Heretic II

Heretic II

Developers
	Raven Software
Linux	Loki Software
Mac OS (Classic)	MacPlay
Publishers
	Activision
Engines
	id Tech 2
Release dates
Windows	November 24, 1998
Linux	December 6, 1999
Mac OS (Classic)	November 22, 2002
Taxonomy
Monetization	One-time game purchase
Microtransactions	None
Modes	Singleplayer, Multiplayer
Pacing	Real-time
Perspectives	Third-person
Controls	Direct control
Genres	Action, TPS
Themes	Fantasy
Series	Heretic

Heretic
Heretic	1994
Hexen: Beyond Heretic	1995
Hexen II	1997
Heretic II	1998

Warnings

GameSpy online services have been shut down (see Network for solutions).

Heretic II is a singleplayer and multiplayer action shooter game developed by Raven Software using id Software's id Tech 2 engine and published by Activision. Unlike all other games in the Heretic series, which were shooters in the first-person perspective, it is a third-person shooter with slightly more of a focus on platforming elements through granting the player new acrobatic moves. As its name implies, it is a direct sequel to the original Heretic (though it takes place in the same universe as the other games, Hexen: Beyond Heretic, the entry that followed Heretic, is an indirect sequel).

The game was first released for Windows on November 24, 1998. A Linux version followed on December 6, 1999, then an Amiga version in 2000 and a Mac OS Classic version on November 22, 2002.

Because of rights issues between id Software, who published all prior Heretic games (with the exception of Hexen II's mission pack, Portal of Praevus, which was also Activision-published), and Raven Software, Heretic II is unavailable for digital purchase. However, it has received patches, both official and unofficial. Raven's Enhancement Packs, culminating with Enhancement Pack v1.06 in May 1999, would add a new defensive spell, a female player model, and various other improvements. On December 29, 2012, community member WhiteMagicRaven would release the unofficial Enhancement Pack v1.07 which, among other additions, allows for widescreen resolution support.

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail		To install on 64-bit systems, go in the setup folder and run setup.exe.

A demo is available, but the single-player portion cannot initially be played due to a date delimiter that does not allow it to run after November 1, 1998; there is a patch that fixes this.

Owners of the Loki Software Linux port of the game should consider using the installer from LIfLG, in case the game is run on a newer system. It is currently in beta.

Essential improvements

Patches

Enhancement Pack v1.06 is the latest official patch of the game, with changes to gameplay and several fixes. However, the framerate is capped at 30 FPS with this patch.

Enhancement Pack v1.07 is a community patch that includes Enhancement Pack v1.06, restores the framerate to 60 FPS, includes support for widescreen resolutions and other changes.

Skip intro videos

Delete/rename Bumper.smk
Go to <path-to-game>\base\VIDEO\. Delete or rename Bumper.smk.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\user\
Mac OS (Classic)
Linux	$HOME/.loki\heretic2

This game does not follow the XDG Base Directory Specification on Linux.

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\user\save\
Mac OS (Classic)
Linux	$HOME/.loki\heretic2\save\

Video

Video settings.

Graphics feature	State	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution			See Widescreen resolution.
Multi-monitor			See Widescreen resolution.
Ultra-widescreen			See Widescreen resolution.
4K Ultra HD			See Widescreen resolution.
Field of view (FOV)		See Field of view (FOV).
Windowed
Borderless fullscreen windowed		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)		Apply Enhancement Pack v1.07.
Anti-aliasing (AA)		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
High-fidelity upscaling		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Vertical sync (Vsync)		Use the command set gl_swapinterval 0 in the console to disable Vsync.
60 FPS		v1.00 of the game runs at 60 FPS, but Enhancement Pack v1.06 caps the framerate to 30 FPS; apply Enhancement Pack v1.07 instead.
120+ FPS		Requires Enhancement Pack v1.07. See Frame rate.
High dynamic range display (HDR)		See the glossary page for potential alternatives.

