Heretic cheat codes

From DoomWiki.org

To use a cheat code in most versions of Heretic, one simply types the code while playing (this also applies while in the automap mode). After the last letter has been entered, a message of acknowledgement will appear at the top of the screen (with the exception of the warp cheat). The status bar and ingame view may also change, depending on the effects of the code. All of the codes for the original game work in all source ports, unless otherwise noted. All codes are disabled in multiplayer games and on the Black Plague Possesses Thee skill level except ravmap.

In the Heretic + Hexen remaster a cheats menu is available to access most cheat codes, and some codes were exchanged or renamed. In cases where the same cheat's code differs between the two games, both codes will work in both games (e.g. both skel and locksmith will unlock all keys in the remaster).

Cheat codes[edit]

Original H+H Effects Displayed message
cockadoodledoo Turns the player into a chicken. "chicken on"
"chicken off"
engage##[note 1] Warps to level E#M#.[note 2] "level warp"[note 3]
gimme## The code is followed by a letter (a–j) and a number (1–9). The letter defines which item is given, the number the amount of items given. If "z" is entered as the item, and "0" (zero) is entered as the amount, the player is given five of each item. In patched games, this combination gives the maximum of everything instead. The letters and corresponding items are:

Note: The mystic urn and the Chaos Device are not available in the shareware/unregistered version of the game.

"choose an artifact ( a - j )"
"how many ( 1 - 9 )"
"you got it"
"bad input" (if the wrong combination was used)
iddqd Kills the player. Originally the god mode cheat in Doom, it is a joke by the developers by making it have the opposite effect in Heretic. "trying to cheat, eh? now you die!"
idkfa Removes all weapons and ammo the player is carrying, except for the staff. Any weapon that exists as a map item can be regained by picking one up, but the Elven wand will be lost for the remainder of the game session. It can, however, be recovered by using the rambo code. Just like the iddqd cheat, this code is from Doom. In Doom, it gives all keys, armor and ammo; in Heretic it does the opposite by taking them all away. "cheater - you don't deserve weapons"
kitty No clipping (the player can walk through walls, characters, and obstacles, climb high ledges instantly, and pass through items and across all tagged linedefs with no effect). "no clipping on"
"no clipping off"
massacre Kills all monsters in the current level. "massacre"
noise Toggles sound debug. "sound debug on"
"sound debug off"
ponce healthyself Sets player's health to 100%. "full health"
quicken Makes the player immune to damage ("God mode"). "god mode on"
"god mode off"
rambo gunsgunsguns Gives all weapons with full/double ammo. It also gives the maximum armor (100 points on shareware, 200 points in registered version). It additionally grants all keys in the remaster when used from the cheat menu. "all weapons" / "all weapons and keys" (remaster menu)
ravmap This cheat can only be used in the automap mode. First input: full automap (reveals unexplored areas). Second input: full automap with (remaining) items and enemies. Third input: back to normal. None
shazam Activates the Tome of Power effect. Its duration is the same as when activating the artifact from the inventory. "power on"
"power off"
skel Gives all keys. "all keys"
ticker Toggles ticks-per-frame counter. "ticker on"
"ticker off"
where Shows the player's compass angle and coordinates (note that the angle is hexadecimal, and may require some practice to interpret quickly). <current angle; x,y coordinates>
whipit Gives all artifacts. "all artifacts"

Notes[edit]

  1. If used in the remaster's cheat menu, this won't unlock a cheat and will instead show a message telling the player to use the new level select menu instead. It can still be used during normal play.
  2. Using the similar cheat code in Doom (idclev) with invalid arguments can break the game. However, a special function was written for Heretic to check the correctness of the entered parameters. It is called M_ValidEpisodeMap and is located in the m_misc.c file of the source code.
  3. This message appears in the source code, but is not actually displayed in the original DOS executable.

Flight cheat[edit]

According to Heretic source code, there were plans to include a cheat code that would give the player the ability to fly, but it was either never implemented or was removed during development. The dstrings.h file contains definitions for its displayed messages: "flight on" (TXT_CHEATFLIGHTON) and "flight off" (TXT_CHEATFLIGHTOFF). However, they are not used anywhere in the code.

Technical details[edit]

In the source code, the functioning of cheats is described in the sb_bar.c file, and their displayed messages are defined in the dstrings.h file. The only exception is the ravmap cheat, a description of its operation is contained in the am_map.c file.

See also[edit]