks at Raven soon.  There is a pretty good
chance they will support this as the "official" FAQ for Hexen.  This
also means I will probably be able to get all the juicy level-building
details for all you guys!  Keep a look-out for future versions, my info
base is expanding fast!
------------------------------------------------------------------------


************
*[Contents]*
************

* Whats new in Hexen?
* The 4 levels
* The Flame Mask
* A simple walkthru
* Cheat Codes
* Weapons
* Items
* Monsters
* Some text buried in hexen.exe!
* Script info
* Some limited tech info

I havn't tested for myself the buried text or the tech data yet.

Note that wherever I say "deathmatch" below, Cooperative mode will almost
always do the same thing too.  I just like saying "deathmatch" a  lot
more.I also havn't played coop yet ;)

***********************
*[What's new in Hexen]*
***********************

Hexen is the sequal to Heretic, which was a fantasy offshoot of Doom.
Heretic and Hexen both use the Doom engine programmed by John Carmack at
id software.  These two games are made by Raven software, closely linked
with id.

This beta is a four level demo of Hexen.  It is scheduled for release on
Oct 30th.  No coincidence that this is the day before All Hallow's Eve!
As far as I know there will NOT be a shareware Hexen... just this beta demo
which was released on Oct 2nd.

For those who havn't played Heretic, it had a set of items that could be
carried and used at any time in the game.  This was new to the Doom
engine.  Hexen also has most of the first Heretic's artifacts, plus many new
ones!  Hexen also has added a lot of atmospheric effects (like lightning
in the background and MANY ambient sounds).  Another nifty effect seen in
level 1 is that you can actually break windows!  There are some other
peices of terrain that can be affected too, like the gray burnt trees can
be destroyed.

The first ting you notice when playing is that you can choose one of
three characters to play now!  They all have strengths and weaknesses.
The fighter has maximum armor, strength, and speed, but almost no magic
power.  All his weapons are close range.  Any long range power he has usually
costs a lot of mana and isn't extremely powerful.  The first three of his
four weapons can be used (with lesser effect) without any mana
whatsoever.  They gain additional power by using mana however.

The cleric is the "in-between" guy.  He has medium speed and strength,
decent armor, and good magic power.  He has some long and short attacks,
plus he can use some items more effectivly than others can.  His
super-weapon is not as powerful as the mages, but it "homes" in on
enemies, so it doesn't require careful aiming!  It is the most expensive
(mana-wise) weapon in the game.

The mage has low armor, speed, and strength, but is maxed out in magic
power.  He has some very punishing weapons, plus the only ranged weapon
in the game that doesn't require mana.  His fourth weaponis the most
powerful in the game, while using less mana than either of the other two
classes do for their "ultimate weapon".

When playing Hexen, there is a lot more emphasis on puzzles and traps
now.  No more simple hacking and slashing!  (there still is a lot of that
though!).  I have found some rooms with very interesting traps, from
crushing pillars to poisen darts.

Another new feature is randomness in the terrain.  Sometimes pulling a
lever can do one thing, but play the level again and it might do
another.  This randomness is not used to a major extent in the beta, but
has a lot of potential for making levels that are different each time you play.

Yet another new thing is the ability to travel back and forth between
worlds.  For instance, level 2 has portals to levels 3,4,5 and 6 (5 and 6
are not available in the beta, however).  Some actions you do in one
level can affect another.  Sometimes you have to get an item in one level
(like the flame mask) and bring it to another to accomplish your goals.

There are three very important changes to the engine now that make it
more powerful than ever:

1)  You can now actually occupy the same x and y location as other
"obstacle" objects if you are above or below them.  I have used the wings
myself to fly and stand on an Ettin's head while he tried to kill me.
Note that "walking" on creatures is not fully supported - the engine
still had me moving as though on the ground (it was an icy ground, so I
was sliding around on the poor Ettin's head!).  Obstacles like statues
and tree stumps can be stood on as well.

2)  The lines that make up the walls can be moved now!  In Doom, doors
could only open up and down.  In Hexen, they can swing or slide as well!
There is a trap in level 4 where you are on a narrow ledge and the wall
moves out to push you off!  Being jammed between two moving walls can
really hurt too!

3)  Probably one of the best changes:  Triggers now activate scripts
instead of single actions.  Now walking into a room can do all sorts of
neat things at once, like lowering the lights, opening two doors behind
you, teleporting monsters into the room, and dropping the floor 20 feet!
Scripts can also be used to automate "continuous" actions.  See the end
of this FAQ for more info on scripts.

"Sounds great!  Where can I find the beta?"

