>The Heretic Fortress v4.0 Public Beta [Website]
>by Josh "Wankeroo" Gallagher, the THF team and its collaborators
>Released December 21 1999
>Made in Montréal, Canada

>Disclaimer:

"THF is a teamplay mod for HereticII. It is considered part of the original program when you are using it and it is subject to all the copyright laws instructed on your cd which you must have purchased in order to legally play this mod. There is no warranties for this mod and the author will not be responsible for any outcome of using it"

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>Installation:

1) Create a new "THF" directory in your Heretic2 directory (ex:"..\heretic2\thf").

2) Unzip the content of the archive in "..\heretic2\thf" and make sure you check the option "use folder names" in winzip so it places the files in the right directories and creates the new directories.

3) Once you are done extracting the files, go in "..\heretic2\thf\setup" and double-click on "Install_main.bat" and wait until it says "Installation completed". This procedure will creates the necessary files needed by THF 4.0. Make sure you have enough room on your hard drive for this procedure will take a lot of room because of the multiple player models (~50 megs)

4) After doing all the above, you will have all the necessary files to play THF 4.0 but you will probably want to check the new players models included in this release (clerics with the hammer, the warriors with broad sword and rogues with a hood). To do so, just double-click on all/any of the "model_xxx.bat" files found in "heretic2\thf\setup" directory. Those ".bat" files will start a decompression program that will alter the basic Corvus/Kiera models of some of the classes.

More custom models are available but are not included in this release (Like "the Winter Faerie" and the "Q2Gal" models for example). You will have to get them separetly from the THF site in the new "Files/Player Model" section. Keep checking this section often for more models will be available soon.

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>Important Notes:

1) The installer that will create the necessary files will unfortunatly take a lot of hard drive space, so make sure you have enough room on your hard drive before installing it. We realize that this is really huge but there is no other way to get player model support without paying that price (each H2 model takes 3 megs) and we think it is well is worth it. We managed to keep the download as small as it could be by having and auto-installer that will generate the models instead of having to download them all.

2) There is another drawback for having multiple player models. The first time someone picks a class not already used on the server, all clients will have to load the corresponding model so it can be displayed on everyone's screen. This will activate the hard drive and will slow/pause the game for 1-2 sec depending on your hard drive speed. Note that this only happens the first time a new model is loaded per map, not every time player change class/team. We have messaged Raven about it and we will try to find a way to pre-cache all the models when the levels load (if it is possible) in the next version. It is unfortunate but it is the same problem in all the games that use multiple player models (Quake3 for example). It should mostly happen at the beginning of a level when everybody picks their class for the first time and much less once the game is started (even less with few players).

3) If you run a server, make sure you change the dmflags to "37128" so the teamscore and the "showname" feature work as they should (change the dmflags in the "autoexec.cfg" and in "server.bat" files).

4) The main enhancement with this version of THF is the player model support we added for every class and sex. If you check your "..\heretic2\thf\players" directory, you will notice that there is now new 17 sub-folders in it. Those folders contain the models, the skins and the sounds that will used for every classes (names of folders are pretty obvious, like "fwarrior" for female warrior and so on). All players can choose whatever model they want for every single character. If you want to use a different models then the ones that come with this release, all you have to do is replace the "tris.fm" file in the directory of the class you want to modify with an another you want for that class. Make sure you also use a skin specificly designed for the model you want to use it (dont use a "kiera" skin with a "q2gal" model). Skins must be named "female.m8" and femaledmg.m8" for female models and "male.m8" and "maledmg.m8" for male models and placed in the same folder as the model/class folder.

You can customize your installation even further by replacing the sounds found in the class folder by other ones. This will allow you to hear different death/ropegrab/jump/etc sounds for every classes.

Check the Player model section of the THF site for more custom models, we will add more as they become available.

5) You might get an error message in console that says some skin files are missing when someone changes team or class. Dont worry, it is normal. The game do not needs those files even if it says it does. We decidednot to have them to reduce download and install size.

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>Changes/additions in version 4.0:

- New commands to change class directly without having to manually scroll through all the classes: "class_classname" (example: class_archer, class_wizard, etc)
- Many improvements to the code that will make the servers much more stable and reduce the client lag
-New icons on the HUD will replace the death messages. Those icons will be displayed on the bottom of the HUD and will tell you who you killed or who killed you, with what weapons and how many "Xp" you got from the kill (see picture #8 above).
-"Gamemsg.txt" wont be needed anymore
- Brand new maps (thf_hometown and thf_kingstower) and also some revised versions of older maps (ctl_waterfall, thf_hex and thf_lion)
- New level 1 spell for the enchanter that will protect the target from the thief's stealing ability for a short period of time
- The rogue will be able to steal the amulet of protection from an enemy target. The rogue will now steal in that order : Amulet of protection, light, mana and ammunition.
- All power up spells (bless, reflective armor, etc) and some other spells will get better for every level you gain by lasting a little longer.
- New visual effect for when a warrior drains mana or health with his magic sword at level 3 and up
- Cleric's Hellstaff effect has been replaced by a new one. It might not look as good as the previous one yet (it is still a prototype) but it will cause much less lag (the other one was causing a lot of lag).
- Many new icons for weapons and other things (blinking icons for team score)
- Pyromage's Flame Barrier spell effect as been enhanced to reduce lag and fps drop
- Player models support for every class and sex. Some new models (cleric with hammer, warrior with broad sword, rogue with hood, etc.) are included in the update, other custom models will have to be downloaded from the new Player Model section.


