HacX 1.2 for DOS based on MBF 2.04

This is a DOS port of HacX 1.2 based on Gerwin Broers' MBF Maintenance Release 2.04, with additional sound code for GENMIDI/OPL3 playback by @ludicrous_peridot. You will need the HacX 1.2 IWAD to play:

• hx12dos.zip -- binary executable package (alternate download: hx12dos.zip)
• hxmbf_s.zip -- source code (alternate download: hxmbf_s.zip)

The port takes full advantage of MBF fixes and performance improvements. I've also made a few other, mostly cosmetic changes:

• restored the original title screen with a subtle change that it now says "made for DOOM II engine" instead of "made for DOOM II)
  
• restored the original invulnerability palette
  
• a custom automap colour scheme, based on that from Strife but with green instead of blue
  
  I think it works pretty well with HacX' status bar design.
• added full support for HUD font palswap to enable working menus and help screen
  
  
  The non-blue font colours (and the background tile) match the fonts used in the original HacX installer.
• since HacX does not have custom par times, I removed their display from the tally screen altogether
  

I had to make a few other code tweaks to match HacX behaviour and logic. For example, while the original DOS version is based on DOOM II v1.9, player armour can go above 200% when you pick armour bonuses ("dampeners"), like in DOOM v1.2. This is reproduced when you play HacX v1.2 in ZDoom, although I've not found where exactly it is modified, but does not work automatically in MBF. Thankfully, MBF 2.04 has a v1.2 compatibility mode, so I only had the alter the code a bit to make it work.

I also turned off item translucency (applied when translucency is enabled in MBF options) for pickups that are meant to be solid objects, such as the Body Armour (Megasphere) or Force Field (Invulnerability). Global translucency is still turned off by default to give the game a more vanilla look.

Since neither the v1.1 nor v1.2 demos worked properly in MBF, I recorded new demos taking place in the same levels.

The port takes advantage of @ludicrous_peridot's modified Allegro library that enables the use of the GENMIDI lump (DMXOPL is included) for OPL music playback.

And yes, you can turn on the optional helper dogs to play around. The port uses the libre versions by @Nash from GZDoom.

I also included multiplayer drivers IPXHACX.EXE and SERHACX.EXE, which are modified IPXBOOM.EXE and SERBOOM.EXE from the original BOOM 2.02 distribution that recognise HACX.EXE as a valid executable. I was able to start up a co-op multiplayer game using IPXHACX.EXE using two instances of DOSBox running on the same computer (as described here).

30 minutes ago, MrFlibble said:

For example, while the original DOS version is based on DOOM II v1.9, player armour can go above 200% when you pick armour bonuses ("dampeners"), like in DOOM v1.2.

What about health bonuses? If you pick up a Body Armour, your health turns 400, but walking over a health bonus or a supercharge (Citrofinatocin, or how it's called there) results in decreasing it back to 200.

Nice work!

1 minute ago, Dimon12321 said:

What about health bonuses? If you pick up a Body Armour, your health turns 400, but walking over a health bonus or a supercharge (Citrofinatocin, or how it's called there), it turns 200.

I've checked this with the original (freeware) DOS version too. Body Armour indeed gives you 400 health and this is done via the DEHACKED patch (so it works in MBF without any need for code changes), and picking up Centrophenoxine ups you to 200% health like the regular Soul Sphere. But picking any MicroKits will not increase health beyond 200% -- neither do Health Bonuses in Doom 1.2, where the Soul Sphere actually gives you +100 health to a maximum of 199 (which is cool in a certain way).

Thanks to JS-DOS, this is now playable in browser as well:

https://www.dosgamesarchive.com/play/hacx

BTW, I noticed that the v1.2 HACX.WAD seems to no longer play 100% accurately in recent GZDoom builds. For example, the samurai statue found early on in MAP09 does not morph into a Monstruct, although it does so both in HACX 1.1 under DOS and in HACX 1.2 with ZDoom 2.8.1.

On 6/17/2024 at 7:12 PM, MrFlibble said:

Thanks to JS-DOS, this is now playable in browser as well:

https://www.dosgamesarchive.com/play/hacx

 

BTW, I noticed that the v1.2 HACX.WAD seems to no longer play 100% accurately in recent GZDoom builds. For example, the samurai statue found early on in MAP09 does not morph into a Monstruct, although it does so both in HACX 1.1 under DOS and in HACX 1.2 with ZDoom 2.8.1.

Might a commit broke this one, if you want, I would suggest opening an issue to GZDoom forum, or even better, at their Github page

(better to test a nightly release before)