HeXeReTiC Fantasy Special Edition R1 (Updated 19 Jul 2019)

[Hexereticdoom]

IMPORTANT: THIS ADDON REQUIRES GZDOOM 3.1.0 / QZDOOM 2.0.0 OR LATER TO WORK PROPERLY. OTHER SOURCEPORTS LIKE ZANDRONUM ARE NOT SUPPORTED.


INTRODUCTION

Welcome to HeXeReTiC Fantasy!

Here you will take the role of Corvus III, the descendant of the brave Corvus, the unclaimed hero of the Sidhe Elves tribe.

Just like your grandfather, you'll have to confront again versus the evil Serpent Rider known as D'Sparil and all of his followers, and make your way into it with help of your habilities.

Thanks to your powerful physical and magical training during last decades, you feel prepared enough for your task. You got some new powers over time, also with your increased strength and agility, it's a big chance to make D'Sparil and his minions biting the dust one again, and this way honoring the memory of your defunct and beloved grandfather.

It's now time to pick up your new recharged Jade Rod and start now your new adventures!


DESCRIPTION

HeXeReTiC Fantasy is a GZDoom/QZDoom randomizer addon destined for being loaded and used exclusively with Heretic IWAD. Yeah, although at first it may seem by the addon title, it is not compatible with Hexen, but instead it brings and adapts some ported elements from that classic Raven Software game. It can also be used for some external PWADs that modify original Heretic map levels, as long as they don't make some critical changes which alter the gameplay, monsters, weapons and other base elements, because it may conflict badly with this addon. Some PWADs like Heretic Treasure Chest, Call of the Apostate, Curse of D'sparil, Elf Gets Pissed, HYMN, History of Fruit, etc. should be perfectly played with HeXeReTiC Fantasy, and also it can be used with most auto-generated PWADs made with Oblige or Obhack tools!

This randomizer addon has been built mainly from some already existent ZDoom Heretic addons/mods, taking them as a base and adding some improvements and exclusive new features. Most of the used resources comes from the following addons/mods: COTIS Visual Enhancement mod, Heretweak weapons mod, Merciless Enhancement mod, [Hexen & Heretic] Remixed & Remastered Sounds addon and some Realm667 website resources, without forgetting the material coming from original Raven Software games. (See more details in Credits section).

Like all my previous workings, this addon is provided for you at no cost, and has been created just and only for fun. And of course, I DO NOT earn any money from it in any way, not even in the hosting and downloading file action, and it never will be! (That's not my style, you will know...)


LIST OF CONTENTS

- Improved graphic special effects and remastered sounds overall, plus randomizing spawners for monsters and collectible items (weapons, ammo, artifacts...)

- A stronger and more agile heroic main character: Corvus III can pick up more health and ammo, run faster and jump higher than his memorable grandfather, and even can stand for very long time without breathing underwater! (Suck that, Guybrush Threepwood! )

- New eight skill difficulty levels: you can choose from the piece-of-cake Sorcerer's Apprentice to the really challenging Supreme Master of Spells!

- A new starting weapon: the Emerald Rod [*]. A small, magic emergency peashooter that has quite medium-low power, but don't underestimate it: apart from his precise long-range attack, it can also be used when magical ammunition gets scarce, 'cause its power never runs out!

- Every and each one of the game weapons have their own alternative fire mode, and also even a more powered version of them when you use the magic Tome of Power. Check and try them all! (Warning: they normally cost more ammo than the primary fire modes).

- Available medium-sized ammunition pickups: they will give you more ammo units than small pickups, but less than big ones. (Obviously, what did you think? )

- New enemies coming mostly from Hexen universe, so the game bestiary is now more varied and difficulty is also increased! (Also including some exclusive variations, like the Ice Gargoyle and previously unfeatured ghost-mode enemies).

- New collectible items and artifacts: enhanced crystal vials, a new shield type, plus some improved Hexen artifacts: Poison Flechette and Disc of Repulsion. (Oh yes, and a totally new one: the Regeneration Elixir!)

- Special direct action keys: Taunting action (Default key: T - It allows you to make fun of your enemies, but it could alert some hidden ones!) and One-Key-Savegame action (Default key: O - Directly brought feature from my previous H-Project mod, this allows to save instantly your game without having to navigate through GZDoom/QZDoom menu and having to choose and name manually a slot; let the friendly Holy Savior make the work for you!)

[*]: This weapon has taken the place of the older and smaller Jade Rod in HeXeReTiC Fantasy Special Edition, although it's not too different in terms of functionality and playability.

List of previous releases (press 'show' to check more info about them):

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*** New features from v0.777 (WIP Release) ***

- Corvus III arsenal has now been extended with a bunch of new and powerful weapons! Get and shoot the mighty Amber Staff, or the precise and fearful Ancient Arbalest, also freeze your foes with the gelid Ice Bringer and much more! Remember, every weapon has two exclusive fire modes, and their power can be increased temporarily with help of the Tomes of Power. Discover them all and raise your dominance!

- New types of ammunition available for use with some of the new weapons: Eternal Ice pieces and Cursed Gem samples.

- Available a couple of new items and a new artifact: Vitality Crystal Vial (increases your maximum HP by 5 units), Legendary Shield (gives you very high protection, but it might wear down pretty fast) and the Ogre Mask (its terrifier effect makes your enemies run away from you with fear, within a limited amount of time).

- If you're fed up of being a humble Heretic with a severe lack of funds, this is your lucky day! From now on, you'll be able to steal some valuable gold coins from most of your defeated enemies. No need to act like a stealth thief, just beat their butt as usual and their loot (if any) will be ready for pickup. Raise this way your earnings and become a little richer than before!

- Automap Mark Spots are now activated, like in classic Doom. Now you have no excuses for getting lost or leaving the map without picking that valuable item you reserved for later!

- Overall visual improvements in some special surfaces (like water, ice or lava). Also some explosion effects have been slightly enhanced.