Widescreen resolution

Use H2Resolution.exe

Install Enhancement Pack v1.07 into <path-to-game>. Open H2Resolution.exe. Enter the desired resolution into the Width and Height fields and press OK. On the Heretic2.exe, set DPI scaling to application (right-click -> Properties -> Compatibility -> dpi settings -> Override high DPI scaling). Launch the game. Either open the console with ~ and in set vid_mode 3, or select the 640 x 480 resolution in the Video Settings menu. Notes Lower vertical FOV at wider aspect ratios (Vert-). Increase FOV to compensate, see Field of view (FOV). HUD, FMVs and menus are stretched at aspect ratios wider than 4:3 by default. Use the Enhancement Pack to fix the stretched HUD.

Field of view (FOV)

Change FOV manually

Install Enhancement Pack v1.07 into <path-to-game>. Launch the game. Open the console with ~. Type in fov X and enter, with X being the desired FOV. Alternatively, with Enhancement Pack v1.07 still installed: Go to the configuration file(s) location. Open config.cfg with a text editor. Find set fov and enter the chosen FOV. Notes To maintain identical vertical FOV to the 4:3 FOV at 16:9 resolutions, use 106. At 21:9 resolutions, use 121, for 32:9 use 139, and for 48:9 use 152).

Frame rate

Unlock higher framerates

Install Enhancement Pack v1.07 into <path-to-game>. Launch the game. Open the console with ~ and type in set cl_maxfps X, replacing X with the desired framerate limit value. Type in set cl_predict 0, this disables multiplayer prediction/smoothing code that breaks at high framerate values (resulting with increasingly broken movement/animations). This has adverse effect in online play, as everything will be updated only along the 10 Hz server tickrate with no smoothing. Notes Engine is hard-capped at 1000 FPS, it will lose sync with its own listen server above 500 FPS. The game is intended to be played at 30 FPS with minimal changes occurring at 60 FPS. There are aspects of gameplay that will be negatively affected by increasing the framerate limit, such as: Directly scaling with framerate possibility of getting stuck at 90 degree edges like some stairs or steep (unwalkable) slopes, resulting in player either getting stuck or receiving random fall damage. Player melee damage seems to somewhat increase along with framerate (unconfirmed). Swim up/down speed scales directly with framerate. Damage received from environmental hazards like fire/steam scales directly with framerate up to being nearly instantaneous death. Some moving elements of the levels won't move correctly (with little to no risk of soft-locking).

Input

General settings, including categorised inputs.

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support
Full controller support
Controller remapping
Controller sensitivity
Controller Y-axis inversion

Controller types

XInput-compatible controllers

PlayStation controllers

Generic/other controllers

Additional information
Controller hotplugging
Haptic feedback
Digital movement supported
Simultaneous controller+KB/M

Audio

Audio settings.

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls		Only a sound slider and a music toggle option.
Surround sound
Subtitles		Under setting "Captioning" in Options > More Options; only toggles in-game cutscene captions.
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
EAX support		A3D 2.0, EAX 1.0 (patch 1.04 or higher is required. Possible to enable with Creative Alchemy and OpenAL Soft, however reverbs won't be applied).
Royalty free audio
Red Book CD audio		No volume controls.

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
Italian				Missing audio for NPCs

Network

Multiplayer types

Type	Native	Players	Notes
LAN play		8	Co-op, Versus
Online play		8	Co-op, Versus GameSpy services have been shut down; see GameSpy for workarounds.

Connection types

Type	Native	Notes
Matchmaking
Peer-to-peer
Dedicated
Self-hosting
Direct IP

VR support

3D modes	State	Notes
vorpX		G3D User created game profile, see vorpx forum profile introduction.

Issues fixed

Erroneous visibility blockers at widescreen aspect ratios

Disable precalculated vis leafs
Launch the game. Open the console with ~. Type set r_novis 1 to disable precalculated level visibility areas. Notes This will negatively affect performance (to a negligible degree on modern hardware). On some levels where level geometry continues above skybox of prior parts (such as Katlit'k Canyon), this will result with further parts of the map being visible above in the sky.

Windows

Can not install from CD

Drag and drop install file
Insert the Heretic II CD. Go to the bin folder on the CD. Drag H2_Setup.dbd onto demo32.EXE. Install as normal.

Nothing happens after "DemoShield" splash screen or Enhancement Pack won't install

Install from Safe Mode[citation needed]
Open Windows Settings. Click "Update & Security" > "Recovery". Under "Advanced start-up", click "Restart now". Click "Troubleshoot" > "Advanced Options" > "Startup Settings". Click "Restart". Press 4 on the keyboard. Run the installer again. Restart the computer.

