Harmony

Harmony

Author	Thomas van der Velden
Ports	ZDoom, Limit-removing
IWAD	Doom II
Year	2009
Link	http://heroestospare.com/rabotik/harmony.php
	This mod received one of the 2009 Cacowards on Doomworld!

Harmony is a total conversion based off Doom II and originally built for the ZDoom source port, created by Thomas van der Velden (t.v.) and first released in November 2009 after five years of development. In its updated 1.1 version, dated to 10 December 2009, it is recognized as an IWAD by ZDoom 2.4.0 and newer. Set in a post-apocalyptic future where much of the male population has mutated into vicious, monstrous soldiers, Harmony features many new changes to the gameplay through DeHackEd, and also sports a unique art style with a vibrant color scheme and enemies made through clay animation, giving them a unique look. The original version featured 11 levels.

The soundtrack originally consisted of three songs from Kyū's album "The Edge" (2009), specifically track #6 ("Untitled", used on MAP02, MAP03, MAP10 and MAP11), #7 ("Mercury Stripes, Blue Mess", used on MAP01, MAP04, MAP05, MAP08 and MAP09) and #10 ("The Edge", used on MAP06, MAP07, and the intermission, endgame and title screens). James Paddock (Jimmy) later created an optional MIDI pack providing a new, original soundtrack composed specifically for Harmony.

In October 2022, a new update to Harmony was released. This version was made compatible with limit-removing ports and was added to, and released through, the list of official add-ons for the Doom Classic Unity port. It features several changes from the original ZDoom-based version, most notably two new levels, a revamped arsenal, a new enemy, scaled down sprites, all new sound effects and the inclusion of Jimmy's MIDI pack as part of the main mod.

A standalone release, dubbed Harmony Compatible, was uploaded to the /idgames archive one year later, containing an extra bonus map, a separate WAD with wide screen assets, and other changes. On August 8, 2024, Harmony became a featured mod for Doom + Doom II.

Story[edit]

In the near future: Led by greed and hatred mankind drove itself into another world war. The forces of the Northern and Southern Hemisphere attacked each other with everything their destructive arsenal had to offer. Nuclear, chemical and biological weapons wiped out entire countries. The combined effect of the weapons resulted in an unforeseen side effect; a supervirus emerged that mutated all the men on Earth. For unknown reasons the women were unaffected. But they weren't safe either...

The mutated men, though intelligent, lost touch with reality. From their corrupted minds a new order was formed; 'the Pax Pox'. Its first priority is to rid the world of the "impure".

The women who survived the war united to form an army against the mutant aggressors and called themselves "the Amazons".

Today one of the Amazon outposts is attacked and their leader; Amira is taken captured. Her last hope is her loyal friend; Harmony.

Will Harmony be able to rescue her friend and the rest of the human race?

Standalone DOS version[edit]

On October 19, 2022 UDoom32 author OpenRift released a standalone version^[1] of Harmony for DOS. It utilizes a custom executable called HARMONY.EXE which unlike the official executable, embeds the DeHackEd patch, but it is also an executable hack based off Doom32 which includes a custom ENDOOM screen, additional menu graphics, custom cheats, and it edits all Doom-equivalent strings in the executable to say HARMONY instead.

The standalone version also includes:

SERSETUP.EXE: A hex-edited version of SERSETUP.EXE, designed to launch the aforementioned HARMONY.EXE
IPXSETUP.EXE: Like SERSETUP.EXE, but for the IPX protocol.
DM.EXE: A version of DeathManager! version 1.5, edited to read and write from DM.CFG respectively
SETUP.EXE: A hex-edited version of Chex Quest's setup program with names changed
DeHackEd: Comes with a custom INI file to specify the new executable and WAD names
Original DeHacked patches
NOVERT.COM: A tool that disables vertical mouse movement. The batch menu used by DOSBox is configured to run this automatically
DOSBox Staging v0.79: This is included for convenient play with a batch menu with shortcuts, akin to GOG's DOS game installations

Content[edit]

Weapons[edit]

Neutron gun: A weak projectile weapon, but with unlimited ammunition.
Shotgun: An old staple. This weapon is reliable and versatile.
Minigun: A weapon with much greater stopping power than the shotgun. Consumes ammo very quickly, with a single shot requiring eight bullets.
Grenade launcher: Launches rocket-propelled gem grenades, offering you a longer firing range than by throwing them.
Entropy thrower: A rapid-fire and more powerful version of the neutron gun, but has limited ammunition.
Gem grenades: Simple and efficient. Just be sure not to use them in close-quarters.

Monsters[edit]

As a total conversion, Harmony features new monsters.

Follower: Still humanoid, these mutants are meekly armed and are the weakest servants of the Pax Pox.
Mutant soldier: Better armed and armored than followers, but still not much of a threat unless they are in large numbers.
Predator: While still humanoid, these mutants are obviously inhuman. They use energy rifles whose projectiles have homing capacities.
Critter: Diminutive little vermin which are easily dispatched. However, they will often fake their death. Possibly immature versions of the beastlings.
Beastling: Small creatures that look like a skull with legs, these stinking mutants are surprisingly resilient for their size.
Phage: These four-legged, two-mouthed monstrosities are especially trigger-happy with their plasma rifle.
Centaur: These large three-legged mutants are armed with two grenade launchers and are especially tough. Facing one in tight quarters, or facing more than one at once, is extremely dangerous.
Echidna: The final enemy. Facing this mutant will be the toughest, harshest challenge for Harmony.

Items[edit]

Levels[edit]

Built-in demos[edit]

The Compatible WAD features three built-in demos. All require Doom II v1.9 to view them. The demo levels are:

Demo	Level	Skill	Tics	Length
DEMO1	MAP04: Megalapolis	4	1632	0:46.63
DEMO2	MAP02: Harm's Way	4	2685	1:16.71
DEMO3	MAP09: The Launch Base	4	2125	1:00.71

Trivia[edit]

The original version of Harmony includes a separate executable, called HARMONY.EXE. This is a renamed build of ZDoom with a custom icon, but is otherwise identical to the stock version of ZDoom and will run fine as is on that version. HARMONY.EXE is based on ZDoom version 2.3.1 (r1480) dated December 6, 2009.

References[edit]

↑ Doomworld forums thread

[1] Doomworld forums thread

[1]