*** New features from v0.789 (WIP Release) ***

- New HUD is finished and ready to be used with HeXeReTiC Fantasy!

- Updated addon file with some minor tweaks and enhancements, and some optimizations for being fully functional with the new HUD.

*** New features from v1.0 (Stable Release) ***

- First stable release! The WIP status has been finalized, now the addon is fully completed and ready to play & enjoy with your favourite Heretic maps.

- Expanded existing bestiary with a new huge batch of terrific and fierce creatures, including big boss and mini-boss replacements:

- Dark Gargoyle (a quite annoying minibeast that flies towards you and moves at great speed, it may be hard to aim and kill).
- Toxogargos (another flying hellspawn coated with poisonous dust, better avoid its toxic shots and stay back when it falls dead).
- Stone Golem (a hard-skinned monster that can throw you rocks, but it's rather weak against ice attacks).
- Ghostly Stone Golem (same as before, but in ghost shape).
- Magma Monster (a fiery creature as hot as an erupting volcano, so take care of it before it can reduce you to ashes).
- Ghostly Magma Monster (ghost shape of the previous one).
- Undead Archer (a long-ranged attack warrior that moves pretty fast and throws ethereal arrows at you with high aim and speed).
- Evil Conjurer (a magical and slippery undead warlock that teleports around and can be quite hard to kill, so be careful).
- Hoarfrost Dog (a four-legged icy beast that runs fast and throws two types of freezing attacks, depending on the proximity of its rivals).
- Ghostly Hoarfrost Dog (yep, the phantasmal shape of the previous one).
- Silver Armor Knight (a bit slow but resistant armoured enemy; it's harmless at long range but pretty lethal at melee, so don't let it gets near you).
- Golden Armor Knight (the elite shape of the previous one; it can move a bit faster, has an even better armour and has learnt attacking at long range with a burst of magic fireballs).
- Steel Spider [Mini-boss] (an out-of-this-world mechanical hellspawn, this rather ugly aberration has the ability to attack with mace spheres as if it were a modern machinegun, what makes it a pretty dangerous monster).
- Underworld Paladin [Big boss] (a giant and fierce undead warrior near comparable to the worst of your nightmares; it is said that its sword and shield can release the power of Judgement Flames, so adding this to its very high defense it is justified to say that getting to kill one of these monsters is far more than a heroic feat).
- Inferno Succubus [Big boss] (hell yes, another fearful big creature with the favourite attack patterns of Satan himself; don't let yourself to get seduced by her female shape charms, because this big witch is totally ruthless against her victims! The worst thing is nobody has ever been able to defeat this D'Sparil's henchwoman, so whoever makes it, he will have earned undoubtly one of the greatest achievements of his entire life).

- A new hostile decoration element: the Cursed Diamond Turret. Some time ago, the most veteran Disciples of D'Sparil had the evil idea of stablishing in their installations and some invaded places a kind of guardian devices to deal passively with intruders, so they scattered several of these sentinel turrets around. So be careful when you encounter them in certain places, they could turn into extra trouble if you don't destroy them at time.

- All the Big bosses (but not mini-bosses, like Iron Liches or Steel Spiders) when defeated will release as an additional reward a special Mistery Chest, which can reveal some cool treasures when opened! But be careful... because here is also the possibility that the misterious chest turns into an unpleasant surprise. So take care and don't trust too much in luck!

- Your collected gold coins are now spendable on useful things thanks to the Allied Mages! These little friendly people will randomly appear through your way, and for sure they will be happy to help you in exchange of making business with them at pretty reasonable prices! So then, prepare your pockets and watch carefully for them. Depending of their clothes colour, they'll be able to sell you different item classes:

- Blue Mages have weapons for sale;
- Green Mages will sell you magic ammunition;
- Yellow Mages have shields on stock;
- Red Mages sell lots of curative items, and
- Purple Mages have artifacts for multiple purposes.

- New items available: Defense Crystal Vial (increases your shield's energy by 5 units; if you have not equipped any shield when picking up, a Silver Helmet will be granted directly to player with a 20% of absorbing damage, like the standard Silver Shield) and Raptor Shield (a magic high protection shield which can be spawned in place of the Enchanted Shield or the Legendary Shield; by the way, the latter will give you 100% protection against most damage types).

- There is also another collectable unknown item, but it's pretty rare to find and there is not much more information about it. However, some secret sources have confirmed that this strange object has the power of bringing happiness to its finders in some way...

- The D'Sparil Staff weapon primary attack has been improved doubling its explosion power, and will always provoke electric radius damage to most enemies (there are still some exceptions, like the stone ones). The secondary firemode now can also spawn randomly Allied Evil Conjurers, in addition to the existing Allied Disciples of D'Sparil and Allied Dark Bishops.

- Chicken-morphed enemies are now a bit more jumpy and can move faster (but they'll keep being too much weak to pose a threat). The player's chicken-morphed mode has also been updated with some tweakings.

- Some minor updates and cleanups to HeXeReTiC HUD, which also reaches the v1.0!

*** New features from v1.0.1 (Bugfix Release) ***

- Fixed and tweaked some game elements rendered in subtractive mode, that were displaying as weird shadows under certain GZDoom's display setups. [Thanks to Korell for bug reporting].

*** New features from v1.2 (Update Release) ***

- Included three new hazardous enemies to deal with! Here is their description for letting you know some more about them:

- Battler Lizardman (a very robust greenish-skin creature equipped with a resistant armour, it will try sometimes to run towards you and stomp its big hammer in your head, but at least it won't be able to attack you at long range).
- Razorslasher (an evolved form of the old known Sabreclaw, you'll recognize it immediately by its reddish colour and its ability to hurl sharped spinning blades that react similarly like a boomerang, so be very careful with these ones).
- Betrayer Elf (a bunch of traitors who once belonged to the Sidhe Elves tribe, but some time later they ended up submitting to the D'Sparil's evil regime; furthermore, these ones abandoned all types of magical arts and opted to use stealth tactics and primitive firearms to hunt and destroy whoever their enemies were. WARNING: these betrayer elves will not be directly placed into the level maps you explore, but they could suddenly appear anywhere randomly and unexpectedly, what makes them highly dangerous enemies. So then, never let your guard down!)

