0
FAQ v0.666
.--------.
|Contents|
`--------'
1 *Important info!
2 *What is Hexen?
3 *What's new in Hexen?
4 The 4 levels
5 !A simple walkthru
6 *Cheat Codes
7 Weapons
8 *Artifacts
9 *Armor
10 *Monsters
11 Some text buried in hexen.exe!
12 *Script info
13 Some limited tech info
* = new info from last release
! = section revised, but no new information added
To look up a section quickly, do a search for the name of the section
surounded by | |. For example, |Weapons|
Note that wherever I say "deathmatch" below, Cooperative mode will almost
always do the same thing too. I just like saying "deathmatch" a lot
more.I also havn't played coop yet ;)
.---------------.
|IMPORTANT INFO!|
`---------------'
This FAQ will not deal with the beta version once the full version of
Hexen is released on Oct 30th. Raven has asked that I concern it only with
the release version. So, come Oct 30th (or as soon thereafter as I can) I
(with some help from others, I won't be doing it alone anymore!) will be
posting the _Official_ Hexen faq 1.0. A lot of things will be changed by
then, namely character balance and fixing some bugs. I also have it on
good authority that the cheat codes will be changed too.
I have done a massive workover on the general feel of this document.
Also, Colin Caird will be HTML-izing it for me soon. Look for it within
a few days at his awesome Doom/Heretic/Quake web page at:
http://www.islandnet.com/~ccaird/doom
You will need a graphical browser to get anywhere. Netscape is highly
recomended. If you absolutly cannot get access to a graphical browser
(like me!) you can go to the hexen page directly under /doom/hexen.html
Hexen is being published by GT Interactive. Their web page is
http://www.gtinteractive.com (go figure!)
They have a lot of info on Hexen, including a lot of story background.
A lot of rumors have flown around (rumors are treason!) that Hexen will
support 8 player networks and SVGA... even I helped spread these... but now
I have found out that they are FALSE. It will still be only 4 players, and
limited to regular VGA, not SVGA. Frankly, I don't even care about high
res myself, although 8 players would have been nice. Players *will* be
able to select a different class when they die in multi-player, however.
This will be a Good Thing.
The full version will have 31 levels. These will be grouped into large
"sections" much like the several interconnected levels in the beta. There
will be 6 or 7 large sections, with between 5 and 8 levels apeice. There
may be a few single level parts in between some of the sections as well.
Note that in the setup program, when you select warp, it lets you pick
levels up to 41... there are a few numbers missing in the middle. Don't
ask me why though...
.--------------.
|What is Hexen?|
`--------------'
Hexen is the sequal to a great game called Heretic by Raven Software.
Hexen's full title is "Hexen: Beyond Heretic." Heretic was the first game
to use the now infamous Doom 3D engine. It took the awesome 3D
first-person perspective of Doom and put it into a fantasy setting. It
also added a lot of new features to the basic game-play structure of the
Doom Engine. Unlike Doom, Heretic allowed the player to look up and down
(to a limited degree), carry items around and use them when you pleased,
even fly! It also added ambient sounds, currents, and wind to the levels,
as well as objects that could be pushed (and carried off by the wind!).
It had a lot of subtler improvements as well, like better texturemapping,
more detailed objects, even partial transparacy as opposed to Doom's
"Predator" looking partial invisibility. All of the eight weapons had two
modes of fire each, giving 16 different ways to kill your friends!
And now, here comes the sequal to Heretic... Hexen! Hexen has added some
major changes to the way the Doom engine represents the maps, not to
mention more intelligent monsters, a bigger collection of artifacts, and
even different character classes! The official release date is Oct 30th.
There will not be a shareware version, but Raven has publicly released a
small (4 level) beta version for us to drool over!
.--------------------.
|What's new in Hexen?|
`--------------------'
For those who havn't played Heretic, it had a set of items that could be
carried and used at any time in the game. This was new to the Doom
engine. Hexen also has most of the first Heretic's artifacts, plus many new
ones! Hexen also has added a lot of atmospheric effects (like lightning
in the background and MANY ambient sounds). Another nifty effect seen in
level 1 is that you can actually break windows! There are some other
peices of terrain that can be affected too, like the trees that can be
destroyed, even a large bell that you can ring!
The first thing you notice when playing is that you can choose one of
three characters to play now! They all have strengths and weaknesses.
(The details of each has moved to another section)
When playing Hexen, there is a lot more emphasis on puzzles and traps
now. No more simple hacking and slashing! (there still is a lot of that
though!). I have found some rooms with very interesting traps, from
crushing pillars to poisen darts to rapid-fire shards of ice! Not to
mention very deep pits, spiked balls, and the occaisional earthquake!
Another new feature is randomness in the terrain. Sometimes pulling a
lever can do one thing, but play the level again and it might do
another. This randomness is not used to a major extent in the beta, but
has a lot of potential for making levels that are different each time you
play.
Yet another new thing is the ability to travel back and forth between
worlds. For instance, level 2 has portals to levels 3,4,5 and 6 (5 and 6
are not available in the beta, however). Some actions you do in one
level can affect another. Sometimes you have to get an item in one level
(like the flame mask) and bring it to another to accomplish your goals.
Another big difference is the way the difficulty levels are set up. On
skill 1, artifacts that replenish your life will be automaticly used if you
are going to die. Also, skill 5 acts a lot like the skill 5 (Nightmare!)
from Doom, except the monsters do not respawn. In fact, the -respawn
function that worked on all other doom engines does not make a difference
in Hexen. Instead, monsters respawn at any skill level, but very slowly.
Also, Ettins and fire gargoyles are the only creatures I have seen respawn
ever, and the gargoyles don't do it often. Now skill level 5 can be played
as a good challenge (Ettins are actually dangerous) but without the extreme
burden of monsters respawning in 8 seconds!
There are two very important changes to the engine now that make it
more powerful than ever:
1) The lines that make up the walls can be moved now! In Doom, doors
could only open up and down. In Hexen, they can swing or slide as well!
There is a trap in level 4 where you are on a narrow ledge and the wall
moves out to push you off! Being jammed between two moving walls can
really hurt too!
2) Probably one of the best changes: Triggers now activate scripts
instead of single actions. Now walking into a room can do all sorts of
neat things at once, like lowering the lights, opening two doors behind
you, teleporting monsters into the room, and dropping the floor 20 feet!
Scripts can also be used to automate "continuous" actions. See the end
of this FAQ for more info on scripts.
.------------.
|The 4 Levels|
`------------'
A lot of people are confused about the 4 levels in the beta varsion. Most
have already seen all four without realizing it.
Level 2, called "Seven Portals" actually leads to levels 3, 4, and 5 with
two portals to each, and then on to (I assume) #6 at the very end. The
portals to levels 5 and 6 all say "restricted access - beta" when you enter
them.
The reason Seven Portals leads to all these different worlds is because
you can travel back and forth between worlds, and some things you do in
one world will affect another. Thus, in the fire world, when you pull
the chain that says "you hear the distant cracking of ice" you are
affecting something in the ice world, so you should go there next.
Unfortunately, this beta version does not actually show you any changes
there. I believe that in the full version this same chain will activate
script #19 in the Guardian of Ice level, opening the room to the firekey.
When playing in deathmatch, all four levels each contain their own set of
ALL 4 weapons for each class. Yes, all three parts of all three
superweapons can be found on each level. You can pick up other peoples
weapons too! You can't use them, but you gain mana.
.-----------------.
|A simple walkthru|
`-----------------'
In level 1, you must first enter the church and vandalize the place until
you find some stairs behind one of the stained glass windows. Down here
you can find the emerald key which allows you access to the bell tower.
The fighter and cleric must get the silver key and climb the tower, but
the mage can ring the bell from outside if he aims carefully! This will
open the fence surrounding the teleporter inside the church.
Here is what you can do when playing single-player on "Seven Portals"
After the face asks you if you are prepared to die, jump down into the
fray and look for a switch near the doors on the east side of the map.
They should open (plus a weapon drops into reach) when you pull it. In
this door is a portal to the ice world. Go there and fight till you find
a dark room with four pillars.
Behind those pillars is a switch. When you pull it, all pillars rise up,
then randomly crash down a few times. They will all stop in the "up"
position now. One of the four pillars will have a sword on the floor
pointing to it. (The sword is a sector with a slightly higher light
level, so you should see it fine). If you step into this circle, you
will port back to "7 Portals" and two more doors will open there. If you
step in any of the other three, you will die a horrible squishing death.
Note that the pillar that transports you is *random*... everytime you
play and pull the switch, a different one will be selected as the
"teleporter" and the other three become nasty-death.
Back in 7 portals, two more doors open up. Both have switches you pull
to reveal new portals. One leads to the "Steel Guardian" stage, which is
inactive in the beta, and the other leads to the Fire Guardian stage.
This level has some really cool features in it. First off, when you
first get there, the wall ahead of you opens in a cool pattern. The room
beyond the wall will erupt and sink when you step in, so step back
quick. The floor will drop in jagged segments while fireballs fly up,
then when the whole floor is gone a pool of lava rises up to where it was.
There is a switch that says "you hear the distant creaking of ice". It
does nothing in this beta version though. Going further through you come
to a room that already has monsters in it, but even more teleport in to
join the fun. There are two doors here that both need the fire key.
bummer. There is an unmarked wall that will open up to a long bridge
with many green flasks on it. Get lined up straight, and *run* across
the bridge fast. Try not to turn once you are on t he bridge! When you
step on, the whole screen shakes and the bridge starts collapsing as
rocks fall from the ceiling. Cool effect. When you get to the end (the
door you ran towards will close before you get there) just wait for the
shaking to stop, then look for a ledge on the side that you can jump to.
