Witchaven is a 1995 sword & sorcery fantasy FPS game with a heavy focus on melee combat. It features light RPG mechanics and blends fast-paced first-person combat with a rudimentary experience and leveling system. It is the first game licensed to use the Build engine, and as such uses an earlier version than Duke Nukem 3D. It is known for hazardous map triggers and game physics that cause slippery player movement, sudden deaths, and faulty hit detection. Its singleplayer mode is twenty-five levels long and it has six multiplayer-only maps
Witchaven received a few patches before developer Capstone Software became defunct. The game would receive little attention after 1996 until a former development team member released the game's source code in 2006.[2] After this, EGwhaven and a Dehacker tool would appear that alleviate problems with mouse control and gamelogic issues. Witchaven support was added to BuildGDX in 2018, and is the most accessible way to play this game on modern systems.
- For a high-fidelity, accurate, and accessible implementation of the game use BuildGDX. For a bugfixed version of the original DOS executable and game code use EGwhaven inside DOSBox or on a Pentium DOS computer.
General information
- ETTiNGRiNDER's Witchaven Shrine Fanpage that catalogues much of Witchaven's content & bugs.
- Witchaven entry at RTCM Lots of information & patches relating to Witchaven.
- GOG.com Community Discussions for game series
- GOG.com Support Page
- Steam Community Discussions
Availability
- GOG.com and Steam versions include the original retail build, as well as an Enhanced build (both running on DOSBox with a custom configuration tool). The Enhanced build features fixes introduced in EGwhaven, and the controls are remapped to be more consistent with modern first-person games.[3][4]
Demo
- July 1995 Witchaven Demos
Identical shareware demos containing the first three maps of the game. These demos have different enemy placement and game mechanics than retail. Capstone released a patch for them based on player feedback through a Usenet newsgroup.
- Witchaven 3 Level Interactive Preview
Features finalized versions of the first three maps. Includes cinematic intro by Animation Factory. Performs disc check.
Essential improvements
- EGwhaven A bugfix/enhancement patch to the original executable. Improves mod-ability, player movement, and adds a human-readable config file.
- ETTiNGRiNDER's Unofficial Witchaven level patches Fixes issues for two maps.
- Witchaven can be set to read its SMK files from the hard drive. Use the
LOCAL parameter when launching the game.
Source ports
| Name |
Description |
|
| BuildGDX |
Reverse-engineered gameplay-accurate port written in Java. Adds high resolutions support, OpenGL renderer, modern controller support and improved mouse control. Fixes most issues with the game. |
|
- DOS32A is a memory extender for DOS games. It is an open source replacement to DOS4GW which was often used in game development. It can improve both the performance and stability of Witchaven.
Game data
- Most of Witchaven's save data and settings are stored in non-human-readable .DAT files. It is possible to modify them with a hex editor.
Configuration file(s) location
- PREF.DAT contains values changeable ingame.[5]
- SETUP.DAT contains values changeable by setup utility.[6]
- SETUP.INI is the main config for the HMI sound system.
Save game data location
- SVGM*.MAP stores map data. Witchaven uses Build MAP format version 6.[7]
- SVGN*.DAT stores player data.[8]
Video
Witchaven's video settings screen.
- Certain parts of Witchaven's gamelogic were written to be dependent on framerate. If unmodified it begins to malfunction at 30FPS and up.[9][10]
- EGwhaven remedies this by capping the framerate to 24FPS.
Input
Keyboard configuration screen.
Mouse configuration screen.
Joystick/controller configuration screen.
Audio
| Audio feature |
State |
Notes |
| Separate volume controls |
|
During gameplay press F9 and then use ↑↓ to select between music and sound effects. Then use ←→ to modify volume. Press F9 again to confirm. |
| Surround sound |
|
|
| Subtitles |
|
|
| Closed captions |
|
|
| Mute on focus lost |
|
For DOSBox change the priority background value in the DOSBox configuration file. |
| Royalty free audio |
|
|
Witchaven's audio settings screen.
Witchaven's sound card setup.
Localizations
| Language |
UI |
Audio |
Sub |
Notes |
| English |
|
|
|
|
Network
Multiplayer types
Connection types
Multiplayer clients
- Classic Gaming Arena is a service for IPX-based multiplayer games running within DOSBox. Runs on Windows, Mac, and Linux.
VR support
| Headset |
Native |
Notes |
| Forte VFX1 |
|
Supported via a patch by Capstone. Type WH VFX1 to use. |
| Victormaxx Cybermaxx 2.0 |
|
Supported via a patch by Capstone. Type WH CYBER to use. |
| Virtual i-O I-Glasses |
|
Supported via a patch by Capstone. Type WH IGLASS to use. |
Other information
API
| Technical specs |
Supported |
Notes |
| DOS video modes |
SVGA, SVGA (VESA), VGA |
|
Middleware
|
Middleware |
Notes |
| Audio |
HMI Sound Operating System |
Configured by editing HMISET.CFG, PATCHES.INI, and SETUP.INI. |
| Cutscenes |
Smacker Video |
|
| Multiplayer |
DWANGO |
Support was added by Capstone via a patch |
Modding
Map Editing
Texture packs
System requirements
| DOS |
|
Minimum |
Recommended |
| Operating system (OS) |
5.0 | |
| Processor (CPU) |
Intel 486DX/33 MHz
| Pentium 100 |
| System memory (RAM) |
8 MB | |
| Hard disk drive (HDD) |
5 MB | |
| Video card (GPU) |
SuperVGA, VESA, VGA | |
| Windows |
|
Minimum |
Recommended |
| Operating system (OS) |
7, 8.1 |
10 |
| Processor (CPU) |
Dual Core | |
| System memory (RAM) |
2 GB | |
| Hard disk drive (HDD) |
1 GB | |
| Video card (GPU) |
512 MB of VRAM
| 1 GB of VRAM |
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 File/folder structure within the installation folder reflects the path(s) listed for DOS game data.
- ↑ 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>/1655410/ in addition to or instead of this directory. The app ID (1655410) may differ in some cases. Treat backslashes as forward slashes. See the glossary page for details.
References
