Shareware 1.0

This is a sub-page of Proto:Rise of the Triad (1994).

On December 21st, 1994, Apogee decided to give fans a taste of their hot, new first-person shooter with a v1.0 release of Rise of the Triad: The HUNT Begins – a standalone shareware episode of the game.

For the most part, the game is pretty close to the final. However, there's a lot of evidence to support that this release wasn't quite finished. (The ANSI warning screen, for example, makes it pretty clear.)

Audio DifferencesLots of little changes to little audio files.

Installation and Setup#

• The HUNTBGIN.WAD file, or maybe just its contents, is stored in an older format that seems slightly incompatible with most modern tools.
• Some keyboard are wrong or broken in the CONFIG.ROT:

:* StrafeLeft is actually the Autorun button.

:* StrafeRight doesn't seem to do anything at all.

:* VolteFace is Strafe Left, AutoRun is Strafe Right.

• For some unexplained reason, the game saves certain controls to the SCORES.ROT file instead of CONFIG.ROT. The controls and their locations are as follows:

:* Even more confusing: the values for the Keyboard are for keys, but the Mouse and Joystick addresses denote what function each Mouse/Joystick button serves.

• If the player blanks their codename within the Setup program and exits, none of the EXEs will run, stating only that "Line 14 (of SETUP.ROT) is blank".

:* Deleting SETUP.ROT or editing line 16 of the file fixes this.

• When selecting a music device in Sound Setup, the program will crash with an error if it can't successfully configure a device.

:* On some occasions, the program will soft-lock instead of crash.

• AWE32 appears as a music option in Sound Setup, but it doesn't appear to do anything. (It works fine for sound, though.)
• There is no way to select the sound card's Port, IRQ, DMA, or 16-bit DMA.
• When selecting a MIDI-based playback device, the Address defaults to an invalid choice. This has no effect on choosing a MIDI Address.

Starting the Game#

• When running the game, the menu flipping sound plays and an ANSI text screen appears warning players that this is an early build of the game.

:* The menu flip sound plays even if the player disabled menu flipping.

• The title screen music is "CCCool", (A2M05 and A4M12). In later versions, it's "Rise", a completely unique theme.

:* It's possible this was the original intention as "MMMenu", the menu theme that plays when interrupting a game, is a snippet of "CCCool".

• There is no RSAC warning on the title screen, yet.

• The credits is a static image as opposed to the scrolling credits seen in later versions.
• Pressing Esc while on the title screen does not skip the credits screen, as per later verions.

• Menus are headed with a small font label indicating which menu you are on (e.g., "Main Menu").
• The sliders for mouse sensitivity, audio levels, and the like are extremely sensitive to arrow presses.
• The Customize Keyboard menu is split into two menus: Normal Keys and Special Keys.

:* The Normal Keys are: Run, Open, Fire, Strafe, Left, Right, Forward, Backward.

:* The Special Keys are: Look Up, Look Down, Toggle, Drop (weapon), Auto Run, Volte-Face, Aim Up, Aim Down.

• Custom keys for the map, messages, and many other functions haven't been implemented yet.

:* However, there is functionality within CONFIG.ROT for each weapon key and specific strafe keys (mentioned above).

• If the player changes their Volte-Face key or Comm-Bat™ Codename from within the game, they won't be saved.
• The Customize Mouse functionality is very limited, only allowing up to three buttons to be set to any of Forward, Open, Fire, or Strafe.
• The Customize Joystick menu is also limited, allowing up to four buttons to be set to any of Run, Open, Fore, of Strafe.
• There is an option for "Double-Click Open" under the User Options.
• There is no Screen Size option yet, but the screen can be adjusted in-game with + and -.
• "The Corpseyard" is the last Comm-Bat™ level while "The Great Divide" is the first.

Gameplay Differences#

• For some odd reason, the Jukebox cheat (MAESTRO or \LEE) doesn't work in this version.

• Footsteps play when the player moves. When sprinting, about eight footsteps sounds play within one second.
• Enemies' walk animation is significantly choppier than in later versions.
• Enemies are very aggressive and/or do more damage to the player than in later builds, depending on the selected difficulty.
• The graphics for each key is different in later builds.
• Mercury Mode (flight) is controlled by repeatedly pressing the Use key to "jump".
• God Mode (the powerup) is prone to crash the game if a God Fire is being shot as the player's powerup is depleted.
• If the player gives themselves a specific missile weapon with a cheat code, it has infinite ammo and a glitchy ammo count icon.

:* If the player gives themselves a Heat-Seeker Missile weapon via HUNTPACK, it has a proper ammo count.

• After a Lightning Guard falls over during his feign death routine, he simply never gets back up and can't be attacked anymore, making him functionally dead.