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KEEN 5½ — An Enhanced Level Pack — Release Five

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What’s this?

Être, être—read all about it! This is Release Five of Keen 5½ which is a level pack for Commander Keen Episode 5. I am The CK Guy and I made the levels and some of the new graphics. KeenRush, a fellow keener, made the rest of the new graphics. The rest rest of the graphics aren’t new, they’re the original Keen 5 graphics.

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What’s new?

In this release, I have done some EGAGRAPH work. If you don’t know what that means, don’t worry. It just means that I made some new graphics. I also added two new levels, Not So Fast and Ghost Town. There are also a few changes in the old levels, most notably in Microsoft Tech Support.

And one more thing—this release took a LONG time. Like way longer than it should have. Let’s face it—this release took three years. I’d like to think that I’ve matured somewhat in that timespan. (I was 14 when I made releases one, two, and three, 15 when I made release four, and now 18 when I make release five.) For a year and a half of those three years, I abandoned the Keen community, and keened minimally. This past year, I’ve experienced a sort of “Keen rebirth” writing two IMHO nice Keen utilities, and one hack job utility (Ck456Tli, Mindbelt, and Instant Carma!). I’ve also gotten into and am now attending Dartmouth College, which I am very happy about. I’ve gotten drunk enough to black out once since the beginning of the school year. It’s almost Thanksgiving, when I’ll get to go home and see my parents and my highschool friends. Life is good. I’m content. Keep on keening.

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File List

Here is a list of all the files in this .zip archive, and (briefly) what they do/are:

- `CK55.HTM` — Tells you about stuff. This is the HTML file you’re reading.
- `CK55.PNG` — That cool logo at the top of this file.
- `CK55.BAT` — Starts the level pack. Run this, not `KEEN5E.EXE`, or else it won’t work.
- `GAMEMAPS.CK5` — Contains the actual levels.
- `MAPHEAD.CK5` — Gives offsets in the gamemaps file to the various levels.
- `EGAGRAPH.CK5` — Contains the graphics, help files, demos, and some other stuff.
- `EGAHEAD.CK5` — Gives offsets in the egagraph file to the various chunks.
- `STARTUP.CK5` — Replaces the startup `Ready - Press a Key` screen.
- `TILEINFO.CK5` — Replaces some tile properties.
- `STORY.CK5` — Replaces the scrolling “Star Wars” story text.
- `AUDIO.CK5` — The original audio file.
- `CK5PATCH.EXE` — Patches `KEEN5E.EXE`. This is “Commander Keen Patch-Loading Utility v0.9.0 beta” [for Keen 5].
- `CK55.PAT` — Tells `CK5PATCH.EXE` what to do.

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An Introduction
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An Overview

Keen 5½ (or Keen 5.5, or CK55, or CK5.5, or CK5½, or the most fucled up [note: This “fucl” business is an obscure Keen 2 refernce. In one level—I believe the one where you save Paris—right at the begining, there are some tile things you can stand on of a different color than those around them. In the standard galactic alphabet, they were meant to be the notorious “dirty word somewhere in Keen: Vorticons” but some fool screwed up, and it says “fucl” instead. Because of this, the Keen community now has a much better replacement than “f**k” or “fukc” or any of those other un-clever clichés. By the way, I’m pretty proud of this little mouse-over note. Hand-coded html FTW.] levels ever made, or whatever you want to call it) has everything you [n]ever wanted from a level pack! Excitement! Intrigue! Pain-in-the-ass-ness!

To install it, just unzip it into its own folder, and copy `KEEN5E.EXE` from Keen 5 version 1.4 (not version 1.4 by Goodtimes Software) into that directory. I can’t include `KEEN5E.EXE` in the .zip archive for copyright reasons—ie, it’d be illegal to do that and id Software is sure they still have millions of dollars still to be made selling Commander Keen. Now, to run the level pack, run `CK55.BAT`, not `KEEN5E.EXE` or `CK5PATCH.EXE`. Since of course you use DOS and not Windows, that’d be:

`C:\WHEREVER\YOU\UNZIPPED\IT\TO\USING\PKUNZIP\OF\COURSE>`ck55

(notice that all of those directory names have at most eight characters, all valid DOS filenames—none of this “Some Long Filename” `-> SOMELO~1` crap) You will be presented with a fancy (?) splash screen. Press any key to load the level pack, as it says. See the next section for more specific information.

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The Next Section
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More Specific Information

There is now a level in every slot. You can’t crash the game by trying to enter a level that isn’t done. However, this doesn’t mean that all the levels are done. Several levels are boring place holder levels—their names are given below in“Coming Attractions.” There is no way, currently, to finish the game, because there is no QED to destroy. I do plan to eventually finish all of the levels, but it mught take a couple of years. Just be patient, be cool, don’t worry…it’ll happen or it won’t. (I wouldn’t mind so much if this were the last release, because five is my favorite number. ;-P Sorry, but 314 takes a close second.)

