[MrFlibble]

This is a DOS port of HacX 1.2 based on Gerwin Broers' MBF Maintenance Release 2.04, with additional sound code for GENMIDI/OPL3 playback by ludicrous_peridot. You will need the HacX 1.2 IWAD to play:

• hx12dos.zip -- binary executable package
  
• hxmbf_s.zip -- source code

The port takes full advantage of MBF fixes and performance improvements. I've also made a few other, mostly cosmetic changes:

• restored the original title screen, but now it says "made for DOOM II engine" instead of "made for DOOM II"
  
  
• restored the original invulnerability palette
  
  
• a custom automap colour scheme, based on that from Strife but with green instead of blue
  
  I think it works pretty well with HacX' status bar design.
  
  
• added full support for HUD font palswap to enable working menus and help screen
  
  The non-blue font colours (and the background tile) match the fonts used in the original HacX installer.
  
  
• since HacX does not have custom par times, I removed their display from the tally screen altogether
  

I had to make a few other code tweaks to match HacX behaviour and logic. For example, while the original DOS version is based on DOOM II v1.9, player armour can go above 200% when you pick armour bonuses ("dampeners"), like in DOOM v1.2. This is reproduced when you play HacX v1.2 in ZDoom, although I've not found where exactly it is modified, but does not work automatically in MBF. Thankfully, MBF 2.04 has a v1.2 compatibility mode, so I only had the alter the code a bit to make it work.

I also turned off item translucency (applied when translucency is enabled in MBF options) for pickups that are meant to be solid objects, such as the Body Armour (Megasphere) or Force Field (Invulnerability). Global translucency is still turned off by default to give the game a more vanilla look.

Since neither the v1.1 nor v1.2 demos worked properly in MBF, I recorded new demos taking place in the same levels.

The port takes advantage of ludicrous_peridot's modified Allegro library that enables the use of the GENMIDI lump (DMXOPL is included) for OPL music playback.

And yes, you can turn on the optional helper dogs to play around. The port uses the libre versions by Nash Muhandes from GZDoom.

I also included multiplayer drivers IPXHACX.EXE and SERHACX.EXE, which are modified IPXBOOM.EXE and SERBOOM.EXE from the original BOOM 2.02 distribution that recognise HACX.EXE as a valid executable. I was able to start up a co-op multiplayer game with IPXHACX.EXE using two instances of DOSBox running on the same computer (as described here​​​​​​​).

[Phredreeke]

*puts on monocle* What advantages does this source port have over say a train, which I could also afford?

[MrFlibble]

Phredreeke, on 15 June 2024 - 08:57 AM, said:

What advantages does this source port have

For one, you can play in your browser:
https://www.dosgames...e.com/play/hacx