The two best ftp sites are ftp.idsoftware.com in /idstuff/hexen (if you
can use fsp, try fsp.idsoftware.com, it is much faster) and ftp.cdrom.com
in /pub/doom/idstuff/hexen.  id's web page is at www.idsoftware.com.


****************
*[The 4 Levels]*
****************
Q:  Where are the four levels?

A:  They are all there.  The "fire guardian" and "ice gurdian" levels are
levels 4 and 3, respectivly.  When you look at the auto-map it will tell
you the name of the level in the lower left corner, just above your keys
and armor bar.

Level 2, called "Seven Portals" actually leads to levels 3, 4, and 5 with
two portals to each, and then on to (I assume) #6 at the very end.  The
portals to levels 5 and 6 all say "access denied - beta" when you enter them.

The reason Seven Portals leads to all these different worlds is because
you can travel back and forth between worlds, and some things you do in
one world will affect another.  Thus, in the fire world, when you pull
the chain that says "you hear the distant cracking of ice" you are
affecting something in the ice world, so you should go there next.
Unfortunately, this beta version does not actually show you any changes
there.  I believe that in the full version this same chain will activate
script #19 in the Guardian of Ice level, opening the room to the firekey.

When playing in deathmatch, all four levels each contain their own set of
ALL 4 weapons for each class.  Yes, all three parts of all three
superweapons can be found on each level.  You can pick up other peoples
weapons too!  You can't use them, but you gain mana.

******************************
*[What the flame mask is for]*
******************************
Q:  Where the heck is the fire key?

A:  It is in the room described in the next question.


Q:  What on earth is the firemask for?

A:  It plugs into a hole in the wall that is only accesable in deathmatch
right now.  Unfortunately, when playing deathmatch the firemask itself is
not present!  ** UPDATE **  Get the firemask, and go to the large
circular room in the Guardian of Ice level.  Activate script #19 (see
cheat keys below) to reveal two swords on the floor pointing to doors.
The one on the right is where you put the firemask!

*********************
*[A simple walkthru]*
*********************
Level one is pretty self explanetory.  there is one wall that only opens
in deathmatch though, and it will teleport you to a high-up spot outside
where the level start is.

here is what you can do when playing single-player on "Seven Portals"

After the face asks you if you are prepared to die, jump down into the
water and whack the nasties.  Grab any nifty toys in the area, and look
for a pull-switch on the inside of one of the pillers.  The piller is in
front of the middle golden door on the left side (when facing south, just
outside the start of the level).  When you pull it, that same door will
swing open revealing some chaos serpents.

Before you try and kill them with your puny weapon #1, go back and grab
weapon #2 which should have dropped down on a large gray pillar that
dropped to near-ground level at the same time you pulled that switch.
This weapon will need blue mana, so make sure you have some of it.

Depending on which character you choose, your second weapon should help a
lot in killing them.  Enter the room they came out of, and go up to where
you see a quartz flask above some wooden stairs.  There is a window there
to the next room.  When you move up there, the lights behind you go to
almost zero, and two passageways open up.  you will have to jump to get
to them, and they both go down stairs onto an icy floor where an elevator
slowly moves up and down.  Get on it and you will find the portal to the
Ice Guardian level.

When you get here, you will see a corridor ahead, and soon as you step
out two monsters attack.  Dispatch them,then look at the walls.  One is
gray stone (same as the fire-world) and the other is rusted metal (same
as world #5 that you cant get to.  I assume it's going to be called
"Metal Guardian" or something close from the looks of the level though).

Both of these are closed, and will only open later after doing some other
stuff.  Continue down the corridor to a roughly circular room.  about 3
seconds after entering the room, the floor will lower and monsters
teleport in.  A staircase forms leading back the way you came, and you
see another room now with 4 pillars in it.  There are two walls that look
like doors, but won't open at all yet (in fact, you must cheat to get
them open in single-player.  Script #19 should do it).

Behind those pillars is a switch.  When you pull it, all pillars rise up,
then randomly crash down a few times.  They will all stop in the "up"
position now.  One of the four pillars will have a sword on the floor
pointing to it.  (The sword is a sector with a slightly higher light
level, so you should see it fine).  If you step into this circle, you
will port back to "7 Portals" and two more doors will open there.  If you
step in any of the other three, you will die a horrible squishing death.
Note that the pillar that transports you is *random*... everytime you
play and pull the switch, a different one will be selected as the
"teleporter" and the other three become nasty-death.

