Key points
- The game's source code was released on January 6, 1999, by Raven software. Its license was changed to GNU GPL v2 on September 2, 2008.
General information
- Doom Wiki
- GOG.com Community Discussions for game series
- GOG.com Support Page
- Steam Community Discussions
- [https://forum.zdoom.org/ the majority of mods are first announced and released here
Availability
Source |
DRM |
Notes |
Keys |
OS |
Retail |
|
|
|
|
GOG.com |
|
Heretic: Shadow of the Serpent Riders. Configured to run under DOSBox. |
|
|
Steam |
|
Heretic: Shadow of the Serpent Riders. Configured to run under DOSBox. Not available in Germany. |
|
|
Bethesda.net (unavailable) |
|
Heretic: Shadow of the Serpent Riders. |
|
|
- Heretic: Shadow of the Serpent Riders is the retail release of the game, adding two extra episodes.
- The Steam version is not available in Germany, but the GOG and Bethesda Store versions are.
DLC and expansion packs
Name |
Notes |
|
H!ZONE |
Although mostly just a shovelware map compilation pack (also containing maps for Hexen), it does contain some original commercial episodes for Heretic (9 single player and 3 multi). The levels include both new enemies (in truth they're just a reskin of existing ones) and textures. They also converted some of these original levels, "the top 95", to Hexen, though minus the artwork and no longer in episode format (individual levels). This add-on is considered unofficial. |
|
- Note that H!ZONE is not compatible with source ports or modern computers due to it using a DOS program to overwrite the base game's data rather than loading as a WAD file; it overwrites episode 3. A fan made remake of the addon for zdoom and derivative is available at this thread.
Essential improvements
Patches
- Patch 1.2 - Retail and shareware edition have different patches
Mouse-look hack
Disable mouse in settings then run this. Source for hack available here.[2]
Since the release of the engine's source code, various source ports have been released. See the link above for details and recommendations.
Soundtrack for Heretic recorded on an authentic SC-55 for use with a ZDoom based engine. Choose either OGG or FLAC; MP3 does not support proper looping.
Soundtrack for Heretic recorded on an authentic Roland SC-D70 for use with a ZDoom based engine. Choose either OGG or FLAC; MP3 does not support proper looping.
Useful wads
The following wads are designed to fix some game data bugs or feature shortcomings of the game. They do not add any levels/change play style and thus are generally compatible with most user addons.
- Minor Sprite Fixing Project - Repairs bad sprite offsets and other graphical errors normally encountered when viewing the player and npc sprites. Vanilla (DOS) executable compatible!
- Widescreen fix - Repairs sprite cutoffs that occur when using certain weapons. Ideal for source ports.
Content
A freely redistributable replacement of Heretic-like assets is available at Blasphemer, forming a completely free and open source game. Art assets from the original game such as the levels, sounds, textures, etc., remain under copyright. They can be purchased from Steam or copied from an original game disk.
Game data
In-game general settings.
Configuration file(s) location
- It's unknown whether this game follows the XDG Base Directory Specification on Linux. Please fill in this information.
Save game data location
Video
In-game video/audio settings.
Depending on your choice of engine, you can usually change the field of view with a console command, or even in the options. Try fov <1-179> or gr_fov <1-179>.
Input
Audio
Audio feature |
State |
Notes |
Separate volume controls |
|
|
Surround sound |
|
A source port is required. See Source ports. |
Subtitles |
|
|
Closed captions |
|
|
Mute on focus lost |
|
A source port is required. See Source ports. |
EAX support |
|
A3D 1.0 and 2.0 (no wavetracing) on wHeretic source port[6]
Better on jHeretic with EAX 2 and A3D 3.0[7] (latter removed in 1.7.0)[8] |
Localizations
Language |
UI |
Audio |
Sub |
Notes |
English |
|
|
|
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Network
Multiplayer types
- A source port is recommended for online play as it adds modern networking support and simplifies the process of finding games. Most major source ports (like Zandronum) also increase the max player limit (for Zandronum, the limit is 64)
Connection types
VR support
Issues fixed
Lag/Low FPS (DOSBox)
Modify the heretic.conf file[citation needed]
|
- Go to
<path-to-game>\base\
- Open
heretic.conf with a text editor (ex. Notepad).
- Set the
fulldouble variable to false .
- Save the changes made to the file.
- Launch the game.
|
Other information
API
Technical specs |
Supported |
Notes |
Direct3D |
|
A source port is required. See Source ports. |
OpenGL |
|
A source port is required. See Source ports. |
Software renderer |
|
|
Vulkan |
|
See Source ports. |
DOS video modes |
VGA |
|
Middleware
|
Middleware |
Notes |
Multiplayer |
DWANGO |
Defunct paid matchmaking service. Registered shareware & retail versions have support. |
System requirements
DOS | Windows | Mac OS (Classic) | macOS (OS X) | Linux |
DOS |
|
Minimum |
Recommended |
Operating system (OS) |
6.2 | |
Processor (CPU) |
Intel 386
| Intel 486 33 MHz |
System memory (RAM) |
4 MB |
8 MB |
Hard disk drive (HDD) |
10 MB |
30 MB |
Video card (GPU) |
VGA graphics card | |
Windows |
|
Minimum |
Operating system (OS) |
7, 8, 10 |
Processor (CPU) |
1.8 GHz |
System memory (RAM) |
512 MB |
Hard disk drive (HDD) |
35 MB |
Video card (GPU) |
DirectX 9 compatible |
Mac OS |
|
Minimum |
Operating system (OS) |
7.5 |
Processor (CPU) |
PowerPC |
System memory (RAM) |
|
Hard disk drive (HDD) |
|
Linux |
|
Minimum |
Operating system (OS) |
|
Processor (CPU) |
|
System memory (RAM) |
|
Hard disk drive (HDD) |
|
Notes
- ↑ 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 the cloud_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:
References