News archive

Behold, mortal, the history scrolls of the Fortress' venerable past.

All the old site news updates have been archived here.

2020-11-09
Maintenance update; some corrections and added a few more links to the links page.

2020-10-25
Reviewed and archived a Monster Bash add-on, NewBash1 by Poet.

2020-09-30

2020-09-22
More files exhumed and archived in the vintage vaults:

  • Hexen II deathmatch: Serpent's Wrath Guildhall, Prom, h2dmx1, hwtemple, ~Jackstraw's Quake conversions, Raven Maps (Heretic II conversions)
  • Hexen II misc/small mods: Weapon Leech, RavenLord, Lightning Sorcery, Super Gauntlets, SuperNecro, Arachnophobia
  • Abuse levels: Craig1, Final Assault

2020-09-05
I live again, and have gone over and renovated the page. Thanks to all who wrote me with comments, reports, and encouragement; I hope you like it.

General:

  • Reformatted the game add-on archival pages. Should be much nicer and more suited for larger listings now!
  • Checked and cleaned up a bunch of formatting, HTML errors, and other ugliness.
  • Checked the links page and sent some dead links to their final rest.

Mageslayer (new section!)

Hexen II:

  • Maps: Shifting Sands, Wheel of Karma: A Tulku Odyssey
  • Bots: Apocalypse Bot and Cronos Bot
  • Other mods: Extra Abilities
  • Re-reviewed a few of the deathmatch levels with regard to their performance using the bot mods.

Heretic:

  • Added a big image of the Heretic cover illustration by Gerald Brom to the Extras & Curiosities vault.

2020-05-20
I'm reconsidering my priorities and going on hiatus from game modding for now, so updates may not be as frequent any more. The Fortress will remain up and be maintained / updated from time to time as a tribute to retro game modding history and hosting mods by other authors.

New stuff uploaded -

A few typo corrections and other adjustments were made here and there as well.

2020-02-06
The Fortress still stands in 2020. Not a super exciting update yet, however. Just adding favicon, pruning dead links, correcting typos, moving 2017's news to the news archive page, etc.

2019-12-21
As part of cleaning and tidying my computer files for the coming year, I started going through my various old archives and backups, and exhumed a bunch of my old graphics work, galleries of which can now be viewed on the following pages:

In another long-overdue move, I've updated the site info section with a more in-depth FAQ on me and the Fortress.

2019-12-16
More additions to the archives. Some of the Rune level sets are quite good, so check them out.

Hexen curiosities:

  • Hexen 2D fangame

Rune add-ons:

  • Nidavellir
  • Making of an Odinsblade
  • Unfinished Business
  • Kuolema

2019-11-18
Fixed up and uploaded a couple of my Doom II levels that were originally intended for community projects but didn't make the cut.

I've also added a couple new sections for Heretic II: help on getting the game to work and also a couple of sequence breaking tricks. To the best of my knowledge, these sequence breaks haven't been documented anywhere else!

2019-08-25
Updates for a couple of the game sections, especially more levels for the archives.

Abuse

  • Levels and mods added to add-on archive: more Abuse (Steven), Inferi, Rougan, Mike1, Trench, Toasty, Torture, Twisted Minds demo, Banana
  • More hints & tips.

Rune (New section)

  • Levels added to add-on archive: Dwarven Treasure Hunt, Sparena, GoblinGibz, TestMap, SP-Vikings

2019-06-28

whirledtsar alerted me of an updated version of the "Tyrant's Tome" map for Hexen II. It's been updated on the Hexen II add-ons page.
A few more Duke Nukem add-ons were also added.

2019-05-14
If you like the original Duke Nukem sidescroller from Apogee, then today's your day: after a bunch of digging around to find them scattered around the internet (and CD compilations) I've uploaded approximately 10 episodes worth of custom levels from various authors. Check them out in the brand new Duke Nukem add-ons page.
On the Abuse front, I've added a miscellaneous Abuse downloads section that currently contains Satan Paint and Mike Perry's Abuse FAQ.
Aside from that, a few small additions and corrections were made to some of the vintage system info.

2019-04-21
Expanded the Abuse section some more. Now there are some hints and secrets for you to learn.