- A new non-magical weapon that could be yours with a bit of luck: the Hunter Blunderbuss! This one is a pretty archaic firearm provided with a double cannon that allows two shooting modes depending on the hunting prey. It can be quite lethal at short or medium range, but might be a bit unaccurate at longer distances. As you can expect, this weapon uses a specific ammunition type: gunpowder. So then, you will be able to collect from now some Gunpowder Kegs to use this firearm and fill all the chests of your enemies with big loads of pellets! NOTE: as said before, the Hunter Blunderbuss is a non-magical weapon, so you won't be able to get it from the Allied Mages (they can't trade with unmagical items), and the same goes with the gunpowder ammo. Also keep in mind that the influence of an active Tome of Power won't affect at all its firepower.

- Corvus III now has available a new ability: the Fast Dagger slash! This will allow you to switch almost instantly your active weapon and perform a quick short-ranged melee attack, and returning swiftly to the previous equipped weapon. A perfect movement for some surrounding ambush enemies, or for making a coup-de-grace to a very wounded enemy and preserving your ammo. Try it, you might find it pretty fun! (To use this feature, you'll need to bind the Zoom action key in GZDoom/QZDoom's Customize Controls menu).

- The defeated enemies can now release some silver coins, instead of (or together with) gold ones. (Note that a single silver coin is worth half a gold coin, so for example if you pick up a small stack of 50 silver coins you'll receive a total of 25 gold coins in your score). On the other hand, some beaten bossy foes could release some rare and very valuable special prizes, so try to not miss them!

- Added new footsteps sounds to player's movements! Depending on the stepped surfaces, liquid ones or not, diverse footstep sound effects will be played in a synchronized way when walking or running. (Note that this feature is still in experimental phase, but at the moment its fully functional and it should work without any problem!)

- Replaced the generic crackling spark sound effect of most projectiles by a softer, less annoying one. Additionally, the ice chunks and boulders shooten/spawned by some enemies make new bouncing sounds on solid surfaces.

- Included some extra alternative decoration elements (barrels, pillar statues, hanging corpses and skulls, stalagtites and stalagmites, etc.) that can be randomly spawned together with the classic ones with equal chance.

- Updated HUD to v1.2 for compatibility with new weapon and ammunition types.

*** New features from v1.5 (Update Release) ***

- The bestiary has been increased with six new dangerous enemies: three of them could be considered as mini-bosses (although they are randomly spawned as regular foes) due to their strenght and attack patterns, and even they are a bit more common than Iron Liches or their enemy replacers. So then, it shall be better for you staying alert!

- Skeleton (a relatively weak enemy, in fact it's no more than a bunch of walking ribs, but its thrown bones at long range might be a big nuisance, so it will be always a good idea to use your magic and turn them quickly into a pile of burnt bones).
- Ghostly Skeleton (same as above one, but a bit harder to see and hit).
- Dark Mercenary (we're talking now about bigger words; this strong elite fighter arrived from the deepest darkness is harder to challenge than most common enemies. Its magic sword is able to throw a burst of steel balls, and once you hurt him enough, its attack pattern will be considerably improved and become more hazardous! If you need a tip, then don't panic and try to keep shooting and dodging him until it's dead; if you use your skills properly it shouldn't be too hard to deal with).
- Dark Crusader (a slightly bigger menace than the Dark Mercenary, this undead templar can move even a bit faster and can use its mace to attack with powerful fireball waves, improving its strength as being hurt enough on battle. If you're forced to face one of these malicious crusaders, follow the same procedure explained above and soon it will fall down at your feet! You also probably could receive a nice reward after killing him, who knows...)
- Dark Warlock (it is said there are no two without three, and this case is not an exception: this one is probably the most dangerous of the Darkness Trio. An evil sorcerer that has a much greater power than the standard disciples of D'Sparil, although it does not float around like them, it is able to move rather quickly. Avoid at all costs being hit with its magic purple bolts and try to kill him as fast you can, use your best weapons and artifacts if necessary and it will be soon reduced to flesh and bones!)
- Armored Beast [Mini-boss] (a huge and very fearful creature that some time ago came out from another dimension and stablished itself in this world for unknown reasons. It is equipped with a futuristic heavy armour provided with a couple of multi-element cannons, that means this will be a quite tough opponent with high defense and with a variety of different attacks; so best of luck when you encounter one of these oversized beasts).

- The player's arsenal has also been a bit extended to help dealing with the new enemies and already existing ones. Here is the list of the new available weapons:

+ Powder Pistol: a pretty handy non-magical firearm, lighter and very accurate, but also less powerful than the Hunter Blunderbuss, and also it requires Gunpowder Kegs collection to make it usable. Secondary fire mode makes you use a quick three-shots sequence. It could be found anywhere, also defeated Betrayer Elves can drop them occasionally.
+ Cultist Belly-Bow: a rather old but wonderful weapon; in fact this is somewhat a mix of the classic Ethereal Crossbow and the Ancient Arbalest, gathering the best qualities of both in a single one. Once you get it, you might not stop using it! (As long as you have enough Ethereal Arrows in your quiver, of course...)
+ Sleetfall Rod: it is also called the Ice Bringer's little sister. It might not be as powerful as its eldest sis, but not for that reason is much worse than it, absolutely not! If you learn to use it properly, it can become an optimal freezing magic weapon, specially against all those fiery and/or stoney rivals. By the way, it is said that this rod has an alternative fire mode which hides the power of the mighty Wendigos...
+ Scourge Wand: a quite threatening weapon with an interesting past. This one is, in fact, a cursed Elven Wand that was magically converted by the disciples of D'Sparil, but due to its internal nature and potential instability was refused and discarded. By order of D'Sparil, the disciples proceeded to destroy the cursed wand, but in that moment and for unknown reasons, a small group of Dark Warlocks suddenly burst violently into the temple and after a magical battle they managed to steal it. The rest of the story is just pure mistery; most people don't know what happened later, but some wise men claim that the cursed wand was replicated several times and the duplicated units are actually kept locked in some unknown places...

