Hexen v1.1 to "retail store beta" downgrader

Since it seems there's nothing like this out there yet, I thought I'd create a downgrader which turns Hexen v1.1 into the "retail store beta" version, even if the beta is not as difficult to find from the open, public Internet as it used to be.

This is the full beta version which leaked to the warez scene before the game's official release date, the one where the cheat codes that got printed in many magazines back in the day ("conan", "martek", etc.) actually work. It is not the same thing as the four level beta demo. This includes all of the maps, and also has a few more differences versus the final game than the beta demo does since it is a slightly earlier build. Altogether it's very close to the final version, though. Don't expect to find anything earth-shattering here even if you haven't seen this version before.

Instructions:

 1. install a fresh copy of the DOS version of Hexen v1.1
 2. copy all files from zip to the same directory
 3. run patcher.exe, press some keys, wait
 4. use hexbcrak.com to remove date check from hexen.exe (also optionally the blinking "BETA" text if it annoys you), or set clock between Sep 26 to Oct 29 1995

Note: This will only work with the later revision of hexen.exe "v1.1", with SHA1 hash of 049bb269018a79a090cb37171c554cfd89a1c42b. This is the version you should have if you INSTALLED the game from the original CD or floppes (or extracted files from the DeICE installer) instead of copying loose files from the CD.

Note2: The patcher is garbage, but hey, at least it's still slightly slicker than a bunch of BAT files that call the unregistered version of a shareware binary patcher tool (MDIFF) with ridiculous artificial delays inserted. ;-) It creates temporary files with the actual xdelta3/VCDIFF data (extracted from patchlib.bin), then calls xdelta3.exe to apply the patches since I couldn't figure out how to get things working via the xdelta3 API yet and wanted to release *something*. This is why there is no progress indicator when it's applying a xdelta3 patch, and why the error messages aren't displayed correctly in the textmode window if xdelta3 fails. The code could also be cleaned up a bit otherwise.

I tested this in PCem set to emulate a 386DX/33 and the patching speed was still tolerable. With 486DX/75 setting it's very tolerable. (in DOSBox with the dynamic core & cycles set to auto it's really fast even on my 6-7 year old laptop, but file timestamps aren't set correctly because vanilla DOSBox can't do it ;)

I tested it with 6-8MB of RAM, so it should work on pretty much every computer where the game itself runs tolerably.

hx11beta.zip

src.zip

edit: also here are the plain vcdiff files (plus the beta's dwango.exe as is) if you want to apply the patches yourself manually using xdelta3:

hex11_to_beta_vcdiffs.zip (then you can use dwango.exe as reference if you want to fix the timestamps using eg. touch)

Ahh, I was afraid Steam (well, Activision Activision®|Blizzard® via Steam) might be selling the earlier broken v1.1 exe, well here's a vcdiff to turn that into the "retail beta" exe (no neat-o patcher package, sorry, maybe later): hex11r1_exe_vcdiff.zip

(again, if you aren't familiar with vcdiff files, you can use xdelta3 or a couple of other alternative tools to apply these, either my decode only DOS build from hx11beta.zip or whatever you can get/build yourself for your primary OS)

Well, here is a page with vcdiff patches (which you need to apply manually) to take hexen.exe & hexen.wad up/down, from any version to any version (plus zips with the support files from the full beta, v1.0 and v1.1, and the date check crack & blink remover for beta exe):

https://hilla.kapsi.fi/~vv/hex_up_down/

I was a bit unsure about the upgrade patches from the full beta to v1.0 or v1.1, but eh, if you wanted the full game for free, it's easier to find v1.0 or v1.1 than the beta anyway (which itself seems to be easier to find nowadays than what I remember it being 15-20 years ago without any special access to scene archives or such, though eventually after spending enough time I did find it from the open web or p2p). I may still remove them... but it just felt appropriate to put those there for completeness.

I also may drop the upgrade patches completely since the official upgrade patches already exist anyway...

Seems that for Heretic a v1.3 retail to v1.0 registered downgrader already exists? What about Strife?

I had no clue that Hexen 1.0 and 1.1 both have different versions within themselves. Always assumed there were only one of each (CDs/floppies I've found seemed to confirm that too). Checking Steam though, there's indeed a different sha1sum from it compared to what I thought I had.

I've got a repo with a lot of patches and the full vanilla dist files in it: https://github.com/Doom-Utils/iwad-patches

I'll probably add this Hexen discovery to it. and think about how to sort out the 1.0/1.1 engines

17 hours ago, xttl said:

Ahh, I was afraid Steam (well, Activision Activision®|Blizzard® via Steam) might be selling the earlier broken v1.1 exe, well here's a vcdiff to turn that into the "retail beta" exe (no neat-o patcher package, sorry, maybe later): hex11r1_exe_vcdiff.zip

 

(again, if you aren't familiar with vcdiff files, you can use xdelta3 or a couple of other alternative tools to apply these, either my decode only DOS build from hx11beta.zip or whatever you can get/build yourself for your primary OS)

Is the GOG version broken as well? Or is it just Steam?