When you get back outside you can fight with more nasties (they slowly
respawn even if you do not pick the hardest level.  They only come back
like once every 5 minutes though, and only small creatures ever come
back, nothing large).  Two more doors will be open, they are on the same
side as the ice portal you took, slightly north or south from there.  The
southern one will has a switch at the end.  When you pull it, two rooms
open up (one of which you can't see from where you are).  one of them
will send another serpent at you.  If you step towards that room and turn
around, you will see another one with a portal in it.  This portal has
rusted-iron borders and won't let you use it (it goes to level 5).  The
northern room is exactly like the southern one, but the borders are gray
stone and you CAN use this teleporter.  It takes you to the Guardian of
Fire level.

This level has some really cool features in it.  First off, when you
first get there, the wall ahead of you opens in a cool pattern.  The room
beyond the wall will erupt and sink when you step in, so step back
quick.  The floor will drop in jagged segments while fireballs fly up,
then when the whole floor is gone a pool of lava rises up to where it was.

Skip across the lava into the door on the right.  In here, on the right
side is a switch that says "you hear the distant creaking of ice".  It
does nothing in this beta version though.  Going further through you come
to a room that already has monsters in it, but even more teleport in to
join the fun.  There are two doors here that both need the fire key.
bummer.  There is an unmarked wall that will open up to a long bridge
with many green flasks on it.  Get lined up straight, and *run* across
the bridge fast.  Try not to turn once you are on t he bridge!  When you
step on, the whole screen shakes and the bridge starts collapsing as
rocks fall from the ceiling.  Cool effect.  When you get to the end (the
door you ran towards will close before you get there) just wait for the
shaking to stop, then look for a ledge on the side that you can jump to.
Carefully follow this ledge until it leads to a narrow doorway out.  This
leads to the middle of the level, you have already been here.  But in the
narrow doorway there is also a pull-switch that opens the door that
closed before.  Go back along the ledge and enter that room, and you have
the Firemask (A source of confusion for many players!).  The firemask
makes your character grunt when he uses it against a wall.  Not only is
this cool, but it ALSO fits into a slot that you can't reach in
single-player mode unless you activate script #19 in Guardian of Ice.
(Or use clipping).

Go back to Guardian of Ice and type MWAGABAZA19.  Take the right door and
get the fire key.  The left door leads to a cool room where you get the
steel key, but it doesn't fit anywhere in the beta levels.

This glacier room will make the floor crack and move a lot when you enter
it.  After it stops, follow the left wall till you find a switch.  Pull
it, and the floor will move a LOT more now.  Stand where you are if you
want to live!  Some sections of the floor will rise up and crash into the
ceiling.  Others will drop amazingly low creating deadly pits.  After it
stops moving carefully go through the doorways at the back of the room.
This second room has a flat floor (for now) and some of those ice
creatures, but they don't move and can't be hurt.  I don't know if they
are statues or if they are supposed to come back to life later or what.
When you get the steel key the floor moves some and some ettins appear to
kill you.

Now you have the firekey, so go back to Guardian of Fire and open `er
up!  Enter either room, and pull the switch there.  A wall opens... step
in there and it lowers down to a room with more neat things in it.  At
the end of this room is a wall with a symbol that matches the firemask! Hey!

When you step in front of that wall, two elevators drop and take you up
to some corridors where you see more of these masks.  Step into a
teleporter.  Pull a chain there and and you hear "grinding gears".  Now
look for a switch that looks like the chaos symbol.  Push it and you port
to a room that looks like the two secondary rooms of "7 Portals" but the
door is closed and wont open (script 31 or 32 should open it.  They also
open in multi-player mode).  There is a switch here, pull it.  Then look
for a teleporter that will take you back to "fire guardian".

From here go back out to the courtyard of 7 Portals.  The only way
further now is to cheat more.  But lets face is, once you start, you can
never go back.  So, shamefully type in "BRAFFEL" and get 25 of every
item.  Use the wings of wrath to fly up and start hitting switches on
that tower.  The lowest of the three opens up the stone door in the ice
level.  The next one up opens the metal door right by there.  The highest
one opens the big bronze doors at the south end of 7 Portals.  Note that
pulling the highest one by itself wont open it, all three must be pulled
to open it.

Go back to the ice level.  When you step near those two doors they slide
up and presto, more rooms to explore.  Take the one on the right first
(technically, when the game is working right, it would be open before you
can enter the metal door).  This is two rooms of ice, with a few
buttons.  Pressing them opens up a portal to the Fire level, although the
walls in the area you go to will match the metal level.  In here there
are rusty walls and a very, very long drop.  Creep around the edge... and
when you are almost all the way around... the wall pushes you off!
Quickly, use those wings to fly!  Or for the skillful (like me) who can
see it coming (the wall looks different), you can try and set it off
without falling.  Either way, the fall will kill you, even in god-mode.
In fact, when god-mode is on and you die, you can't restart the level, it
takes you to the menu instead.  So save often!