- The Ancient Arbalest secondary fire mode now shots a sequence of four quick arrows instead of three.

- Updated the Ice Chunk sprites (the ones from exploding frozen enemies) to be in line with the newest made-from-scrath sprites provided in most recent GZDoom releases.

- Now the organic green Pods will release some more goo particles when being hit or exploded. At same time, these particles will fade out more gently than in classic Heretic game.

- Improved the GZDoom/QZDoom Special Keys menu section: now the Fast Dagger slash (quick attack) key is directly bindable from it, instead of the conventional Zoom key binding method. (Default key: F) [Thanks again to Korell for his help on implementing this feature in a better way!]

- Updated HUD to v1.5 for compatibility with newer weapons.

- Some other minor tweakings and bugfixes.

*** New features from v1.7 (Update Release) ***

- Bestiary has grown again with three new fearsome enemies, plus a couple of ominous final bosses! And yeah, keep in mind that they are not going to make things easy for you... Absolutely not. So, do you wanna know more about them? Of course, just keep reading and take note carefully:

- Grosshopper (a rather strange, blind purple creature that moves around leaping with help of its powerful legs and chases its victims ramming them with painful head-butts. Needless to say that this kind of jumping beast could become very threatening if you find them in large numbers. And also curiously, when it is attacked by enemies and results seriously injured, it's able to enter into a 'self destruction' state and blow up itself, causing considerable damage around. So then, pay special attention when you get near these nasty beings!)
- Vermin Viper (a close relative of the known standard Ophidians, but this one is considered an even more dangerous and harmful opponent; instead of attacking with fire and ice bolts, this strong and sneaky snake shots a burst of acid poison beams with its trident. The only good thing is it could become quite helpful if you make it somehow to infight against some other foes. But let's admit it: these ones are better if they are dead...)
- Traitor Dark Elf (belonging to an allied faction of the Betrayer Elves, these turncoats have joined forces with D'Sparil minions and due to their dark skills, they can move faster, they are more agile and resistant to pain, and they can be even more stealthy and problematic to confront with. Their only weak point might be their attack power, because they only use lighter pistols unlike the Betrayer Elf's heavy blunderbuss shot; but the same as them, they could be suddenly spawned around anywhere in your way at random times, so keep your guard up!)
- Blizzard Fiend [Big boss] (a gargantuan beast coming from some still unexplored glacier regions of Parthoris; although they are not very common, it is said that some specimens were domesticated by D'Sparil's beastmasters, and now they serve as auxiliary guardians in certain places. These creatures are extremely hazardous because of their powerful freezing attacks, and if you get too near of them you could be converted into an ice statue in a matter of seconds!)
- Gorgon [Big boss] (also being called the Snake Queen by some people, although it should not be confused with the legendary Medusa, despiting the similarities with her. Leaving history lessons aside, you'll quickly realize that this bifid-tongue elite archer is not an easy enemy to fight; her skills to shoot quickly several waves of poison arrows can become a real nightmare if you're not careful. But this is not the worst thing: it is said that the very few warriors which were able to defeat this adder woman, fled from the battle in terror and despair as they contemplated her resurrecting from her ashes through a thunderbolt that fell suddenly from the sky, and then adquiring an even more menacing second form).

- Player's magic arsenal has gained a couple of ultimate weapons, which now occupy the highest position of the sixth and seventh slots. However, these might not be easy to find around there, you will require some luck or enough gold coins to be spent, but once you get one of them (or even better, both of them) a lot of fun is guaranteed. Here you have more details about these new weapons:

+ Steelfeather Rod: a long, dark magic scepter that hides a pretty gorgeous attack pattern. If you shoot it, a wide burst of steel airscrews covered with venom dust will be released and can bounce off floors and walls for a certain amount time. Its secondary firemode will release too these kind of airscrews, but they'll be affected by gravity and explode like poison bombs once they stop bouncing. Furthermore, it employs Mace Spheres as ammunition, so from now these are not for exclusive use with the old Fire Mace anymore! (And unlike this one, the Steelfeather Rod CAN HIT ghostly monsters! But also note that due to the added poison element, this weapon is totally useless against venom-based enemies...)
+ Sunlight Cane: a luminous, delightful sacred rod capable to put an end to the most sinister darkness. Even D'Sparil himself and the rest of the Serpent Riders are aware of this extremely powerful weapon, and they curse over and over the day it was created. As can be deduced by its name, its main firepower lies in the use of sunlight rays, being able to shoot a single but potent bouncing light beam or alternatively release a devastating attack to all enemies around when it is charged to its maximum power. For making it work for you, it will require the same crystals used for the Elven Wand and the Amber Staff. Maybe one of its main drawbacks is the relatively quick drainage of ammunition, but taking into account that the golden crystals are quite common and easy to find, it should not be a serious problem to keep using it actively.

- Removed the obsolete (and rather buggy) player's footsteps system, because it has been improved by an external addon that can be loaded in conjunction with HeXeReTiC Fantasy (check the HFOOTSTEPS_V4.5.PK3 included with the download pack). [Credits to The Zombie Killer, the original author of the addon].

- Some of the existing decorative light sources (like Chandeliers, Fire Braziers, Serpent Torches and Wall Torches) could be spawned randomly turned off, that is, with their fire extinguished. (This adds more variety on map levels, at the same time you could get a small increase in performance, specially on some huge areas).

- Reduced a little the trigger speed of the Powder Pistol in both firemodes, to preserve a bit more gunpowder on weapon's refiring action than before.

- Converted the HeXeReTiC Fantasy's PWAD file and the HUD's PK3 file into the more compact PK7 format. Also, the HUD has been updated to v1.7 for compatibility with the new weapon types.