Carefully follow this ledge until it leads to a narrow doorway out. This
leads to the middle of the level, you have already been here. But in the
narrow doorway there is also a pull-switch that opens the door that
closed before. Go back along the ledge and enter that room, and you have
the Firemask (A source of confusion for many players!). The firemask
makes your character grunt when he uses it against a wall. Not only is
this cool, but it ALSO fits into a slot that you can't reach in
single-player mode unless you activate script #19 in Guardian of Ice.
(Or use clipping).
Go back to Guardian of Ice and type MWAGABAZA19. Take the right door and
get the fire key. The left door leads to a cool room where you get the
steel key, but it doesn't fit anywhere in the beta levels.
This glacier room will make the floor crack and move a lot when you enter
it. After it stops, follow the left wall till you find a switch. Pull
it, and the floor will move a LOT more now. Stand where you are if you
want to live! Some sections of the floor will rise up and crash into the
ceiling. Others will drop amazingly low creating deadly pits. After it
stops moving carefully go through the doorways at the back of the room.
Now you have the firekey, so go back to Guardian of Fire and open `er
up! Enter either room, and pull the switch there. A wall opens... step
in there and it lowers down to a room with more neat things in it. At
the end of this room is a wall with a symbol that matches the firemask!
When you step in front of that wall, two elevators drop and take you up
to some corridors where you see more of these masks. Step into a
teleporter. Pull a chain there and and you hear "grinding gears". Now
look for a switch that looks like the chaos symbol. Push it and you port
to a room that looks like the two secondary rooms of "7 Portals" but the
door is closed and wont open (script 31 or 32 should open it. They also
open in multi-player mode). There is a switch here, pull it. Then look
for a teleporter that will take you back to "fire guardian".
From here go back out to the courtyard of 7 Portals. The only way
further now is to cheat more. But lets face is, once you start, you can
never go back. So, shamefully type in "BRAFFEL" and get 25 of every
item. Use the wings of wrath to fly up and start hitting switches on
that tower. The lowest of the three opens up the stone door in the ice
level. The next one up opens the metal door right by there. The highest
one opens the big bronze doors at the south end of 7 Portals. Note that
pulling the highest one by itself wont open it, all three must be pulled
to open it.
Go back to the ice level. When you step near those two doors they slide
up and presto, more rooms to explore. Take the one on the right first
(technically, when the game is working right, it would be open before you
can enter the metal door). This is two rooms of ice, with a few
buttons. Pressing them opens up a portal to the Fire level, although the
walls in the area you go to will match the metal level. In here there
are rusty walls and a very, very long drop. Creep around the edge... and
when you are almost all the way around... the wall pushes you off!
Quickly, use those wings to fly! Or for the skillful (like me) who can
see it coming (the wall looks different), you can try and set it off
without falling. Either way, the fall will kill you, even in god-mode.
In fact, when god-mode is on and you die, you can't restart the level, it
takes you to the menu instead. So save often!
After the trap is set off, the lava floor of the pit will rise up to
you. It rises very fast, but has an amazing long way to go, so it takes
a few seconds. Once it is up, jump down there and get onto the bridge
that goes across the lava to a round platform. There is a switch here
that causes "distant rumbling"... it is raising some stairs in 7 Portals
(stairs that lead to the 2nd of the three switches... but you cheated and
pulled it already, cheater!). From here exit back to the lava area and
take the portal back to 7 Portals. You can climb the stairs if you want
and get some tone in your legs, or go to the ice level again and take the
left corridor this time. (Take note! Pulling those switches does not
actually open the two doors... just *walking* next to them does. The
three switches themselves all control the big gold doors. I found this
out later after experimenting a bit).
Back to the ice level, into the metal door on the left. It's got a neato
trap room, and an ice room with some guys in it. On t he backside of a
pillar in that room is a switch. If you pull it and hold still, you will
be pumped full of poison darts. If you pull it and move, the darts miss
but two nasty nasty guys with shields attack you. They are hard to kill
because when those shields are up they can't be hurt, and can reflect
most spells back at you! Fortunately, they don't raise their shields
till after you hit them. So just try not to hit them with lots of little
spells. Instead, use one or two big ones! (oh yeah, the all-weapons code
is "CRHINEHART" you cheater you... normally only the 2nd weapon can be
found for each character in single-player mode).
The final area to visit is beyond those big gold doors in 7 Portals. In
there are many nasty things... after you kill all the serpents more doors
rotate open to the south, and more of the shield-guys attack. Once you
kill all of them a glittery bridge appears further south leading towards
the final portal (which is disabled). Watch that drop! It is a
loooooooooooooooooooooong one! I used the wings and it took me forever
and a day to reach the bottom safely. Notice that there is a gap in the
wall on the left... you can make a running jump to go in there and find
more surprises (namely some mana and wings of wrath... oh yeah, two
serpents too, in close quarters, fun). If you miss the jump you will die
though...
Up by the portal is more mana, and the first piece of weapon #4! If you
sneak around behind the portal, there is also a "combined" mana that you
can grab, which is the *only* green mana available in single-player mode
so far...
Thats it. Thats all the rooms you can get to. If you want _more_ you
have to play multi-player, in which case ALL those bronze doors open for
you and you can see more of the ice level. Besides, deathmatch is so
much cooler, not to mention that you can find all the weapons and items
that way...
(After writing the above I finally got the clipping code, RJOHNSON. Now
you CAN go anywhere!)
.-----------.
|Cheat Codes|
`-----------.
These codes will apparently only work in the beta version. When the full
version is released I will compile a new list of codes for all you cheaters
out there!
BGOKEY = God mode
CRHINEHART = All weapons + full mana
MRAYMONDJUDY = All keys (one of them looks like a little axe, cool!)
BRAFFEL = 25 of each item (this will not give you the firemask or other
"one of a kind" items).
REVEAL = same as IDDT in doom. Useable only in map mode. Shows you lots
of neat places you can't go.
SGURNO = 100% health
JSUMWALT = coordinate display
EBIESSMAN = pig mode ;)
RRETTENMUND = ticker to count your framerate (like Doom's devparm mode)
MWAGABAZA## = Script (01-99) I have no idea what this does!
KSHILDER = sound debug. Shows info
BPELLETIER## = warp. The setup warp shows you can go up to map 41.
Although, like Doom II, I'm sure you can do more if you correctly name
them into a WAD.
RJOHNSON = No clipping mode. go through walls! No clipping means you
will fall through the sparkle bridge at the end of 7 Portals and die
unless you can recover quickly.
PLIPO# = change your class! 0,1,2 = fighter, cleric, mage.
CSTIKA = kill all creatures on the level! Ouch!
Also, ala Heretic, the previous games cheat codes will hurt you!
RAMBO = takes all your weapons away except #1
QUICKEN = a warning message the first two times, then instant death!
Another important key is the F5 button. It is for suicide... useful in
deathmatch because sometimes you "fall" into the floor by accident and
get a hall-of-mirrors effect. I don't know why it happens, but it is
annoying. If you have a teleporter, or wings of wrath, you can get out
of it without killing yourself.
Here's some other interesting keys: All the numbers above 4 activate
certain artifacts (if you have them in stock). This proves that the beta
does have all the weapons (unless something changes!)... this is sad
because four per player doesn't seem like nearly enough! But I do think
that a multi-player cooperative game would be very nice to mix the
weaponry up a bit! The cleric and mage make a nice combo!
5 = Icon of the defender
6 = Quartz Flask
7 = Dark Servant
8 = Flechette
9 = Banishment Device
0 = Chaos Device
\ = Disk of Repulsion
= Porkulator
I certainly hope these become editable in the near future!
.-------.
|Weapons|
`-------'
All classes have four weapons. The fourth weapon must be made up of
three separate pieces before it can work. The first weapon does not need
any mana. The second uses blue, the third uses green, and the fourth
uses lots of both. This is true for all three classes. Also note that
in multi-player mode you CAN pick up items that belong to other classes,
but you can't use them. I think there is a code that lets you change
classes during the game, but I don't have it yet.
Fighter:
#1 - Spiked Gauntlets.
These suck, but at least they have more range than you would
expect of your arms! The fighter can land three punches in quick
succession on a target, so he can deal out more damage quickly than the
other 2 classes. Note that the 3rd punch will have very slow recovery
though. It is a good idea to either back up a bit, or stop after 2 and
restart again.
#2 - Timon's Axe. This glows with blue mana, and makes a flash when you
hit someone. It uses 2 blue mana per whack, but only when you actually hit
someone. If you beat on the wall with it it will make the flashes but not
cost mana. It has longer range than punching as well.
#3 - Hammer of Retribution. This can be used with or without
mana, and is about 2 times more powerful than the fists (or so). If you
have green mana, and swing it without hitting anyone, it will spend 3 mana
to fire a "flaming hammer" out that explodes. This is much more powerful
than the hammer itself. If you do hit someone, whether you have mana or
not, it will just thump them without using any mana. Range is similar to
Timon's Axe. The thrown projectile explodes and can damage several
targets, but the explosion does not damage the firing player at all!
#4 - Quietus. This is a big sword that has green flames on it. It
uses 14 blue and 14 green mana and fires a spread of 5 green fireballs
which are quite powerful. It fires them weather or not you are at close
range to someone. I think that the sword itself doesn't actually hit
anyone like the hammer does, just the fireballs. So you can only use it
if you have enough mana.