I've also gone through and added some more links to the links page, some of which were reader submitted. If you've been visiting primarily for the Hexen II map archive, you might find HexenWorld.org of particular interest for latest Hexen II community news. Thanks, and keep all link suggestions/corrections coming! Sorry for all slowness of response to any e-mails that have been sent in.

2019-02-02
New game section added—Abuse! There are some add-on levels that I was able to find available to download, more to come.

I went through my various game level releases and updated the text files. This was just for the sake of updating e-mail and licensing info, the maps themselves weren't changed so there's no rush to re-download any of it.

2019-01-12
The fortress still stands in 2019! I've uploaded Rino's latest level set for Hexen II, "The Baron Gastone House". You can find it on the Hexen II add-ons page. This is a pretty good one, so check it out!

Additionally, I've continued to update the Heretic HHE page, now with a much more detailed table of thing flags and what they do, as well as a note on an unused thing and frames for modding. Also expanded on the Witchaven trivia page with some more info on the WyrmWorks set prompted by a reader question.

Giveaways have concluded for now; no one took the strategy games so I might re-offer at a later time. To those who got codes, enjoy!

2018-12-29
I've made a few updates to the Heretic HHE page, mostly to detail a few more peculiarities I've encountered in my latest experiments with it. I've also archived some more Hexen II and Heretic II maps on their respective pages. More to come as I continue to dig through old archives of this stuff.

2018-12-28
While I've heretofore only collected single-player maps in my Hexen II add-on archives, I've now opened them up to collecting deathmatch maps as well. As a result, over 50 maps for Hexen II have been uploaded. Some of these were exhumed from pretty sparse remnants of long-defunct sites so in a few places it might be a bit spotty on the titles/authorship of some of the maps, feel free to contact if you know more about some of the uncertain ones. The Heretic II section should be likewise expanded some time soon.

2018-12-24
A bunch of sprite and texture resources that were formerly only accessible from a crusty old forum thread have now been sorted through and uploaded to the Heretic & Hexen resources page. Merry Christmas to all you Heretics and Hexers out there!

2018-12-23
A few expansions on the vintage computer & console section with updated software recommendation and compatibility sections for old PCs. I've also added sections of "Extras & Curiosities" to hold miscellaneous downloads related to the Witchaven and Heretic & Hexen series. These new sections should continue to expand in the near future.

2018-11-29
FGSFDS kindly contributed fixed MAP files for Witchaven II that correct some of the bugs on level 5 and level 13. You can get the files from the Witchaven patches and tools section. I've also updated the Witchaven version gallery with more images.

2018-10-31
As the HUMP Mini compilation (for which I contributed E1M6 "The Black Heart") finally has an official completed release, I have added it to the Heretic add-on section. Additionally, from other authors, the Hexen II add-ons section has been expanded with "The Tyrant's Tome" by whirledtsar and "The Docks" (a Heretic E1M1 remake) by Kenon. A large gallery of photos from various releases of Witchaven and Witchaven II has been added to the Witchaven versions page. Also various small updates including to the Witchaven trivia pages, the vintage game and system notes page, better quality version of the Witchaven "Death's End" cover illustration, and combed through to add/remove links from the links page.

In other news, it appears that OpenMailbox is dead. I am attempting to clean up any references to my address there from these pages, but if any remain, please make sure to address all e-mails to my primary Tutamail address instead. I've upgraded to premium Tutamail but will also be investigating further options for the future.

2018-06-24
I've updated my collection of Hexen textures for use in custom levels, and added a pack of Heretic ones as well. These contain my edits and original textures as well as some of the best textures from the community. You can find the WADs on the Heretic and Hexen modding resources page.

2018-04-27
Updated EGwhaven with a quick fix to prevent crashes with certain sound setups.

I have also uploaded my newest Heretic map, "Tyrant's Tomb", as well as the Jaws In Space Heretic Speedmapping session 1, to the Heretic levels page.

2018-04-23
After a dark and bitter winter, ETTiNGRiNDER makes a triumphant return to rule over the fortress once again. A few important updates have been made, notably:

A new EGwhaven version is now out, bringing it to version 1.3. This fixes some serious bugs to savegame code that were introduced in v1.2 when I rushed it out the door and then failed to update for a long time, for which I apologize. A few other bugfixes and feature updates have also been made so trash your buggy v1.2 and upgrade to v1.3 ASAP.