After the trap is set off, the lava floor of the pit will rise up to
you.  It rises very fast, but has an amazing long way to go, so it takes
a few seconds.  Once it is up, jump down there and get onto the bridge
that goes across the lava to a round platform.  There is a switch here
that causes "distant rumbling"... it is raising some stairs in 7 Portals
(stairs that lead to the 2nd of the three switches... but you cheated and
pulled it already, cheater!).  From here exit back to the lava area and
take the portal back to 7 Portals.  You can climb the stairs if you want
and get some tone in your legs, or go to the ice level again and take the
left corridor this time.  (Take note!  Pulling those switches does not
actually open the two doors... just *walking* next to them does.  The
three switches themselves all control the big gold doors.  I found this
out later after experimenting a bit).

Back to the ice level, into the metal door on the left.  It's got a neato
trap room, and an ice room with some guys in it.  On t he backside of a
pillar in that room is a switch.  If you pull it and hold still, you will
be pumped full of poison darts.  If you pull it and move, the darts miss
but two nasty nasty guys with shields attack you.  They are hard to kill
because when those shields are up they can't be hurt, and can reflect
most spells back at you!  Fortunately, they don't raise their shields
till after you hit them.  So just try not to hit them with lots of little
spells. Instead, use one or two big ones!  (oh yeah, the all-weapons code
is "CRHINEHART" you cheater you... normally only the 2nd weapon can be
found for each character in single-player mode).

The final area to visit is beyond those big gold doors in 7 Portals.  In
there are many nasty things... after you kill all the serpents more doors
rotate open to the south, and more of the shield-guys attack.  Once you
kill all of them a glittery bridge appears further south leading towards
the final portal (which is disabled).  Watch that drop!  It is a
loooooooooooooooooooooong one!  I used the wings and it took me forever
and a day to reach the bottom safely.  Notice that there is a gap in the
wall on the left... you can make a running jump to go in there and find
more surprises (namely some mana and wings of wrath... oh yeah, two
serpents too, in close quarters, fun).  If you miss the jump you will die
though...

Up by the portal is more mana, and the first piece of weapon #4!  If you
sneak around behind the portal, there is also a "combined" mana that you
can grab, which is the *only* green mana available in single-player mode
so far...

Thats it.  Thats all the rooms you can get to.  If you want _more_ you
have to play multi-player, in which case ALL those bronze doors open for
you and you can see more of the ice level.  Besides, deathmatch is so
much cooler, not to mention that you can find all the weapons and items
that way...

(After writing the above I finally got the clipping code, RJOHNSON.  Now
you CAN go anywhere!)


***************
*[Cheat Codes]*
***************

BGOKEY = God mode
CRHINEHART = All weapons + full mana
MRAYMONDJUDY = All keys (one of them looks like a little axe, cool!)
BRAFFEL = 25 of each item (this will not give you the firemask or other
"one of a kind" items).
REVEAL = same as IDDT in doom.  Useable only in map mode.  Shows you lots
of neat places you can't go.
SGURNO = 100% health
JSUMWALT = coordinate display
EBIESSMAN = pig mode ;)
RRETTENMUND = ticker to count your framerate (like Doom's devparm mode)
MWAGABAZA## = Script (01-99) I have no idea what this does!
KSHILDER = sound debug.  Shows info
BPELLETIER## = warp.  The setup warp shows you can go up to map 41.
Although, like Doom II, I'm sure you can do more if you correctly name
them into a WAD.
RJOHNSON = No clipping mode.  go through walls!  No clipping means you
will
fall through the sparkle bridge at the end of 7 Portals and die unless
you can recover quickly.

Also, ala Heretic, the previous games cheat codes will hurt you!
RAMBO = takes all your weapons away except #1
QUICKEN = instant death!

Another important key is the F5 button.  It is for suicide... useful in
deathmatch because sometimes you "fall" into the floor by accident and
get a hall-of-mirrors effect.  I don't know why it happens, but it is
annoying.  If you have a teleporter, or wings of wrath, you can get out
of it without killing yourself.

Here's some other interesting keys:  All the numbers above 4 activate
certain artifacts (if you have them in stock).  this proves that the beta
does have all the weapons (unless something changes!)... this is sad
because four per player doesn't seem like nearly enough!  But I do think
that a multi-player cooperative game would be very nice to mix the
weaponry
up a bit!

5 = Icon of the defender
6 = Quartz Flask
7 = Dark Servant
8 = Flechette
9 = Banishment Device
0 = Chaos Device
\ = Disk of Repulsion
<backspace> = Porkulator

I certainly hope these become editable in the near future!

