Anonymous edits have been disabled on the wiki. If you want to contribute please login or create an account.

Hexen: Beyond Heretic

From PCGamingWiki, the wiki about fixing PC games
Hexen: Beyond Heretic
Hexen: Beyond Heretic cover
Developers
Raven Software
Publishers
id Software
Engines
id Tech 1
Release dates
DOS October 30, 1995
Mac OS (Classic) 1996
Windows 1997
Windows (DOSBox) August 3, 2007
macOS (OS X) Source ports only
Linux Source ports only
Taxonomy
Monetization One-time game purchase, Expansion pack
Microtransactions None
Modes Singleplayer, Multiplayer
Pacing Real-time
Perspectives First-person
Controls Direct control
Genres Action, FPS
Themes Fantasy
Series Heretic
Hexen: Beyond Heretic on HowLongToBeat
Hexen: Beyond Heretic on IGDB
Hexen: Beyond Heretic guide on StrategyWiki
Hexen: Beyond Heretic on MobyGames
Hexen: Beyond Heretic on Wikipedia
Heretic
Heretic 1994
Hexen: Beyond Heretic 1995
Hexen II 1997
Heretic II 1998

Hexen: Beyond Heretic is a singleplayer and multiplayer first-person action and FPS game in the Heretic series.

Key points

The game's graphics engine was made open source in 2008, making the game very mod-friendly
The CD soundtrack lacks some songs from the MIDI soundtrack and repeats tracks

General information

Doom Wiki
GOG.com Community Discussions for game series
GOG.com Support Page
Steam Community Discussions
ZDoom forums - the majority of mods are first announced and released here

Availability

Source DRM Notes Keys OS
Retail
DRM-free
DOS
Windows
Mac OS
GOG.com
DRM-free
Base game only. The Deathkings of the Dark Citadel expansion is available here.
Configured to run under DOSBox.
Windows
Microsoft Store
Microsoft Store
Windows
Steam
DRM-free after installation through Steam client (notes may include more details)
Base game only. The Deathkings of the Dark Citadel expansion is available here and comes with v1.0. Configured to run under DOSBox.
Windows
Bethesda.net (unavailable)
Bethesda.net Launcher
Base game only. The Deathkings of the Dark Citadel expansion is available here.
Windows
A demo is available here.

Monetization

DLC and expansion packs

Name Notes
Deathkings of the Dark Citadel Digital versions are standalone.
DOS
Mac OS
Windows

Essential improvements

Mouse-look hack

Disable mouse in settings then run this. Source for hack available here.[1]

Patches

v1.1 patch for Hexen updates the game to the latest version.
v1.1 patch for Deathkings of the Dark Citadel adds support for MIDI music.
Patch Deathkings of the Dark Citadel to v1.1 (Steam release)[2]
  1. Download the v1.1 patch and extract dkpatch.zip into <path-to-game>\base.
  2. Drag PATCH.EXE over dosbox.exe and let it run until the message "100% Completed" is displayed.
  3. Close DOSBox and HEXDD.WAD will be patched to v1.1.

Source ports

Since the release of the engine's source code, various source ports have been released. See the link above for more information on id Tech 1 source ports.

Most Doom/id Tech 1 source ports do not support Hexen.
Name Description
Chocolate Hexen Renderers available: Software.
A source port based on Chocolate Doom that aims to accurately reproduce the experience of playing the original DOS version Hexen. Renders at a low-resolution of 320x200 (automatically upscaled on higher resolution displays) and purposefully keeps the original game's limits. Strictly vanilla faithful; consider using Crispy Hexen for quality of life and mod compatibility enhancements.
Windows
macOS (OS X)
Linux
Crispy Hexen Renderers available: Software.
A limit-rising and double-resolution (640x400) off-shoot of Chocolate Hexen with visual and gameplay enhancements while remaining compatible with vanilla and Chocolate Hexen features. Highly vanilla faithful, but more mod-compatible than Chocolate Hexen.
Windows
DSDA-Doom Renderers available: Software, OpenGL.
Faithful to original game while adding major quality of life improvements (high resolution modes), as well as extra tooling for demo recording and playback for speedrunning. Fork of PrBoom+um which adds support for Hexen. Recommended launcher allows for easy custom WAD loading, and also supports Windows and macOS.
Windows
macOS (OS X)

Roland SC-D70 music packs

Soundtrack for Hexen 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.

Deathkings of the Dark Citadel uses the same tracks as Hexen and does not require another music pack.

