Post-Release v1.0 - Major Revision

Last Updated >> January 1st, 1999
Heretic II Quote >> "Great Balls of Fire!!!"

Disclaimer

This document is provided "as is" without any guarantees or warranty. Although the author has attempted to find and correct any errors or mistakes he, and everyone who contributed to it, are not responsible for any damage or losses of any kind caused by the use or misuse of information in this FAQ. The author is under no obligation to provide service, corrections, or upgrades to this FAQ.

Legal Information

The following is legal information and refers to all the information in this document. This information pertains to all use of the FAQ worldwide. All specific names included in the FAQ are registered trademarks and are hereby acknowledged. Any other trademarks not mentioned in the FAQ are still hypothetically acknowledged.

• No portion of the document may be separated and distributed separately without the written permission of the author, Richard Connery.

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• The user is encouraged to send submissions and error fixes to the author, but the author is in no way obliged to utilize these enhancements or fixes.

As long as you comply with the above rules you may do whatever you want with this document.

Table of Contents

Chapter I >> Introduction to the FAQ

1. Foreword
2. History of FAQ revisions +
3. List of credits & acknowledgments +
4. Contributing to the FAQ
5. Getting the latest version
6. A note about the author...

Chapter II >> General Heretic II Information

1. What is Heretic?
2. What is this sequal about?
3. Why is Raven Software going back to Heretic after Hexen II?
4. What are the system requirements?
5. Will I need a 3D acceleration board? +
6. Will Heretic II be available for consoles or other OSs?
7. When will Heretic II be released? +
8. Is there a demo out already? +

Chapter III >> Dwell into the mists of details

1. What is the Quake engine?
2. Will it use the same engine as Quake II?
3. Is there a new model animation system?
4. Are the enemies intelligent?
5. Will there be cutscenes? Like Hexen II or Portal of Praevus?
6. What is the Custom-Made-Camera?
7. Who is the hero?
8. Is there Auto-Aiming?

Chapter IV >> Playing online

1. What multiplayer modes will Heretic II have?
2. Will there be a HereticWorld?
3. Will it be faster than Unreal?
4. How will the camera work in DM?
5. Where can I find some servers?
6. How can I setup a dedicated server? +
7. What is this enhancement Pack? +
8. Multiplayer is very laggy. What's up with that? +

Chapter V >> Editing Heretic II

1. Will Heretic II ship with its own editor? +
2. Will Quake II editors/utilities work with Heretic II?
3. Where can I find information on TCs and Mods? +
4. Where can I download usermaps? +
5. I need help with my maps. +

Appendix A >> Screenshots

"+" Denotes an updated or added topic in this version of the FAQ.

- CHAPTER I >> Introduction to the FAQ -

Foreword ^{| back to top}

Welcome to The Official Heretic II FAQ!

The FAQ is maintained by Richard "Sat" Connery, the author of The Official Hexen II FAQ and The Unofficial Quake II FAQ. This is intended to be a compilation of all the information floating around the various websites about the new game by Raven Software: Heretic II. It's the place where all the features, news bits, scoops fall back to. The ultimate source of general information about Heretic II. Please note that all text boxed in with the Heretic sign are quotations and that the actual content of the quotes may be outdated.

I, and everyone who has contributed so far, hope you enjoy reading it and that this FAQ ultimately answers all your questions about the game. The FAQ is on post-release versions (v1.x format). The FAQ is written in English (UK) using Microsoft's FrontPage 98 and is tested under Microsoft's Internet Explorer v4.x. It is recommended you view it in 1024x768 resolution at 16-bit colour depth. All the FAQ uses Trebuchet MS font; please take the time to download it to correctly view this document.

History of FAQ revisions ^{| back to top}

The FAQ was started on September 1st, 1998.

• v1.0 - January 1st. Heretic II full game, Enhancement Pak and editing info.
• v0.5 - November 3rd. Demo released, editing info, new links, user levels, new game information.
• v0.2 - October 20th. Misc corrections and new information from various interviews.

New Beginnings
Well, here I go again at maintaining a new FAQ for a 3D game. I just noticed that I only wrote FAQs for sequals but that is okay with me. I recently been involved with some other FAQs (most notably, The Doom Legacy FAQ and The Unofficial Quake III FAQ) but, due to lack of time for the first and interest for the second, I've decided to continue with Raven Software not only because they make, IMHO, some of the best games out there but also because I've been involved with them in the past doing websites, etc.

This FAQ is different though. The game, Heretic II, warrants such a change thus I decided to follow the F.A.Q. acronymum to the letter and provide you with specific questions as well as general text. Readers of my two previous FAQs found them pretty much alike; I admit I used a lot of shared text but for one reason: Hexen II and Quake II, although different from a gameplay point of view shared many common ground where the engine was concerned. This is not the case with Heretic II, Raven has managed to re-create the Quake II engine changing more things and adding plenty more as well.

With that said, I'd like to ask a favour from all of you. Whenever you don't know something and ask around on IRC channels, mail Raven and Heretic II webmasters, please take the time to mail your question to me as well. I won't provide a personal reply but your question will be put on the FAQ along with any possible answers and/or solutions I could find. But before starting, I'd like to point out a very pertinent fact: this is not a troubleshooting FAQ, instead it is designed to answer questions about the game itself. Thank you.

• v0.1 - September 1st. First public release of the FAQ.

List of credits & acknowledgments ^{| back to top}

The following people have made this FAQ a much better one than it would be otherwise:

• Raven Software - A well deserved thank you goes out to Eric Biessman, Rick Johnson, Brian Raffel... the list could go on forever. To everyone at Raven for their continual support of our community through .plan updates, interviews and IRC chats which help us grasp a little more of the Heretic II fenomena.
  [ http://www.ravensoft.com ]

• Activision - For making their wisest move ever and acquiring quite possible the best 3D developer out there. Also, for getting involved and giving Heretic II the spotlight it deserves.
  [ http://www.activision.com ]

• HexenWorld - Phoebus and the rest of the HW webmasters made possible for this site to grow to become the absolute ultimate place on the net to get your Raven Software news/more fix.
  [ http://www.hexenworld.net | http://www.raven-games.com ]

• Bakshra - For his interview with Brian Pelletier which answered a lot of pertinent questions that, in turn, helped me complement this FAQ.

• Nuitari - For his explanation/solution to certain Voodoo problems with the Heretic II demo.

Contributing to the FAQ ^{| back to top}

I encourage you to send questions and/or answers to me as well as articles, links or even comments you have about the FAQ. Mail your submission to me and, if accepted, it will be incorporated into the next FAQ revision. Full credit will be given to you under section I3. Please be advised that each and every submission becomes the property of the author. If you wish to ask something then do but please keep it FAQ related; I don't reply to gameplay issues or technical difficulties. If you don't get a reply within two days then mail me again. Keep trying, as I do my best to answer everyone.

Please do not ask me if you can mirror or store the FAQ on your website. Activision handles the online marketing distribution of the FAQ and only official Heretic II websites may host it.

Getting the latest version ^{| back to top}

The latest version of the FAQ will always be uploaded to HereticII.com first. The FAQ comes in two varieties: HTML and ZIP. The zipped version comes with all images and the font. I will try to get a new revision out every two weeks. Please do not mail me asking when the next revision will be out or what is the latest version.

