Hexen 2 on Windows

Play Hexen II with the Hammer of Thyrion source port

Hexen II was originally made for Windows 95, but it is difficult to get the game working on modern PCs. Before you're going to spend time figuring out how, there's a simple solution. A source port is available for many operating systems. The project is called Hammer of Thyrion. We've tested with HoT-1.5.9 on a 64 bits PC with Windows 11 or Windows 10. Works like a charm.

So, what's the fastest way to get the game working on Windows 11 and Windows 10 (or older)?

Basic needs

A decent graphics card
The original Hexen II game files pak0.pak and pak1.pak, from either the original CD or a Hexen II installation
Don't you have the original Hexen II CD? Download the game.
For the Portal of Praevus (PoP) mission, you additionaly need the pak3.pak game file from the original PoP CD
The Hammer of Thyrion game files

Installation of Hammer of Thyrion

Download Hammer of Thyrion files (in a zip file) either for 32 bits or 64 bits Windows systems.
Copy the content of the zip file to a folder of choice, for example c:\games. In this example you will end up with c:\games\hexen2-1.5.x.
Copy the Hexen II game files pak0.pak and pak1.pak into the data1 folder, in this example c:\games\hexen2-1.5.x\data1. Location of the game files:
- If you have the original CD, the game files are in the folder CD:\INSTALL\HEXEN2\data1.
- If you have an installed game, the game files are in the data1 folder.
Update the game files to version 1.11 if necessary by double clicking the h2patch.exe application in the Hammer of Thyrion folder, in this example c:\games\hexen2-1.5.x\h2patch.exe.

Start and configure the game

Start the game by double clicking glh2.exe in the Hammer of Thyrion folder, in this example c:\games\hexen2-1.5.x\glh2.exe.
Change the screen resolution and color depth (options - video modes)
Change the OpenGL settings (options - OpenGL features)

Hexen II Mission Pack: Portal of Praevus

Portal of Praevus can also be played with the Hammer of Thyrion source port. Installation is very simple:

You have installed the Hexen II and Hammer of Thyrion files as described above
Copy the pak3.pak file from the CD:\Install\Data\portals folder of the original installation CD, into the Portals folder of your Hexen II/Hammer of Thyrion installation folder, in this example c:\games\hexen2-1.5.x\portals.

To be able to play the mission pack, you'll have to use the -portals parameter when starting the glh2.exe file. For that, you need to create and edit a shortcut to the glh2.exe file:

In this example, the game files are in the folder c:\games\hexen2-1.5.x
Right click on the glh2.exe file and choose create shortcut
Right click on the created shortcut, choose rename, replace Shortcut with Portal of Praevus and press enter
Right click again on the created shortcut and choose properties
Edit the target field and add -portals, in this example the target will be c:\games\hexen2-1.5.x\glh2.exe -portals
Click ok
Start the game by double clicking the shortcut
To play Portal of Praevus, choose New game
To play the original Hexen II game, choose Old game

Unofficial sequel - Hexen: Edge of Chaos (Doom 3 mod)

For all you Hexen crazy people, there's very good news. The Hexen mania did not stop after Hexen II! You all know the sequel to Doom II; Doom 3. This is a game for Windows XP or later, so it won't be discussed here. But there's a mod (short for modification) available for Doom 3, which is called Hexen: Edge of Chaos. What do you need to play?

Install Doom 3
Update Doom 3 to version 1.3.1
Download the Hexen: Edge of Chaos mod (at http://hexenmod.net)
Copy the content of the downloaded zip file to the Doom 3 installation folder
Start Doom 3, click on the Mods item in the main menu and choose Hexen: Edge of Chaos to play

It's definitely worth checking out. Check for more info and downloads the Hexen: Edge of Chaos website - http://hexenmod.net