I've also updated the HHE page for Heretic with a lot of new info about things that can be done with the tool. It's not fully complete yet, but a lot more helpful than before.

Also moved 2016's updates to the "old news" page.

2017-12-16
Site maintainence: the screenshots on the various add-on levels pages should render better in most cases in the Dillo browser (although still not always correct with odd window sizes, the browser seems to have poor support for image scaling) as well as looking slightly nicer in some major browsers as well.

2017-10-31
EGwhaven has been updated to v1.2. This version addresses a previously unnoticed bug in savegames held over from the vanilla versions, as well as framerate/mouse smoothness complaints and an issue with XP from frozen enemies. Have a happy witch night!

2017-10-20
EGwhaven has been updated to v1.1 to address a couple of lingering bugs and control issues.
I've also uploaded the Heretic Upstart Map Project (for which I designed E2M5) to the Heretic add-ons section.

2017-10-18
EGwhaven v1.0 is now released! This marks the first "complete" version of EGwhaven which should finally be relatively stable, many bugs fixed, and a few new features added that may be of interest to map set designers. Please report bugs/requests to the usual E-Mail address.
Additionally, I've updated my Witchaven unofficial level patches to include a fix that enables collecting the bow in Witchaven level 13. You can find it in the Witchaven patches and tools section. Have a very witchly Halloween season!

2017-10-12
-=CHE@TER=- has sent word that a new version of the "Witchaven Dehacker" utility is now available, which recognizes the EGWH1.EXE v0.2 as well as the official Witchaven EXEs. I have updated the download in the Witchaven utility section accordingly.

2017-09-18
Just fixing/updating a few links and pieces of information on the pages. I've been busy on a few things for release which are not ready yet but I didn't want them to hold up the site fixes any longer. More interesting update coming within the next month, I hope!

2017-08-18
EGwhaven development is finally back on track with a bunch of new fixes, primarily focused on getting Witchaven I up to speed, but plenty of stuff for Witchaven II has come up in the process. The annoying "sound stuck on loop" bug should finally be gone, and your saved games should now be interchangeable between vanilla Witchaven (2) and EGwhaven, among other things. In the process, a few notes on the other Witchaven pages have been updated where applicable.

2017-08-15
At long last I've begun delving into what Heretic II add-ons I can exhume from the depths of the net and collecting them to a page. More will be added as I finish playing through them but for now you should be able to get a good dose of heresy from these. Along with this, I've added a bunch of more official and unofficial patches for the Heretic and Hexen series to the relevant page.
In other news, I have a new e-mail address that should be considered the preferred one for now. However, the old one is still operational and will be checked as well.

2017-07-24
Mostly a "still alive" update today, though various small additions and updates have been made to the pages, particularly the link section. Although I've been rather absent from most online game communities of late, that doesn't mean I've quit from gaming—far from it!

2017-04-02
The Disciples section has grown a bit and I've added a couple of maps by other authors to it. I've also expanded the list of software suitable for vintage systems and updated the EDITART download on the Witchaven tools page (thanks Corvin).

2017-03-22
I discovered, much to my chagrin, that the site "Warcraft II Occult" that I'd long intended to mirror the map downloads from has disappeared, and many of the files are lost. I've put up a quick and dirty Warcraft section with the downloads that I was able to recover; if you have any additional files from that site which I am missing, please send them to me. Additionally, I've made a few small updates to the Witchaven pages (Trivia and Versions in particular) and added a download for the EDITART version that works with WH and WH2. I've also added a few more programs to the list of Windows 98 compatible utilities.

2017-02-21
I have updated the Witchaven versions page with more information on the versions I know about. I have also added the WH1 patch downloads. There are probably a few versions that aren't yet covered.

2017-02-16
Although with many delays due to both offline and online frustrations, and the upheaval of switching operating systems on my main PC, here is an overdue update for the new year, with a redesign to the site. Various things have been added; more info on Witchaven versions and Hexen music track assignment in particular, as well as a new version of my Hexen texture pack. I've deferred a few of the things I wanted to add in the interest of "update the damn site already", so watch this space.