A note about the author... ^{| back to top}

I go by Richard "Sat" Connery and I live in Miramar, Portugal, Europe, Earth, Solar System, Milky Way, ad infinitum... My house is just five hundred yards from the sea. It really is great to wake up, go to the balcony and watch the waves caress the burning sand... :-)

I like to think of myself as a level designer. I've started with Doom back in the good 'ol days but I never actually released any of my work since I didn't think it was good enough. In January 1997 I was hired by Dark Designs, inc. I'm in charge of game and level design as well as doubling as the company's biz guy.

You can find me on IRC occasionally, on 3DNet #heretic2 mostly but I rather go out and live a little. You should too. Whether I'm on IRC or DMing I go by "Sat".

- CHAPTER II >> General Heretic II Information -

What is Heretic? ^{| back to top}

Heretic is a game developed by Raven Software back in 1995 using id Software's Doom 3D engine. Raven took the revolutionary game, Doom, and gave it a medieval setting thus Heretic was born. Heretic II is, suprisingly, the sequal but this time Raven is using third-person perspective and the Quake II 3D engine to deliver stunning worlds in which you fight for survival. Raven has a respectable game list behind them: Shadowcaster, CyClones, Heretic, Hexen, Hexen II, Necrodome, Take No Prisoners, MageSlayer and Black Crypt. Raven Software is based in Madison, WI.

ACTIVISION AND RAVEN FORM ANOTHER BLOOD-PACT WITH HERETIC II Latest Game in Heretic Series Combines Quake II Technology and Third-Person Gameplay Santa Monica, CA, March 26, 1998, Continuing its ongoing commitment to develop and publish ground-breaking titles, Activision, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATVI) has announced plans to publish Heretic II, the newest title in the best-selling Heretic- Hexen game series. A third-person action game based on the Quake II engine, Heretic II sets players on a quest through dark, labyrinthine environments as they search for a cure to a deadly evil plague before all is lost. Designed for Windows 95/98 and Windows NT PCs, the game is slated for release this Christmas. "Raven Software is regarded as the leader of fantasy games and the Heretic series is one of the hottest gaming franchises in the industry," said Robert Kotick, Chairman and C.E.O., Activision, Inc. "Heretic II's richly detailed environments and highly imaginative characters will appeal to both the legions of fervent Heretic fans and all action gamers." "We are very excited about expanding on the Heretic universe!," added Brian Raffel, vice president of Raven Software. "The combination of the third-person perspective with the Quake II engine is an astounding leap forward for the action genre that delivers an unequaled gemeplay experience. Using the morph ovum was never so good!" Using the Quake II engine, Heretic II plunges players into a deep, compelling game combining brutal face-to-face combat and mystery-laden adventure in the most advanced graphics engine yet. From a third person perspective, gamers travel through complex, richly detailed environments filled with stunning special effects, wicked magic spells, detailed characters, vivid artwork and challenging level designs created by the Raven team and renowned fantasy artist Brom. Beginning many years after the original Heretic, Heretic II sets players upon an epic quest across an entire continent to find a means to cleanse a world infected with a deadly magical plague that has victimized the people of the realm. As Corvus, the character from Heretic who has been banished to the Outer Worlds by D'sparil, players perform a variety acrobatic, swimming and climbing maneuvers in order to penetrate the mystery of the plague. Exploring city, swamp, canyon and dungeon levels, gamers use a variety of offensive and defensive spells such as the Sphere of Annihilation, Repulsion and Fireball in conjunction with a magical bow and staff to defeat a multitude of insane plague- ridden denizens of Parthoris. Raven Software is a wholly owned subsidiary of Activision, Inc. Activision, Inc. is a worldwide developer and publisher of interactive entertainment software for Microsoft Widows-compatible personal computers, as well as Sony PlayStation, Sega and Nintendo game systems. Activision is headquartered in Santa Monica with offices in Madison, Wisconsin, the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan and Australia. Activision's World Wide Web site is located at http://www.activision.com. The statements contained in this release that are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements." The company cautions readers of this press release that a number of important factors could cause Activision's actual future results to differ materially from those expressed in any such forward-looking statements. These important factors, and other factors that could affect Activision, are described in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended March 31, 1997, which was filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. Readers of this press release are referred to such filings.

This is the original press release from Raven/Activision about Heretic II. But is really developing Heretic II? The answer below...

PRODUCTION

Creative Directors >> Brian Raffel, Steve Raffel
Project Leader >> Brian Pelletier
Producer >> Steve Stringer
Associate Producer >> Steven Rosenthal
Lead Level Designer >> Jon Zuk
Lead Programmer >> Patrick Lipo
Art Direction >> Brian Pelletier
Creature Conceptualization and Box Cover Painting >> Brom
Quake Editor Support and Modification >> Dan Kramer
Project Administrator >> Daniell Freed

QA

Senior QA Lead >> Curtis Shenton
QA Lead >> Dave Baker
QA Team >> Damien Fischer, Derek Johnstone, Eric Lee, Mohammed Wright, Talmadge Morning, Chad Bordwell, Aaron Gray, Matt Powers, John Virtes, Gene Bahng, Glenn Ige, Justin Mills, Ben Deguzman, Edward Murphy, Paul Baker, Paul Sauser, Eric Koch, Brian Ullmer
VP of CS/QA >> Jim Summers
QA Manager >> Dave Arnspiger

MARKETING TEAM

Product Manager >> Steve Felsen
Associate Product Manager >> Kevin Kraff
Publicity Manager >> Maryanne Latiaf
PR Associate >> Caroline Poon
Online Production Coordinator >> William Mull
Web Site Artist >> Charles Hinshaw

LOCALIZATIONS

International Publishing >> Sandi Isaacs, Peter Oey, Ed Bainbridge
Creative Services Manager-Europe >> Lucy Morgan
International Publishing >> Ernie Maldonado, Janine Johnson, John Burns, Patrick Chachuat, Wolfram Von Eichborn, John Watts, Margaret Lawson
Localizations Supervisors >> Jonathan Eubanks, Nicky Kerth, Natascha Conrad, Salvador Fernandez
Marketing Product Managers >> Simon Jones, Laurent Danet, Andreas Stock, Paul Butcher

MANUAL and INSTALLER TEAM

Manual Writing >> Daniell Freed, Christopher Foster
Manual Layout >> Belinda M. Van Sickle
Installer >> Steve Stringer
Intern - Installers and Production Testing >> Justin Barad

CINEMATICS and VOICE-OVER

Rendered Cinematics >> Creat Studio, San Francisco, USA & St. Petersburg, Russia
Story By >> Daniell Freed, Brian Pelletier
Script By >> Daniel Freed, Brian Pelletier, and Scott Krager
Voice Direction >> Kris Zimmerman
Voice Over Talent < in alphabetical order >

Rebecca Downs: The Tome of Power and the High Priestess
Kay Kuter: Siernan
Daniel Riordian: Corvus, the Celestial Watcher, and Morcalavin
Wally Wingert: D’Sparil, Dranor, Scout, Ssithra, and the Guardian