- Some minor changes, bugfixes and code optimizations.

*** New features from v1.7.2 (Bugfix & Update Release) ***

- Fixed a small bug related to Golden Armor Knight enemy, which was erroneously inheriting the Silver Armor Knight's slower walking behaviour when chasing the player around.

- Fixed another weird bug related to Inferno Succubus and Gorgon's respective second forms, both of them were returning to their special spawning states when they managed to kill the player, instead of remaining inactive.

- Removed an incorrect, obsolete alternative death state of D'Sparil's first form (riding his Chaos Serpent) related to one of the player's inventory secret item.

- New hostile decoration element available: the Killer Plant! A bunch of carnivorous flower samples from the deep jungle that suffered a magic mutation by hand of some unknown crazy witches, and after a short time they were brought to Parthoris realm by D'Sparil's minions... a really bad idea. And for you, one more obstacle to face or avoid, depending on your battle situation. Just a few helpful tips: do NOT get too near of these overgrown maneaters, or you might become their supper! Also, you should avoid their spitted fire bolts at any cost. (Additional note: not all potted plants will be unfriendly, some specimens might still prefer eating small flying bugs).

- From now, most enemies can now release randomly some rare Rough Crystals, a kind of precious stones that might become very valuable at the time of filling your empty pockets. Unfortunately, they are actually much less common than one would wish. However, there must be some way to force your enemies to release more of these rewarding wealth items than under normal circumstances...

- Some other minor changes and bugfixes.

*** New features from v1.7.5 (Bugfix & Update Release) ***

- Introduced a new and powerful non-magical weapon: the Gatling Cannon! Actually, this arcane firearm is one of the most modern chaingun's forerunner, disegned and prototyped by an unknown group of elven wisemen some time ago, and thus it may be rare to find around... But once you manage to get one, you will be able to perforate and tear apart every enemy in a quite satisfying way, even all those harder ones! Primary firemode shoots bullets at standard speed, and secondary firemode attacks with twice as fast firespeed, although with less accuracy. And like the Powder Pistol and the Hunter Blunderbuss, it is mandatory using gunpowder to make it usable.

- Gunpowder ammunition's maximum capacity has been increased by 2x, since the new Gatling Cannon costs high amounts of ammo when used actively. (From 150 to 300 ammo units, and 300 to 600 if you pick up a Bag of Holding). Also, a new hefty item is now available to collect: the Gunpowder Barrel, very similar to the existing Gunpowder Kegs, but larger, and obviously it will be very helpful to fill faster your gunpowder ammo reserves.

- A new secret artifact is now available to collect, but it might be hard to find and only lucky ones will have a chance to get it. Sadly there's no more reliable info about, but actually there are rumors claiming that this hidden item type gives its possessor an incredible and special magic ability to attack his opponents... [Ultra-secret extra tip: a variant of this special artifact is also featured on my previous Doom game mod!]

- Now some Allied Mages can sell you both types of secret artifacts, although at a fairly high price. So if you're not lucky enough to find them around, at least don't forget to pick up coins and treasures from your enemies as much you can, for having a chance to get them this alternative way!

- Updated the HUD to v1.7.5 for compatibility with the new Gatling Cannon weapon.

- Minor bugfixes and tweakings.

*** New features from v1.7.5.1 (Bugfix Release) ***

- Fixed a bug with the Elven Wand weapon under the Tome of Power's influence, which was wrongly taking advantage of unlimited ammo in secondary fire mode. [Thanks to Qweklain for bug reporting].

*** New features from Special Edition (Update Release) ***

- Replaced completely the old Jade Rod as player's starting weapon by the new and upgraded Emerald Rod. This magical wonder has practically the same attack patterns like its predecessor, but it is able to shoot slightly faster, at the same time it is a bit more powerful. And yes, it doesn't require any type of ammunition either!

- Available two new sneaky enemies: the Small Rat and the Chaos Cube! The Small Rats are little wild critters that are quite hungry for elfish flesh, and because of its small size, they only will be able to nibble you at your own feet (so they are more of a nuisance than anything). Regarding the Chaos Cubes, here is a pretty interesting story about them: these large hexahedrons that were created some time ago by powerful wizard elves, who sought out to create a kind of magical bombs by storing massive amount of mystical energies inside them. (Something similar to Pandora's Box, in fact). While they were not able to create the weapon they were attempting to make, they created instead something more unique. It is said that the amount of energy stored inside these chaotic boxes is pretty unstable, what makes them have quite erratic movements while they float around, and also they can fire a variety of elemental magic projectiles. So then, you better be careful with them!

- Included some extra sprites to show Corvus III's crouch state in a more fancy way than the older Y-asis shrink method (you can see this change more clearly switching to Chasecam Mode).

- Now you will start your adventures equipping a Crusader Shield instead of the classic and weaker Silver Shield, for having some additional protection against the first enemy hordes.

- Some weapon attacks and projectiles have been revised and updated to make a bit more damage than in previous releases.

- Corrected a bug related to the Portable Torch artifact, that previously was provoking some serious performance issues when GZDoom/QZDoom's Dynamic Lights were activated, resulting in a pretty high drop frame rate on certain game conditions.

- The HeXeReTiC HUD has now been merged into the addon's main file, so it is no longer necessary to load it separately. Also, it has been updated for compatibility with the new Emerald Rod weapon.

- Changed and replaced partially the default Heretic fonts; from now the addon has a more stylized and gothic font type (courtesy of Jimmy's Gargoyle Wing Style Fonts pack).

- Replaced the simple Automap vector arrow (the one that depicts the player) by M8f's Arrow Corner, which has a quite better visible direction than the old GZDoom/QZDoom one.

- Some minor bugfixes, tweakings and code optimizations.

