Online?

[HexeR]

I see it says this in the description:
"Four sick individuals can wreak havoc via network, two by modem."

And I was just wondering, how would I accomplish this?

[Kodai]

H:BH is designed for A) IPX network play and B) direct conection via dialup modem. With option A), you would have your own network and clients on that network with H:BH installed could then link up and play. This is not the same as TCP/IP internet. H:BH does NOT have the ability to resolve an IP address. The game was designed and released before most people started to game over the internet. You may be able to make this game work over the internet with a 3rd party app called himachi. Himachi has the ability to like two systems over a private, virtual IPX network. This is what most people use for older games to continue to play with each other.

Option B), is for directly calling another persons computer via a dialup modem. One modem is set to "originate" and the other is set to "answer". Both players start their game and one person calls the other from the simple in game multiplayer screen. The other player's modem answers the call and the games sync up and allow basic chat functions.

While USB modems are still fairly cheap and easy to find, they are not intended to function in a MSDOS enviroment. H:BH is a pure MSDOS game. When you run on a moden machine, you are running it in a emulator creates a virtual MSDOS environment. To be honest, I have no idea if a modern USB modem would work in something like DOSBOX that this version of H:BH comes with. My guess is no, it won't. I would again recommend himachi for multiplayer.

Now if you and a friend have or have built a retro PC (aka a "time machine" to many retro players), then you should be able to take your copy of H:BH from steam, move it to the vintage machine and use the modem that way without ny issues.

Hope that info helps.

[HexeR]

Originally posted by Kodai:

H:BH is designed for A) IPX network play and B) direct conection via dialup modem. With option A), you would have your own network and clients on that network with H:BH installed could then link up and play. This is not the same as TCP/IP internet. H:BH does NOT have the ability to resolve an IP address. The game was designed and released before most people started to game over the internet. You may be able to make this game work over the internet with a 3rd party app called himachi. Himachi has the ability to like two systems over a private, virtual IPX network. This is what most people use for older games to continue to play with each other.

Option B), is for directly calling another persons computer via a dialup modem. One modem is set to "originate" and the other is set to "answer". Both players start their game and one person calls the other from the simple in game multiplayer screen. The other player's modem answers the call and the games sync up and allow basic chat functions.

While USB modems are still fairly cheap and easy to find, they are not intended to function in a MSDOS enviroment. H:BH is a pure MSDOS game. When you run on a moden machine, you are running it in a emulator creates a virtual MSDOS environment. To be honest, I have no idea if a modern USB modem would work in something like DOSBOX that this version of H:BH comes with. My guess is no, it won't. I would again recommend himachi for multiplayer.

Now if you and a friend have or have built a retro PC (aka a "time machine" to many retro players), then you should be able to take your copy of H:BH from steam, move it to the vintage machine and use the modem that way without ny issues.

Hope that info helps.

Thanks. Could you elaborate on the hamachi setup that would be required?

[Kodai]

I could write up a long and convoluted wall of text that makes it seem much harder than it is, but I'll recommend youtube instead. It's not hard, but if you are not somebody who deals with networking, you will want a visual guide. Just seach youtube for things like how to use hamachi or logmein hamachi. Your friends will have to do the same thing, so watch it together. The vids will tell you all you need to know, but it could take a bit of effort if you are new to things like that. Good luck and hope you get the game going in multiplayer. ^_^

[fickó]

The popular Doom online multiplayer client Zandronum (continuation of the previous Skulltag) does support Hexen, Heretic and Strife too, so you can play Hexen in co-op and deathmatch over the Internet using that. Dosbox, which the Steam releases of these uses, also have an built in IPX-to-online feature, but it's a bit harder to set up than Hamachi.
Some of GOG's releases have preconfigured Dosbox versions for IPX multiplayer, such as Duke Nukem 3D and Rise of the Triad: Dark War, here are excerpts from their dosbox.conf files (these should be added at the end of your .conf file in the steamapps/common/hexen directory):
Client:

[IPX]
Enable=1
Connection=1
ipx=true


[autoexec]
# Lines in this section will be run at startup.

@ECHO OFF
mount C "."
c:
cls
@echo To connect to host, you must know it's IP address. Type CONNECT IP_ADDRESS and hit ENTER or type EXIT to exit.

@echo i.e. CONNECT 123.11.12.13

Host:

[IPX]
Enable=1
Connection=1
ipx=true


[autoexec]
# Lines in this section will be run at startup.

@ECHO OFF
mount C "."
c:
cls
IPXNET STARTSERVER
dm.exe
exit