2016-10-24
A new EGwhaven is finally out, with some long overdue additions including a Witchaven I version (with special thanks to Adam Biser for helping me to get it working). This version is still a bit experimental so be sure to report bugs or regressions that weren't there before.
In other news, I've added D!ZONE 150 and Demon Gate 666 to the shovelware treasury.
One other note: I have tried to reply to a couple of e-mails recently but my address may have been blocked or sent to spam. Please check this if you sent me an e-mail and were expecting a reply.

2016-09-07
Ernie Roque of the Witchaven dev team was kind enough to send me an explanation of the ship screenshot on the Witchaven box and I've updated the trivia page accordingly.

2016-07-09
I know I've been rather quiet of late but I'm still out there and hope to get some exciting stuff going again pretty soon. Today is partly a cleanup update, including making the site menu a little more manageable. The menu now has subsections collapsed until you go to that section of the site. I also went through my download files and corrected the e-mail and website mentions to the current openmailbox.org and youfailit.net. Some .ZIP files were upgraded to .7Z in the process; let me know if you encounter any broken download links. There is more than just cleanup, however! Now present is the Digital Graphics subsection of my "Drawings & Graphics" area that I've been meaning to add. I have also added several Quake discs to the Add-on Disc Treasury.

2016-05-02
Made a large update to the add-on and shovelware treasury page, including the Level Master series, W!ZONE, Morecraft, Beyond the Dark Portal, and Doom Companion Edition. It should be more or less caught up with my collection now.

2016-04-29
Added the Quake Authorized Strategy Guide and Doom II Official Strategy Guide to the strategy guide treasury. Added some information on which quests were added to the Disciples: Sacred Lands gold edition to the Disciples page. Bottom-of-page e-mail links should all now be fixed, as well.

2016-02-09
The Witchaven walkthroughs are updated and now cover all maps of both games. The Witchaven trivia page is updated with some information on the connection with Wyrm Works' Witchaven tabletop RPG supplement. I have also added a somewhat misleadingly named "Witchaven DeHacker" to the Witchaven Patches and Tools section. It allows you to patch in a few convenience hacks such as tweaked controls.

2015-10-31
Happy Halloween! To celebrate the 20th anniversary of Hexen's release, have a texture pack for Hexen with variant textures, plus a few originals, that I've edited, painted or collected over the years.

2015-10-19
Let's celebrate the new hosting on youfailit.net with EGwhaven v0.5!

2015-10-14
Due to changes in Jimdo policy, I've rehosted the site and redesigned in the process.

2015-09-12
I've begun the long-overdue walkthrough and map guide for Witchaven I, which is currently still a work in progress. Stay tuned for more.

2015-08-06
Lothar sends word that he's working on more maps for Witchaven II. You can see some screenshots at his Witchaven II blog.

2015-06-02
Updated the maps for the Witchaven II walkthrough. Locations of keys are now marked.

2015-05-30
Filled out the section of Hexen II maps by other authors with "Discourteous Bisect", "Ahumado's Skull" and "Speeeed's Imagination". The section now contains all Hexen II SP maps I've been able to get my hands on thus far; if you happen to have a copy of "Gehenna" (also by Jan M. Pear who did Ahumado and Speeeed) please contact me as I haven't been able to find a working download. (NB: I have since contacted the author of Gehenna and received the map, but it's not fit for uploading in its current state.)

2015-05-24
Uploaded the first version of my JOEUNPAK and JOEPACK utilities to work with Witchaven audio archives, with source code. You can find them on the Witchaven patches and utilities page.

2015-05-23
Did a little more investigation on the Witchaven JOESND format and made a few important corrections to what I had previously written on it. Should be able to make a basic tool for unpacking them some time soon.

2015-05-18
Added Awesome Sega Genesis Secrets, Awesome Sega Genesis Secrets II, and Prima's 3D Action Gamer's Bible to the strategy guide treasury. Added More War: The Return of the Horde and Wolfenstein 3D and Blake Stone: Aliens of Gold Companion Edition to the shovelware treasury.

2015-05-15
Noticed that Jimdo has some nice new site styles, so I've upgraded the look of the page.

2015-04-28
I've made a small "Vanilla Visuals" mod for Heretic and Hexen running under ZDoom or Zandronum that turns off the altered translucency and decal effects for a more vanilla-like look.

