chocolate-hexen(6)

📦
version 3.1.1 · 4 versions
, in fedora 43, fedora 44, nixpkgs unstable, ubuntu resolute, ubuntu stonking

🎀 chocolate-hexen(6) — the Games Manual, but make it slay 🎀

okay so bestie, this is chocolate-hexen(6), straight out of the Games Manual section. Buckle up, it's a long one — grab a snack 🍓.

✨ NAME ✨

chocolate-hexen — a historically compatible Hexen engine. Yes, the Hexen. The 1995 Raven Software one. We're keeping it vintage, no cap 💜

🌈 SYNOPSIS 🌈

chocolate-hexen [options]

💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

Chocolate Hexen is a port of Raven Software's 1995 game Hexen that aims to behave as similar to the original DOS version of Hexen as possible. Like, obsessed with accuracy. That's the whole vibe. 🦋

👑 GENERAL OPTIONS 👑

  • -config file — load the main configuration from the file you picked, instead of the default one.
  • -extraconfig file — load additional configuration from the file you picked, instead of the default.
  • -file file ... — load the PWAD files you list. Every argument after this one gets treated as a PWAD file name — right up until one of them starts with a dash, or you just run out of arguments.
  • -iwad file — specify an IWAD file to use.
  • -nomusic — music? off. 💀
  • -nomusicpacks — substitution music packs? also off.
  • -nosfx — sound effects? gone.
  • -nosound — all sound output, disabled. Silence, but make it fashion.
  • -ravpic — take screenshots whenever you press F1.
  • -response file — load extra command-line arguments from the given response file. The arguments read from the file get inserted into the command line, replacing this argument. You can also pull in a response file with the abbreviated syntax '@file.rsp'.
  • -savedir directory — specify a path to load and save games from. If that directory doesn't exist, it gets created automatically. She's self-sufficient 💅
  • -version — print the program version and bounce.

🔥 GAME START OPTIONS 🔥

  • -loadgame s — load the game sitting in savegame slot s.
  • -nomonsters — monsters? disabled.
  • -respawn — monsters respawn after being killed. chaotic energy honestly.
  • -skill skill — set the game skill, 1-5 (1: easiest, 5: hardest). A skill of 0 disables all monsters.
  • -warp x — start a game immediately, warping to MAPx.

🌸 DISPLAY OPTIONS 🌸

  • -1 — don't scale up the screen. Implies -window.
  • -2 — double up the screen to 2x its normal size. Implies -window.
  • -3 — double up the screen to 3x its normal size. Implies -window.
  • -display x — specify the display number on which to show the screen.
  • -fullscreen — run in fullscreen mode.
  • -geometry WxH — specify the dimensions of the window. Implies -window.
  • -height H — specify the screen height, in pixels. Implies -window.
  • -noblit — disable blitting the screen.
  • -nograbmouse — don't grab the mouse when running in windowed mode.
  • -nomouse — disable the mouse.
  • -width W — specify the screen width, in pixels. Implies -window.
  • -window — run in a window.

🦋 NETWORKING OPTIONS 🦋

  • -autojoin — automatically search the local LAN for a multiplayer server and join it.
  • -class n — specify player class: 0=fighter, 1=cleric, 2=mage, 3=pig. (pig. icon behaviour, honestly.)
  • -connect address — connect to a multiplayer server running on the given address.
  • -deathmatch — start a deathmatch game.
  • -dup n — reduce the resolution of the game by a factor of n, which cuts down the amount of network bandwidth needed.
  • -extratics n — send n extra tics in every packet as insurance against dropped packets.
  • -nodes n — autostart the netgame when n nodes (clients) have joined the server.
  • -oldsync — use the original network client sync code rather than the improved sync code.
  • -port n — use the specified UDP port for communications, instead of the default (2342).
  • -privateserver — when running a server, don't register with the global master server. Implies -server.
  • -randclass — in deathmatch mode, change a player's class each time the player respawns. main character energy, constantly ✨
  • -server — start a multiplayer server, listening for connections.
  • -servername name — when starting a network server, specify a name for the server.
  • -solo-net — start the game playing as though in a netgame with a single player. You can also use this to play back single player netgame demos.
  • -timer n — for multiplayer games: exit each level after n minutes.

💜 DEHACKED AND WAD MERGING 💜

  • -aa file ... — equivalent to "-af <files> -as <files>".
  • -af file ... — simulates the behavior of NWT's -af option, merging flats into the main IWAD directory. Multiple files may be specified.
  • -as file ... — simulates the behavior of NWT's -as option, merging sprites into the main IWAD directory. Multiple files may be specified.
  • -deh file ... — load the given dehacked patch(es).
  • -merge file ... — simulates the behavior of deutex's -merge option, merging a PWAD into the main IWAD. Multiple files may be specified.
  • -noautoload — disable auto-loading of .wad files.
  • -nocheats — ignore cheats in dehacked files.
  • -nwtmerge file ... — simulates the behavior of NWT's -merge option. Multiple files may be specified.

🎀 DEMO OPTIONS 🎀

  • -demoextend — record or playback a demo without automatically quitting after either level exit or player respawn.
  • -longtics — record or playback a demo with high resolution turning.
  • -maxdemo size — specify the demo buffer size (KiB).
  • -playdemo demo — play back the demo named demo.lmp.
  • -record x — record a demo named x.lmp.
  • -recordfrom save-num demo-name — load a game from the given savegame slot and record a demo from it. Equivalent to -loadgame <save-num> -record <demo-name>.
  • -shortticfix — smooth out low resolution turning when recording a demo.
  • -strictdemos — when recording or playing back demos, disable any extensions of the vanilla demo format: record demos as vanilla would do, and play back demos as vanilla would do. no extra frills, periodt.
  • -timedemo demo — play back the demo named demo.lmp, determining the framerate of the screen.