***********
*[Weapons]*
***********
All classes have four weapons.  The fourth weapon must be made up of
three separate pieces before it can work.  The first weapon does not need
any mana.  The second uses blue, the third uses green, and the fourth
uses lots of both.  This is true for all three classes.  Also note that
in multi-player mode you CAN pick up items that belong to other classes,
but you can't use them.  I think there is a code that lets you change
classes during the game, but I don't have it yet.


Fighter:

#1 - fists.  These suck, but at least they have more range than you would
expect of your arms!  The fighter can land three punches in quick
succession on a target, so he can deal out more damage quickly than the
other 2 classes.  Note that the 3rd punch will have very slow recovery
though.  It is a good idea to either back up a bit, or stop after 2 and
restart again.

#2 - Timon's axe.  This glows with blue mana, and makes a flash when you
hit someone.  It uses blue mana, but only when you actually hit someone.
If you beat on the wall with it it will make the flashes but not cost mana.

#3 - Hammer of retribution (name?).  This can be used with or without
mana, and is about 2 times more powerful than the fists (or so).  If you
have green mana, and swing it without hitting anyone, it will spend mana
to fire a "flaming hammer" out that explodes. This is much more powerful
than the hammer itself.  If you do hit someone, whether you have mana or
not, it will just thump them without using any mana.

#4 - Quietus (sp?).  This is a big sword that has green flames on it.  It
uses blue and green mana (about 12 or 15 of each, it uses more green than
blue) and fires a spread of 5 or 6 green fireballs which are quite
powerful.  It fires them weather or not you are at close range to
someone.  I think that the sword itself doesn't actually hit anyone like
the hammer does, just the fireballs.  So you can only use it if you have
enough mana.


Cleric:

#1 - Mace of something-or-other.  As powerful as the fighters fists, but
slower recovery.  It doesn't have the extra-slow recovery of that third
punch though.

#2 - Serpent staff.  This thing blinks once in a while!  Anyway, at long
range it fires two green wavy fireballs that hit for poison damage.  At
close range, it hits continuously draining the victims life and giving it
to you!  Uses blue mana (1 per shot, not sure how much when you drain)

#3 - Fire hands (name?).  Fires a streak of fire across the ground,
exploding if you hit someone with it.  Does good damage, uses green
mana.  It has a limited range, but that range is pretty good.  You just
can't fire it across huge chasms.  Note that even though the fire travels
on the ground, you can still shoot it up.  The fire makes a path any
direction you fire... it just happens that most of the time this happens
to be along the ground.

#4 - Big nasty cross whos name I forget.  This thing is pure evil!  Fires
a big gray burst that splinters into four ghosts.  These ghosts fly out
in a straight spread if no enemies are nearby, or fly in circles around
nearby villains.  They do a lot of damage as they fly around, and scream
all the time.  When they kill someone, they look for another victim to
fly around.  They do disappear after a little while though, or if there
are no more enemies.


Mage:

#1 - Wand.  This is like the elven wand... unlimited range, but weak.  It
does have neat looking tracers though.

#2 - Frozen shards.  This is cool.  Uses 3 blue mana to fire a *big*
spread of icicles.  Each icicle does a little damage, but there are about
12 or so per volley, so it adds up at close range.  Also, you fire more
straight than you do spreading, so even at long range you can hit one
target with about half of the shards.  When a target dies from these,
instead of falling he becomes frozen.  After a few seconds, or if he is
hit with something else, or falls, the frozen guy will shatter into lots
of pieces.  These pieces sit on t he ground and slowly melt away.  Pretty
cool.  If a player dies by this, his screen turns blue, and he dies like
normal, but the point of view does not fall to the ground.  You can watch
your killer move around, and then you shatter and the POV falls.

#3 - Arc of death.  This is a bolt of electricity that follows the
ceiling AND the ground.  If it hits someone, it stays on them and hurts
them for about 3 seconds.  After it hits, it "locks on" to that person.
So if they move it will follow.  If you move VERY fast, you can outrun it
after it locks, but not usually.

#4 - Huge skull staff.  Forget the name of this one too, but it fires
three incredibly powerful fireballs.  Each one is capable of killing any
of the creatures I have met so far in one hit, as well as the players
(except the fighter if he has a really high AC... but even then he is
very near death, and thats from ONE of the three fireballs).  Uses 12 of
each color mana.

*************
*[Artifacts]*
*************
First, these items are directly descended from Heretic:

Wings of Wrath:  Let you fly for about a minute or so.  The time seems to
be unlimited though if you have god-mode on.

Quartz Flask:  Gives you about 25% health back.  These will be used
*AUTOMATICLY* when your life hits 0.