Recorded at Screenmusic studios in Studio City, California

SPECIAL THANKS

Mitch Lasky for the vision and leadership that got us here
Kris Zimmerman for being the best damn v.o. director in the world and saving our butts
Also, thanks to John Tam, Doug Jacobs, and Tim Vanlaw for their contribution to the project

EXTERNAL BETA TESTERS < VISIONEERS >

External Beta Test Liaison >> Jonathon Moses & Emily Moher
Testers >> Dee Anderson, Marc Baime, Thomas R. Bissell III, Terry Blanchard, JP Bowdoin, August Branchesi, Derek Brinkmann, Michael Brinton , John Burg, Campbell Chiang, Scott Cook, Clay Culver, Sean Daniels, Lane Denson, Craig Edrington, Phil Eurs, Chris Grant, Randy Hanley, Scott Hunt, Bassam Islam, Stephen Jensen, Scott Johnson, Mark W. Kaelin, Lenore Kaye, Andrew Keller, Michael Kelly, David Kong, Kevin Lanard, Michael Leparc, William Leppala, William Liu, Derek Lung, Robert Marion, Mike McCurdy, Gary Newcomb, Paul O'Keefe, Calvin Oliveria, Chris Otto, Reis Paluso, Jose Paradis, Chris Pimlott, Jeff Reitman, Brant Rusch, Paul Sauser, Jon Savin, Andrew Stein, Brian Sutton, Russell Taylor, Andrew Volk, David Wilson, Jason Yeh

What is this sequal about? ^{| back to top}

Heretic, Hexen and Hexen II follow the Serpent Riders trilogy in different worlds, characters and timelines. After the destruction of D'Sparil in Heretic, Corvus, the Sidhe Elf is sent to the Outer Worlds lands. Hexen (and Hexen II) are set 1.000 years after Heretic. In Heretic II you'll play Corvus as he gets back to his home land from the Outer Worlds only to discover his people is dying of a plague. It's up to you to unravel the mistery and find the cure for your fellow Sidhe Elves and for you, since you have become inffected as well. You should read the Official Heretic II Press Release above for extended information.

Brian Pelletier >> How the game came to be: Steve Raffel (one of Raven's founders) Came up with the idea to do Heretic 2 a couple years ago. And to do it from a 3rd PP. This was before Tomb Raider came out. Steve and I played around with the idea of bringing you back to the Heretic world and really making it a believable world that our character has his quest in. We wanted to do it 3PP because that would make it a challange for us. We are creative people here at Raven and because of that we like to challange ourselves creatively. THis job would bet real boring if every game we made was a FPS. So what we wanted to do was try something new and give the gamer a new playing experience. So we got the OK to do the game and I was given the lead to take to completion. To be honest, I thought most gamers would like the change of an action game from a 3PP. We all know the market is flooded with FPS, Half life, Unreal, Diakatana, Hexen 2, Quake 2, and others to be announced. So why not try action from 3PP. My whole goal is to keep the integrity of an action game. Which we all love. But son-of-bitch, I'm getting sick of seeing it in only one form! I love FPS games and will continue to make them with Raven, but I envision a fast paced high action game where I can see my character shooting his weapon and see him getting hit. Watching him interact with the world and enjoying the action taking place besides just being the action. Since the Heretic II press release we have been getting feedback from our fans that they are dissapointed that Hereitc II is a 3rd Person Perspective (3PP) game. If your finding this out for the first time... Yes, Heretic II will be 3PP. Not first person like the original. We did this to give action game fans a different twist on action. We all know there is a flood of first person shooters out there so we thought we'd offer up something different. There have been concerns that the game will be Tomb Raider. WRONG!! Lets get things straight right now! Heretic II is an "action" game. My goal is to retain the flavor and gameplay of Heretic. Hexen and Hexen II started straying from the the hard core action but we wanted to give the player a different playing experience. But now we want to go back to Heretic and bring back the action...but with a twist. Why the twist? Because Raven is always trying new things in order to offer YOU the gameplayer something different than Doom and Quake! We are in a difficult possition as an action game developer. When we make a FPS, gamers bitch cause we're just making a clone of Doom or Quake. So we try and offer different things for gameplay (see Mike Werckle's .plan). But when we do this, those same gamers bitch that the gameplay isn't like Doom or Quake. There is never going to be innovations in games if we don't try, and you the gamer will suffer. You've all probably seen Romero's comments about the Heretic/Hexen franchise. He is entitled to his opinion. But I have learned a lot from when John worked with us on Heretic. And I plan on reverting back to those gameplay philosophies. After all we are making this game for the people who love Heretic. So by all means we want to meet their expections. This isn't some obscure game that we put the Heretic lable on. This is a sequel, and we plan on bringing back a lot of things that made Heretic so fun. We are bringing back the morph ovum so you can turn the enemies and your deathmatch friends into chickens again. We are also bringing back some of the weapon spells. And finally we are doing the game in 3rd person cause it looks frickin' cool. We want to give you the action gamer a new action gaming experience. I hope this calms your fears and I think you will be pleased with the gameplay.

So, as you can see, Heretic II is a sequal even though it has a different perspective camera. Rest assured, Raven is putting everything which made Heretic so good in this new game. Heretic II will include:

• 20+ monsters (all original)
• 13 weapons/spells, 9 of those offensive, the rest are defensive spells
• Phoenix Rod
• Hell Staff
• Morph Ovum (Chicken Alert!)
• Tome of Power
• Kevin Schilder is composing the music for Heretic II

Brian >> When you start the game at the Elven village (which by the way is where Heretic started) the music will be reminiscent of the original Heretic music. Once you leave the Elven village the music will be totally original and it will be themed to the level you are in. I didn't want arbitrary musical scores throughout the game. I wanted the music to help convey the culture of the city you are in. And when you are in natural world environments like the swamps and the canyon, we wanted more of something along the lines of background ambience versus music that you are used to hearing. We're really thinking through the music on this one and making it an integral part of the game. And from what Kevin has been composing so far, I think we're really going to surprise some people, in a good way.

Because D'Sparil and his evil minions were wiped clean from the face of the world at the end of Heretic: Shadow of the Serpent Riders, there will be no enemies from Heretic starring in Heretic II.

Why is Raven Software going back to Heretic after Hexen II? ^{| back to top}

The Serpent Riders trilogy is played out. In Heretic, Hexen and Hexen II you do battle with one of the three Riders and all three lay dead now. Despite this fact, Raven Software wanted to provide the players with an exciting action game based on a good plot. Raven never did tell whatever happened to Corvus after he battled in "Heretic: Shadow of the Serpent Riders" addon pack for Heretic. Heretic II is that story, the tale of Corvus as he gets back to his home and finding it's not what it used to be.

Hexen is set 1.000 years after Heretic (and Heretic II) so, effectively, while you play Heretic II the other two Serpent Riders are still alive but they will meet their doom in a thousand years...