Cleric:
#1 - Mace of Contrition. As powerful as the fighters fists, but
slower recovery. It doesn't have the extra-slow recovery of that third
punch though.
#2 - Serpent staff. This thing blinks once in a while! Anyway, at long
range it fires two green wavy fireballs that hit for poison damage. At
close range, it hits continuously draining the victims life and giving it
to you! Uses 1 blue mana per firing.
#3 - Firestorm. Uses 4 green mana to fire a streak of fire across the
ground, exploding if you hit someone with it. Does good damage. It has a
limited range, but that range is pretty good. You just can't fire it
across huge chasms. Note that even though the fire travels on the ground,
you can still shoot it up. The fire makes a path any direction you fire...
it just happens that most of the time this happens to be along the ground.
If it hits a creature, it will explode and leave some burning marks on the
ground for a second or two. This causes extra secondary damage to the
target and anyone near it. It also means that a fast moving target will
take less damage than a slow one.
#4 - Justifier. This thing is pure evil! Fires a big gray burst that
splinters into four ghosts. These ghosts fly out in a straight spread if
no enemies are nearby, or fly in circles around nearby villains. They do a
lot of damage as they fly around, and scream all the time. When they kill
someone, they look for another victim to fly around. They do disappear
after a little while though, or if there are no more enemies. Uses 18 of
each color of mana.
Mage:
#1 - Sapphire Wand. This is like the elven wand... unlimited range, but
weak. It does have neat looking tracers though. Not as powerful as the
fists of the fighter or the mace of the cleric, but it fires "almost
instant" bullets... that is they aren't instant, but they are so fast that
you can't really dodge them at all.
#2 - Frozen Shards. This is cool. Uses 3 blue mana to fire a *big*
spread of icicles. Each icicle does a little damage, but there 17 per
volley, so it adds up at close range.
the spread looks like this:
*
* * *
* * * * * * *
* * *
*
Note the center coloumn is 7 shards, not five. Limits of ascii...
When a target dies from these,
instead of falling he becomes frozen. After a few seconds, or if he is
hit with something else, or falls, the frozen guy will shatter into lots
of pieces. These pieces sit on the ground and slowly melt away. Pretty
cool. If a player dies by this, his screen turns blue, and he dies like
normal, but the point of view does not fall to the ground. You can watch
your killer move around, and then you shatter and the POV falls. You can
also press space bar soon as the screen turns blue. See if you can run
fast enough to see your own frozen body before it shatters!
#3 - Arc of Death. This is a bolt of electricity that follows the
ceiling AND the ground. If it hits someone, it stays on them and hurts
them for about 3 seconds. After it hits, it "locks on" to that person.
So if they move it will follow. If you move VERY fast, you can outrun it
after it locks, but not usually. It is a very good monster killer though.
You can fire it at creatures that you normally couldn't see as long as
there is no wall completely blocking your path. For instance, you can fire
it off a cliff to hit someone right at the foot that you can't even see.
Requires 5 green mana.
#4 - Bloodscourge. It fires three incredibly powerful fireballs. Each one
is capable of killing any of the creatures I have met so far in one hit, as
well as the players (except the fighter if he has a really high AC... but
even then he is very near death, and thats from ONE of the three fireballs).
Uses 12 of each color mana. These fireballs also go *through* the
creatures they kill, so you can mow them down by the dozens if they stand
nearly in line.
A lot of people argue with me about this comparing to the cleric's
Justifier. I believe the Bloodscourge is more powerful because: When you
fire a Justifier once, it will home in on multiple enemies and kill them,
but it is limited to doing only so much damage before the ghosts disapear.
I fired in a room with about 8 ettins and it couldn't kill them all.
It does just about enough damage to kill 3 chaos serpents as long as they
don't try and kill anything else. The Bloodscourge, on the other hand,
can wipe out 5 or more chaos serpents in a single shot. Its limitation is
that is does not home in, so they must be standing in a narrow arc of fire
(it does spread a little bit). It does at least twice the raw damage power
using 2/3rds the mana. I guess the most powerful can be a matter of
opinion, but the Bloodscourge is without a doubt the most damaging.
.---------.
|Artifacts|
`---------'
First, these items are directly descended from Heretic:
Wings of Wrath: Let you fly for about a minute or so. The time seems to
be unlimited though if you have god-mode on.
Quartz Flask: Gives you about 25% health back. These will be used
*AUTOMATICLY* when your life hits 0 *AND* you are on skill level 1. At
higher skill levels you still must use them yourself.
Mystic Urn: Gives you 100% health back. These will be used AUTOMATICLY
as the flasks are, but only after the flasks run out.
Chaos Device: Teleports you to the starting point of the level.
Torch: Well, duh!
Now for some new stuff!
Banishment Device: Like a Chaos Device, but you use it on others
instead! It fires a neat-o pattern of rings. Whoever gets hit by it
(monsters included) gets teleported to a random starting position of the
level. For some real fun, transport a bunch of MEAN monsters, then hit
another player to send him into the thick of them!
Boots of Speed: What can I say? They make you run faster.
Dragonskin Bracers: These glowing purple bracers increase your AC by 4
when you use them. You can use a few at once, but only up to a certain
maximum level, depending on which class you take.
Disk of Repulsion: Makes ALL enemies within a certain range of you get
pushed AWAY. Can be used to get out of corners, smash guys into the
wall, or push guys of the cliff (great fun here!). Pushing people into
the wall does do damage to them, but not very much it seems. I had to
use 5 disks to kill an Ettin. BUT, any creatures bumping into eachother
from this effect count as having attacked eachother, and this means they
will usually start fighting with eachother. *IMPORTANT* The disk can
repulse fireballs too! In fact, all the creatures in the beta that shoot
can have their missile weapons turned away by the disk.
Dark Servant: Too cool! When used, you toss a Maulator "voodoo" doll
out a few feet. Sometimes it sits there and you can pick it up again.
Sometimes it becomes a giant Maulotor for 30 seconds to pummel your
enemies! Note that if you drop it in a spot where the Maulotor would
overlap another object on the map, he won't form. The doll floats there
and you can pick it up again. A note on the Maulotors: They can be killed
like normal, but generally they will disapear by the time you can muster
enough firepower to get them anyway. If you use the Porkulator on them,
the change becomes PERMANANT and they won't disapear. Also, when the
Maulotor first forms, he is semi-transparent. If you can hit him with the
Porkulator at the instant he appears, the result is a transparent pig!
Porkalator: Just like the morph ovum of Heretic, but it turns people
into pigs! Note that when you are a pig now, you can still use items.
Anyone who is a pig can throw the green flechette flasks as though they
were the fighter. Wings of wrath can make you a Pig of Wrath!. Pigs are
also small enough that you can stand on them like steps! Pigs can be
resurected.
Flechette: The green flasks. Each class uses these differently. The
fighter chucks them forward and they bounce off of the walls and floor.
It explodes when it either hits someone, or comes to rest for 3 seconds.
The cleric drops it right where he stands (run!), then it quickly explodes
into a noxious cloud for about a minute. Anyone walking into this cloud
suffers poison damage. The screen turns green and they cough a lot. Even
after they leave the cloud, they will take damage while the screen slowly
fades back to normal. The mage drops these like the Timebomb in heretic.
it explodes very quickly! This is one of the most plentiful artifacts in
Hexen.
Scroll with the blue rune on it: This raises the life of all three
classes to 100%. Also, when the cleric uses it near any dead monster (I
havn't tryed it in deathmatch yet) that monster comes back to life. No
creature can be "reserected" more than once though. If you try a second
time they disapear in a puff of smoke. Does anyone know what the fighter
and mage do with it? (Many people have written me saying that creatures
can be resurected any number of times, but everytime *I* do it for the
second time, the creature disapears in a puff of smoke.)
Icon of the Defender: This gives you invincibility without changing the
color of your screen, which is handy. It also has side effects which are
different for each class. The cleric fades in and out from total to
partial invisibility. When he is totally invisible, missile weapons can
move right through him! The mage becomes reflective to all missile
weapons. Any that hit him bounce away. If a cleric fires his Justifier
at you, this can make the ghosts home in on him and kill him! I'm not sure
about the fighter yet, but it seems that he can throw the icon like a more
powerful version of the flechette. It only did this when I was standing
directly in front of the fighter that tried it. I need someone to confirm
this last part because I don't get to play multi-player very often.
Krater of Might: Looks like a chalice. This artifact, when
used will fill your mana levels to the max.
.-----.
|Armor|
`-----'
Each class has a different limit on armor. Each peice of armor protects
you in different amounts depending on your class.
.------------------------.
|class max min A S H a|
|------------------------|
|Fighter 16 3 5 4 3 1|
|Cleric 14 2 2 5 1 4|
|Mage 12 1 1 3 2 5|
`------------------------'
Max = maximum armor class *without* using any bracers.
Min = minimum armor that never goes below this value.
A = chainmail armor
S - Falcon Shield
H = Platinum Helmet
a = Amulet of Warding
.--------.
|Monsters|
`--------'
So far I have only run into 5 monsters in the beta. There are a few
places where there are monsters in multi-player, but not in single player (just
like many artifacts and weapons).
Ettin - The first monster you will probably see is the two-headed brown
beastie wielding a mace. His attack is hand-to-hand range only, so he is
not a major threat. All the players hand weapons have a greater range
than he does (even the fighters punch!). Typically takes about 5 or 6
hits to kill using the weakest weapon of any class.
