Difference between revisions of "Commander Keen in Keen Must Die!"
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Revision as of 21:25, 12 February 2021
Developers | |
---|---|
id Software | |
Publishers | |
Apogee Software | |
Europe | Precision Software |
Release dates | |
DOS | December 14, 1990 |
Windows (DOSBox) | August 3, 2007 |
Taxonomy | |
Series | Commander Keen |
Key points
- Also known as Commander Keen: Episode 3
- Use F5 to save in-game
General information
- Commander Keen wiki
- Public Commander Keen Forum
- Commander Keen Fan Site
- GOG.com Support Page
- Steam Community Discussions
Availability
Source | DRM | Notes | Keys | OS |
---|---|---|---|---|
Retail | Commander Keen in Invasion of the Vorticons | |||
GOG.com | Commander Keen Complete Pack. Pre-packaged with DOSBox. |
|||
Steam | Commander Keen Complete Pack. Pre-packaged with DOSBox.[1] |
|||
Publisher website (unavailable) | Commander Keen in Invasion of the Vorticons. Pre-packaged with DOSBox. |
Version differences
Commander Keen in Invasion of the Vorticons
The retail release of the game, which includes the first 3 episodes of the series: Commander Keen in Marooned on Mars, Commander Keen in The Earth Explodes, and Commander Keen in Keen Must Die!
Commander Keen Complete Pack
A compilation pack containing the entire Commander Keen series (excluding the final episode Commander Keen in Aliens Ate My Baby Sitter! and the "lost" episode Commander Keen in Keen Dreams).
All games in the pack are pre-configured to run with DOSBox.
Essential improvements
Patches
Unfortunately Keen was from an era of computing before downloadable patches were a norm. Instead, a fully patched version of the game would be sent in the mail. The old version had to be uninstalled and deleted and the updated copy installed in its place. As the update is already the full game, it would be illegal to distribute it. Luckily, Several dedicated fans have made homebrewed patches to update (or downgrade if you want) every official keen game. These patches edit the files to make the changes, no warez used! The original discussion thread for them can be found here.
- An unofficial fan fix that fixes additional issues not addressed in the latest official patch can be found here.
Episode launcher
A launcher for the entire Keen series can be found here (runs in DOSBox). For a modified version of this same launcher that also supports Keen Dreams (for people whom don't have the native Steam version), try the following:
- Episode launcher
@ECHO OFF :MENU CLS REM All episodes must be in the same folder contrary REM to the original launcher this one was based on. ECHO. ECHO =========================================================================== ECHO ======================= COMMANDER KEEN COLLECTION ========================= ECHO =========================================================================== ECHO. ECHO Invasion of the Vortices (1-3): ECHO. ECHO 1 - Commander Keen 1 Marooned On Mars (1990)(Apogee Software) ECHO 2 - Commander Keen 2 The Earth Explodes (1990)(Apogee Software) ECHO 3 - Commander Keen 3 Keen Must Die (1990)(Apogee Software) ECHO. ECHO Goodbye, Galaxy! (4-6): ECHO. ECHO 4 - Commander Keen 4 Secret Of The Oracle (1991)(Apogee Software Ltd) ECHO 5 - Commander Keen 5 The Armageddon Machine (1991)(Apogee Software Ltd) ECHO 6 - Commander Keen 6 Aliens Ate My Baby Sitter (1991)(Formgen) ECHO. ECHO Other (The Lost Episode): ECHO. ECHO 7 - Commander Keen Dreams (1991)(Softdisk Publishing) ECHO. CHOICE /c1234567q/n Choose a number (Press Q to Quit): IF ERRORLEVEL 8 GOTO EXIT IF ERRORLEVEL 7 GOTO KEEN7 IF ERRORLEVEL 6 GOTO KEEN6 IF ERRORLEVEL 5 GOTO KEEN5 IF ERRORLEVEL 4 GOTO KEEN4 IF ERRORLEVEL 3 GOTO KEEN3 IF ERRORLEVEL 2 GOTO KEEN2 IF ERRORLEVEL 1 GOTO KEEN1 :KEEN1 CLS ECHO Starting Commander Keen 1... call keen1.exe GOTO MENU :KEEN2 CLS ECHO Starting Commander Keen 2... call keen2.exe GOTO MENU :KEEN3 CLS ECHO Starting Commander Keen 3... call keen3.exe GOTO MENU :KEEN4 CLS ECHO Starting Commander Keen 4... call keen4e.exe GOTO MENU :KEEN5 CLS ECHO Starting Commander Keen 5... call keen5e.exe GOTO MENU :KEEN6 CLS ECHO Starting Commander Keen 6... call keen6c.exe GOTO MENU :KEEN7 CLS ECHO Starting Commander Keen Dreams… call kdreams.exe GOTO MENU :EXIT CLS exit
- The executable names (keen*.exe etc.) may have to be edited to fit your particular version of Keen. There are many versions. You could also replace the executable calls with CKPatch scripts if you wish to keep a customized aspect of the game always that way when you run it.
CKPatch
CKPatch is essentially a tool needed to load some mods (such as total conversions, or even just simple hacking) into the Keen engine. It does so by "patching" the engine in memory, hence it's name. For simple single script patches for Keen 3, look here.
- If loading of a mod/script fails, you may have to uncompress the keen executables using UNP or UNLZEXE.
Source ports
Three reversed engineered source ports are available.