What are the system requirements? ^{| back to top}

Heretic II uses a much advanced 3D engine based on Quake II and as such requires a higher spec machine to run on. Here are the expected system requirements:

• Windows® 95, 98 or NT 4.0 with 100% compatible computer system
• Pentium 166 MHz processor with 3D hardware accelerator or Pentium 233 MHz for software
• 32 MB RAM
• Quad-Speed CD-ROM drive
• DirectX 6.0 or 100% compatible drivers
• Joystick and mouse-supported (3-button mouse recommended)
• Supports network and internet play via TCP/IP
• Supports some OpenGL 3D accelerator cards. Consult your hardware manufacturer to determine compatibility

Brian >> The advantage of making a hardware-only game is that we could really push the amount of polygons we can put on the screen at one time and support specialized programming features such as z-buffering which allows for perfect sorting. The end result is that hardware-only games enable us to create insanely realistic environments. Unfortunately, the hardware-only install base is still quite small at this time, and we wanted to make Heretic II available to as many PC owners as possible. As it is now, we are working very hard to make the game -- especially the special effects such as spells, explosions, flames, waterfalls, etc. -- look as good in software as they do in hardware which is sometimes a tricky thing. We are dedicated to making a great game that works equally well in hardware and software, and end users of both should be very happy with the final result.

A genuine Intel Pentium MMX processor, fast video card, 64 MB RAM, an OpenGL compatible card and DirectX 6.0 graphic and sound drivers will give you much better gameplay. The requirements above (especially the processor speeds) are not really the bottom line minimum. With the system above you will get good performance. Some system combinations may provide good performance even if some components are slower the ones described above. Please note though, that the requirements above are the official ones and if Heretic II does not satisfy you with slower systems then you really should upgrade. The 3D accelerator, for instance, can let you play with good performance with slower Pentium processors.

Heretic II supports the following resolutions:

• 320x240
• 400x300
• 512x384
• 640x480
• 800x600
• 960x720
• 1024x768
• 1152x864
• 1280x960
• 1600x1200

Will I need a 3D acceleration board? ^{| back to top}

A OpenGL compatible 3D card is not required but highly recommended, not only will the framerate be higher thus allowing smoother, jerk free gameplay but you'll also see the special effects in full, in the way they were meant to be played.

Pat lipo >> In addition to the modeling technology, we've moved the game to solely support 16- and 32-bit color modes. This allowed our artists to cut loose and really use whatever color choice was appropriate to an area or culture, without worrying about dealing with a tiny color palette. In addition, we have greatly enhanced Quake II's special-effect system so that it's easier to work with, take advantage of, and modify. Our development in general is strongly geared toward taking advantage of available hardware, so that we can accomplish some jaw-dropping spell effects. Owning a 3D accelerator will definitely be worth it, to see what we've accomplished in all its glory. Beyond that, I can assure you that we're trying some additional "very cool new things," but those will have to wait until they are more concrete before I start blabbing about them.

The Heretic II Demo uses Glide v2.5.3 for any Voodoo cards so you may need to download these updated drivers off 3Dfx's website. Here are some links to the best chip and card manufacturers:

• [ http://www.3dfx.com ] - Creators of Voodoo and Voodoo 2 chips.
• [ http://www.diamondmm.com ] - Manufacturers of the Diamond Monster 3D and Diamond Monster II 3D cards with 3Dfx chips.
• [ http://www.creativelabs.com ] - Manufacturers of the 3D Blaster and 3D Blaster II using Permedia and 3Dfx chips respectively.
• [ http://www.canopus.com ] - Manufacturers of the Pure 3D and the upcoming Pure 3D II using 3Dfx chips.
• [ http://www.rendition.com ] - Creators of Permedia ships.
• [ http://www.atitech.com ] - Creators of ATI Rage and Rage Pro 3D cards technology.
• [ http://www.nvidia.com ] -Creators of Riva128 and TNT chips.

Recommended for Heretic II

The following cards do not currently have drivers that support Heretic II's 3DfxGL and OpenGL32 modes at this moment:

• Orchid Righteous Voodoo I
• Canopus Pure 3D II
• Canopus Pure 3D
• Intergraph Intense 3D Voodoo Rush
• Jazz Adrenaline Voodoo Rush
• Hercules Stingray 128 3D Voodoo Rush
• The ATI Rage Pro
• Diamond Stealth G460
• Diamond Stealth II S220

Since the latest glide driver has not been released by the individual manufacturers above, we cannot recommend these driver's as they may cause potential conflicts with other software. In other words, you may experience problems with your card that are not necessarially game related.  Check out either the manufacturer's or 3Dfx's web pages for more information.

There are more cards and manufacturers out there. Shop around, you can get software bundles or just the cards depending on the card manufacturer. The Prices can range from $99 to $399 so you have a lot of variety. John Scott, programmer at Raven compiled this list of supported 3D ships in Heretic II:

Apparently, owning a 3D card will only speed up the game and better display the special effects. Raven has developed Heretic II for 3D cards, proving software mode only as a "last resort". Still, for speed considerations the software version of the special effects will be somewhat toned down. Also, Raven is working to get some rendering features that can specifically target hardware like the Voodoo 2, namely bump-mapping and reflection mapping on the poly objects and architecture.

Nuitari mailed the HereticII.com webmasters the following information: If you didn't catch John "Pagan" Scott's words from the day of the demo's release, here is what he mentioned about Glide versions:

John Scott >> A word on Glide versions: Activision testers were reporting instability on systems with older versions of Glide. Updating them to certain versions fixed this. Card Version required Voodoo 1 2.43 Voodoo 2 2.53 Voodoo Rush 2.45 Voodoo Banshee 2.60

Updated Pure3D owners will notice in their control panels that they are running Canopus's modified version of 2.45 (driver version: 1.62.02). This version seems to be incompatible with Heretic II's "3dfxGL_Ht2.dll" file (or vise-versa) even though 2.45 was tested on Voodoo Rush.

If the game will not display in GL mode on your Voodoo1 card, check to see the version of glide2x.dll (in /windows/system/). If you are running a version other than 2.43, follow one of these two procedures:

1) Use the 3Dfx OpenGL ICD Beta as your driver. You need the "3dfxopengl.dll" (version Beta 2.1, modified 6/2/98) file that can be found at: http://www.3dfx.com/docs/opengl_beta/opengl_beta.html. Place a copy of this file inside your Heretic II Demo base directory and rename it to "opengl32.dll". Select "OpenGL" as your display device within the game.

2) Use version 2.43 of glide2x.dll - We will need "glide2x.dll" and probably "fxmemmap.vxd" from version 2.43. Place both files inside your Heretic II Demo base directory. Select "3DfxGL" as your display device within the game.

3) Be sure to download the final version of 3DFX Minidriver in case you have a 3DFX card.

Will Heretic II be available for consoles or other OSs? ^{| back to top}

At the moment it's a bit early to speculate whether or not Heretic II will be ported to consoles. Right now, the only console capable of handling the sheer amount of complexity and detail of Heretic II is the Nintendo 64 but nothing is for sure. As for other OSs like Linux, SGI or Macintosh they might show up after the game is released (expect like a month).

Raven Software have stated that they don't have plans to port Heretic II to other OSs but that this may change in the future.

When will Heretic II be released? ^{| back to top}

The game is out! Go buy it!