Fire gargoyles - These creatures resemble the gargoyles from Heretic, but
they are on fire! They are also much smarter: They shoot fireballs at
you in bursts of three, and the strafe side to side quickly when they fire,
maiking them very hard to hit. A fire gargoyle in its "resting" state
looks like a gray fiery sphere. When you "wake them up" they unfold into
themselves.
Chaos Serpents - D'Sparil rode one of these at the very end of Heretic.
It is a large (taller than you) creature that shoots fireballs at you or
bites at close range. They are not nearly as hard to kill as the one in
Heretic, but they are still trouble, and usually appear in groups of two or
three.
Icey guys - These can not normally be found in single-player games unless
you use the cheat codes to go to them. They look like Swamp Thing but
bluish and made of ice instead of green moss. They fire pairs of spikey
ice balls that shatter when they hit anything into a spread of 6 ice shards
that have the same effect as the mages #2 weapon. When you kill
these guys (with any weapon) they shatter like they died from frozen shards.
Centaurs - These creatures are tough to kill. They don't have a lot of
hit points, but everytime you hit them they raise their shield and become
invulnerable (and can reflect most spells). After they drop their shield
they can be hurt again. Take the mage, turn on the Icon of the Defender,
and fire two volleys of shards at him. The first will hit, then he will
raise his shield and the second will bounce back at you, then off of you
(since the mage can reflect spells too with the Icon) and back and forth
until either he drops his shield or they bounce at a far enough angle to
miss one of you.
.------------.
|Hidden texts|
`------------'
The following info was posted by Kyle Hofmann on usenet. He found this
text buried in hexen.exe
[begin Seven Portals ending text]
Having passed the seven portals which sealed this realm, a vast domain
of harsh wilderness stretches before you. Fire, ice, and steel have
tested you, but greater challenges remain ahead. The dense tangle of
forest surely hides hostile eyes, but what lies beyond will be worse.
Barren deserts, dank swamps, and musty caverns bar your way, but you
cannot let anything keep you from your fate, even if you might come to
wish that it would. And beyond, flickering in the distance, the ever
shifting wall of the hypostyle seem to mock your every effort. Your mind
still reeling from your encounters within the hypostyle, you stagger
toward what you hope is a way out.
Things seem to move faster and faster; your vision blurs and begins to
fade... as the world collapses around you, the brightness of a teleportal
engulfs you. A flash of light, and then you climb wearily to your feet.
You stand atop a high tower, and from below come the screams of the
damned. You step forward, and instantly the sound of demonic chanting
fills your blood. By all the gods of death! What place have you come
to? By all the gods of pain, how will you ever find a way out? The
mightiest artifacts and weapons of the ancients barely sufficed to defeat
the heresiarch mand his minions, but now their foul remain lie at your
feet. Gathering the last of your strength, you prepare to enter the
portal which leads from the heresiarch's sanctum. Above you, the
ramparts of an immense castle loom. Silent towers and bare walls
surround a single spire of black stone, which lies square in the center
of the castle like a brooding giant. Fire and shadow twist behind gaping
windows, dozens of baleful eyes glaring down upon you. Somewhere within,
your enemies are waiting... "...and he shall journet to the realms of the
dead, and contest with the forces therein, unto the very gates of
despair. But whether he shall return again to the world of light, no man
knows."
Damn.
Damn damn damn damn damn damn damn.
[end text]
Now for the end game text:
[begin text]
With a scream of agony you are wrenched from this world to another,
every part of your body wreathed in mystic fire. When your vision
clears, you find yourself standing in a great hall, filled with ghostly
echoes and menacing shadows. In the distance you can see a raised dias,
and upon it the only source of light in this world. This can only be the
chaos sphere, the source of Korax's power. With this, you can create
worlds... or destroy them. By rights of battle and conquest it is yours,
and with trembling hands you reach to grasp it. Perhaps, now, a new
player will join the cosmic game of power. Like the pawn who is promoted
to queen, suddenly the very reaches of the board seem to be within your
grasp.
But there are other players mightier than you, and who can know their
next moves?
[end text]
.-----------.
|Script Info|
`-----------'
Ever wonder what those scripts do? In Doom, when you crossed a linedef
that triggered an action, it simply sent the action number to any sectors
that shared its activation number. In Hexen, linedefs activate "scripts"
that can do any amount of actions. An example is in the "Guardian of Ice"
level, when you place the firemask in the proper slot, two doors open to
the sides of the room showing lava flows going beneath the floor. A
pillar of ice in the center of the room slowly melts down to a puddle,
bringing down the fire key, then the two doors close again. This all
happens from putting the firemask into the one slot!
Scripts can also create or remove objects from the levels. On the first
level, some of the obstacles near the silver key are removed after you ring
the bell. In the ice level, you can use the "CSTIKA" code to kill all
monsters on the level, but when you go into the circular room monsters
still "teleport" in. I think the scripts can also do things depending on
if the game is running single-player or Deathmatch. Possibly by skill
level and character class too.
Each level can have as many as 99 scripts, although none of the levels in
the beta use more than 35 I think. You can activate scripts by using the
code "MWAGABAZA" and it will ask you "Activate which script (01-99)?".
Type in two numbers and there ya go. Most scripts will not have any
visible effect, since many just open doors and you usually are not near
them when you do it ;) Some do major things though. One script in
"guardian of Ice" lowers *ALL* ceilings to the floor, which really
sucks. So be careful, and expect to reload your game once in a while.
Also, some scripts are running continuously. An example would be a script
that makes the lights of a hallway blink on and off in a pattern (like the
corridor leading to the fire key). When you try and activate these, you
do not get a "activating script number ##" message because it is already
running. This script system seems very similar to the programmable lift
system in Dark Forces. Note also that if no script exists, a message pops
up saying that it couldn't find that script number.
I am cuttingthe size of this list... I will only post the important ones
for now.
[Winnowing Halls]
03 sets off fire ball traps.
[Seven Portals]
01 I had to do this twice.. Not sure.. Opens first gold door.
18 lifts all middle stairs?
19 Opens Top gold door?
26 "Greating Mortal" Are you Ready to Die?
31 -32 opens gold doors to the sides.. Not the middle right though.
[Guardian of Ice]
19 Turns on light in the shape of a sword pointing to the door right and
left in the circ main area. You can now access to fire key to the right
if you have the mask and the steel key to the left.
.-------------.
|WAD file info|
`-------------'
This is just the beginning of the info, and is not very detailed yet.
The format is close to the Heretic/Doom type, although the level names
are MAP01 MAP02 etc, more like Doom II. There are some big changes too
so none of the current editors will load them without some tweaking.
The THINGS entries are twice as long, and have the following
format:
0. tag number?
1. x position
2. y position
3. bitmask of some sort?
4. angle
5. thing type
6. thing options (some extra bits have been added)
7. bit mask of some sort?
8. ?
9. ?
The LINEDEFS entries are one field longer, and have the following
format:
0. from vertex
1. to vertex
2. flags
3. data for trigger lines?
4. lower byte is code of some sort for trigger lines?
upper byte contains code of what happens?
5. additional data for trigger lines?
6. right sidedef
7. left sidedef or -1
The other level resources look generally the same. (The above info,
sketchy as it is, should be enough to at least make it possible to
write something to allow the levels to be loaded into an editor.)
This info was sent to me by Paul Falstad. He also writes about the
following, which I believe is the scripting info for the levels.
There's a BEHAVIOR resource for each level, which looks really
scary. The format looks like a mini wad file.
first 4 bytes: ACS\0
next 4 bytes: longword offset of directory
...data...
The directory starts with a longword containing the number of entries,
followed by the entries, which consist of three longwords. The first
longword is an identifying number of some sort; the first few entries
have id numbers of 1, 2, 3, 4, etc. but the later entries have seemingly
arbitrary numbers. The next longword is an offset to the entry data
itself. I don't know what the third longword is.
I have no idea what the actual data that the entries are pointing to is.
It's probably some compiled language of some sort, so I'm not optimistic
about figuring out what it does. It looks like a series of longwords,
which are instruction codes of some sort. I don't know what they do,
except for 0x4f and 0x34, which look like jump instructions of some sort
(they have longword offsets following them). Also, 0x01 is probably
a "return" instruction, since it occurs at the end of each entry.
After the directory is a longword containing a count, followed by
that many longwords, which are offsets to strings. The strings are
things like "GlassShatter", "FireDemonAttack", "THE DOOR IS LOCKED", etc.
This would indicate that the BEHAVIOR data allows you to attach
arbitrary sounds and strings to a linedef.
All this info (I believe) will eventually turn into a working knowladge of
how the scripting system works. My guess is it has a limited set of
commands for moving linedefs and such, as well as triggering sounds and
messages. This will make level building more difficult, but will be an
immense tool of power for making fantastic levels!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
If anyone has extra info, email me at birdie@halcyon.com. Please only
send useful information, not stuff like misspellings (of which there are
many, I know).
Feel free to add this to any web page or whatever, just let me know when
you do so I can come and see it!
Make sure you give me credit for it too!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Arne Michaelsen - keeper of the FAQ, email: birdie@halcyon.com
Special thanks to:
Todd Wagner .... for many cheat codes and activation keys.
Killian ............ for listing a lot of scripts.
Deird'Re M. Brooks ............. for the clipping code.
Paul Falstad ........................... for the tech details.
Kyle Hofmann ....................... for the hidden text.
Rowan .................. for the ascii picture.
Colin Caird ............. for too many thigs to list!