*** New features from Special Edition R1 (Latest Stable Release) ***

- Included a couple of new doomish enemies to deal with! These ones might be somewhat familiar to you, specially if you have played some games in the Doom franchise (and who has not done it yet?) Here is a brief description about them:

- Cacodevil (a blind, blueish and ugly-as-hell creature that has nothing better to do than to fly around and spit strange plasmatic balls to its opponents. Although it has visible long and sharp teeth, seems that this weird specimen prefers to avoid direct contact with its victim, so it keeps fighting at long range until only one of them survives... But the truth is that the Cacodevil hardly never loses the battle! Or at least that's what is said out there...)
- Regal Cacodevil (a mature, evolved form of the standard Cacodevil. As if the aforementioned one was not dangerous enough, the Regal Cacodevil is even more harmful and menacing due to its higher resistance and floating speed, plus its increased ability to spit two plasmatic balls at once. At least you'll immediately recognize the Cacodevil's elite form, because it has lost its initial blue colour and has acquired a more yellowish fleshy aspect. So then, take care specially when you face more than one at a time, they could become extremely dangerous!)

- Now the Wizards, Bishops and Evil Conjurers (both the hostile and the friendly ones) are capable of float bobbing around more often, so they may become a harder target to hit.

- Added some fancy 'particle fountain' effects to intra-level and level-exit teleporters.

- Minor bugfixes and code optimizations.


CREDITS LIST (MAY BE INCOMPLETE)

- COTIS Visual Enhancement mod & Merciless Enhancement mod by: Expect No Mercy
- Heretweak weapons mod by: Baratus
- [Hexen & Heretic] Remixed & Remastered Sounds addon by: Aethun
- Additional Heretic remastered sound effects by: PerKristian & Raven Software
- Heretic sprite fixes and Widescreen-friendly graphics by: Marphy Black
- Medium-sized ammo pickups for classic weapons by: Dreadopp (Realm 667)
- Hexen enemies and artifact sprites by: Raven Software
- Crusader Shield sprite & code by: MagicWazard (Realm 667)
- Regeneration Elixir sprite & code by: Tormentor667 & BlueShadow (Realm 667)
- Holy Savior sprites taken from unknown source(*), edited by: Hexereticdoom
- Fiery Crystal sprites by: Evil Space Tomato (Realm 667)
- Amber Staff sprites by: Mor'ladim & NeoWorm (Realm 667)
- Ancient Arbalest sprites by: ETTiNGRiNDER (Realm 667)
- Ice Bringer sprites by: Raven Software & Eriance (Realm 667)
- Death Scepter sprites by: CodenniumRed (Realm 667)
- Vampire Crosier sprites by: Eriance (Realm 667)
- D'Sparil Staff sprites by: Raven Software & Ichor (Realm 667)
- Vitality Crystal Vial sprites by: Raven Software
- Legendary Shield sprite taken from unknown source(*), edited by: Hexereticdoom
- Ogre Mask sprites by: Captain Toenail (Realm 667)
- Silver Coins, Gold Coins & Gold Coin Chest sprites by: Rogue Entertainment
- Updated Ice Gargoyle sprites by: Raven Software
- Dark Gargoyle sprites by: Raven Software & Virtue (Realm 667)
- Toxogargos sprites by: Monolith Productions
- Toxogargos sounds by: Raven Software
- Stone Golem sprites & sounds by: Raven Software
- Magma Monster sprites by: Virtue & CodenniumRed (Realm 667)
- Magma Monster sounds taken from unknown source(*), edited by: Hexereticdoom
- Undead Archer sprites by: CodenniumRed & Ravagefox (Realm 667)
- Undead Archer sounds by: Raven Software
- Evil Conjurer sprites by: MagicWazard & Gothic (Realm 667)
- Evil Conjurer sounds by: Raven Software
- Hoarfrost Dog sprites by: Monolith Productions & Eriance (Realm 667)
- Hoarfrost Dog sounds by: ID Software & Raven Software
- Silver Armor Knight & Golden Armor Knight sprites by: Raven Software & Bullfrog (Realm 667)
- Silver Armor Knight & Golden Armor Knight sounds by: ID Software
- Steel Spider sprites by: FreeDoom Project Team
- Steel Spider sounds by: Raven Software & Rogue Entertainment
- Underworld Paladin sprites by: Raven Software & Eriance (Realm 667)
- Underworld Paladin sounds by: FreeDoom Project Team
- Inferno Succubus sprites by: YuraoftheHairFan (Realm 667)
- Inferno Succubus sounds taken from unknown source(*), edited by: Hexereticdoom
- Cursed Diamond Turret sprites by: Hexx & Captain Toenail (Realm 667)
- Cursed Diamond Turret sounds taken from unknown source(*), edited by: Hexereticdoom
- Mistery Chest sprites by: Raven Software & Blue Shadow (Realm 667)
- Mimic sprites & code by: Hexereticdoom
- Mimic sounds by: FreeDoom Project Team
- Allied Mage sprites by: Skyraidstar
- Allied Mage sounds taken from unknown source(*), edited by: Hexereticdoom
- Defense Crystal Vial sprites by: Raven Software
- Raptor Shield sprites by: Raven Software
- ???? #1 (unknown secret item)(**) sprites by: Raven Software
- Battler Lizardman sprites by: Rolls (Realm 667)
- Battler Lizardman sounds by: Raven Software
- Razorslasher sprites & sounds by: Raven Software
- Razorslasher's projectile sprites by: Hexereticdoom
- Betrayer Elf sprites by: Tormentor667 & NeoWorm (Realm 667)
- Betrayer Elf sounds by: Raven Software
- Hunter Blunderbuss sprites by: Monolith Productions & Batandy
- Hunter Blunderbuss sounds by: PerKristian & FreeDoom Project Team
- Gunpowder Keg ammunition sprites taken from Hexen game, edited by: Hexereticdoom
- Fast Dagger slash sprites by: Exhumed & Xim (Realm 667)
- Several alternative decoration elements by: Blasphemer Project Team
- Skeleton sprites by: 00_Zombie_00 & Sir Squidly (Realm 667)
- Skeleton sounds by: Bethesda Softworks & Daggerfall (Realm 667)
- Dark Mercenary, Dark Crusader and Dark Warlock sprites by: Raven Software
- Dark Mercenary, Dark Crusader and Dark Warlock sounds by: FreeDoom Project Team
- Armored Beast sprites taken from Duke Nukem 3D game, edited by: Hexereticdoom
- Armored Beast sounds by: Blizzard Entertainment
- Powder Pistol sprites by: Monolith Productions
- Powder Pistol sounds taken from unknown source(*), edited by: Hexereticdoom
- Cultist Belly-Bow & Sleetfall Rod sprites by: OSJC Latchford
- Scourge Wand sprites by: Eriance & CodenniumRed (Realm 667)
- New Ice Chunk sprites taken from GZDoom's internal PK3 file, edited by: Hexereticdoom
- Grosshopper sprites by: Raven Software & WhiteMagicRaven
- Grosshopper sounds taken from unknown source(*), edited by: Hexereticdoom
- Vermin Viper sprites & sounds by: Raven Software
- Blizzard Fiend sprites & sounds by: 3D Realms
- Gorgon sprites by: ID Software & SunMadcat
- Gorgon sounds by: Raven Software & Jaeden (Realm 667)
- Traitor Dark Elf sprites by: HorrorMovieGuy (Realm 667)
- Traitor Dark Elf sounds by: Raven Software
- Steelfeather Rod sprites by: Raven Software & NeoWorm (Realm 667)
- Steelfeather Rod sounds taken from Ryuhi's Heretical Doom addon, edited by: Hexereticdoom
- Sunlight Cane sprites by: Raven Software, NeoWorm & Eriance (Realm 667)
- Sunlight Cane sounds by: CAPCOM & Runic Games
- Original Footsteps addon by: The Zombie Killer
- Killer Plant & Fake Killer Plant sprites by: Raven Software & Dolphman
- Killer Plant sounds by: Raven Software & FreeDoom Project Team
- Rough Crystal sprites by: Oni1ink
- Rough Crystal pickup sounds taken from unknown source(*), edited by: Hexereticdoom
- Gatling Cannon sprites by: Monolith Productions
- Gatling Cannon sounds by: Zer0
- Gunpowder Barrel ammo sprite taken from Hexen game, edited by: Hexereticdoom
- ???? #2 (unknown secret item)(**) sprites by: The Skulltag Team
- ???? #2 (unknown secret item)(**) magic aura sound taken from DBZ series, edited by: Hexereticdoom
- Emerald Rod sprites by: OSJC Latchford
- Small Rat & Chaos Cube sprites & code by: NeoWorm & DoomedArchvileDemon (Realm 667)
- Small Rat sounds by: FreeSounds
- Chaos Cube sounds by: Raven Software
- Corvus III's crouch sprites by: PaganRaven
- Gargoyle Wing and Gargoyle Wing Small style fonts by: Jimmy
- Custom Automap Player Arrow by: M8f
- Cacodevil & Regal Cacodevil sprites by: Noisyvelvet
- Cacodevil & Regal Cacodevil sounds by: ID Software