Pat Lipo >> Heretic II will be the first third-person game using the Quake engine. OK, so that is kind of interesting, but there's more. We have a very involved, deep storyline to go along with this game, one that should give the player a sense of an epic-scale quest, drawing him across a continent in order to cure his people and himself from the effects of a terrible plague. Players will have to negotiate outdoor levels, cities, dungeons, and caves in order to cross. Heretic II will have all of the action and fun of the original, but it will be an entirely new experience for gamers. You'll be able to perform acrobatic feats, climb ladders and ropes, fight using a bladed staff, shoot a multitude of different spells, and tons more. And, just as importantly, you'll be able to do all of this in a deathmatch or co-op game. I guess I'm gushing now, but we are really excited about Heretic II, and I think everyone else will be, too, when they see it.

You can get lots of discounts and rebates. Shop around for the best deal. Look for this box on your retail software shop:

Is there a demo out already? ^{| back to top}

Yes! Released on October 22nd (ALL HERETICS DAY). The first demo had an expiry date left in from previous beta. The demo would stop working after November 1st. Raven Software released a patch for those who downloaded the first demo and uploaded the second (fixed) demo.

The demo features a total of five levels, 1 tutorial, 2 singleplayer and 2 for DeathMatch (although you can play them all in DM). There is no official Cooperative or Save/Load features. The demo is a little short of 40Mb download. Head over to HereticII.com's File Archive.

The demo does have cheats. Here they are in case you are interested:

• victor >> All monsters in the level are killed
• kiwi >> Fly and pass through solid parts of the level
• aquaticape >> Invisible to monsters
• playbetter >> Invincible
• twoweeks >> Crashes the game
• suckitdown >> Exactly like the "give" command in quake 2. Try "suckitdown chicken" for a good laugh

If you wish to see the three main secrets of the demo then head over to http://www.raven-games.com and visit the Demo Secrets page on the top menu.

The guys at Raven have set up a special technical page containing known bugs/solutions, a messageboard and upcoming features of the full game over the demo. You can visit the page here. A list of console commands for the demo has been uploaded here. To try out Coop do this at the console: "deathmatch 0" then "coop 1" then choose your map like "map putnamehere". You can also try saving/loading by typing at the console: "save nameofsave" then "load nameofsave". These two features are unsupported features in the demo so don't be surprised if they don't work even in this alternate methods.

Also, Raven Software is looking for your imput, mail heretic2bugs@mail.ravensoft.com your bug hunting results and heretic2suggestions@mail.ravensoft.com. There have been some Heretic II Demo Server Patches: http://www2.ravensoft.com/users/rjohnson/download/Heretic2 Demo Server Patch 10-25-98.zip

- CHAPTER III >> Dwell into the mists of details -

What is the Quake engine? ^{| back to top}

id Software is one of the cutting edge 3D game developers and as such after releasing their hit game Doom, id was already preparing their dream game: Quake. Out in July 1996 it was in many ways more than the public was expecting but it also had many critics aiming their SAMs at the game because of gameplay. This small skirmishes aside, Quake was without a doubt a tremendous step forward in terms of 3D realism. Quake II followed November 1997 which added more to the basic engine by providing native 3D card support, coloured lighting, rotating brushes and more. Quake is also a break through because of its server/client networking system which is more scalable and in the end more effective than the now primitive Doom networking system.

The Quake engine allows for some serious editing even though the learning curve is more step than that of Doom. Nevertheless, almost anyone with enough time and talent can edit the game to include new levels, models, textures, sounds and even entire new ways of play of the likes of QChess and Target Quake.

Will it use the same engine as Quake II? ^{| back to top}

Heretic II uses the Quake II engine as a base for its own 3D engine. Here are some of the features of the base Quake II engine:

• Real 3D world: can have rooms on top of rooms unlike Doom, Heretic or Hexen
• Rotating brushes: parts of the world can now rotate, orbit etc. (i.e. swinging door)
• Transparent / translucent brushes: parts of the world can be seen through
• Breakable brushes: parts of the world can be destroyed by the player
• Environmental effects: winds, currents and a few others
• Different surfaces: parts of the world can be slippery, light emmiting, etc.
• Unit like level design: like the Hexen hub system but more simple
• Transparent water: water and other liquids can now be transparent and mobile
• Coloured lighting: OpenGL rendering only
• Radiosity lighting system: More realistic shadows
• Model interpolation: scalable animation speed depending on the speed of your computer
• New model format: multiple skins for visual damage, better animation system, etc.
• New sky engine: faster and pleasing to the eye landscapes and 360 degree view
• Real C: as opposed to QuakeC programming in Quake

But the chaps at Raven were not completely happy with these features so they added their own for good measure:

• 3rd person perspective: see the player from the back and above for the full picture
• Cone of influence targeting system: like the classics Doom and Heretic if a monster is right in front of the player the shot will go toward him
• Network friendly: unlike other 3D games Heretic II is still great for 28.8 modems over the Internet
• 16-bit or 32-bit colour depth. The first being faster.
• Action throughout the entire game: Emphasis is on Action with a capital "A"
• DM ready: 3rd person perspective allows for serious, bloodthirsty DeathMatches
• Simple puzzles: enough to tease your brain once in a while but not enough to have a lobotomy
• Acrobatic player: climb up ledges, jump to ledges and grab them, climb ropes, backflips, wall backlash and various others
• New physics: world is more realistic even though it is still fantasy
• New model format: independent legs and torso for believable animations, realistic swimming, separate limbs, etc.
• Textured particles: particles now have texture instead of just colour for more beatiful effects
• Custom made camera: more flexible, sweeping camera movements due to the 3rd person perspective
• No blind camera: camera always pin pointing on the action
• Various degrees of AI: different monsters have different attitudes towards the player, some run others seek help and others attack until dead
• No cannon-fodder: monsters from the same race are different, either physically or carrying different weapons for added variety
• Buoywav navigation: monsters can now go anywhere, do anything even climb stairs, open doors and run levers
• In-engine cutscenes: direct, more real and game-like cinematics
• Pre-rendered introduction and end sequence for maximum tension
• Neat special effects like rope-climbing, watertrailing and more

So as you can see, Heretic II is much more than just a medieval Quake II.

Is there a new model animation system? ^{| back to top}

Yes there is. Since you'll see the main character on screen at all times Raven went to great lenghs to ensure Heretic II features the most believable model system around which can be used to create beatiful animations and animations missing from other games like swimming, runing up the stairs and shooting at the same time.

Pat Lipo >> Well, for starters, we had to do something with that Quake II player model. Sure, the marines (male and female) are cool-looking, but in play, they just don't visually represent everything the player can do. If a player shoots straight up while running and strafing, you see a vague representation of this on the player model, accompanied by the occasional animation pop or stutter-step. This wasn't all that important for Quake II, because usually when you saw them you were at the wrong end of their shotgun in a network game. However, the player is going to see Corvus during every second of gameplay, and he needs to roll, climb, swing, fall down, do all that cool stuff that heroes do in movies. So for starters, we worked out a way to compress those animations to a much more reasonable size than Quake originally allowed. So now, if our animators hand us 10,000 frames of animation, we can handle it (although I believe we're currently targeting around 1,000). However, just adding new animations wasn't doing enough. The player needs to be able to look up, down, and around interactively, switch weapons, and, most importantly, smoothly attack and run, jump, and so on, all at the same time. The Quake models have their own benefits, and we're very good now at getting them out of Softimage and into the game quickly, but Quake's frame-based vertex storage is limiting as well. We've conquered that by creating what we call "Flex Models." It adds the ability to bend the character, modify parts, and do multiple animations at once, which makes our characters animate far more smoothly than anything seen in Quake II. However, it isn't a code-intensive skeletal model either--which is good, because we can use all tried-and-true Quake modeling, processing, and rendering techniques we've used in the past. A nice side effect to this is that we can now easily display damage on specific body parts and allow for losing parts!

