Updated April 2011 with co-op fixes, a major fix in e5m7 and minor improvements.

Updated April 2011 with co-op fixes, a major fix in e5m7 and minor improvements.
==============================================================================
Shadowcaster - The Story so Far
==============================================================================

Another time, another world.

You are Banedon, one of a sentient race of heretical elves known as the Sidhe.
Renowned throughout the kingdom of Durenor for feats of bravery and heroism,
you always get called up for quests of bravery and danger. So, you are now
standing in the grand palace of King Rimoah, where he tells you of grave danger
that threatens these shores.

He tells you about the dark mage Tetrahagael, known as the Shadowcaster because
his presence casts a shadow over the island where he resides. That shadow could
soon be cast over the whole kingdom, because the King's mages of Durenor have
discovered that he is summoning evil monsters through some kind of portal to
another world, and is preparing an invasion force made up of these monsters!

No time to lose, then. Your quest is to journey to the island of Fagranc, where
the Shadowcaster resides, destroy him and the portal. Not an easy task, even
by your standards, but you do have some help. The King's mages have prepared
a boat imbued with a spell that will allow you to sneak onto the island without
being detected by the dark magic (but not when you disembark). And also there
are many magical weapons and artefacts on the island that possess the power to
destroy him and his evil summonings.

The next day, you grab your staff and elvenwand, and set sail for the island.
As you approach, you can feel the presence of evil all around the place, it
seems that the whole island could be infested with monsters. You notice a
small village, located on the far side of the island, away from the tower where
the dark mage resides.

You head towards the village, hoping it is unoccupied but ready just in case....

==============================================================================
Title : Shadowcaster

Filename : SHADOW.WAD

Author : Stephen Clark (The Ultimate DooMer)

Email Address : [email protected]

Other WAD's by me : Operation: Lightning (OP-LITE2.WAD) - 11 DooM 2 levels
Fragport (FRAGPORT.WAD) - 32 DooM 2 levels
Quake 2 skys (Q2SKY*.WAD, * is 1-8)

For a full list of my wads and where to get them,
see the bottom of this file. (updated April 2011)

Completion Date : 30th May 2002

Misc. Author Info : A hardcore DooMer who loves all it's similar
games (esp. Quake 2 and Half-Life) but still
thinks DooM is best. Has decided to try his
hand at making Heretic levels.

Description : A 21st century Heretic episode covering many styles
of level, both traditional and unusual as well.
Having achieved everything I wanted to in DooM 2,
I have decided to move on to Heretic 'cos it's just
as easy to make levels for it as it is for DooM.
(although I will return to DooM afterwards)
It's also a great game and I thought of some great
ideas, many using Heretic's special features.

If you love puzzles, then prepare to be tested, because
there are a wide variety of fiendish puzzles in this wad,
covering all of Heretic's features, from the regular
to the weird and wonderful!

Tests of skill also feature in this wad, again covering
a wide range of Heretic's features.

For those of you who like secrets, there are at least
5 in each level. (quite often more than that....)
And, once again, you'll be pleased to know that the
secret level is VERY well hidden.....

And you'll be even more pleased to know that I have
made an effort with the lighting this time! (even
though the lack of texture/flat based lighting makes
it a bit harder to do in Heretic, as there is only
thing based lighting, which should all oscillate)

In short, prepare to be challenged, in more ways than one!

Additional Credits To: Err...no-one really, as I didn't use anyone else's
graphics this time. (only Hexen ones and my own)

==============================================================================
*Playing Instructions*

This zip should contain the following files:

SHADOW.WAD - The episode.
SHADOW.HHE - HereHackEd patch - contains new game text & red key data.
(not needed in ZDoom)
SC-LOAD.BAT - Batch file for loading the patch into a copy of heretic.exe
HHE.EXE - HereHackEd, the program that loads the patch.
HHE.INI - Contains HereHackEd setup detail (assuming c:\heretic is where your
Heretic files are - if not then edit the .ini file to enter the correct location)
DEUSF.EXE - Prepares the new sprites for use with plain Heretic and then reverses
the process afterwards. (not needed in ZDoom)
SC-PLAY.BAT - Batch file for playing the episode with heretic.exe.
SHADOW.BAT - Batch file for playing the episode with ZDoom. (for other ports edit accordingly)
SHADOW.TXT - This file.

To play : Click on sc-load.bat (you only have to do this once)
then on sc-play.bat (to play the episode)

For source ports, click on shadow.bat (after editing it for ports other than ZDoom)

==============================================================================
* Play Information *

Game Version Required : Heretic (Shadow of the Serpent Riders)
or ZDoom (version 2.0 beta 47 or 47i only -
(newer versions will not work due to ZDoom's
language lump not being future-proof)

Episode and Level # : E5M1-E5M9 (to avoid the intermission map)

Single Player : Yes (Built for it!)

Cooperative 2 Player : Yes (it's no different from single player
- however the maps are co-op friendly)

Deathmatch : No (Levels are too big and complex)

Difficulty Settings : Yes (nice new titles, too)

New Sounds : Yes - A new 'ooff' and a new 'scream'.

New Sprites : Yes - A red key and orb.

New Graphics : Yes - lots, including my alphabet texture.
(with the green Heretic letters)

New Game Text : Yes - Episode and automap names, victory text and some others.
(plain Heretic uses the .hhe patch, ZDoom uses special data
lumps imbedded in the wad - plain Heretic ignores these lumps)

New Music : Yes - I have included the original Heretic-style
tune (E2M6 from DooM) and rearranged the original
tunes for those who like to use them.