If there are still some missing credits to anyone, please just send me a PM or contact me by e-mail at: hexereticdoom@gmail.com

(*): Do you know who is the original author from this/these? Please tell it to me!
(**): You will need to play with the addon to reveal this item!


DOWNLOAD PAGE (MODDB ADDONS)

ALTERNATIVE MIRROR (MEDIAFIRE)


Hope you enjoy your Heretic adventures with HeXeReTiC Fantasy!

Have fun and a nice Doomsday...

[Mister Neauxbauxdeay]

Where did you get that enemy health bar I see in the screenshot?

[SiFi270]

I appreciate you recoloring the projectile throwing Gargoyles and Golems to distinguish them from their melee counterparts, and I was wondering if you could do something similar for the Chaos Serpents by changing the basic non-boss non-brown ones from green to grey. If you don't want to, that's fine. It's just a little thing that wouldn't make that much difference but I think would still be nice.

[SeriousWeasle]

Awesome! Will this be something like the HXRTC Project for Heretic? If so, that would be really cool to see. Keep up the good work!

[BradmanX]

Looks like it could be alot of fun, glad Heretic's getting more love these days. Do you think that at some point you could perhaps make a monsters only version? It'd be nice to have a monster mod for Heretic to mix things up for playthroughs.

[Ryuhi]

always love when heretic gets some love, let me know if you want to borrow anything from my mod

[Moe_]

So I tried to play this with gzdoom ver 3.1.0 but it gives me this error
Execution could not continue.

R_InstallSprite: Sprite MNTR frame E is missing rotations

[Hexereticdoom]

Hi everyone mates! I'm gonna answer all of you, so let's go...

Where did you get that enemy health bar I see in the screenshot?

It is the JP Healthbar addon, the mod friendly one to be precise:

https://forum.zdoom.org/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=46204

I appreciate you recoloring the projectile throwing Gargoyles and Golems to distinguish them from their melee counterparts, and I was wondering if you could do something similar for the Chaos Serpents by changing the basic non-boss non-brown ones from green to grey. If you don't want to, that's fine. It's just a little thing that wouldn't make that much difference but I think would still be nice.

Yeah, to be honest, one of the few annoying things it had Vanilla Heretic for me was they gave the same colour pattern for the melee-only and long-ranged enemies, and you had to guess who was who, and the same case in Hexen where Centaurs and Slaughtaurs shared also the same colours. But that has been fixed on the addon!

By the way, that's a nice suggestion, in fact I have been testing and it might be a good idea to give a greyish colour to the lower class Serpents, to distinguish them from the D'Sparils stronger elite riding pet. If everyone is OK with that, next release will implement this change!

Awesome! Will this be something like the HXRTC Project for Heretic? If so, that would be really cool to see. Keep up the good work

More or less, that's the idea... With some more time, I'll try to make it almost as complete as the H-Project if possible.