Btw, this means anyone wishing to edit or create models has to wait for the model's specs.

Are the enemies intelligent? ^{| back to top}

Raven always were the only company one could expect a decent challenge from; in Hexen II they proved that and once again in Heretic II we can start saying goodbye to our relatives because it will take a while to finish the game. The game won't be hard to the point of frustration but it won't be a stroll in the park either at least that's what Raven is saying. :)

Jeremy Statz >> Mostly, it's suited for setting off sequences of events, and for manipulating entities. Things that would've required insane numbers of trigger_relays and func_trains and such can be handled a lot more cleanly with a single script. It also allows you to control monsters, so you can have them doing interesting stuff within the maps. All the in-game cutscenes were made with the scripting language, too.

Raven has added AI functions to the levels themselves; to explain, there are new entities placed in levels called "buoywaypoints" that the monsters canfollow, which allows for enemies to fight in groups with a leader, enemies will often use their surroundings to their advantage, or if you're hidden somewhere, enemies will find a way to get to you.

Pat Lipo >> The monster AI will be a combination of intelligence levels. Some will be pack hunters, some will be intelligent assassins which will be tough to take down, and some will be mindless plague victims. We want to keep a mix, because we feel that people not only want to be challenged by individual enemies, they also want to be able to mow down many inferior opponents as well. The processing time for very intelligent enemies is worthwhile in some areas, while at other times we want to make monsters as cheap as possible, so we can throw a roomful at you at once. The quantity of foes is something we feel has been lost from the days of Doom and Heretic, something we'd like to bring back.

The monsters are tailored to their particular environment for instance you will only see the amphibian people in the amphibian town. There are over 25 monsters planned for Heretic II.

Will there be cutscenes? Like Hexen II or Portal of Praevus? ^{| back to top}

What Raven is doing are in-engine animations, kind of like what Tomb Raider had, or games like Resident Evil, where they actually use the in-game engine and create cinematics with it. But it will also have two pre-rendered sequences so it will be both Hexen II and Portal of Praevus like.

Brian Pelletier >> The interaction will take place in in-game cut-scenes, so the player will not have a chance to kill the NPCs. My feeling was that this is an action game, so we don't want to take the action out by forcing the player to second-guess whether he should kill the enemies or not. The story lends itself to killing everything that moves, because the once-peaceful people of the world are now under the influence of a mind-altering plague that drives them crazy with bloodlust--and "they" want to kill anything that moves... So it's kill or be killed!

Brian saying how cut-scenes will replace roleplaying with NPCs.

What is the Custom-Made-Camera? ^{| back to top}

The camera, along with the character, are the two most important, visible things new to the Quake engine. So Raven is taking their time on them and doing it right. One of the programmers has been assigned to code the camera's AI. There are three camera options Raven is working on. The first is a free look camera like Quake II. Wherever you move the mouse, the camera moves with it. The second is a follow mode. The camera will stay behind the character and follow him as he moves through the levels. The third is a stationary camera that locks to a position in the room and pivots to follow the character. When the character moves out of view the camera switches to a new position to keep him in view. The best reference would be like Resident Evil but with a camera that has free pivoting motion.

Pretender >> Many of you have also been concerned about the camera AI. We are not planning on using a Tomb Raider like camera control. Currently we have several different camera modes in place, the most common one that everyone uses is the free camera. This allows the camera to rotate freely around. If you turn left or right, Corvus turns left and right. If you look up and down, Corvus looks up and down. The camera is totally under the player's control. We also have a follow camera mode that is much like the camera in MDK or SPEC OPS. This just simply follows Corvus around. The third option is a fixed camera. This mode was put in for making screen shots and testing, but it is kind of cool to play with. When this is selected, the camera stays in one place and pans to follow Corvus. When Corvus is no longer in line of sight (or if he gets too far away), it pops to a new location nearer to him. Most of these are experimental, so don't be disappointed if something changes in how they work, although we are pretty sure about the first camera.

Pat Lipo >> Our camera works so very differently. TR's camera was controlled by its own AI. It always moved around of its own accord, trying to find the best angle to view Lara from, but our camera is going to be completely under the player's control. The player controls the angle, and where the camera's looking is (in the default mode) where the character is looking. The camera AI is mostly concerned with making sure nothing breaks the line of sight between the character and the camera, and nothing does. We already have a very good camera model that keeps the player in view at all times. We are also experimenting with several other camera options that may or may not be included in the final game. One of them is a camera lock that freezes the camera position in one place. It will rotate to track the player, but it will not move unless the player gets out of sight. It's kind of like the Resident Evil camera. If we do decide to include this mode, it will be completely optional.

So, to wrap up this camera section don't worry! Raven is making sure the camera will remain focused on the action and not being blocked by walls or even by Corvus himself.

Who is the hero? ^{| back to top}

In Heretic II you play the role of Corvus, the Elf guy from the original Heretic. Corvus rid his world of the first Serpent Rider, D'Sparil and was outcast from his world; in Heretic II he finds a way back only to find his world struck by a mysterious plague. Corvus himself is contaminated and you must help him find an antidote for him, and his people.

As "the hero" you'll have more than just the standard array of weaponary, you'll have your staff which can be used to strike in all kinds of ways, depending on the character's movement, like if you are walking and you attack with the staff, maybe Corvus will jab forward with the staff. If you are jogging with the staff he'll swing in front of him horizontally and if Corvus is running, he might do a swinging backswing (360 degree spin). So depending on what the character is doing: walking, jogging, or running, if you hit the action button while you have your staff as your ready weapon he will go through a different action. You only hit that button, but depending on what the character is doing at the time he'll do a different action with it. The staff isn't just a weapon though you can pole-vault with it and all kinds of neat tricks.

As well as the staff, Corvus has a vast number of both offensive and defensive spells. As of now, not much is known about them but from some of the screenshots we can see fireballs, walls of flame, poisonous clouds, etc.

Brian >> We have two different types of spells; offensive spells and defensive spells. The offensive spells work off of one type of mana and the defensive spells are powered off of a second type of mana. He uses his hands to cast these spells. The offensive spells are just like weapons, they will be bound to one of the number keys for quick access. The defensive spells are like secondary weapons (or specials) that work like the heretic Hexen inventory items and can be used while the offensive weapon is readied.

Right now it is unconfirmed if the plague will change Corvus over time but Raven is playing around with different ideas such as making Corvus look different and have different idle animations through out the game as the plague takes control of him.