16 hours ago, rzh said:

Is the GOG version broken as well? Or is it just Steam?

"broken" might be a bit of an overstatement actually. :P The only bug that got fixed in v1.1r2 vs. v1.1r1 is quite minor: breaking suits of armor could spawn monsters even if -nomonsters was specified on command line. There is more talk in this older thread here.

I have not personally bought the game on GOG, but I just extracted a GOG Hexen installer I managed to find from somewhere and it contains the older v1.1r1 hexen.exe. It may not be the current version of GOG's installer though, since I didn't actually get it from GOG themselves.

If you want to check your own hexen.exe version in Windows (Vista or newer), you can use certutil on command line

certutil -hashfile hexen.exe SHA1

note: if it says unknown algorithm, make sure you typed SHA1 in allcaps ("sha1" doesn't work in Win7 but MS fixed that some time after Win7)

Here are SHA1 hashes for all known non-beta, full version hexen.exes:

hexen.exe v1.0r1: 8efd52454de3ca04e14e7ca6f6ac7d25bf7a1d69
hexen.exe v1.0r2: 4bc2504d53b06244a7c043bf9a4c7ccfcd87f066
hexen.exe v1.1r1: b0b99b13a2d4f7987d1e918e2289deb9c421e561
hexen.exe v1.1r2: 049bb269018a79a090cb37171c554cfd89a1c42b

...I've been going through different Hexen CD images from the Internets, and also dug up my own original CD from the 1990s (a GT UK/Euro release). Guess what? None have 1.1r2, not inside the installer archive nor as loose files on the CD. :D

When I made that first post I was actually working with a decrypted DeICE installer from the old Quake shareware CD you could buy an unlock key for (or use the widespread keygen...). That installer contains 1.1r2. All the v1.0 CDs I've seen have 1.0r1 as a loose file on the CD (meant for running the game from CD without installing to hard drive), but 1.0r2 inside the DeICE installer's archive. This is why I (mistakenly) assumed any v1.1 DOS Hexen CD-ROMs would have 1.1r2 inside the installer archive, and 1.1r1 as a loose hexen.exe or zcdhex.exe file.

By the way, the official 1.0 to 1.1 update generates hexen.exe 1.1r1.

Now I actually don't know anymore if you could get 1.1r2 any other way than installing it from the TestDrive encrypted "idstuff" installer they put on the Quake shareware CD (or from the "idouts" installers with updated encyption updated TestDrive "shell" they put on rereleases of some of their other games and at their ftp server).
 

Also, the only floppy images I've found from the Internets so far contain a DeICE installer with the 1.0r1 exe, and the official 1.0 to 1.1 upgrade patch that's on idgames and cd.textfiles.com doesn't work with that executable! Only 1.0r2! I don't think there was ever any official patch from 1.0r1 to 1.0r2... Perhaps those who bought this version could have worked something out by contacting id/GT?

24 minutes ago, xttl said:

Now I actually don't know anymore if you could get 1.1r2 any other way than installing it from the TestDrive encrypted "idout" installer they put on the Quake shareware CD.

I just installed through the Quake Shareware CD and using the TestDrive crack. It indeed produces executable 1.1r2.

This sounds like a mystery like was discovered through the id Anthology CD sets, that silently updated Final Doom and nobody really noticed for years.

12 hours ago, chungy said:

This sounds like a mystery like was discovered through the id Anthology CD sets, that silently updated Final Doom and nobody really noticed for years.

Yes, the id Anthology situation came to my mind as well.

I don't even know anymore if they sold any DOS v1.1 (1.1r1 or 1.1r2) CDs at all...

I was sure I had 1.1 on CD, but my own CD is also 1.0. I had not looked at the disc in a long time, I got it for christmas when I was barely 10 years old and it's actually in a quite sorry condition nowadays. :P

I did remember downloading the 1.0 to 1.1 patch from a BBS and being disappointed about how they removed the trick to skip the castle hub almost entirely... but I also wasn't sure if I got an illicit copy of 1.0 from someone before pestering my parents to get the game for me, perhaps after losing said copy due to bad floppy disks, or just for the CD audio tracks (since I was stuck with a FM only soundcard).

All the CD images I've found from the Internets so far either have the same v1.0 files on the first track (1.0r1 as loose exe file, 1.0r2 inside installer's archive), or they're Hexen 95 CDs which also have 1.1r1 for DOS as loose files (the old DeICE installer has been completely replaced with a simple batch file).

edit: checked out a few more and it's still only v1.0s and Hexen95 + 1.1r1s, I give up.

also, the MJ3 files are identical(!) between the Quake shareware CD and the newer games/ftp, so they must all contain the same version (and use the same obfuscation method) even though the shell was updated so that keys from the old keygen cannot make it deobfuscate the MJ3s anymore... but this is getting off-topic