crispy-hexen(6)

📦
version 7.1 · 5 versions
, in nixos 26.05, ubuntu questing, ubuntu resolute, ubuntu stonking

✨ crispy-hexen ✨

okay bestie, welcome to the crispy-hexen manual page 💖 it's in the Games Manual section (section 6, iykyk), and we're gonna get you fully caught up. grab a snack. this one's long and we're doing it in parts 🍓

🌸 NAME 🌸

crispy-hexen — a historically compatible Hexen engine 👑

no cap, that's literally the whole job description. it runs Hexen. it runs it like it's 1995. that's the vibe.

🎀 SYNOPSIS 🎀

crispy-hexen [options]

that's it. that's the whole synopsis. options only, no required arguments, she's low maintenance 💅

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

So. Crispy Hexen is a port of Raven Software's 1995 game Hexen, and its entire main character energy is: behave as similar to the original DOS version of Hexen as possible. That's the goal. That's the mission. Periodt. 🌈

💖 GENERAL OPTIONS 💖

the everyday stuff. the basics. the getting-started girls. ✨

  • -config file — Load main configuration from the specified file, instead of the default. 📁
  • -extraconfig file — Load additional configuration from the specified file, instead of the default.
  • -file file ... — Load the specified PWAD files. Each succeeding argument is treated as a PWAD file name until one starts with a dash or the argument list is exhausted. so like, keep feeding it filenames and it'll keep eating them 🍽️
  • -iwad file — Specify an IWAD file to use.
  • -nomusic — Disable music. 🔇
  • -nomusicpacks — Disable substitution music packs.
  • -nosfx — Disable sound effects.
  • -nosound — Disable all sound output. everything. gone. silence. 🤫
  • -ravpic — Take screenshots when F1 is pressed. 📸
  • -response file — Load extra command-line arguments from the given response file. Arguments read from the file are inserted into the command line, replacing this argument. A response file can also be loaded using the abbreviated syntax '@file.rsp'. cute shorthand fr fr
  • -savedir directory — Specify a path from which to load and save games. If the directory does not exist then it will automatically be created. she'll make it herself, she's independent 🫶
  • -version — Print the program version and exit. 👋

🔥 GAME START OPTIONS 🔥

how you wanna kick off the actual game. choose your own adventure bestie 🌟

  • -autohealth — Automatic use of Quartz flasks and Mystic urns. 💊
  • -fast — Fast monsters. 🏃 > This option is not allowed when recording a demo, playing back a demo or when starting a network game.
  • -loadgame s — Load the game in savegame slot s.
  • -moremana — Mana pickups give 50% more mana. ✨ > This option is not allowed when recording a demo, playing back a demo or when starting a network game.
  • -nomonsters — Disable monsters. bye boys 💀
  • -respawn — Monsters respawn after being killed. they come BACK. 😭
  • -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 🎀

screen stuff. how big, how small, how windowed. the visual vibe check 👀

  • -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. (yes it says double for the 3 one. that's what the page says. we report, we don't editorialize 💅)
  • -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 🌈

multiplayer era!! playing with the girlies across the LAN 🫶

  • -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. 🐷 (yes. pig. iconic.)
  • -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, reducing 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 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. 🎲
  • -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. This can also be used to play back single player netgame demos. main character playing alone but in netgame mode ✨
  • -timer n — For multiplayer games: exit each level after n minutes. ⏰

💜 DEHACKED AND WAD MERGING 💜

the modder girlies know. this is your section 🧚

  • -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 ⭐

recording and playing back demos. the cinema of it all 🎬

  • -longtics — Record or playback a demo with high resolution turning.
  • -maxdemo size — Specify the demo buffer size (KiB)
  • -nodemoextend — Record or playback a demo, automatically quitting after either level exit or player respawn.
  • -noshortticfix — Don't smooth out low resolution turning when recording a demo.
  • -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>. 🎥
  • -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 modern nonsense, pure vintage 💅
  • -timedemo demo — Play back the demo named demo.lmp, determining the framerate of the screen.

🦋 COMPATIBILITY 🦋

for when you need the old vibes specifically 🕰️

  • -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, even though it will almost certainly cause the game to crash. 💀 > bestie. it will crash. it says it will crash. the page is telling you. do with that what you will.

🧚 OBSCURE AND LESS-USED OPTIONS 🧚

the deep cuts. the niche girls. someone loves them and that someone might be you 💖

  • -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 🌸

okay so to play, you need an IWAD file. it's the big one — all 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 Search Order 💫

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. 🎯

pro tip from the page itself: that's a one-time override. it doesn't stick. it's a one-night-stand with your IWAD path, not a relationship 💅

that's part 1 bestie, and there's more coming — don't go anywhere 🫶✨

🌸 ENVIRONMENT 🌸

okay bestie, this section is all about the environment variables that control how Crispy Hexen behaves. like, the secret little knobs you set before you even launch the game 💖

  • DOOMWADDIR
  • DOOMWADPATH

these two? yeah, they're covered up in the IWAD SEARCH PATHS section above. go peek at that if you need the deets 👀

  • PCSOUND_DRIVER

so when you're running in PC speaker sound effect mode, this env var tells Crispy Hexen which PC speaker driver to use for playing those sound effects. the valid options are:

  • Linux — the Linux console mode driver 🐧
  • BSD — the NetBSD/OpenBSD PC speaker driver 🦋
  • SDL — SDL-based emulated PC speaker playback (it uses the digital output for this) ✨
  • OPL_DRIVER

and when you're using OPL MIDI playback, this one picks the OPL backend driver. valid options are:

  • SDL — an SDL-based software emulated OPL chip 💻
  • Linux — the Linux hardware OPL driver 🐧
  • OpenBSD — the OpenBSD/NetBSD hardware OPL driver 🦔

ngl, generally speaking a real hardware OPL chip sounds better than software emulation — like, it just hits different 🎵 — but here's the tea: modern machines don't usually have one anymore 😭. and even if yours does, it might still take extra setup work and elevated security privileges to actually access it. so, yk, plan accordingly 💅

🎀 FILES 🎀

the files Crispy Hexen keeps around, bestie:

  • $HOME/.local/share/crispy-doom/hexen.cfg

this is the main configuration file for Crispy Hexen. check hexen.cfg(5) for the full run-down 📝

  • $HOME/.local/share/crispy-doom/crispy-hexen.cfg

and this one holds the extra configuration values that are specific to Crispy Hexen — the stuff that just isn't present in Vanilla Hexen. see crispy-hexen.cfg(5) for more 🌈

👑 SEE ALSO 👑

go read these too, they're iconic:

💖 AUTHOR 💖

Chocolate Hexen is part of the Chocolate Doom project, written and maintained by Simon Howard. it's based on the Hexen source code, which was released by Raven Software. legends, honestly 🫶

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. 🚨

okay that's the whole page, bestie, you made it to the end 🎉 this was Crispy Doom 7.1.0, dated 2017-11-27, and the page is crispy-hexen(6) — now go frag some korax minions, you got this 💅✨🦋

📦 where this page comes from