.--------.
|Contents|
`--------'
1 *Important info!
2 *What is Hexen?
3 *What's new in Hexen?
4 The 4 levels
5 !A simple walkthru
6 *Cheat Codes
7 Weapons
8 *Artifacts
9 *Armor
10 *Monsters
11 Some text buried in hexen.exe!
12 *Script info
13 Some limited tech info
* = new info from last release
! = section revised, but no new information added
To look up a section quickly, do a search for the name of the section
surounded by | |. For example, |Weapons|
Note that wherever I say "deathmatch" below, Cooperative mode will almost
always do the same thing too. I just like saying "deathmatch" a lot
more.I also havn't played coop yet ;)
.---------------.
|IMPORTANT INFO!|
`---------------'
This FAQ will not deal with the beta version once the full version of
Hexen is released on Oct 30th. Raven has asked that I concern it only with
the release version. So, come Oct 30th (or as soon thereafter as I can) I
(with some help from others, I won't be doing it alone anymore!) will be
posting the _Official_ Hexen faq 1.0. A lot of things will be changed by
then, namely character balance and fixing some bugs. I also have it on
good authority that the cheat codes will be changed too.
I have done a massive workover on the general feel of this document.
Also, Colin Caird will be HTML-izing it for me soon. Look for it within
a few days at his awesome Doom/Heretic/Quake web page at:
http://www.islandnet.com/~ccaird/doom
You will need a graphical browser to get anywhere. Netscape is highly
recomended. If you absolutly cannot get access to a graphical browser
(like me!) you can go to the hexen page directly under /doom/hexen.html
Hexen is being published by GT Interactive. Their web page is
http://www.gtinteractive.com (go figure!)
They have a lot of info on Hexen, including a lot of story background.
A lot of rumors have flown around (rumors are treason!) that Hexen will
support 8 player networks and SVGA... even I helped spread these... but now
I have found out that they are FALSE. It will still be only 4 players, and
limited to regular VGA, not SVGA. Frankly, I don't even care about high
res myself, although 8 players would have been nice. Players *will* be
able to select a different class when they die in multi-player, however.
This will be a Good Thing.
The full version will have 31 levels. These will be grouped into large
"sections" much like the several interconnected levels in the beta. There
will be 6 or 7 large sections, with between 5 and 8 levels apeice. There
may be a few single level parts in between some of the sections as well.
Note that in the setup program, when you select warp, it lets you pick
levels up to 41... there are a few numbers missing in the middle. Don't
ask me why though...
.--------------.
|What is Hexen?|
`--------------'
Hexen is the sequal to a great game called Heretic by Raven Software.
Hexen's full title is "Hexen: Beyond Heretic." Heretic was the first game
to use the now infamous Doom 3D engine. It took the awesome 3D
first-person perspective of Doom and put it into a fantasy setting. It
also added a lot of new features to the basic game-play structure of the
Doom Engine. Unlike Doom, Heretic allowed the player to look up and down
(to a limited degree), carry items around and use them when you pleased,
even fly! It also added ambient sounds, currents, and wind to the levels,
as well as objects that could be pushed (and carried off by the wind!).
It had a lot of subtler improvements as well, like better texturemapping,
more detailed objects, even partial transparacy as opposed to Doom's
"Predator" looking partial invisibility. All of the eight weapons had two
modes of fire each, giving 16 different ways to kill your friends!
And now, here comes the sequal to Heretic... Hexen! Hexen has added some
major changes to the way the Doom engine represents the maps, not to
mention more intelligent monsters, a bigger collection of artifacts, and
even different character classes! The official release date is Oct 30th.
There will not be a shareware version, but Raven has publicly released a
small (4 level) beta version for us to drool over!
.--------------------.
|What's new in Hexen?|
`--------------------'
For those who havn't played Heretic, it had a set of items that could be
carried and used at any time in the game. This was new to the Doom
engine. Hexen also has most of the first Heretic's artifacts, plus many new
ones! Hexen also has added a lot of atmospheric effects (like lightning
in the background and MANY ambient sounds). Another nifty effect seen in
level 1 is that you can actually break windows! There are some other
peices of terrain that can be affected too, like the trees that can be
destroyed, even a large bell that you can ring!
The first thing you notice when playing is that you can choose one of
three characters to play now! They all have strengths and weaknesses.
(The details of each has moved to another section)
When playing Hexen, there is a lot more emphasis on puzzles and traps
now. No more simple hacking and slashing! (there still is a lot of that
though!). I have found some rooms with very interesting traps, from
crushing pillars to poisen darts to rapid-fire shards of ice! Not to
mention very deep pits, spiked balls, and the occaisional earthquake!
Another new feature is randomness in the terrain. Sometimes pulling a
lever can do one thing, but play the level again and it might do
another. This randomness is not used to a major extent in the beta, but
has a lot of potential for making levels that are different each time you
play.
Yet another new thing is the ability to travel back and forth between
worlds. For instance, level 2 has portals to levels 3,4,5 and 6 (5 and 6
are not available in the beta, however). Some actions you do in one
level can affect another. Sometimes you have to get an item in one level
(like the flame mask) and bring it to another to accomplish your goals.
Another big difference is the way the difficulty levels are set up. On
skill 1, artifacts that replenish your life will be automaticly used if you
are going to die. Also, skill 5 acts a lot like the skill 5 (Nightmare!)
from Doom, except the monsters do not respawn. In fact, the -respawn
function that worked on all other doom engines does not make a difference
in Hexen. Instead, monsters respawn at any skill level, but very slowly.
Also, Ettins and fire gargoyles are the only creatures I have seen respawn
ever, and the gargoyles don't do it often. Now skill level 5 can be played
as a good challenge (Ettins are actually dangerous) but without the extreme
burden of monsters respawning in 8 seconds!
There are two very important changes to the engine now that make it
more powerful than ever:
1) The lines that make up the walls can be moved now! In Doom, doors
could only open up and down. In Hexen, they can swing or slide as well!
There is a trap in level 4 where you are on a narrow ledge and the wall
moves out to push you off! Being jammed between two moving walls can
really hurt too!
2) Probably one of the best changes: Triggers now activate scripts
instead of single actions. Now walking into a room can do all sorts of
neat things at once, like lowering the lights, opening two doors behind
you, teleporting monsters into the room, and dropping the floor 20 feet!
Scripts can also be used to automate "continuous" actions. See the end
of this FAQ for more info on scripts.
.------------.
|The 4 Levels|
`------------'
A lot of people are confused about the 4 levels in the beta varsion. Most
have already seen all four without realizing it.
Level 2, called "Seven Portals" actually leads to levels 3, 4, and 5 with
two portals to each, and then on to (I assume) #6 at the very end. The
portals to levels 5 and 6 all say "restricted access - beta" when you enter
them.
The reason Seven Portals leads to all these different worlds is because
you can travel back and forth between worlds, and some things you do in
one world will affect another. Thus, in the fire world, when you pull
the chain that says "you hear the distant cracking of ice" you are
affecting something in the ice world, so you should go there next.
Unfortunately, this beta version does not actually show you any changes
there. I believe that in the full version this same chain will activate
script #19 in the Guardian of Ice level, opening the room to the firekey.
When playing in deathmatch, all four levels each contain their own set of
ALL 4 weapons for each class. Yes, all three parts of all three
superweapons can be found on each level. You can pick up other peoples
weapons too! You can't use them, but you gain mana.
.-----------------.
|A simple walkthru|
`-----------------'
In level 1, you must first enter the church and vandalize the place until
you find some stairs behind one of the stained glass windows. Down here
you can find the emerald key which allows you access to the bell tower.
The fighter and cleric must get the silver key and climb the tower, but
the mage can ring the bell from outside if he aims carefully! This will
open the fence surrounding the teleporter inside the church.
Here is what you can do when playing single-player on "Seven Portals"
After the face asks you if you are prepared to die, jump down into the
fray and look for a switch near the doors on the east side of the map.
They should open (plus a weapon drops into reach) when you pull it. In
this door is a portal to the ice world. Go there and fight till you find
a dark room with four pillars.
Behind those pillars is a switch. When you pull it, all pillars rise up,
then randomly crash down a few times. They will all stop in the "up"
position now. One of the four pillars will have a sword on the floor
pointing to it. (The sword is a sector with a slightly higher light
level, so you should see it fine). If you step into this circle, you
will port back to "7 Portals" and two more doors will open there. If you
step in any of the other three, you will die a horrible squishing death.
Note that the pillar that transports you is *random*... everytime you
play and pull the switch, a different one will be selected as the
"teleporter" and the other three become nasty-death.
Back in 7 portals, two more doors open up. Both have switches you pull
to reveal new portals. One leads to the "Steel Guardian" stage, which is
inactive in the beta, and the other leads to the Fire Guardian stage.
This level has some really cool features in it. First off, when you
first get there, the wall ahead of you opens in a cool pattern. The room
beyond the wall will erupt and sink when you step in, so step back
quick. The floor will drop in jagged segments while fireballs fly up,
then when the whole floor is gone a pool of lava rises up to where it was.
There is a switch that says "you hear the distant creaking of ice". It
does nothing in this beta version though. Going further through you come
to a room that already has monsters in it, but even more teleport in to
join the fun. There are two doors here that both need the fire key.
bummer. There is an unmarked wall that will open up to a long bridge
with many green flasks on it. Get lined up straight, and *run* across
the bridge fast. Try not to turn once you are on t he bridge! When you
step on, the whole screen shakes and the bridge starts collapsing as
rocks fall from the ceiling. Cool effect. When you get to the end (the
door you ran towards will close before you get there) just wait for the
shaking to stop, then look for a ledge on the side that you can jump to.