Brian Pelletier >> No. In fact, what we're doing with our game is making an action game played from a third person perspective. We're not going to have cumbersome moves like Lara Croft, i.e. it's a real slow process to pick things up. These cumbersome moves just to get around a level...jumping from platform to platform, stuff like, we don't plan on any of that. There will be some obstacles that our character will have to jump to and pull himself up, and jump across some ledges and things like that, but mainly we want to keep it a lot of straight action stuff. And a lot of his moves will happen automatically. In Tomb Raider, if Lara Croft wanted to vault up on to a ledge that was half her height, you had to physically hit your action key, while our character will just do it automatically. We want to make him feel as seamless with the level as possible.

Brian on whether or not Heretic II will have lots of Tomb Raider elements. Corvus is also writing a journal of his adventures (this is where you'll know your goals in the levels, etc.) Here is an excerpt from "The Journals Of Corvus The Wanderer":

Corvus >> I have seen terrible places, and I have done terrible things. These things I do not regret, except when I am alone, missing beautiful Parthoris. The faces of my people are now etched in my memory in the terrible contortions of torment and oppression. For this offense, I will never find forgiveness in my heart. I can only hope that I will see the Sidhe faces, as they once were - perfect and beautiful. It has only been a day, or so I have calculated since this infernal world has no day or night cycle (just an eternal twilight of sorts), since I arrived here from the realm that spawned D'sparil. D'sparil is dead, as are his minions, so Parthoris and my people are free from the curse of his oppression, but I discovered something there that greatly disturbs me. D'sparil was not alone. The ether realm that he calls home spawned several Serpent Riders. While I wasn't able to determine the exact number, there are more Serpent Riders out there. I can't in good conscience wish them on someone else, but I pray to what ever gods are left that they don't follow in D'sparil's footsteps and invade Parthoris. I hope that whatever land they do make war on is fortunate enough to have someone that can stand up to them, before all of their lands are enslaved. If only I had been a true hero and saved Parthoris before it fell into the clutches of his evil sorcery, then perhaps so many would not have died. My sleep has been restless with dreams of my battle with D'sparil. I can see D'sparil erupting into a pyre of flame as the Phoenix slams into his body. Every detail of the dream is so real that I can almost taste the soot rolling off his burning corpse in my mouth. As I stand watching him writhing in the combined agony that he inflicted upon my people, basking in the flames of my victory, I can hear the screams of his death. Buried within these agonizing cries lies all of the hate and anger that drove him to destroy and conquer my people. It is this voice that I can hear cursing my very existence. No matter how many nights this dream haunts my sleep, I can never really understand the exact words that he utters, but the essence of the curse washes over me like the frigid water of a frozen lake. It makes my bones and heart ache in the complete despair of its depravity. The dream ends then, but the bitter sense of hopelessness remains with me even now as I write these words. I don't understand what the curse was, but I fear it more than I feared D'sparil himself. It is a baser, more instinctual fear, like the inexplicable fear that children often experience. When I was a child, growing up in Silverspring, I had a habit of wandering under the docks of the city looking for shells and starfish that had washed up out of the ocean. There was an old Ssithra man that was willing to pay for the really good shells. He used them to make very intricate shell tapestries, which he took home and sold to his people. He required the shells to be in perfect condition, so I had started venturing out into the water to find the best shells before they were smashed into the rocks under the piers. I had even constructed a crude cage out of wood and twine bits that I had found lying around amidst the rest of the refuse Silverspring seemed to hid from the casual eye under the docks, that I used to collect the shells in while I waded through the water. This particular day I had wandered out farther than I usually do. The water was deeper than I was tall, so I was swimming to the bottom of the bay and scooping up handfuls of dirt and sifting through them for worthy shells. The water in the bay isn't very salty, like in the deeper ocean so I tended to swim with my eyes open. Sometimes I would stop and just look at the ocean and the light filtering down through the water. I always thought to myself that there couldn't be anything more beautiful than this was. It was like falling into a trance because nothing else mattered to me when I was like that. It was when I was in one of these states of awe that I was aroused, suddenly, into a state of sudden and uncontrollable panic. I don't know what caused it, but there I was just floating about 5 feet underwater and everything was suddenly enveloped in a deep shadow. The sun was gone and I couldn't see more than a foot or two in front of me. I spun around, and for one very panicked moment I was lost. Any sense of up or down were lost to me, I was convinced that I was going to drown. The panic and fear that I felt was so deep that it robbed me of any hope of escaping the clutches of the shadow that had enveloped me. The shadow passed as quickly as it had come and I dove for the surface of the water, my lungs ready to burst from my panic. Later, when I was sitting on a pier well away from the edge of the water and watching the sun's fire being doused by the ocean waters, I felt very small. I think it was the point in my childhood that I realized how big the world really was. I think it was the exact moment that I realized that I, one day may die. I know that most children don't come to understand this until much later in life, but for me it happened that day, and I have never forgotten it. I don't know why the shadow effected me so deeply, but it was that feeling of hopelessness that the dream inflicted upon me. A sense that no matter what I do, I can't change the inevitability of the situation. I fear that there may be something to those words that D'sparil is crying out as he dies. Something that he summoned up with the last bit of magic he had as he died. He cursed me somehow, but I don't know what the curse is. Unfortunately, I'm positive that I will find out far sooner than I would like. I don't know what land I am in now, other than it lies in the OuterWorlds. The World Ripple that I used to escape from D'sparil's realm seemed to be one that was always open. If it had not been for the mauletaurs that guarded the ripple, I would have been able to assess my destination more thoroughly. As it was, as soon as I had dispatched the mauletaurs (a task that I really don't want to have to repeat), I hastily entered the ripple for fear of there being more lurking nearby. The result of my hasty action has led me here, to this abysmal land. I know that the ripple was open to D'sparil's realm for an extended period of time, although it closed when I came through it, because in the short time I have been here I have already encountered several gaggles of imps. It may be that the imps are as naturally occurring to this realm as they are to the D'sparil's ether realm, but I find it more plausible that they came here through the ripple. Before D'sparil came through the ripple to invade Parthoris, the imps had arrived. They were like harbingers of doom, where they went death was never far behind. Perhaps, D'sparil used them as spies or advanced scouts so that he could prepare his army properly. I really don't know, but I think that this realm was destined for conquest as was mine. I'm not sure what my next step should be, but my supplies are very low so I am going to have to find food and water soon. Earlier today, I was walking atop a high ridge that allowed me to see some distance. At the very edge of my view there were several tall structures that looked like they could be part of a city. I think that perhaps after I sleep a bit, I will move towards that city and see if I can find some supplies. I haven't much to offer unfortunately, most of my possessions were lost when I came through the last ripple. While uncommon, I have heard of individuals moving through ripples and losing any enchanted equipment that they carried. I managed to retain the Tome of Power and my staff, unfortunately both items seem to have lost their enchantments. Perhaps, with time, both will return to their former state.

Corvus will have to make an effort to improve:

Pat Lipo >> The functionality of the mana, health and ammo in the game will be very similar to the first-person games that everyone is used to. We have found in the past that while it's a neat mechanic to let the main character regain some of his power on his own, it unfortunately creates a game where the player is rewarded to sit around and not make progress. Our powers will be granted through different forms, from pages to Corvus' spellbook to shrines, to just plain finding weapons. These sources will mostly be one use only, although they will replenish during network play.

