JHeretic 0.90 ============== by Jaakko Keränen Enhanced version of Heretic 1.3, the classic Doom-based first person shooter by Raven Software. ABOUT THIS VERSION ------------------ This is a beta version, so expect to run into problems and odd things. See the end of this file for a list of known bugs and other issues, with tips of how to get around them if possible. However, I have for example played through the first episode in one go without encountering any problems, so it's quite likely there aren't any fatals bugs left (I'll keep my fingers crossed :-)). REQUIREMENTS ------------ - Windows 95/98/NT - accelerated OpenGL or Direct3D (DX6) - DirectX 3 or newer (DirectX 6 for multiplayer games) - Heretic (preferably v1.3) FEATURES -------- - works with both the shareware and registered Heretic - unrestricted mouse look - enhanced menus * keyboard, mouse and joystick configuration * graphics options * sound and music options - freely resizable status bar - Quake-style console - dynamic lights (might be a tad slow) - lens flares - multiplayer games using DirectPlay - and more... INSTALLATION ------------ Unzip the files in the package into a directory of your choosing, possibly the one Heretic is in. You can start the game using one of the batch files or directly with Doomsday.exe using the appropriate command-line options (-game and -gl are the most important ones). NOTE: If you aren't installing into the Heretic directory, you'll have to use the -file option to specify heretic.wad, or add it to "defaultWads" in the configuration file (jheretic.cfg). OPTIONS ------- -a3d: Enable A3D. Otherwise DirectSound is used. -gl : Specifies the renderer to use (drOpenGL.dll by default). -nofullscreen: Start the game in a window. -width : Specify the dimensions of the game window/screen. -height -bpp : Specify the color depth to use in the game. -dump : Writes out the specified lump and quits. -dumpwaddir: Prints the names of all the lumps and quits. -nosound: Don't initialize sound or music. -nosfx: Don't initialize sound. -nomusic: Don't initialize music. -novideo: Don't initialize video. -timedemo : Plays demo and measures the maximum FPS. -outlines: All letters, sprites, etc. will have black outlines. Basically all the old Heretic options are working, for instance: -skill : Set the difficulty level (0-4, 2=normal). -deathmatch: For deathmatch, otherwise co-op. -nomonsters: No monsters. -warp : Start in map . Options for the Direct3D renderer: -driver : Choose the driver to use, if several are available. -texbits: Texture color depth (16 or 32). -zbits: Z-buffer depth (16, 24 or 32). -nodither: Disable dithering. -badtexalpha: If possible, choose the texture format with less alpha bits. Options for the OpenGL renderer: -allowsoftware: Allow using the software renderer if there is no hardware accelerated OpenGL. TIPS ---- - Type 'help' in the console. 'listcmds' and 'listvars' will show you a list of the console commands and variables, respectively. - Screenshots can be taken with the console command 'screenshot'. You could for example bind it to F12: 'bind f12 screenshot'. - You can bind several keys or buttons to the same control/action in the Controls menu. Rebind a key or button to remove a binding. Binding a control or action to the tilde key (console activation) removes all the bindings for the control or action. Nothing can be bound to the Esc key, which is used for menu activation. - By default, the desktop color depth is used in the game. - The current implementation of the dynamic lights is a bit slow when there are a lot of luminous objects to draw. The console variable 'dynlights' controls the rendering of the dynamic lights. Just set it to zero if things slow down too much. You can also use 'maxdl' to set the maximum number of dynamic lights. Notice that if you're using lens flares, many of the dynamic light calculations must still be done... - If the screen borders flicker when sizing down the view, you have two options: 1) don't size down the view or 2) set the 'borderupd' console variable to 1 (also in the Graphics menu). This can happen especially with the D3D renderer. KNOWN BUGS & OTHER ISSUES ------------------------- - The sound code is unchanged from the original Heretic, so it may appear a bit strange at times. - The D3D renderer doesn't yet support display mode changes, so you'll have to restart the game if you want to change the resolution when using it. - Small gaps can be noticeable in the ceilings and roofs in certain maps. - Due to inaccuracies in the original map data, it is possible to encounter quite large holes in the walls, roofs and ceilings. Use glBSP to get rid of them (http://www.netspace.net.au/~ajapted/glbsp.html). - Sprites are two-dimensional so they look flat when viewed from up or down at a steep angle. If this is too distracting, try setting 'spralign' to one or use the Graphics Effects menu to change the sprite alignment. - Multiplayer games work in Windows NT if you have DirectPlay 6. HOW TO CONTACT ME ----------------- Bug reports and all other JHeretic-related email to . If you think you've found a bug, please include your Doomsday.out, system configuration and all other relevant information (operating system, driver versions, etc.) about your computer in your description of what happened when the bug manifested itself.