Carefully follow this ledge until it leads to a narrow doorway out. This
leads to the middle of the level, you have already been here. But in the
narrow doorway there is also a pull-switch that opens the door that
closed before. Go back along the ledge and enter that room, and you have
the Firemask (A source of confusion for many players!). The firemask
makes your character grunt when he uses it against a wall. Not only is
this cool, but it ALSO fits into a slot that you can't reach in
single-player mode unless you activate script #19 in Guardian of Ice.
(Or use clipping).
Go back to Guardian of Ice and type MWAGABAZA19. Take the right door and
get the fire key. The left door leads to a cool room where you get the
steel key, but it doesn't fit anywhere in the beta levels.
This glacier room will make the floor crack and move a lot when you enter
it. After it stops, follow the left wall till you find a switch. Pull
it, and the floor will move a LOT more now. Stand where you are if you
want to live! Some sections of the floor will rise up and crash into the
ceiling. Others will drop amazingly low creating deadly pits. After it
stops moving carefully go through the doorways at the back of the room.
Now you have the firekey, so go back to Guardian of Fire and open `er
up! Enter either room, and pull the switch there. A wall opens... step
in there and it lowers down to a room with more neat things in it. At
the end of this room is a wall with a symbol that matches the firemask!
When you step in front of that wall, two elevators drop and take you up
to some corridors where you see more of these masks. Step into a
teleporter. Pull a chain there and and you hear "grinding gears". Now
look for a switch that looks like the chaos symbol. Push it and you port
to a room that looks like the two secondary rooms of "7 Portals" but the
door is closed and wont open (script 31 or 32 should open it. They also
open in multi-player mode). There is a switch here, pull it. Then look
for a teleporter that will take you back to "fire guardian".
From here go back out to the courtyard of 7 Portals. The only way
further now is to cheat more. But lets face is, once you start, you can
never go back. So, shamefully type in "BRAFFEL" and get 25 of every
item. Use the wings of wrath to fly up and start hitting switches on
that tower. The lowest of the three opens up the stone door in the ice
level. The next one up opens the metal door right by there. The highest
one opens the big bronze doors at the south end of 7 Portals. Note that
pulling the highest one by itself wont open it, all three must be pulled
to open it.
Go back to the ice level. When you step near those two doors they slide
up and presto, more rooms to explore. Take the one on the right first
(technically, when the game is working right, it would be open before you
can enter the metal door). This is two rooms of ice, with a few
buttons. Pressing them opens up a portal to the Fire level, although the
walls in the area you go to will match the metal level. In here there
are rusty walls and a very, very long drop. Creep around the edge... and
when you are almost all the way around... the wall pushes you off!
Quickly, use those wings to fly! Or for the skillful (like me) who can
see it coming (the wall looks different), you can try and set it off
without falling. Either way, the fall will kill you, even in god-mode.
In fact, when god-mode is on and you die, you can't restart the level, it
takes you to the menu instead. So save often!
After the trap is set off, the lava floor of the pit will rise up to
you. It rises very fast, but has an amazing long way to go, so it takes
a few seconds. Once it is up, jump down there and get onto the bridge
that goes across the lava to a round platform. There is a switch here
that causes "distant rumbling"... it is raising some stairs in 7 Portals
(stairs that lead to the 2nd of the three switches... but you cheated and
pulled it already, cheater!). From here exit back to the lava area and
take the portal back to 7 Portals. You can climb the stairs if you want
and get some tone in your legs, or go to the ice level again and take the
left corridor this time. (Take note! Pulling those switches does not
actually open the two doors... just *walking* next to them does. The
three switches themselves all control the big gold doors. I found this
out later after experimenting a bit).
Back to the ice level, into the metal door on the left. It's got a neato
trap room, and an ice room with some guys in it. On t he backside of a
pillar in that room is a switch. If you pull it and hold still, you will
be pumped full of poison darts. If you pull it and move, the darts miss
but two nasty nasty guys with shields attack you. They are hard to kill
because when those shields are up they can't be hurt, and can reflect
most spells back at you! Fortunately, they don't raise their shields
till after you hit them. So just try not to hit them with lots of little
spells. Instead, use one or two big ones! (oh yeah, the all-weapons code
is "CRHINEHART" you cheater you... normally only the 2nd weapon can be
found for each character in single-player mode).
The final area to visit is beyond those big gold doors in 7 Portals. In
there are many nasty things... after you kill all the serpents more doors
rotate open to the south, and more of the shield-guys attack. Once you
kill all of them a glittery bridge appears further south leading towards
the final portal (which is disabled). Watch that drop! It is a
loooooooooooooooooooooong one! I used the wings and it took me forever
and a day to reach the bottom safely. Notice that there is a gap in the
wall on the left... you can make a running jump to go in there and find
more surprises (namely some mana and wings of wrath... oh yeah, two
serpents too, in close quarters, fun). If you miss the jump you will die
though...
Up by the portal is more mana, and the first piece of weapon #4! If you
sneak around behind the portal, there is also a "combined" mana that you
can grab, which is the *only* green mana available in single-player mode
so far...
Thats it. Thats all the rooms you can get to. If you want _more_ you
have to play multi-player, in which case ALL those bronze doors open for
you and you can see more of the ice level. Besides, deathmatch is so
much cooler, not to mention that you can find all the weapons and items
that way...
(After writing the above I finally got the clipping code, RJOHNSON. Now
you CAN go anywhere!)
.-----------.
|Cheat Codes|
`-----------.
These codes will apparently only work in the beta version. When the full
version is released I will compile a new list of codes for all you cheaters
out there!
BGOKEY = God mode
CRHINEHART = All weapons + full mana
MRAYMONDJUDY = All keys (one of them looks like a little axe, cool!)
BRAFFEL = 25 of each item (this will not give you the firemask or other
"one of a kind" items).
REVEAL = same as IDDT in doom. Useable only in map mode. Shows you lots
of neat places you can't go.
SGURNO = 100% health
JSUMWALT = coordinate display
EBIESSMAN = pig mode ;)
RRETTENMUND = ticker to count your framerate (like Doom's devparm mode)
MWAGABAZA## = Script (01-99) I have no idea what this does!
KSHILDER = sound debug. Shows info
BPELLETIER## = warp. The setup warp shows you can go up to map 41.
Although, like Doom II, I'm sure you can do more if you correctly name
them into a WAD.
RJOHNSON = No clipping mode. go through walls! No clipping means you
will fall through the sparkle bridge at the end of 7 Portals and die
unless you can recover quickly.
PLIPO# = change your class! 0,1,2 = fighter, cleric, mage.
CSTIKA = kill all creatures on the level! Ouch!
Also, ala Heretic, the previous games cheat codes will hurt you!
RAMBO = takes all your weapons away except #1
QUICKEN = a warning message the first two times, then instant death!
Another important key is the F5 button. It is for suicide... useful in
deathmatch because sometimes you "fall" into the floor by accident and
get a hall-of-mirrors effect. I don't know why it happens, but it is
annoying. If you have a teleporter, or wings of wrath, you can get out
of it without killing yourself.
Here's some other interesting keys: All the numbers above 4 activate
certain artifacts (if you have them in stock). This proves that the beta
does have all the weapons (unless something changes!)... this is sad
because four per player doesn't seem like nearly enough! But I do think
that a multi-player cooperative game would be very nice to mix the
weaponry up a bit! The cleric and mage make a nice combo!
5 = Icon of the defender
6 = Quartz Flask
7 = Dark Servant
8 = Flechette
9 = Banishment Device
0 = Chaos Device
\ = Disk of Repulsion
= Porkulator
I certainly hope these become editable in the near future!
.-------.
|Weapons|
`-------'
All classes have four weapons. The fourth weapon must be made up of
three separate pieces before it can work. The first weapon does not need
any mana. The second uses blue, the third uses green, and the fourth
uses lots of both. This is true for all three classes. Also note that
in multi-player mode you CAN pick up items that belong to other classes,
but you can't use them. I think there is a code that lets you change
classes during the game, but I don't have it yet.
Fighter:
#1 - Spiked Gauntlets.
These suck, but at least they have more range than you would
expect of your arms! The fighter can land three punches in quick
succession on a target, so he can deal out more damage quickly than the
other 2 classes. Note that the 3rd punch will have very slow recovery
though. It is a good idea to either back up a bit, or stop after 2 and
restart again.
#2 - Timon's Axe. This glows with blue mana, and makes a flash when you
hit someone. It uses 2 blue mana per whack, but only when you actually hit
someone. If you beat on the wall with it it will make the flashes but not
cost mana. It has longer range than punching as well.
#3 - Hammer of Retribution. This can be used with or without
mana, and is about 2 times more powerful than the fists (or so). If you
have green mana, and swing it without hitting anyone, it will spend 3 mana
to fire a "flaming hammer" out that explodes. This is much more powerful
than the hammer itself. If you do hit someone, whether you have mana or
not, it will just thump them without using any mana. Range is similar to
Timon's Axe. The thrown projectile explodes and can damage several
targets, but the explosion does not damage the firing player at all!
#4 - Quietus. This is a big sword that has green flames on it. It
uses 14 blue and 14 green mana and fires a spread of 5 green fireballs
which are quite powerful. It fires them weather or not you are at close
range to someone. I think that the sword itself doesn't actually hit
anyone like the hammer does, just the fireballs. So you can only use it
if you have enough mana.