Useful wads

The following wads are designed to fix some sort of game data bug or a feature short coming of the game. They do not add any levels/change play style and thus are generally compatible with most user addons.

Widescreen fix - Repairs sprite cutoffs that occur when using certain weapons. Ideal for source ports.

Game data

In-game general settings.
In-game general settings.

Configuration file(s) location

System Location
DOS
Windows <path-to-game>\base\*.conf[Note 1]
<path-to-game>\base\*.CFG[Note 1]
Mac OS (Classic)
Linux
Steam Play (Linux) <Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/2360/pfx/[Note 2]
It's unknown whether this game follows the XDG Base Directory Specification on Linux. Please fill in this information.

Save game data location

System Location
DOS
Windows <path-to-game>\base\HEXNDATA\[Note 1]
Mac OS (Classic)
Linux
Steam Play (Linux) <Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/2360/pfx/[Note 2]

Save game cloud syncing

System Native Notes
GOG Galaxy
The expansion is also supported.
Steam Cloud
The expansion is also supported.
Xbox Cloud

Video

In-game video/audio settings.
In-game video/audio settings.

Graphics feature State WSGF Notes
Widescreen resolution
A source port is required. See Source ports.
Multi-monitor
A source port is required. See Source ports.
Ultra-widescreen
A source port is required. See Source ports.
4K Ultra HD
A source port is required. See Source ports.
Field of view (FOV)
A source port is required. See Field of view (FOV).
Windowed
A source port is required. See Source ports.
Borderless fullscreen windowed
A source port is required. See Source ports.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
A source port is required. See Source ports.
Anti-aliasing (AA)
A source port is required. See Source ports.
Vertical sync (Vsync)
A source port is required. See Source ports.
60 FPS
Capped at 35 FPS. A source port is required. See Source ports.
120+ FPS
A source port is required. See Source ports.
High dynamic range display (HDR)
For See GZDoom, use the vid_hdr console variable.[3]

Field of view (FOV)

Depending on your choice of source port, 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
JHexen used to support A3D 3.0 and EAX 2.0.[4] Aureal3D support was scrapped in patch 1.7.0[5]
Royalty free audio
Red Book CD audio
[6]
General MIDI audio

Localizations

Language UI Audio Sub Notes
English

Network

Multiplayer types

Type Native Players Notes
Local play
Nintendo 64 version only.
LAN play
4 Co-op, Versus
Online play
4 Co-op, Versus
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

Type Native Notes
Matchmaking
Peer-to-peer
Dedicated
Requires source port.
Self-hosting
Direct IP
Possible in source ports.

VR support

Issues fixed

Hangs on title screen (DOSBox)

Modify the hexen.conf file[citation needed]
  1. Go to <path-to-game>\base
  2. Open hexen.conf with a text editor.
  3. Set the fulldouble variable to false.
  4. Save the changes made to the file.
  5. 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
ExecutablePPC16-bit 32-bit 64-bitARM Notes
Windows
A source port is required for non-DOSBox setups. See Source ports.
macOS (OS X)
See Source ports.
Linux
See Source ports.
Mac OS (Classic)

System requirements

DOS
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS) 6.2
Processor (CPU) Intel 386
System memory (RAM) 4 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 30 MB
Video card (GPU) VGA graphics card
Windows
Minimum
Operating system (OS) 95
Processor (CPU) Intel i486
System memory (RAM) 12 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD)
Video card (GPU) DirectX 3 compatible
Other 2x CD-ROM drive
Mac OS
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS)
Processor (CPU) Motorola 68040
System memory (RAM) 16 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 25 MB
Linux
Minimum
Operating system (OS)
Processor (CPU)
System memory (RAM)
Hard disk drive (HDD)


Notes

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 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. 2.0 2.1 File/folder structure within this directory reflects the path(s) listed for Windows and/or Steam game data (use Wine regedit to access Windows registry paths). Games with Steam Cloud support may store data in ~/.steam/steam/userdata/<user-id>/2360/ in addition to or instead of this directory. The app ID (2360) may differ in some cases. Treat backslashes as forward slashes. See the glossary page for details.

References

  1. doomworld.com - last accessed on May 2023
  2. Steam Community :: Guide :: Fix missing music problem in Hexen: Deathkings - last accessed on March 2, 2018
  3. ZDoom • View topic - GZDoom 3.5.1 Released - last accessed on 9 June 2023
  4. About: The Doomsday Engine - Doomsday HQ (retrieved) - last accessed on May 2023
  5. Doomsday Version History - Doomsday HQ (retrieved) - last accessed on May 2023
  6. CD - last accessed on 2021-01-15