HeXen: Deathkings of the Dark Citadel is out of date from Steam

[Keiya]

HeXen: Deathkings of the Dark Citadel is shipping the 1.0 version. This version is missing an important piece of data in the HEXDD.WAD file, meaning that music will not play. The official patch is available in various places, or you could use iwadpatcher to patch just the iwad if you use a sourceport.

[HEL(L)ICOPRION]

tnx man, i've bought the collection todaydriven by nostalgia...then i started to being concerned about how games that old can run on modern setups...at least, if i encounter the problem you listed, i know how to deal with it... :)

[Keiya]

You're welcome! I heartily recomend using a sourceport like Zdoom[zdoom.org] for an enhanced experience or Chocolate Doom[www.chocolate-doom.org] for something close to the original, they work a lot better than the original engine in dosbox. Chocolate doesn't support Heretic and Hexen yet, but it's being worked on.

[CraftBeer]

Цитата допису Keiya:

You're welcome! I heartily recomend using a sourceport like Zdoom[zdoom.org] for an enhanced experience or [http://www.chocolate-doom.org/wiki/index.php/Chocolate_Doom]Chocolate Doom[/url] for something close to the original, they work a lot better than the original engine in dosbox. Chocolate doesn't support Heretic and Hexen yet, but it's being worked on.

when will we see the fix for steam?

[Keiya]

I ddon't know, I'm just a fan who happened to stumble on the problem and the solution. Speaking of things I don't know, what the heck happened to my links up there?

[Rafael2097]

Try running in this building of Chocolate-Doom:
http://www.tc.umn.edu/~delbe001/chocolate-doom-v2

Use this batch file for easy run any supported iwad (missing strife option) - http://www.doomworld.com/vb/source-ports/49967-my-chocolate-doom-frontend-now-with-raven-branch-support/

[Arcade Goon]

Цитата допису CrownBeto:

when will we see the fix for steam?

lol, never.

[NeroConiglio]

Hi, I know this thread is old but I'm trying to install the patch and it only gives me an error messagge claiming that the file is not compatible with the version of Windows I'm running. I have Win 7 64 bit. Can you help me?

EDIT: Nevermind, I used JIWadPatcher.

[Keiya]

The patcher is a DOS application, you'd need to run it in dosbox. But yeah, the external patchers work, glad that you solved your problem!

[[CT] Forced Jaketh]

Use ZDoom, I didnt even patch any of my games externally (Heretic or HeXen) and it runs perfectly smooth and I can change resolution and that for my more modern screen. Frankly I would of bundled these games with something like ZDoom rather than Dosbox but hey some people like issues and original ways it works but i prefer everything the same but get to change actual settings and having it work :P

[[CT] Forced Jaketh]

Plus Ive never had any issue with music or any other aspect of the game under the ZDoom wad launcher

[Kodai]

I would like to point out the bug is not "red book" audio (aka CD audio) like mentioned in the wiki. It's a bug that prevents the midi music from playing correctly. Most people will use regular sound blaster music, and the bug does not effect that. Some people will use the midi option and their default OS's midi soundfont. On all versions of windows since, Win95 up till Win 8.1 that soundfont is Microsoft GS. Sounds like crap and is about the worst soundfont ever. Others will instsall something like BASSMIDI and use that. Sounds pretty close to a real Roland GS module. Fewer still will use a real, Roland SC-55 which is what the game was intended to run on. I use the real module, and it really is the best way to add to the atmosphere of the game.

ZDoom (and for that matter, any modern .WAD player) does not fix the midi music problem with this expansion. You still have to run the patch if you want the midi music to play duing the game. Without the patch, you will hear the midi music in the menu, but as soon as the game starts, the midi music dies out.

You can still get the patch at id's FTP site, and its simple to install. Get the patch, unzip it, then cut and paste it into the expansions folder. Then launch DOSBOX, navigate to the folder and run the patch. It may take a few minutes for the patch to do its thing, but it will tell you when its done. Thats it. From there, start the game via Steam, ZDoom, DOSBOX, etc and you should have your midi music playing in game.

[Keiya]

Er, the bug actually does impact soundblaster. The missing bit is the thing that associates music tracks with levels. (You're right that it's not redbook audio. The missing red book audio is a problem with the Quake engine stuff on Steam.)

[Kodai]

I see what I did wrong in testing the bug out. I didn't bother to empty the correct directory (I have several installs for different uses), and when I reinstalled it, the patched files didn't get wiped out. Thats why the sound caard options still worked for me. That was my fault on the sound card info, as I was flying through the testing on automatic mode and not paying attention. But the red book audio is not a problem as you saw yourself. Just sound cards and midi options are out of wack without the patch.

[Keiya]

There ISN'T any red book audio. "Red book audio" is a fancy term for "CD player tracks". A lot of games at the dawn of the CD era stored their music as tracks on the CD. Quake did, for instance, and for some stupid reason Steam copies don't come with the music *at all* because of it.

[Kodai]

Umm...yes there is indeed red book audio. Just not in the steam release. If you have the original CD version of the game, there are CD audio tracks. As I pointed out, the games wiki says that the red book audio does not work until patched. At first I thought that was wrong and it only affected MIDI playback. But then as I pointed out in another post, I found that I had not deleted the patched files when I did my first test so I was wrong. The bug does infact effect MIDI, FM, and CD playback. The only way to correct it is to use the patch.

.WAD playback on other engines like ZDoom and what not, have not really fixed the issue, but instead done a work-around by playing recordings through their own engine. If you want to fix the bug which is present on the original CD or Steam release you will have to run the patch. Once you do so, you can playback the CD audio if you have it, even with the Steam version. But if you do not have the CD audio tracks, then of course it will not play that back.

The CD audio tracks are nothing more than inhouse recordings in red book format of the games original MIDI files being played through a Roland Sound Canvas. Since I use a real Roland Sound Canvas (both the SC-55 and SC-55 MkII units), I would rather hear the MIDI's played live instead of a recording anyway. The real thing not only comes out as cleaner sounding, but instead of hearing loops played off a recording, the MIDI will more smoothly fade into replaying so as not to break the atmosphere of the game. MIDI with the right hardware or software (as in soundfonts) is almost always better than FM or CD music. So the patch is worth it just to fix the MIDI tracks in the steam version and to use a soundfont to play them back correctly on a modern system. Unless you have a real module that is. ^_^