Mystic Urn:  Gives you 100% health back.  These will be used AUTOMATICLY
when your life hits 0, but only AFTER you run out of Quartz Flasks.

Chaos Device:  Teleports you to the player1 starting point of the level.

Torch:  Well, duh!

Now for some new stuff!

Banishment Device:  Like a Chaos Device, but you use it on others
instead!  It fires a neat-o pattern of rings.  Whoever gets hit by it
(monsters included) gets teleported to the player-1 start position of the
level.  For some real fun, transport a bunch of MEAN monsters, then hit
another player to send him into the thick of them!

Boots of Speed:  What can I say?  They make you run faster.

Dragonskin Bracers:  These glowing purple bracers increase your AC by 4
when you use them.

Disk of Repulsion:  Makes ALL enemies within a certain range of you get
pushed AWAY.  Can be used to get out of corners, smash guys into the
wall, or push guys of the cliff (great fun here!).  Pushing people into
the wall does do damage to them, but not very much it seems.  I had to
use 5 disks to kill an Ettin.

Dark Servant:  Too cool!  When used, you toss a Maulator "voodoo" doll
out a few feet.  Sometimes it sits there and you can pick it up again.
Sometimes it becomes a giant Maulotor for 30 seconds to pummel your
enemies!  The success rate seems to be based on your class.  The fighter
can't get it to work very often, the cleric sometimes, and the mage most
of
the time.  Also, the Maulotor can attack *you* too, but he seems to
attack the mage very rarely.  Perhaps the stronger magic skill means he
has better control?

Porkulator:  Just like the morph ovum of Heretic, but it turns people
into pigs!  Note that when you are a pig now, you can use items.  Anyone
who is a pig can throw the green flechette flasks as though they were the
fighter.  Wings of wrath can make you a flying pig (Pig of Wrath!).

Flechette:  The green flasks.  Each class uses these differently.  The
fighter chucks them forward and they bounce off of the walls and floor.
It explodes when it either hits someone, or comes to rest for 3 seconds.
The cleric drops it right where he stands (run!), then it quickly explodes
into a noxious cloud for about a minute.  Anyone walking into this cloud
suffers poison damage.  The screen turns green and they cough a lot. Even
after they leave the cloud, they will take damage while the screen slowly
fades back to normal.  The mage drops these like the Timebomb in heretic.
it explodes very quickly!  This is one of the most plentiful artifacts in
Hexen.

Scroll with the blue rune on it:  This raises the life of all three
classes to 100%.  Also, when the cleric uses it near any dead monster (I havn't
tryed it in deathmatch yet) that monster comes back to life.  No creature
can be "reserected" more than once though.  If you try a second time they
disapear in a puff of smoke.  Does anyone know what the fighter and mage
do with it?

Icon of the Defender:  This gives you invincibility without changing the
color of your screen, which is handy.  It also has side effects which are
different for each class.  The cleric seems to fade in and out, a kind of
temporary invisibility I think.  The fighter and mage do not have any
effects visible in single-player mode.  I will check multi-player soon to
see what I look like when I use them.

Chalice:  Again, don't know the full name here.  But this artifact, when
used will fill your mana levels to the max.

************
*[Monsters]*
************
So far I have only run into 5 monsters in the beta.  There are a few
places where there are monsters in multi-player, but not in single player (just
like many artifacts and weapons).

Ettin - The first monster you will probably see is the two-headed brown
beastie wielding a mace.  His attack is hand-to-hand range only, so he is
not a major threat.  All the players hand weapons have a greater range
than he does (even the fighters punch!).  Typically takes about 5 or 6
hits to kill using the weakest weapon of any class.

Fire gargoyles - These creatures resemble the gargoyles from Heretic, but
they are on fire!  They are also much smarter:  They shoot fireballs at
you in bursts of three, and the strafe side to side quickly when they fire,
maiking them very hard to hit.  A fire gargoyle in its "resting" state
looks like a gray fiery sphere.  When you "wake them up" they unfold into
themselves.

Chaos Serpents - D'Sparil rode one of these at the very end of Heretic.
It is a large (taller than you) creature that shoots fireballs at you or
bites at close range.  They are not nearly as hard to kill as the one in
Heretic, but they are still trouble, and usually appear in groups of two or
three.

Icey guys - These can not normally be found in single-player games unless
you use the cheat codes to go to them.  They look like Swamp Thing but
bluish and made of ice instead of green moss.  They fire spreads of ice
shards that have the same effect as the mages #2 weapon.  When you kill
these guys (with any weapon) they shatter like an icicle.

Centaurs - These creatures are tough to kill.  They don't have a lot of
hit points, but everytime you hit them they raise their shield and become
invulnerable (and can reflect most spells).  After they drop their shield
they can be hurt again.