Looks like it could be alot of fun, glad Heretic's getting more love these days. Do you think that at some point you could perhaps make a monsters only version? It'd be nice to have a monster mod for Heretic to mix things up for playthroughs."

Perhaps, once the bestiary become even more varied in the addon. I'll take it into consideration!

always love when heretic gets some love, let me know if you want to borrow anything from my mod

Thanks for the offer, your Heretical Doom mod it also rocks!

So I tried to play this with gzdoom ver 3.1.0 but it gives me this error
Execution could not continue.

R_InstallSprite: Sprite MNTR frame E is missing rotations

Try to invert the loading order of the files. Don't forget you must load Heretic IWAD before the addon.

[cambertian]

I'm loving it so far! My only minor complaints:

• Some of the weapon archetypes I've seen so far are too same-y? The starter wand, golden wand, and dragon claw all have hitscan fires and projectile alt-fires, for instance. (The dragon claw can be forgiven; its spread is much greater and its projectiles much faster/more specialized, but my point still stands.)
• I don't like the ice shards dealing damage - waiting for them to melt in cramped hallways is a bit of a pain. Do they usually do that in Hexen?

Great work - can't wait for the finished product!

[Valherran]

Just finished Heretic on the hardest setting and here's my feedback:

The weapons were alright, but some were just lacking in substance, and a few need some serious tweaks. The new enemies are a nice touch, however the enemies made of ice were extremely irritating due to leaving ice shards on the floor as caltrops.

There were some instances where the damn things would be moving for eternity and never go away. This is also a balance issue in the higher settings, killing one of those ice gargoyles point blank resulted in it shredding most of my armor off and a large chunk of health. With Heretic's map set, this is problematic as you will sometimes have to be stuck fighting them at that range. Simply removing this imbalanced feature would be most recommended.

The extended ammo was also a nice feature, but also seemed a bit unnecessary with how the balance is currently set, however the new items that were added were nice.

SUGGESTIONS:

Weapons:

1. Elven Wand - Players should start with this in conjunction with the Jade Wand. Starting with the Jade Wand made fresh starts far more difficult than it needed to be due to the lack of punch it provides. Nothing needs to be changed about the Jade Wand, I think it's fine the way it is, so the simple solution would be to just let us start with the Elven Wand. The alt fire however could use a change. If you make it a slow firing but super fast projectile with good damage, then it won't be completely outclassed by the Dragon Claw.

2. Necro Gauntlets - The boost you gave them is great, but the alt-fire is totally useless. It would be ideal if the punches provided knock back.

3. Crossbow - Goddamn is this good, almost too good. Once you get this it nearly outclasses weapons 1-2 entirely in the game's current state.

4. Dragon Claw - This hasn't changed much in performance compared to it's original design. The alt-fire seems out of place considering the Dragon Claw is a lightning/energy type weapon. If the Ice effect is here to stay, I would at least change it to a kind of freezethrower weapon that pierces.

5. Hell Staff - Similar to the Dragon Claw, the alt-fire is kind of out place with its performance. Instead of firing a big energy ball, it should fire a piercing energy beam. Firing that beam would have the same cooldown as the Crossbow's alt-fire.

6. Phoenix Rod - This weapon is OK at best, but I think a rework is in order to make it better. For the primary fire, you could speed up the projectile by around 50% more to help hit targets easier. The alt-fire could be the current primary fire, but the projectile is now guided, it will travel wherever you aim it. The primary fire in ToP mode needs to be completely replaced with a better functioning flame thrower, the current one is completely useless plus it has issue with the flame always traveling left.

7. Firemace - It sucks, other weapons completely outperform this thing. This would function a lot better if the steel balls traveled at high velocity and also had good splash damage on impact. The alt-fire would be a lot better if the weapon fired one big steel ball like a grenade launcher that explodes into like 50 other balls on enemy impact.

MISC:

1. Enemies - As said before the new enemies were a nice touch, but I think they need to be made more challenging plus adding some more would be ideal. Even though I had the game cranked up, I still found it to be rather easy due to the enemies being so simplistic (save for the stupid ice frags.)

2. Sounds - Some weapons and swap sounds could be better, the current ones don't fit at all or make the weapon underwhelming. Dragon Claw for example, the sound it has currently makes it sound weak. Hell Staff sounds too much like you are pulling a gun instead of a magical weapon. I think you can do better than what you have now. And for the love of God, please get rid of that damn wing flapping sound from the idle gargoyles, It was super loud to where I can hear it from a mile away like it was Hexen 2's Imps all over again.

[Hexereticdoom]

@cambertian & @Valherran: Thanks both a lot for your nice feedback! A new release of the addon is coming soon along next week, and it is going to have some significant changes based on some of your given recommendations.

For example, as for giving you some fresh news about it, the player's arsenal has been increased with new weapons and some of the existent classic ones have been slightly improved, including a little bit of new ammunition types. However, it might not going to have important changes to bestiary and items list, that will be more probably on a next update (remember this is still a WIP, there is plenty of things to implement in the addon and several of them are pending at the moment, but development won't stop: it's slowly, but surely!)

As been said, expect a new update release in a very few days! Cheerio, everyone!

[Hexereticdoom]

Bump for announcing the availability of a new release: v0.777!

Please check the changelog and download links on first post.

Hope you enjoy it, keep having fun!

[-Ghost-]

Does the gold do anything currently, or are you laying the groundwork for a future update with shops or something?

[Mister Neauxbauxdeay]

Remembering the pattern you developed for the HXRTC Project for Doom, I'd bet that where there's gold, there will eventually be a way to spend it, yes?

[Hexereticdoom]

Yeah, as you say, at the moment the gold coins are just a 'score' resource, so actually it is not useful, but in a future update it will be!

Some additional fresh news: the new HUD is almost finished, still has to be polished and debugged in some ways, but I can confirm the next release of the addon will include it. It will be pretty similar to current HXRTC HUD, but more in line with Heretic theme!