Cleric:
#1 - Mace of Contrition. As powerful as the fighters fists, but
slower recovery. It doesn't have the extra-slow recovery of that third
punch though.
#2 - Serpent staff. This thing blinks once in a while! Anyway, at long
range it fires two green wavy fireballs that hit for poison damage. At
close range, it hits continuously draining the victims life and giving it
to you! Uses 1 blue mana per firing.
#3 - Firestorm. Uses 4 green mana to fire a streak of fire across the
ground, exploding if you hit someone with it. Does good damage. It has a
limited range, but that range is pretty good. You just can't fire it
across huge chasms. Note that even though the fire travels on the ground,
you can still shoot it up. The fire makes a path any direction you fire...
it just happens that most of the time this happens to be along the ground.
If it hits a creature, it will explode and leave some burning marks on the
ground for a second or two. This causes extra secondary damage to the
target and anyone near it. It also means that a fast moving target will
take less damage than a slow one.
#4 - Justifier. This thing is pure evil! Fires a big gray burst that
splinters into four ghosts. These ghosts fly out in a straight spread if
no enemies are nearby, or fly in circles around nearby villains. They do a
lot of damage as they fly around, and scream all the time. When they kill
someone, they look for another victim to fly around. They do disappear
after a little while though, or if there are no more enemies. Uses 18 of
each color of mana.
Mage:
#1 - Sapphire Wand. This is like the elven wand... unlimited range, but
weak. It does have neat looking tracers though. Not as powerful as the
fists of the fighter or the mace of the cleric, but it fires "almost
instant" bullets... that is they aren't instant, but they are so fast that
you can't really dodge them at all.
#2 - Frozen Shards. This is cool. Uses 3 blue mana to fire a *big*
spread of icicles. Each icicle does a little damage, but there 17 per
volley, so it adds up at close range.
the spread looks like this:
*
* * *
* * * * * * *
* * *
*
Note the center coloumn is 7 shards, not five. Limits of ascii...
When a target dies from these,
instead of falling he becomes frozen. After a few seconds, or if he is
hit with something else, or falls, the frozen guy will shatter into lots
of pieces. These pieces sit on the ground and slowly melt away. Pretty
cool. If a player dies by this, his screen turns blue, and he dies like
normal, but the point of view does not fall to the ground. You can watch
your killer move around, and then you shatter and the POV falls. You can
also press space bar soon as the screen turns blue. See if you can run
fast enough to see your own frozen body before it shatters!
#3 - Arc of Death. This is a bolt of electricity that follows the
ceiling AND the ground. If it hits someone, it stays on them and hurts
them for about 3 seconds. After it hits, it "locks on" to that person.
So if they move it will follow. If you move VERY fast, you can outrun it
after it locks, but not usually. It is a very good monster killer though.
You can fire it at creatures that you normally couldn't see as long as
there is no wall completely blocking your path. For instance, you can fire
it off a cliff to hit someone right at the foot that you can't even see.
Requires 5 green mana.
#4 - Bloodscourge. It fires three incredibly powerful fireballs. Each one
is capable of killing any of the creatures I have met so far in one hit, as
well as the players (except the fighter if he has a really high AC... but
even then he is very near death, and thats from ONE of the three fireballs).
Uses 12 of each color mana. These fireballs also go *through* the
creatures they kill, so you can mow them down by the dozens if they stand
nearly in line.
A lot of people argue with me about this comparing to the cleric's
Justifier. I believe the Bloodscourge is more powerful because: When you
fire a Justifier once, it will home in on multiple enemies and kill them,
but it is limited to doing only so much damage before the ghosts disapear.
I fired in a room with about 8 ettins and it couldn't kill them all.
It does just about enough damage to kill 3 chaos serpents as long as they
don't try and kill anything else. The Bloodscourge, on the other hand,
can wipe out 5 or more chaos serpents in a single shot. Its limitation is
that is does not home in, so they must be standing in a narrow arc of fire
(it does spread a little bit). It does at least twice the raw damage power
using 2/3rds the mana. I guess the most powerful can be a matter of
opinion, but the Bloodscourge is without a doubt the most damaging.
.---------.
|Artifacts|
`---------'
First, these items are directly descended from Heretic:
Wings of Wrath: Let you fly for about a minute or so. The time seems to
be unlimited though if you have god-mode on.
Quartz Flask: Gives you about 25% health back. These will be used
*AUTOMATICLY* when your life hits 0 *AND* you are on skill level 1. At
higher skill levels you still must use them yourself.
Mystic Urn: Gives you 100% health back. These will be used AUTOMATICLY
as the flasks are, but only after the flasks run out.
Chaos Device: Teleports you to the starting point of the level.
Torch: Well, duh!
Now for some new stuff!
Banishment Device: Like a Chaos Device, but you use it on others
instead! It fires a neat-o pattern of rings. Whoever gets hit by it
(monsters included) gets teleported to a random starting position of the
level. For some real fun, transport a bunch of MEAN monsters, then hit
another player to send him into the thick of them!
Boots of Speed: What can I say? They make you run faster.
Dragonskin Bracers: These glowing purple bracers increase your AC by 4
when you use them. You can use a few at once, but only up to a certain
maximum level, depending on which class you take.
Disk of Repulsion: Makes ALL enemies within a certain range of you get
pushed AWAY. Can be used to get out of corners, smash guys into the
wall, or push guys of the cliff (great fun here!). Pushing people into
the wall does do damage to them, but not very much it seems. I had to
use 5 disks to kill an Ettin. BUT, any creatures bumping into eachother
from this effect count as having attacked eachother, and this means they
will usually start fighting with eachother. *IMPORTANT* The disk can
repulse fireballs too! In fact, all the creatures in the beta that shoot
can have their missile weapons turned away by the disk.
Dark Servant: Too cool! When used, you toss a Maulator "voodoo" doll
out a few feet. Sometimes it sits there and you can pick it up again.
Sometimes it becomes a giant Maulotor for 30 seconds to pummel your
enemies! Note that if you drop it in a spot where the Maulotor would
overlap another object on the map, he won't form. The doll floats there
and you can pick it up again. A note on the Maulotors: They can be killed
like normal, but generally they will disapear by the time you can muster
enough firepower to get them anyway. If you use the Porkulator on them,
the change becomes PERMANANT and they won't disapear. Also, when the
Maulotor first forms, he is semi-transparent. If you can hit him with the
Porkulator at the instant he appears, the result is a transparent pig!
Porkalator: Just like the morph ovum of Heretic, but it turns people
into pigs! Note that when you are a pig now, you can still use items.
Anyone who is a pig can throw the green flechette flasks as though they
were the fighter. Wings of wrath can make you a Pig of Wrath!. Pigs are
also small enough that you can stand on them like steps! Pigs can be
resurected.
Flechette: The green flasks. Each class uses these differently. The
fighter chucks them forward and they bounce off of the walls and floor.
It explodes when it either hits someone, or comes to rest for 3 seconds.
The cleric drops it right where he stands (run!), then it quickly explodes
into a noxious cloud for about a minute. Anyone walking into this cloud
suffers poison damage. The screen turns green and they cough a lot. Even
after they leave the cloud, they will take damage while the screen slowly
fades back to normal. The mage drops these like the Timebomb in heretic.
it explodes very quickly! This is one of the most plentiful artifacts in
Hexen.
Scroll with the blue rune on it: This raises the life of all three
classes to 100%. Also, when the cleric uses it near any dead monster (I
havn't tryed it in deathmatch yet) that monster comes back to life. No
creature can be "reserected" more than once though. If you try a second
time they disapear in a puff of smoke. Does anyone know what the fighter
and mage do with it? (Many people have written me saying that creatures
can be resurected any number of times, but everytime *I* do it for the
second time, the creature disapears in a puff of smoke.)
Icon of the Defender: This gives you invincibility without changing the
color of your screen, which is handy. It also has side effects which are
different for each class. The cleric fades in and out from total to
partial invisibility. When he is totally invisible, missile weapons can
move right through him! The mage becomes reflective to all missile
weapons. Any that hit him bounce away. If a cleric fires his Justifier
at you, this can make the ghosts home in on him and kill him! I'm not sure
about the fighter yet, but it seems that he can throw the icon like a more
powerful version of the flechette. It only did this when I was standing
directly in front of the fighter that tried it. I need someone to confirm
this last part because I don't get to play multi-player very often.
Krater of Might: Looks like a chalice. This artifact, when
used will fill your mana levels to the max.
.-----.
|Armor|
`-----'
Each class has a different limit on armor. Each peice of armor protects
you in different amounts depending on your class.
.------------------------.
|class max min A S H a|
|------------------------|
|Fighter 16 3 5 4 3 1|
|Cleric 14 2 2 5 1 4|
|Mage 12 1 1 3 2 5|
`------------------------'
Max = maximum armor class *without* using any bracers.
Min = minimum armor that never goes below this value.
A = chainmail armor
S - Falcon Shield
H = Platinum Helmet
a = Amulet of Warding
.--------.
|Monsters|
`--------'
So far I have only run into 5 monsters in the beta. There are a few
places where there are monsters in multi-player, but not in single player (just
like many artifacts and weapons).
Ettin - The first monster you will probably see is the two-headed brown
beastie wielding a mace. His attack is hand-to-hand range only, so he is
not a major threat. All the players hand weapons have a greater range
than he does (even the fighters punch!). Typically takes about 5 or 6
hits to kill using the weakest weapon of any class.