*****************
*[Hidden texts!]*
*****************
The following info was posted by Kyle Hofmann on usenet.  He found this
text buried in hexen.exe

   [begin Seven Portals ending text]

   Having passed the seven portals which sealed this realm, a vast domain
of harsh wilderness stretches before you.  Fire, ice, and steel have
tested you, but greater challenges remain ahead.  The dense tangle of
forest surely hides hostile eyes, but what lies beyond will be worse.
Barren deserts, dank swamps, and musty caverns bar your way, but you
cannot let anything keep you from your fate, even if you might come to
wish that it would.  And beyond, flickering in the distance, the ever
shifting wall of the hypostyle seem to mock your every effort.  Your mind
still reeling from your encounters within the hypostyle, you stagger
toward what you hope is a way out.
   Things seem to move faster and faster; your vision blurs and begins to
fade... as the world collapses around you, the brightness of a teleportal
engulfs you.  A flash of light, and then you climb wearily to your feet.
You stand atop a high tower, and from below come the screams of the
damned.  You step forward, and instantly the sound of demonic chanting
fills your blood.  By all the gods of death!  What place have you come
to?  By all the gods of pain, how will you ever find a way out?  The
mightiest artifacts and weapons of the ancients barely sufficed to defeat
the heresiarch mand his minions, but now their foul remain lie at your
feet.  Gathering the last of your strength, you prepare to enter the
portal which leads from the heresiarch's sanctum.  Above you, the
ramparts of an immense castle loom.  Silent towers and bare walls
surround a single spire of black stone, which lies square in the center
of the castle like a brooding giant.  Fire and shadow twist behind gaping
windows, dozens of baleful eyes glaring down upon you.  Somewhere within,
your enemies are waiting... "...and he shall journet to the realms of the
dead, and contest with the forces therein, unto the very gates of
despair.  But whether he shall return again to the world of light, no man
knows."




   Damn.


   Damn damn damn damn damn damn damn.

   [end text]

  Now for the end game text:

   [begin text]

   With a scream of agony you are wrenched from this world to another,
every part of your body wreathed in mystic fire.  When your vision
clears, you find yourself standing in a great hall, filled with ghostly
echoes and menacing shadows.  In the distance you can see a raised dias,
and upon it the only source of light in this world.  This can only be the
chaos sphere, the source of Korax's power.  With this, you can create
worlds... or destroy them.  By rights of battle and conquest it is yours,
and with trembling hands you reach to grasp it.  Perhaps, now, a new
player will join the cosmic game of power.  Like the pawn who is promoted
to queen, suddenly the very reaches of the board seem to be within your
grasp.
  But there are other players mightier than you, and who can know their
next moves?

   [end text]


***************
*[Script Info]*
***************

Ever wonder what those scripts do?  In Doom, when you crossed a linedef
that triggered an action, it simply sent the action number to any sectors
that shared its activation number.  In Hexen, linedefs activate "scripts"
that can do any amount of actions.  An example is in the "Guardian of Ice"
level, when you place the firemask in the proper slot, two doors open to
the sides of the room showing lava flows going beneath the floor.  A
pillar of ice in the center of the room slowly melts down to a puddle,
bringing down the fire key, then the two doors close again.  This all
happens from putting the firemask into the one slot!

Each level can have as many as 99 scripts, although none of the levels in
the beta use more than 35 I think.  You can activate scripts by using the
code "MWAGABAZA" and it will ask you "Activate which script (01-99)?".
Type in two numbers and there ya go.  Most scripts will not have any
visible effect, since many just open doors and you usually are not near
them when you do it ;)  Some do major things though.  One script in
"guardian of Ice" lowers *ALL* ceilings to the floor, which really
sucks.  So be careful, and expect to reload your game once in a while.

Also, some scripts are running continuously.  An example would be a script
that makes the lights of a hallway blink on and off in a pattern (like the
corridor leading to the fire key).  When you try and activate these, you
do not get a "activating script number ##" message because it is already
running.  This script system is VERY similar to the programmable elevator
system in Dark Forces.  Note also that if no script exists, a message pops
up saying that it couldn't find that script number.

I will be adding to this list almost continously, watch for changes.

[Level 1 scripts]
01 Really messes the map up!
02 Opens first swinging door.
03 sets off fire ball traps.
04 opens gold doors behind glass? Maybe not.
05 opens something or other. Probably on other side of map.
06 opens gold doors wider. Can be done forever..
08 "the door is locked" message.
15 sets doors to crush.
17 opens final portal. Could be 16..