⭐ COMPATIBILITY ⭐

  • -gameversion version — emulate a specific version of Hexen. Valid values are "1.1" and "1.1r2".
  • -setmem version — specify DOS version to emulate for NULL pointer dereference emulation. Supported versions are: dos622, dos71, dosbox. The default is to emulate DOS 7.1 (Windows 98).
  • -v10override — if provided, the check for the v1.0 IWAD file is disabled.
bestie, listen to me: that -v10override one will almost certainly cause the game to crash. It's right there in the manual. You've been warned 💀

🧚 OBSCURE AND LESS-USED OPTIONS 🧚

  • -artiskip — don't allow artifacts to be used when the run key is held down.
  • -cdrom [windows only] — save configuration data and savegames in c:\hexndata, allowing play from CD.
  • -dumpsubstconfig file — read all MIDI files from loaded WAD files, dump an example substitution music config file to the specified file, and quit.
  • -mb mb — specify the heap size, in MiB.
  • -mmap — use the OS's virtual memory subsystem to map WAD files directly into memory.
  • -nogui — if specified, don't show a GUI window for error messages when the game exits with an error.
  • -scripts path — development option to specify path to level scripts.

💫 IWAD SEARCH PATHS 💫

To play, an IWAD file is needed. This is a large file containing all of the levels, graphics, sound effects, music and other material that make up the game. IWAD files are named according to the game; the standard names are:

  • doom.wad, doom1.wad, doom2.wad, tnt.wad, plutonia.wad — Doom, Doom II, Final Doom
  • heretic.wad, hexen.wad, strife.wad — Heretic, Hexen and Strife (commercial Doom engine games).
  • hacx.wad, chex.wad — Hacx and Chex Quest: more obscure games based on the Doom engine.
  • freedm.wad, freedoom1.wad, freedoom2.wad — The Freedoom open content IWAD files.

The following directory paths are searched in order to find an IWAD:

  • Current working directory — any IWAD files found in the current working directory will be used in preference to IWADs found in any other directories.
  • DOOMWADDIR — this environment variable can be set to contain a path to a single directory in which to look for IWAD files. This environment variable is supported by most Doom source ports.
  • DOOMWADPATH — this environment variable, if set, can contain a colon-separated list of directories in which to look for IWAD files, or alternatively full paths to specific IWAD files.
  • $HOME/.local/share/games/doom — writeable directory in the user's home directory. The path can be overridden using the XDG_DATA_HOME environment variable (see the XDG Base Directory Specification).
  • /usr/local/share/doom
  • /usr/local/share/games/doom
  • /usr/share/doom
  • /usr/share/games/doom

System-wide locations that can be accessed by all users. The path /usr/share/games/doom is a standard path that is supported by most Doom source ports. These paths can be overridden using the XDG_DATA_DIRS environment variable (see the XDG Base Directory Specification).

The above can be overridden on a one-time basis by using the -iwad command line parameter to provide the path to an IWAD file to use. This parameter can also be used to specify the name of a particular IWAD to use from one of the above paths. For example, "-iwad doom.wad" will search the above paths for the file doom.wad to use.

🌈 ENVIRONMENT 🌈

This section describes environment variables that control Chocolate Hexen's behavior.

  • DOOMWADDIR
  • DOOMWADPATH

See section "IWAD SEARCH PATHS" above.

  • PCSOUND_DRIVER — when running in PC speaker sound effect mode, this environment variable specifies a PC speaker driver to use for sound effect playback. Valid options are "Linux" for the Linux console mode driver, "BSD" for the NetBSD/OpenBSD PC speaker driver, and "SDL" for SDL-based emulated PC speaker playback (using the digital output).
  • OPL_DRIVER — when using OPL MIDI playback, this environment variable specifies an OPL backend driver to use. Valid options are "SDL" for an SDL-based software emulated OPL chip, "Linux" for the Linux hardware OPL driver, and "OpenBSD" for the OpenBSD/NetBSD hardware OPL driver.

Generally speaking, a real hardware OPL chip sounds better than software emulation; however, modern machines do not often include one. If present, it may still require extra work to set up and elevated security privileges to access. 🙈

🌸 FILES 🌸

ok so here's where all your lil settings live bestie, and yes they're tucked away in your home directory like the little secrets they are 💖

  • $HOME/.local/share/chocolate-doom/hexen.cfg — this is the main character of config files, the one and only main configuration file for Chocolate Hexen. go read hexen.cfg(5) if you wanna know more, iykyk 📖
  • $HOME/.local/share/chocolate-doom/chocolate-hexen.cfg — and this one? this is the extra lil stash of configuration values that are specific to Chocolate Hexen and not present in Vanilla Hexen. it's giving bonus content. check chocolate-hexen.cfg(5) for the deets ✨

🫶 SEE ALSO 🫶

go read these too, bestie, they're all part of the family:

👑 AUTHOR 👑

Chocolate Hexen is part of the Chocolate Doom project, and it was written and maintained by Simon Howard — absolute legend behaviour, no cap 💅

It's based on the Hexen source code, which was released by Raven Software. iconic lineage fr fr 🦋

ok legal moment, pay attention:

Copyright © id Software Inc. Copyright © Raven Software Inc. Copyright © 2005-2013 Simon Howard.

This is free software. You may redistribute copies of it under the terms of the GNU General Public License <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>. There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law. (yeah, all caps NO WARRANTY, that's them yelling it, not me 😭)

and that's the whole page, bestie!! 🎀

this was Chocolate Doom 3.1.1, dated 2017-11-27, and the page itself is chocolate-hexen(6). slay, go frag some things, drink water, and don't forget to save your config 💖✨🌸

📦 where this page comes from