Fire gargoyles - These creatures resemble the gargoyles from Heretic, but
they are on fire! They are also much smarter: They shoot fireballs at
you in bursts of three, and the strafe side to side quickly when they fire,
maiking them very hard to hit. A fire gargoyle in its "resting" state
looks like a gray fiery sphere. When you "wake them up" they unfold into
themselves.
Chaos Serpents - D'Sparil rode one of these at the very end of Heretic.
It is a large (taller than you) creature that shoots fireballs at you or
bites at close range. They are not nearly as hard to kill as the one in
Heretic, but they are still trouble, and usually appear in groups of two or
three.
Icey guys - These can not normally be found in single-player games unless
you use the cheat codes to go to them. They look like Swamp Thing but
bluish and made of ice instead of green moss. They fire pairs of spikey
ice balls that shatter when they hit anything into a spread of 6 ice shards
that have the same effect as the mages #2 weapon. When you kill
these guys (with any weapon) they shatter like they died from frozen shards.
Centaurs - These creatures are tough to kill. They don't have a lot of
hit points, but everytime you hit them they raise their shield and become
invulnerable (and can reflect most spells). After they drop their shield
they can be hurt again. Take the mage, turn on the Icon of the Defender,
and fire two volleys of shards at him. The first will hit, then he will
raise his shield and the second will bounce back at you, then off of you
(since the mage can reflect spells too with the Icon) and back and forth
until either he drops his shield or they bounce at a far enough angle to
miss one of you.
.------------.
|Hidden texts|
`------------'
The following info was posted by Kyle Hofmann on usenet. He found this
text buried in hexen.exe
[begin Seven Portals ending text]
Having passed the seven portals which sealed this realm, a vast domain
of harsh wilderness stretches before you. Fire, ice, and steel have
tested you, but greater challenges remain ahead. The dense tangle of
forest surely hides hostile eyes, but what lies beyond will be worse.
Barren deserts, dank swamps, and musty caverns bar your way, but you
cannot let anything keep you from your fate, even if you might come to
wish that it would. And beyond, flickering in the distance, the ever
shifting wall of the hypostyle seem to mock your every effort. Your mind
still reeling from your encounters within the hypostyle, you stagger
toward what you hope is a way out.
Things seem to move faster and faster; your vision blurs and begins to
fade... as the world collapses around you, the brightness of a teleportal
engulfs you. A flash of light, and then you climb wearily to your feet.
You stand atop a high tower, and from below come the screams of the
damned. You step forward, and instantly the sound of demonic chanting
fills your blood. By all the gods of death! What place have you come
to? By all the gods of pain, how will you ever find a way out? The
mightiest artifacts and weapons of the ancients barely sufficed to defeat
the heresiarch mand his minions, but now their foul remain lie at your
feet. Gathering the last of your strength, you prepare to enter the
portal which leads from the heresiarch's sanctum. Above you, the
ramparts of an immense castle loom. Silent towers and bare walls
surround a single spire of black stone, which lies square in the center
of the castle like a brooding giant. Fire and shadow twist behind gaping
windows, dozens of baleful eyes glaring down upon you. Somewhere within,
your enemies are waiting... "...and he shall journet to the realms of the
dead, and contest with the forces therein, unto the very gates of
despair. But whether he shall return again to the world of light, no man
knows."
Damn.
Damn damn damn damn damn damn damn.
[end text]
Now for the end game text:
[begin text]
With a scream of agony you are wrenched from this world to another,
every part of your body wreathed in mystic fire. When your vision
clears, you find yourself standing in a great hall, filled with ghostly
echoes and menacing shadows. In the distance you can see a raised dias,
and upon it the only source of light in this world. This can only be the
chaos sphere, the source of Korax's power. With this, you can create
worlds... or destroy them. By rights of battle and conquest it is yours,
and with trembling hands you reach to grasp it. Perhaps, now, a new
player will join the cosmic game of power. Like the pawn who is promoted
to queen, suddenly the very reaches of the board seem to be within your
grasp.
But there are other players mightier than you, and who can know their
next moves?
[end text]
.-----------.
|Script Info|
`-----------'
Ever wonder what those scripts do? In Doom, when you crossed a linedef
that triggered an action, it simply sent the action number to any sectors
that shared its activation number. In Hexen, linedefs activate "scripts"
that can do any amount of actions. An example is in the "Guardian of Ice"
level, when you place the firemask in the proper slot, two doors open to
the sides of the room showing lava flows going beneath the floor. A
pillar of ice in the center of the room slowly melts down to a puddle,
bringing down the fire key, then the two doors close again. This all
happens from putting the firemask into the one slot!
Scripts can also create or remove objects from the levels. On the first
level, some of the obstacles near the silver key are removed after you ring
the bell. In the ice level, you can use the "CSTIKA" code to kill all
monsters on the level, but when you go into the circular room monsters
still "teleport" in. I think the scripts can also do things depending on
if the game is running single-player or Deathmatch. Possibly by skill
level and character class too.
Each level can have as many as 99 scripts, although none of the levels in
the beta use more than 35 I think. You can activate scripts by using the
code "MWAGABAZA" and it will ask you "Activate which script (01-99)?".
Type in two numbers and there ya go. Most scripts will not have any
visible effect, since many just open doors and you usually are not near
them when you do it ;) Some do major things though. One script in
"guardian of Ice" lowers *ALL* ceilings to the floor, which really
sucks. So be careful, and expect to reload your game once in a while.
Also, some scripts are running continuously. An example would be a script
that makes the lights of a hallway blink on and off in a pattern (like the
corridor leading to the fire key). When you try and activate these, you
do not get a "activating script number ##" message because it is already
running. This script system seems very similar to the programmable lift
system in Dark Forces. Note also that if no script exists, a message pops
up saying that it couldn't find that script number.
I am cuttingthe size of this list... I will only post the important ones
for now.
[Winnowing Halls]
03 sets off fire ball traps.
[Seven Portals]
01 I had to do this twice.. Not sure.. Opens first gold door.
18 lifts all middle stairs?
19 Opens Top gold door?
26 "Greating Mortal" Are you Ready to Die?
31 -32 opens gold doors to the sides.. Not the middle right though.
[Guardian of Ice]
19 Turns on light in the shape of a sword pointing to the door right and
left in the circ main area. You can now access to fire key to the right
if you have the mask and the steel key to the left.
.-------------.
|WAD file info|
`-------------'
This is just the beginning of the info, and is not very detailed yet.
The format is close to the Heretic/Doom type, although the level names
are MAP01 MAP02 etc, more like Doom II. There are some big changes too
so none of the current editors will load them without some tweaking.
The THINGS entries are twice as long, and have the following
format:
0. tag number?
1. x position
2. y position
3. bitmask of some sort?
4. angle
5. thing type
6. thing options (some extra bits have been added)
7. bit mask of some sort?
8. ?
9. ?
The LINEDEFS entries are one field longer, and have the following
format:
0. from vertex
1. to vertex
2. flags
3. data for trigger lines?
4. lower byte is code of some sort for trigger lines?
upper byte contains code of what happens?
5. additional data for trigger lines?
6. right sidedef
7. left sidedef or -1
The other level resources look generally the same. (The above info,
sketchy as it is, should be enough to at least make it possible to
write something to allow the levels to be loaded into an editor.)
This info was sent to me by Paul Falstad. He also writes about the
following, which I believe is the scripting info for the levels.
There's a BEHAVIOR resource for each level, which looks really
scary. The format looks like a mini wad file.
first 4 bytes: ACS\0
next 4 bytes: longword offset of directory
...data...
The directory starts with a longword containing the number of entries,
followed by the entries, which consist of three longwords. The first
longword is an identifying number of some sort; the first few entries
have id numbers of 1, 2, 3, 4, etc. but the later entries have seemingly
arbitrary numbers. The next longword is an offset to the entry data
itself. I don't know what the third longword is.
I have no idea what the actual data that the entries are pointing to is.
It's probably some compiled language of some sort, so I'm not optimistic
about figuring out what it does. It looks like a series of longwords,
which are instruction codes of some sort. I don't know what they do,
except for 0x4f and 0x34, which look like jump instructions of some sort
(they have longword offsets following them). Also, 0x01 is probably
a "return" instruction, since it occurs at the end of each entry.
After the directory is a longword containing a count, followed by
that many longwords, which are offsets to strings. The strings are
things like "GlassShatter", "FireDemonAttack", "THE DOOR IS LOCKED", etc.
This would indicate that the BEHAVIOR data allows you to attach
arbitrary sounds and strings to a linedef.
All this info (I believe) will eventually turn into a working knowladge of
how the scripting system works. My guess is it has a limited set of
commands for moving linedefs and such, as well as triggering sounds and
messages. This will make level building more difficult, but will be an
immense tool of power for making fantastic levels!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
If anyone has extra info, email me at birdie@halcyon.com. Please only
send useful information, not stuff like misspellings (of which there are
many, I know).
Feel free to add this to any web page or whatever, just let me know when
you do so I can come and see it!
Make sure you give me credit for it too!
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Arne Michaelsen - keeper of the FAQ, email: birdie@halcyon.com
Special thanks to:
Todd Wagner .... for many cheat codes and activation keys.
Killian ............ for listing a lot of scripts.
Deird'Re M. Brooks ............. for the clipping code.
Paul Falstad ........................... for the tech details.
Kyle Hofmann ....................... for the hidden text.
Rowan .................. for the ascii picture.
Colin Caird ............. for too many thigs to list!