[2 Seven Portals]
01 I had to do this twice.. Not sure.. Opens first gold door.
10 doesn't exist? a few others don't give the script prompt also.
[this is probably a continous script.  See my note above]
18 lifts all middle stairs?
19 Opens Top gold door?
26 "Greating Mortal" Are you Ready to Die?
29 Brings down metal tower usually holding the second weapon.
31 -32 opens gold doors to the sides.. Not the middle right though.

[3 Guardian of Ice]
02 Do not activate! Lowers main circular section. By going there you
activate it twice and it just looks bad with all the HOM.
03 Don't activate closes off section imediately to the left when you start.
04 opens gold doors to room with emerald key
06 opens gold doors to room with emerald key, then opens door at
   top of steps.  Can be done again and again to open doors wider.
07 in room behind swinging doors, lowers 4 lifts around final portal
   to reveal monsters.
08 Don't activate Brings ceiling to floor! Major Hom. Can't move.
19 Turns on light in the shape of a sword pointing to the door right and
left in the circ main area. You can now access to fire key to the right
if you have the mask and the steel key to the left.
11 says "the door is locked"
12 starts crushing ceilings near silver key
14 allows access to teleporter in center of room behind swinging doors.
15 causes gold doors near emerald key room to open and close.
16 after a short delay, causes various doors to open in room with
   emerald key, revealing monsters.


*****************
*[WAD file info]*
*****************
This is just the beginning of the info, and is not very detailed yet.

The format is close to the Heretic/Doom type, although the level names
are MAP01 MAP02 etc, more like Doom II.  There are some big changes too
so none of the current editors will load them without some tweaking.

The THINGS entries are twice as long, and have the following
format:

0. tag number?
1. x position
2. y position
3. bitmask of some sort?
4. angle
5. thing type
6. thing options (some extra bits have been added)
7. bit mask of some sort?
8. ?
9. ?

The LINEDEFS entries are one field longer, and have the following
format:

0. from vertex
1. to vertex
2. flags
3. data for trigger lines?
4. lower byte is code of some sort for trigger lines?
   upper byte contains code of what happens?
5. additional data for trigger lines?
6. right sidedef
7. left sidedef or -1

The other level resources look generally the same.  (The above info,
sketchy as it is, should be enough to at least make it possible to
write something to allow the levels to be loaded into an editor.)

This info was sent to me by Paul Falstad.  He also writes about the
following, which I believe is the scripting info for the levels.

There's a BEHAVIOR resource for each level, which looks really
scary.  The format looks like a mini wad file.

  first 4 bytes: ACS\0
  next 4 bytes: longword offset of directory
  ...data...

The directory starts with a longword containing the number of entries,
followed by the entries, which consist of three longwords.  The first
longword is an identifying number of some sort; the first few entries
have id numbers of 1, 2, 3, 4, etc. but the later entries have seemingly
arbitrary numbers.  The next longword is an offset to the entry data
itself.  I don't know what the third longword is.

I have no idea what the actual data that the entries are pointing to is.
It's probably some compiled language of some sort, so I'm not optimistic
about figuring out what it does.  It looks like a series of longwords,
which are instruction codes of some sort.  I don't know what they do,
except for 0x4f and 0x34, which look like jump instructions of some sort
(they have longword offsets following them).  Also, 0x01 is probably
a "return" instruction, since it occurs at the end of each entry.

After the directory is a longword containing a count, followed by
that many longwords, which are offsets to strings.  The strings are
things like "GlassShatter", "FireDemonAttack", "THE DOOR IS LOCKED", etc.
This would indicate that the BEHAVIOR data allows you to attach
arbitrary sounds and strings to a linedef.

All this info (I believe) will eventually turn into a working knowladge of
how the scripting system works.  My guess is it has a limited set of
commands for moving linedefs and such, as well as triggering sounds and
messages.  This will make level building more difficult, but will be an
immense tool of power for making fantastic levels!


---------------------------------------------------------------------------
If anyone has extra info, email me at [e-mail].  Please only
send useful information, not stuff like misspellings (of which there are
many, I know).  I will get the names of the items and weapons tomorrow
too, but if anyone has the real names of each creature, please let me know.

Feel free to add this to any web page or whatever, although you probably
wont want to till I get the better version (ie, correctly spelled!) out.
Make sure you give me credit for it too!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Arne Michaelsen - keeper of the FAQ, email: [e-mail]

Special thanks to:
Todd Wagner <[e-mail]>.... for many cheat codes and activation keys.
Killian <[e-mail]>............ for listing a lot of scripts.
Deird'Re M. Brooks <[e-mail]>............. for the clipping code.
Paul Falstad <[e-mail]>........................... for the tech details.
Kyle Hofmann <[e-mail]>...................... for the hidden text.