Personally, I recommend using your stereo!
(with some fast-paced dance or metal tracks)

Demos Replaced : None
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Construction *

Base : My creative mind (And lots of inspiration from a wide
variety of sources)

Editor(s) used : WadAuthor, WinTex, HereHackEd, NewWadTool, Stringlist, Paint, PSP.

Build Time : 5 months

Known Bugs : Firemaces do not appear sometimes (a Heretic feature).
This affects ZDoom more than plain Heretic, where they
(plain Heretic) should appear every time. All of the firemace spots have
(and ZDoom) a 'mace' sign in front of them, so if you see a 'mace' sign
without a firemace behind it, bring down the console and
type "summon mace" (ZDoom only). The only mace not marked
in this way is the one in the boss arena in E5M8.

: The first 7 letters of each level title don't appear
on the intermission screen (I needed all the title
(plain Heretic only) space, including the e5m*: bit, which doesn't show
(not in ZDoom) on the intermission screen). They still appear on
the automap, though.

: Minor HOM at the start of levels 1 and 6, and in level 8
there is an ugly line at the bottom of the sky when you
leave the ground in the outdoor area (it can't be helped)

: Savegame buffer problems in the following areas:

E5M3 - Entire level (unlikely but possible)
E5M4 - After you reach the gas pod area (likely)
E5M5 - After the red key (only if you destroy the pods)
E5M8 - Boss arena. (unlikely but possible if there are lots
of projectiles on the screen)

: In co-op mode, the levels have a few extra things, which
may or may not cause savegame buffer trouble in plain Heretic.
(most maps have only a few extra things, but E5M8 has a ton of
extra ammo, health and items in the boss arena)

: Large numbers of gas pods closely packed together can have
weird effects, but these don't last forever.

: When a manikin is hit, the health loss does not show up on
the status bar. When you next pick up some health, the
health counter rights itself.

In ZDoom, the health loss shows up on the status bar, but
not if you have just the green health counter showing.
You will have to shrink the screen or look at the automap
to see the actual health loss. When you next pick up some
health, the green counter rights itself.

(ZDoom only) : Some parts of the game will not render correctly with
(not in plain Heretic) ZDoomGL due to the absence of GL nodes.
Users of ZDoomGL will need to build GL nodes for all
the maps before playing it.

Will Not Run With : Any source port other than ZDoom.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Manikins : These are life-sized statues of yourself, and are
present throughout Shadowcaster.
When a manikin is hit (by a projectile, explosion or
a shot from your own weapons), you take the damage!
So be very careful whenever you see one!
(unless you cheat or use a ring)

If you are killed by a hit on a manikin, but the manikin
itself doesn't die, then you won't die, but your weapon
will disappear and you won't be able to fire or cheat!

The same thing works in reverse. If a nearly-dead manikin
takes a hit that kills it, then you will die also, regardless
of the amount of health you have.
(they start with 100% health and their armour matches yours
but this only applies in plain Heretic - in ZDoom they
can take as many hits as you want)

Of course you can move them around by hitting them, but just
remember that you can only hit them so many times....

By the way, if you fire an egg at a manikin, you will turn into
a chicken.....so be careful when using eggs in their presence.
(the chicken effect will last for 40 seconds and using a tome
will cure the effect instantly!)

Manikins in Co-op : Player 2 manikins are placed next to player 1 manikins as far
as possible, but most manikin-based puzzles use player 1 manikins
only. Any other effects are unknown, since co-op is untested.
(apart from the co-op friendly features testable in single player)

Other Important Notes : Some items/powerups are needed to solve puzzles, so don't
go using/destroying them unnecessarily! (this includes gas pods)
Shadowspheres, tomes and timebombs are not used in puzzles.

Don't worry, the required items will be provided in levels
containing puzzles, but you will have to find them....
(they won't be hidden in secrets, though).

Extra puzzle items for each puzzle are present in co-op mode.

And finally, if you do get stuck somewhere, then remember
that it is not impossible, the puzzles are not of the same
nature as those in DooM (ie. lots of doors and switches)
they utilise Heretic's special features and items that
DooM doesn't have. (there are doors and switches also, but
nothing over the top. E5M6 is the worst it gets.)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

* Copyright / Permissions *

Authors may NOT use any of these levels as a base for modification or re-use.
Be inspired by them, but don't copy them.

You MAY use the resources in your own wads as long as you credit the appropriate
author(s). The following resources were made by me: titlepic, end pic, alphabet,
vine textures, red key & accompanying graphics.

You may distribute this wad as long as you include this text file and the
other files intact.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Where to get my WADs * (url prefix is ftp://archives.gamers.org
or preferably a mirror site)

Operation: Lightning is at: /pub/idgames/levels/doom2/m-o/op-lite2.zip
Fragport is at: /pub/idgames/levels/doom2/megawads/fragport.zip
Shadowcaster is at: /pub/idgames/levels/heretic/s-u/shadow.zip
and Quake 2 skys at: /pub/idgames/graphics/q2skys-1.zip and q2skys-2.zip

Licence to Spell Doom is at: /pub/idgames/levels/doom/Ports/0-9/007ltsd.zip

Super Sonic Doom is at: /pub/idgames/levels/doom2/Ports/megawads/sonic.zip

Serpent: Resurrection is at: /pub/idgames/levels/hexen/s-u/serpent.zip

The Serpent RPG mod is at: /pub/idgames/levels/hexen/s-u/serp-rpg.zip

The Serpent weapons mod is at: /pub/idgames/levels/hexen/s-u/serp-wpn.zip

ZDoom is at http://zdoom.org
GZDoom is at http://www.osnanet.de/c.oelckers/gzdoom/
Links to all source ports are at http://www.doomworld.com
================================================================================
Remember, remember that DooM lives FOREVER!
================================================================================