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>Commands:

- next_class : scroll to next class
- prev _class: scroll to previous class
- class_classname: switch directly to a specific class. Replace "classname" by the name of the class you want to switch to (archer, warrior, bs, enchant, arthur, cleric, rogue, pyro and wizard)
- kill: kill yourself
- team: switch team
- zoom: zoom view
- classes: list the classes used in your team
- hide: toggle "hide in shadow" on/off for the rogue
- score:toggle on/off the scoreboard
- messagemode: chat (note: you must use "say" in a "cfg" file)
- messagemode2: teamchat (note, you must use "say_team" in " a cfg" file)
- players: list all players on a server

Check the THF website in the "Features/Commands" section for the rest of the commands, including voice commands.

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>Troubleshooting and FAQ:

Q: Why does the game crash when I join in a THF server?
A: First, make sure you have the client files installed. Second make sure the only ".dll" file you have in the THF directoty is "Client effects.dll". If you have the server "dlls" and you join a server it will crash the game.

Q: How do I set the custom bindings and voice messages for THF?
A: Edit the "EDITME.txt" file with notepad. Change the bindings to your likings and then rename the file to "autoexec.cfg". Those commands will be executed automatically each time you run THF

Q: How do I find/join THF games on Internet?
A: Use "Gamepsy Lite" that comes with Heretic 2 (in your h2 folder) and look for a server with "[THF]" in their name and double-ckick on them (you need to configure "Gamespy Lite" first).

Q: How do I change class?
A: If you edited the "EDITME.txt" file, use "-" and "=". If not type "next_class" and "prev_class" in console. You can also bind those commands to keys.

Q: I want to try THF but there isnt anyone on the servers?
A: Most THF players play during evenings and during the week-end in the US-Canada timezones. Also, try joining a server and wait few minutes, you should see people joining the server shortly.

Q: I am having an hard time figuring who is an ally and who is an enemy?
A: Make sure you have the "showname" option on. That way you will see a name above everyone character. A red name means the player is an enemy and a green name means a player is your teamate. You can set show name on by going in the main menu or type "set showname 1" in console.

Q: How do you power up a teamate?
A: Only some classes can power up teamates (read classes section for more info). To do so, just use the "tome of power" icon while a teamate is standing in front of you.

Q: How do I gain altitude when flying as a chiken?
A: Simple, press "strafe" and "jump" at the same time but do not press forward. You will gain altitude very fast.

Q: How can I reduce the lag when playing on a THF server?
A: Try to adjust the value of those two commands : "rate" and "cl_maxfps" in console. The first one will adjust the quantity of information sent and received from the server and the second one is for the maximum of number of images shown on screen per second. Those two setting depend on your hardware and your connection to the Internet. Try different settings until you find the perfect balance. I have a TNT2 and a dsl modem, I use cl_maxfps "40-45" and rate "8000-9000". If you have an analog modem, I would recommend using something like: "rate" 2500-4000 and "cl_maxfps" 25-35.

Q: Some of the new icons are very hard to see, what can I do about it?
A: Go in the video menu and put the details level to maximum. The only downside of doing this is that everything will look better and thus require more power from your 3d Card.

Q: I have an A3D sound card but the sounds seems to be jerky, what about that?
A: In my humble opinion, the A3D sounds in Heretic II arent that great and they slow down the computer too. I suggest you always disable A3D sound in the "sound menu" when you play Heretic2. You will have to do it manually every time you log into a server because the console command does not seem to work (at least for me). (update: I notice that A3D sound much better when you use lower quaility sounds in A3D mode)

Q: Is there any cheat code in THF?
A: Actually, yes. If you start a server with cheats enabled (cheats 1) and you type "mewant" in console you will get 15 xpts. You can do it many times and get to the level you want and test the different higher level spells. Dont bother trying this on the gamespy servers... hehe ;-)

Q: I have another question but I dont see any answer here?
A: Send me an email and I will try to help you.

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>Credits:


Programming:
Josh "Wankeroo" Gallagher

Web Design, Gameplay Concept, Project Coordinator, 2D Graphics/Icons:
Matthieu "Cyberm@t" Mortézaï

Player Models, skin design, model installer:
Gwynhala

Icons and intro movie as well as other stuff
Gabriel" Drax"

Sounds
Female: Maude-Esther Lemonnier
Male: Josh "Wankeroo" Gallagher

Note: Many of the sounds were taken from the game "Darkstone" by Delphine Software

Play testing:
Falcon, Hellraiser, Cenwolf, Jet, someone, Nae'Blis

Skins:
Cleric Paladin
Fsd Sparrowslain
Jenna Paladin
Kithral Paladin
Klingona Wydraz
LordSteev Paladin
Keebler Summ|E|r
Paladin Paladin
Shannon1 Rogue Rodent
Thief Paladin
Male Drow Paladin
Vampiress Paladin
Paladin Paladin
Delina Paladin
Female Cleric Paladin
King Arthur Paladin

Maps:

Wankeroo: Thekeep, darkmfort, pka_nest, thf_hometown, ctl_apost, pka_andoria (converted from a Raven's map)
Browndog: The_big_gig, pka_chasm,ctl_chasm
The ShadowLord: thf_bridge, pka_bridge (converted to pka by wankeroo)
Trix[!]: thf_cloud (converted from a Raven's map)
Nae'blis: thf_lion, thf_hex
9LegYak: ctl_waterfall
Tronyn: ctl_forts
Leadwolf: thf_kingstower

Special thanks:

Thanks to the following persons for helping us in different area with THF:

Falcon (General help and support)
someone (Servers and ftp hosting)
Dr.Wu (Servers)
Pat Cash (Server and tourney supervisor)
The Emissary (server admin)
Mridalm (icon)
Jax (icon)
Griff (tourney supervisior)
Keebler |E|lf (coding tips)
Fortuna (coding tips)

Message me if I forgot someone/something above...

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Have fun playing THF!

Check The Heretic Fortress website for more informations