Game data
Configuration file(s) location
System | Location |
---|---|
DOS | |
Windows | <path-to-game>\base3[Note 1]<path-to-game> (mounted in DOSBox)[Note 2] |
Steam Play (Linux) | <SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/9180/pfx/[Note 3] |
Save game data location
System | Location |
---|---|
DOS | |
Windows | <path-to-game>\base3\SAVED*.CK3[Note 1] <path-to-game> (mounted in DOSBox)[Note 2] |
Steam Play (Linux) | <SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/9180/pfx/[Note 3] |
Save game cloud syncing
System | Native | Notes |
---|---|---|
GOG Galaxy | ||
Steam Cloud |
Video
Graphics feature | State | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|
Widescreen resolution | 320x200 only. | ||
Multi-monitor | |||
Ultra-widescreen | |||
4K Ultra HD | |||
Field of view (FOV) | |||
Windowed | Toggle with Alt+↵ Enter (when using DOSBox). | ||
Borderless fullscreen windowed | |||
Anisotropic filtering (AF) | |||
Anti-aliasing (AA) | |||
Vertical sync (Vsync) | For DOSBox use an unofficial build (see the glossary page for other workarounds). | ||
60 FPS and 120+ FPS | 24 fps cap.[2] |
Input
Keyboard and mouse | State | Notes |
---|---|---|
Remapping | Press F3 to alter keymaps. | |
Mouse acceleration | ||
Mouse sensitivity | ||
Mouse input in menus | No mouse support. | |
Mouse Y-axis inversion | ||
Controller | ||
Controller support | Press F4 to toggle on joystick support. Press F3 to toggle on keyboard support. | |
Full controller support | ||
Controller remapping | For DOSBox use the DOSBox Mapper (see the glossary page for other workarounds). | |
Controller sensitivity | ||
Controller Y-axis inversion |
Controller types |
---|
XInput-compatible controllers |
---|
PlayStation controllers |
---|
Generic/other controllers |
---|
Additional information | ||
---|---|---|
Button prompts | ||
Controller hotplugging | ||
Haptic feedback | ||
Digital movement supported | ||
Simultaneous controller+KB/M |
Make space-bar fire
In the earlier Commander Keen games you had to press both the jump and pogo buttons in order to fire, some find that inconvenient.
Use a CKPatch script[3] |
---|
Copy the following into a plaintext editor and when saving be sure to give it a %ext ck3 #Change the controls to: Space, shoot; Enter, status. %patch $11AF $5274W %patch $8D6E $5274W %patch $71C9 $90 $90 $90 $90 $90 $90 $90 $80 $3E $5291W $00 %patch $72FA $90 $90 $90 $90 $90 $90 $90 $80 $3E $5291W $00 %patch $7461 $90 $90 $90 $90 $90 $90 $90 $80 $3E $5291W $00 %patch $7474 $90 $90 %patch $7515 $90 $90 $90 $90 $90 $90 $90 $80 $3E $5291W $00 %patch $76A1 $90 $90 $90 $90 $90 $90 $90 $80 $3E $5291W $00 %patch $7750 $90 $90 $90 $90 $90 $90 $90 $80 $3E $5291W $00 %end Notes
|
Audio
Audio feature | State | Notes |
---|---|---|
Separate volume controls | Press F2 to toggle on/off sound. | |
Surround sound | Uses only PC Speaker for audio (mono channel). | |
Subtitles | Everything is text-based. | |
Closed captions | See note above. | |
Mute on focus lost | Can be enabled through DOSBox's priority settings (use the pause emulation option). |
Localizations
Language | UI | Audio | Sub | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
English |
Other information
API
Technical specs | Supported | Notes |
---|---|---|
DOS video modes | EGA |
System requirements
DOS | ||
---|---|---|
Minimum | Recommended | |
Operating system (OS) | 2.0 | 2.11 |
Processor (CPU) | 8088 / 8086 5 MHz | 80286 |
System memory (RAM) | 640 KB (565 KB free) | |
Hard disk drive (HDD) | 3 MB | |
Video card (GPU) | EGA |
Windows | ||
---|---|---|
Minimum | ||
Operating system (OS) | XP, Vista | |
Processor (CPU) | ||
System memory (RAM) | ||
Hard disk drive (HDD) |
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 When running this game without elevated privileges (Run as administrator option), write operations against a location below
%PROGRAMFILES%
,%PROGRAMDATA%
, or%WINDIR%
might be redirected to%LOCALAPPDATA%\VirtualStore
on Windows Vista and later (more details). - ↑ 2.0 2.1 File/folder structure within the installation folder reflects the path(s) listed for DOS game data. For the GOG.com release, file changes in DOSBox are redirected to
<path-to-game>/cloud_saves/
even if GOG Galaxy is not used (this folder contains all redirected files, so some files in thecloud_saves
folder might be temporary files or other files that do not contain saves or settings). - ↑ 3.0 3.1 Notes regarding Steam Play (Linux) data:
- File/folder structure within this directory reflects the path(s) listed for Windows and/or Steam game data.
- Games with Steam Cloud support may also store data in
~/.steam/steam/userdata/<user-id>/9180/
. - Use Wine's registry editor to access any Windows registry paths.
- The app ID (9180) may differ in some cases.
- Treat backslashes as forward slashes.
- See the glossary page for details on Windows data paths.
References
- ↑ Commander Keen Complete Pack · Commander Keen · AppID: 9180 · Steam Database
- ↑ Verified by User:Quiet Bob on 2021-02-12
- Tested in DOSBox with output=openglnb
- ↑ http://www.shikadi.net/keenwiki/Patch:Keen_shooting_(Vorticons)