Good 'ole DRM.
I have the box and original 3 CDs from a preordered Doom3 box, but there's no key anywhere. Found a bogus key that inits game... but the mod won't work for some reason.
ELF file OS ABI invalid

Dang... been waiting on this mod for ages. Is gameplay any good ? 

I can't play it to... gave me the error of the box... :| and I try with the original dvd of a friend 

I think 1.3.1 means that you need the missionpack.

Haven't tried it yet. 

1.3.1 means that you must have patched the doom3 executable to version 1.3.1.

Simply install the latest doom3 patch, google for doom3 1.3.1.

I think a doom3 key is only necessary to play online?

Even so, if you aren't connected to the internet while entering your key, it's not going to be checked and the game should run.

Doom3 is like 9,99 btw.

For Dark Mod, Hexen: EOC and Ruiner, it is definitely worth to install Doom 3.

On topic: Very good mod. Three large levels (1 hub). Authentic oldschool Hexen feel. Definitely worth playing, this mod really is what it says on the tin. Couple small problems still, it is not always really clear what to do, but I think that can easily be fixed. 

doom3-linux-1.3.1.1304.x86.run
Still no action :<

There's a forum here 

I installed Doom 3 now, DOOM 1.3.1.1304 linux-x86 Jan 16 2007 21:58:02

http://pastebin.com/raw.php?i=cNnrTaTR expires in a day, maybe it helps you.

Played 15 minutes so far. Feels very oldschoolish indeed. Couple of nitpicks that could have been fixed before release. Good fun! 

i played first level....
awful level design, and doom3 lighting enrages me. so i quit this masochistic experience. 

After beating up 2-headed ogres with a mace and shooting imps with some kind of wand for about 10 mins I fell down a bridge that was like 6 feet high and had some funny looking flames underneath. Thought this would cost me 15H but I found myself in the main menu and didn't feel like starting over.

I guess people who loved Hexen may want to give it a try. Those who didn't may want to stay away. 

The thing looks amazing. Good work. I'll play it properly sometime. Nice to see it's not as dark as f-ing d3.

Shame it doesn't work for some people/old linux boxes. I remembered about my sabayon install, and it seems to work here ok. 

If it had a more suitable RPG interface (ie a log and a proper inventory where you could actually mouse over and see what stuff is and does) and it combined all it's classes into one, Hexen would be a great game imo, and stand quite well against Doom.

The Fighter class hits some button in my head that makes me enjoy cleaving through hordes of stuff with a Hammer that fires other, exploding, hammers, it has some pretty cool uses of the engine, and personally I quite liked Heretic and reckon that in the glut of realism shooters we have these days, some fantasy ones would be quite fresh... ironic really.

Hexen is a masterclass in infuriating level design. It's 'puzzles' are actually incredibly simple but because it gives you practically no clues or hints as to what you're doing means that the simplest puzzles become utter frustration.

I suppose what I'm getting at is that a mod based on Hexen would be a cool idea providing it isn't just trying to out and out clone the original games but with a new engine. If they change bugger all then I don't see the point :( 

>Hexen is a masterclass in infuriating level design

True. I recently discovered a Hexen 2 retexture project, grabbed the textures + a modern engine and thought 'Hey, why not play through H2 again?'. I remembered that the level design was horrible but I had been very young when I first played it so I thought it was partly my fault (limited english etc.) that I thought the game sucked.

So I tried the game again but I couldn't finish it, it's just too stupid. One episode of that game basically is a large maze where random keys are thrown at you in random locations. I still finished the 1st episode with the help of google/walkthroughs, it was a pita. When I was spawned into the first map of episode 2 and saw the scorpions and the lava I remembered how this had almost driven me nuts many years ago and rage-quit.

A single sentence that's not off-topic: what I've seen of this mod so far was very linear (yay!) and felt better than H/H2. 

Been waiting a long time to get that off my chest.

What a relief. 

Hexen and Hexen 2 level design can't really be compared.

The powerups are pretty easy to figure out by just using them (or sometimes just having them in your inventory, like the mystic urn).

Mystic urn = Megahealth

Krater of Might = Mega-mana

Tome of Power = Quad

Most of the powerups aren't actually needed though.

I don't see how having more than one player class actually distracts from the game, I think of those as bonuses and they increase replay value imo. Especially in Hexen 2, where they get different special skills, gain different AC from different armour, and have widely different weapons (especially counting the Tome of Power effects).

I agree that the weird keys in Hexen 2 are a bit overdone. Try Portal of Praevus, it is to Hexen 2 a little like what RoE is to Doom 3.