Close non-Windows processes[citation needed]
Open the Task Manager (Ctrl+Shift+Esc). Click "More Details". Click the "Name" heading to sort processes by name. Right click any non-Windows processes and select "End Task". Run the installer again.

Game crashes starting the campaign

Tutorial bypass
Run the game. Start the tutorial. Then run the campaign from there. The campaign should start without crashing.

Game crashes on loading a save

Tutorial bypass
Start the tutorial. Then load your save from there.

Game crashes when launched

Reset config.cfg[citation needed]
Delete config.cfg in <path-to-game>\user\. Start the game, and then quit immediately. config.cfg will be remade.

Music does not loop

Use _inmm.dll
Install _inmm.dll. Rip the music from the Heretic II CD as MP3 files. Drag quake2.dll from <path-to-game> onto _inmmcnf.exe in _inmm.dll's install folder to patch it. Run _inmmcnf.exe. Set Default to DirectShow on the Method tab. Go to the _inmm.ini tab and add the BGM tracks. Save the _inmm.ini file to <path-to-game> and click Apply.

Mouse stuttering/skipping

Download RInput
Create a shortcut to RInput.exe. Right-click the newly created shortcut, go to Properties, then add a space followed by "Heretic2.exe" without the quotation marks in the Target box (e.g. "...\RInput 1.44\RInput.exe" Heretic2.exe). Run Rinput through the shortcut before or during the game (Note that the executable name is case-sensitive).

Small HUD at high resolutions

Set resolution with DxWnd

Download and extract the latest version of DxWnd to <path-to-game> or wherever works best. Run DxWnd. Right-click in the middle of DxWnd's window and select "Add". Name the profile/game, and browse to <path-to-game> and select the Heretic2.exe. Click "OK". Right-click the profile that was just created and select "Modify". Go to the "Main" tab and untick "Run in a window". Go to the "OpenGL" tab and tick the Hook OpenGL and Force Hook boxes. Go to the "Video" tab and tick the Custom resolution: and Initial resolution: boxes. Write the desired resolution in front of the ticked box. Select the HD (16:9) radiobox. Click OK to save the profile settings. Run the game and select a low resolution ingame that has the same aspect ratio of the chosen resolution in the game's DxWnd profile.

Linux

No sound

This happens due to the fact the game uses OSS for sound output only.

General[citation needed]
The software is not updated frequently. Install the osspd package (Some distros like ArchLinux refers the package as ossp) and enable/start the osspd/osspd.service service.

If using PulseAudio[citation needed]
Run the game with padsp command (It is included with main PulseAudio package, if not, look for pulseaudio-utils).

If using ALSA[citation needed]
Install alsa-oss package. Load the following kernel modules as root with modprobe command: snd-seq-oss snd-pcm-oss snd-mixer-oss Run the game with aoss -32 (on a 32-bit system, just use aoss).

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
OpenGL
Glide	2.53
Software renderer

Executable	PPC	16-bit	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows
Linux
Mac OS (Classic)

Middleware

	Middleware	Notes
Audio	OSS	OSS is Linux only.
Interface	SDL	SDL is Linux only.
Cutscenes	Smacker Video Technology	Version 3.2f.
Multiplayer	GameSpy

System requirements

Windows

Mac OS (Classic)

Linux

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	NT 4.0 SP3, 95, 98
Processor (CPU)	Intel Pentium 166 MHz with 3D hardware accelerator	Intel Pentium 233 MHz
System memory (RAM)	32 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	360 MB	465 MB
Video card (GPU)	SVGA DirectX-compatible video card 2 MB of VRAM	Open GL compatible
Other	4X CD-ROM

Mac OS
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	8.6	9.2.2
Processor (CPU)	PowerPC 7xx 233 MHz PowerPC G3 233 MHz
System memory (RAM)	64 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD)

Linux
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	2.2.x Linux kernel
Processor (CPU)	Intel Pentium 233 MHz	Intel Pentium 166 MHz
System memory (RAM)	32 MB	64 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	260 MB
Video card (GPU)		3dfx Compatible
Other	OSS compatible sound and glibc-2.1