2015-04-23
I've added a section with some of my drawings, one new and several old.

2015-02-13
BME/ILMBH has updated the Witchaven II map browser again; now it supports the EGwhaven WARP parameter.

2015-02-11
BME/ILMBH's Witchaven II map browser has been updated to correct a bug. I've also re-uploaded old EGwhaven versions for historical interest.

2015-02-10
EGwhaven v0.4 is out! Many little (and occasionally not so little) bugs and annoyances have been addressed in this version. Also, my Witchaven II map guide now has walkthroughs for every map.

2015-02-07
BME/ILMBH has provided me with a .BAT script that loads and unloads the levels in Lothar's "The Horror Back" automatically so you need no longer worry about overwriting files. The download has been updated.

2015-02-05
I've uploaded the finalized version of Mountain King's Domain for Heretic; idgames archival pending as soon as I can connect to their FTP. Time to choose my next focus for level design! Additionally, the download for BME's Witchaven II map browser has been updated to v2.0, which now includes EGwhaven support.

2015-02-05
After over a year in existence, the Fortress finally has some semblance of an about page. Also, I've begun uploading my collection of Hexen II custom maps by other authors. More to come.

2015-01-31
Mountain King's Domain is in the next round of beta testing; you can check it out on the Heretic custom maps page.

2015-01-21
New EGwhaven, v0.3! Includes further refinement to mouse code, and expansion of the GAME parameter, which can now load STUFF.DAT, JOESND, W_SONGS and F_SONGS as well as maps. (STUFF.DAT loading should also allow custom art tiles to be used if packed in the STUFF.DAT file, but loose .ART files in the subdir are currently not supported.) You can download compiled EXEs and source code from the EGwhaven page.

2015-01-15
Added a BUILD editor that works with the original Witchaven to the Witchaven patches & utilities section, courtesy of JonoF and Corvin.

2014-11-30
I've put up a bit of info on the vanilla Heretic behavior editor, HHE.

2014-11-17
A new level for vanilla Heretic, "Mountain King's Domain", is now in open beta. You can download it over here.

2014-11-16
EGWhaven v0.2 is up! It includes fixes to the treasure chest randomizer, added behavior for the Willow Wisp's non-functioning attack, and further refinements to player input and movement.

2014-11-09
Receiving some publicity and Witchaven testing assistance from Corvin of R.T.C.M. As such I'm fleshing out the Witchaven sections some more and organizing things for the next round of EGwhaven.

2014-08-21
I've posted one of the "big things" mentioned in the previous news post: check out EGwhaven, a project to bugfix and enhance the Witchaven II source code.

2014-08-16
Still working on site renovations. Expect some big things soon.

2014-08-12
I'm renovating the page again.

2014-06-03
I experimented with using a slowdown utility with Witchaven II and feel more sure than ever that the game suffers from clock speed related issues. See my notes on the Witchaven Bug Hunt page for updated troubleshooting advice.

2014-05-03
Added Maximum Death to the treasury, and updated the H!Zone photo with a better quality one. Also unearthed the proper command line parameter for map loading in Witchaven II, along with continuing bug cataloging efforts.

2014-04-30
I've added Deathday and The Master Levels for Doom II to the treasury.

2014-04-17
Updated the shovelware treasury with a new overview of The Ultimate Add On Collection for Doom / Doom II, as well as better photos for Magic & Mayhem and Total Ruin.

2014-04-14
Added D!Zone 2 and Heresies to the shovelware treasury.

2014-01-31
The strategy guides and mission pack that I have for Hexen II are now indexed in the Treasury.

2014-01-27
Added two quests for Disciples: Sacred Lands, a re-release of Heart of Ice and a new release, Shining Isles. Find them in the Map Vault.

2013-12-01
Rearranged the site and adjusted links accordingly.

2013-10-25
Added some information on Witchaven's bugs and glitches and an overview of the official Disciples: Sacred Lands strategy guide to the treasury.

2013-10-06
Released a new vanilla Heretic map, Valley of Saints, available in the Map Vault. (idgames archival pending.)

2013-09-20
Added vv's Heretic patch to the utilities.

2013-08-25
The new site has been begun. 'tisn't pretty but it serves.