Haven't finished Hexen 2 either, though. Those werepanthers etc were a little unfairly hard. Just died too often. And the level design in episode 2 just isn't hugely interesting. Hub 1 (Blackmarsh) is the best IMO.

About EoC, it is well done for a fan mod, it is a labour of love. Yes, the first level has some boxy architecture and weird doors. However, it is a whole medieval city. Overall the concept is quite neat (it's quite comparable to Thief) and I respect the work that went into it. It is oldschool enough. The swamp / swamp city are pretty nice imo. A weak point of the mod is player feedback (which key have I picked up again? what was that for again?), leading the player through the game (weird and deadly puzzles, instadeaths, having to read the journal), and user friendliness (this ranges from the lack of health items to the devs' willingness or lack thereof to support older Linux systems and to support skill settings AT ALL). There are a few things in that regard that are just amateurish (apparently you're punished for trying to use cheats, and cheat commands have their Hexen 1 names instead of the more familiar Doom 3 ones, the novelty of that wears off quickly enough), but these can be fixed easily enough. In theory.

It will be a very strong game once a little more time has passed and once they had time to think it all over. I also suspect they will get more people after this release, which should help.

Note: I like Doom3, so I'm biased, too. 

I Never Liked Hexen

#12 posted by ijed [216.241.20.2] on 2010/11/25 13:39:07
Been waiting a long time to get that off my chest.

What a relief.

this is a fecking heresy 

 

he is. 

Case in point: In the second hub, the green mana weapon is in a different place for each class. There are other changes as well, but I don't remember them. 

"I don't see how having more than one player class actually distracts from the game, I think of those as bonuses and they increase replay value imo."

Hexen is a pretty big game, and you will be hacking through a lot of monsters. Removing the classes means that A: on a single playthrough you get more variety. and B: you can design some challenges with certain weapons in mind, knowing that they'll have them.

Hexen's classes as they stand are pathetic compared to something like Diablo. Replaying the game gives you four new weapons (which you will be sick of) and a new form of flechette (not even in Hexen 2). If the RPG aspects were far more advanced it would be worth it, but they feel like they were put in just for a feature list on the box.

As for items in the inventory, they'll still confusing when you start out. What was this cup thing again? What was the different between the cup and the flask and the urn? Shit, I'm in a fight, which was the banish device, the square with a red cross or the circle with a red cross :p

Oh and it needs a map you can make notes on. ie so you can record when you find doors that require certain keys :) 

1) remove RPG stuff (classes, maze, inventory)
2) add linear levels.

Not that I really tried to figure it out but I gotta admit that after playing through all of episode1 of H2 I have no idea what all the stuff in the inventory does - except for the stuff that gives health and that super-grenade. When I saw that crystal golem for the 1st time I actually saved and tried all the stuff in my inventory against him.

Btw, I downloaded Heretic yesterday. It's not DOOM and weapon 4 look like a dick but the enemies are fun, the first three maps weren't that bad and the crossbow is great. 

http://www.oldgames.sk/en/game/witchaven-2/

First 3D game I ever owned, first game I ever mapped for too :) Its a lot like Hexen, but its no RPG and the levels are linear :) 

so you guys are basically talking about making Hexen into Heretic/2 :) 

are you saying that more linear is good now? o_O

:-E

j/k, I'm thinking the same myself.

I have a map where I tried to put the player start into the middle of the map, and have all the keys on the outside, and open all doors in the level by default so the player can totally choose where to go etc.

It didn't work out. I eventually put the start back at the start and closed some doors so the player now takes a linear route through the map.

Much easier to "script" etc. since you always know where the player enters an area from, and the player also never gets lost.

I guess a little bit of linear can actually be a good thing. With some optional side areas for exploration (those must clearly look like unimportant areas though).

With the rpg stuff, I see where you're coming from. But you can just ignore the more esoteric player classes and use a fighter.

The crystal golem, I agree, I also didn't get it the first time around. It's badly communicated to the player. 

A level might require linear progression but you can still not lock the player into corridors. Just don't give him too many (unclear) options. 

Linear with a bit of fat at the sides, I guess. 

Hexen isn't really that much more non-linear that just large Doom maps. When you enter a new portal they are usually fairly linear as you go through cleaning out monsters and opening doors. It's only when you have to go back and look for keys/buttons etc that it feels particularly open.

I think RPG elements should be treated with more respect really. Don't just through little levelling up features in for the hell of it. If you're going to try and mix it with an RPG, make more of an effort. Bioshock is a case in point I think. It doesn't realy go for skills but it has the scavenging, modding and construction elements.