The functionality of the mana...

Is there Auto-Aiming? ^{| back to top}

Raven will be handling this in a few ways so people have a choice of how they want to play. Firstly, there is no auto targeting like Tomb raider. One targeting method will be just like the original Heretic, Doom and Hexen, where there will be a cone of influence. Projected out in front of the player will be this range. If a monster is in this range the shot will go toward him. Again, it works just like the Doom system, so there is skill involved. Secondly, you shot where the camera is looking. just like Quake II and Hexen II. As Dan mentioned in his plan Raven has a free look camera and there will be a crosshair option to help aim. Raven is still looking to implement a third method.

- CHAPTER IV >> Playing Online -

What multiplayer modes will Heretic II have? ^{| back to top}

For now Raven is only planing to include standard DeathMatch and Cooperative play although many unofficial addons will probably show up later like CTF and perhaps Heretic Arena? There is a recommended limit of 32 players for DM and four in Coop.

Pat Lipo >> Multiplayer games will be along the same vein as the original Heretic. Despite the use of a single color to indicate a team, players will look different enough from each other to prevent any confusion during multiplay (especially since you won't be inside "your head"--but the way the camera is going, we don't believe this will be a serious problem anyway). The only currently planned multiplayer games are standard deathmatch and cooperative modes, although we believe the game elements we are bringing to the experience will make these much different than previously seen.

Daniel Freed reports that there are ideas of doing different models for choosing deathmatch characters. But right now this option looks to be very difficult. Corvus character will have close to a thousand frames of animation, so to translate all these to a whole new character will be tough. Because it looks like there will be only one model Raven will provide different skins to choose from, not just different colours.

Will there be a HereticWorld? ^{| back to top}

No, since Heretic II uses the Quake II engine everything needed to play a great game online is already built-in.

Will it be faster than Unreal? ^{| back to top}

Yes, multiplayer Unreal is, at the moment, chaotic, frustrating and impossible. Heretic II using the Quake II engine will behave pretty much like Quake II where multiplayer is concerned.

How will the camera work in DM? ^{| back to top}

The view will still be 3rd person perspective but it seems it doesn't interfer with DM and it continues to be a blast! You also have a Combat Camera option which centers the view vertically.

Where can I find some servers? ^{| back to top}

In your Heretic II directory you have a Gamespy sub-dir. Here you'll find a specially modified version of GameSpy dedicated to Heretic II. You just need to give the location of Heretic II and your name. Wait for Gamespy Lite to update the servers, choose one and let the gore begin to flow. Here's a quick tip. After double clicking the server you should close Gamespy Lite otherwise it will continue in operation taking up memory and using bandwidth quering servers from time to time.

How can I setup a dedicated server? ^{| back to top}

For complete information on how to setup your own server please refer to the Readme file included with Heretic II. To include your server in GameSpy queries follow the below tips :

1. The default port for a Heretic II server is 28910. You will want to set your GameSpy port to that number + 1 with the following command:
2. In your command line launch or config: +set gamespyport 28911
   Or in the server itself: gamespyport 28911
3. Next, set your public setting to 1:
4. In your command line launch or config: +set public 1
   Or in the server itself: public 1
5. Additionally, you can set up multiple servers on a single machine by changing the port number:
6. In your command line launch or config: +set port 2x910
   Or in the server itself: gamespyport 2x911
7. ...where 'x' is an integer. For instance, you can have three servers, each on ports numbered 27910, 28910, 29910. Remember to set your GameSpy port numbers accordingly (e.g. 27911, 28911, 29911...).

What is this Enhancement Pack? ^{| back to top}

Raven is working on a addon pack for Heretic II that will be aimed at fixing the few problems people have encountered throughout the game and adding new suff like a new shrine, weapon and defensive spell as well as afemale model, Teamplay and more levels. This enhancement pack will be free.

Multiplayer is very laggy. What's up with that? ^{| back to top}

In the wise words of Marcus Whitlock:

Set (at the console) cl_frametime to 1. See what is printed - i.e. your framerate. If your framerate is really good - say 60fps, then try capping this: set cl_maxfps to say 30. How does that play? Better? Good - you can play around a bit more. raising cl_maxfps if you're really framerate conscious. No - still sucks? Ok you may need to experiment a little and reduce it further (if your ping is really lousy). Of course, the best thing is to go find a server (use gamespy that came with Heretic2) server that gives you a much better ping. One more thing - just because ping times are good - still doesn't mean your connection is wonderful - intermittent packet-loss (not lag) can strike at any time.

Explanation: Heretic2's client-side prediction (CP) (and of course, Quake2's CP - people have experienced the same problem with Quake2) can handle predicting a limited number of CLIENT frames ahead while your machine (the client) is waiting for the next update frame sent by the server.

So if your ping is really sucky and your framerate is very high (say you've got a voodoo2). it is quite possible that prediction is EFFECTIVELY wanting to predict too many frames ahead and can't cope. Hence, reducing the maximum displayable framerate via cl_maxfps, reduces the number of frames it will try to predict and thus you won't bust the limit I just described. As some observant folks have pointed out - sometimes changing to software rendering makes the problem go away - because of course, software is probably slower than your super-charged, turbo-nutter-bastard TNT or Voodoo 2.

- CHAPTER V >> Editing Heretic II -

Will Heretic II ship with its own editor? ^{| back to top}

Heretic II will ship with its own editor. It will also include the source code for Raven's custom .dll's so they can be modified. The editor is a modified version of id's QE4.

Will Quake II editors/utilities work with Heretic II? ^{| back to top}

Most of the utilities that Raven used to create Heretic II will be included with the game so you have nothing to worry about. Jeremy Statz explains what the Heretic II CD will have.

Jeremy Statz >> The CD will have the source for both the client and server DLLs on it, along with utils for making models and textures, and a copy of Heretic2Ed or whatever. There'll also be a model viewer included so you can browse to your heart's content, or something.

You can use Quake II editors to make Heretic II levels as the BSP format has been kept. You may need these utilities:

• http://home.ienet.com/~veldrin/h2utils.zip - Brent McLeod
• http://www.Lehigh.EDU/~tam4/pcx2m8.zip - Ted Mielczarek

Where can I find information on TCs and Mods? ^{| back to top}

Be sure to check http://www.raven-games.com and Atlas. HereticII.com is now hosting three TCs and two Mods.

Where can I download usermaps? ^{| back to top}

Atlas stores and reviews all user made maps. Browse through the site and download all you want.

I need help with my maps. ^{| back to top}

Rust is going to open up a new Heretic II tutorial page.

- APPENDIX A >> Screenshots -

Here are a few screenshots of Heretic II. They are 320x240 in size. These were taken from various builds of the game: pre-alphas, alphas, betas, etc. so the actual content may be changed in the final release of Heretic II. They were also taken using 3D acceleration. Since the demo is out, I've reduced the number of images:

There's all kinds of outdoor bits in Heretic II...

Look ma! With both hands!

Can you say "death from above"?

Ah! Corvus, master of pyrotecnics!

So, did you like what you saw? Head over to http://www.raven-games.com for all the happenings in the Heretic II universe.