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A List of the Levels
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Some Information About Them

Name | Replaces | First Release | Description
Port 314 | Ion Ventilation System | Three | This is the very first level. It has some switches that change where doors go, so don’t forget to go back through doors you’ve already gone through.
Microsoft Tech Support | Security Center | One | Don’t ask me where the name came from. It just popped into my head one day. Anyway, this was the first real Keen 5 level I had ever made. It contains the absolute #1 sneakiest secret passage idea ever! Well, maybe not the sneakiest, but it’s still pretty damn cool. I’m still waiting for people to say they found it. Maybe that means nobody has found it yet.
Quick and Easy | Defense Tunnel Burrh | Four | Yes, that door right near the beginning really is an exit. Be cool and do the level, or be cheap and use that exit. In future releases there may be certain, shall we say, repercussions for taking that exit.
Not So Fast | Regulation Control Center | Five | NEW! Yes, that door right near the beginning really is the exit. Now, how are you going to get there? Hint: It's not brute force. If only you could align yourself somehow…
The Atrium | Defense Tunnel Sorra | Two | Part of it has the Korath III background tiles…that’s why it’s called The Atrium. Anyway, some nice things in it…oh, I almost forgot! This level contains the secret entrance to the secret level, which is not made yet. You do get transported over to a little re-done place at the bottom of the world map.
Double Toggle | Neutrino Burst Injector | Three | Notice the sneakiness with ONE switch toggling TWO bridges—sneaky sneakiness, huh? Anyway, this level is not on “two screens,” nor is there any one place that you can say divides the level into two parts, unlike the other levels. (why am I bothering talking about this?)
The Shelley Shack | Defense Tunnel Teln | Four | Lots of shelleys in this, as you could have probably guessed…For those of you farther along in the level—Yes, you can get that key at the end of the little doorway with the slicestar without getting killed. And no, it’s not by killing the slicestar. It’s not anything sneaky, you just have to time it right.
Ghost Town | Brownian Motion Inducer | Five | NEW! As the name suggests there are no enemies in this level. None. Just lots of twirly fire things, and obnoxious puzzle-like situations. (Good luck.) “Ghost Town is insane, it’s so complex.” —KeenRush, in betatesting evaluation.
The Omega Guard | N/A | One | Between old Gravitational Damping Hub and Quantum Explosion Dynamo. This level is very cool. It makes a little use of invisible block 1020. Don’t worry, it doesn’t use that block enough to annoy you—not too much, anyway.

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Coming Attractions

I’m not really sure yet what I’m going to do in release six. But here are the names of the placeholder levels—of course, some of these will probably change by the time there are filled in:

- Layer Zero Defense
- Power Supply Center
- Celeritas
- L-337
- theInfernalM∀CHÆN

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Special Thanks
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Shameless Plugs

Thank you to the creators of the “Keen Asylum” Keen 5 level pack for inspiration and some great level ideas. These are the same guys who did the walkthrough for doing Keen 6 without getting any points. (No, they didn’t pay me to say this…well not much anyway.)

Also, thank you to the makers of DOSBox, which allowed my to run TED5 on my Windows XP computer, and now on my Windows Vista laptop. This release wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for DOSBox. If you have Windows XP/Vista and want to use TED5, or just are interested in DOSBox for any reason, visit their site.

Other programs used in making the level pack:

- TED5 — by John Romero
- CKPatch — by Bryan Rodgers aka Admiral_Bob
- ModKeen — by Andrew Durdin aka adurdin
- Ck456Tli — by me
- Instant Carma! — by me
- Xvi32 — by Christian Maas
- TED Notepad — by Juraj Simlovic

BIG thanks to KeenRush for making some new background tiles, and for betatesting this release!

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Appendix
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Keen Versions

There are three version of Keen 5 floating around out there: version 1.0, version 1.4, and version 1.4 by Goodtimes Software. This level pack requires version 1.4 not by Goodtimes Software. You can download all version of Keen 1, 4, and Dreams (they’re shareware) and patches from any version to any version for the other episodes from Xtraverse’s Beyond the Pogo website. Click on Downloads on the sidebar on the left, then click on Official Keen Games.

This brings you to a page with all of the downloads and patches. You want “Keen 5 any version to version 1.4”. Download that, and unzip it into your regular Keen 5 directory. Run the .BAT file (not the .EXE file), and follow the onscreen instructions. Once you have successfully patched to the correct version on Keen 5, then you can copy `KEEN5E.EXE` to you Keen 5½ directory.

The author of this level pack is a card-carrying keener of the AKP.

               ---------
        ------|--       |              (ck)
    ---|         | O    |------------------
       |    -----|---   |  Association of
       |   |         |--   Keenware
        ---|    O    |     Professionals
    -------|    |    |---------------------
            ---------      KEENER

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Contacting Me

There are four main ways you can contact me (of course, you could always try psi, but I’ve never really been great on picking those kinds of things up). They are listed in order of preference.

1. Posting on the PCKF (Public Commander Keen Forum). Recently, I’ve been spending lots of time here, so this is probably your best bet. The URL is www.pckf.com.
2. Posting to the Keen: Modding message board. The URL is www.keenmodding.org.
3. Emailing me. My email address is theckguy@gmail.com.
4. Find out where I live, come to my house, and knock on the door. This option really isn’t preferable. In fact, if you did find out where I live, I’d be kind of creeped out. Please don’t use this option.

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Four Versions
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Jabberwocky

Jabberwocky —— Jaseroqué —— Jammerwochen —— Gannalechy

’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe: All mimsy were the borogoves, And the mome raths outgrabe. “Beware the Jabberwock, my son! The jaws that bite, the claws that catch! Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun The frumious Bandersnatch!” He took his vorpal sword in hand: Long time the manxome foe he sought— So rested he by the Tumtum tree, And stood awhile in thought. And, as in uffish though he stood, The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame, Came whiffling through the tulgey wood, And burbled as it came! One, two! One, two! And through and through The vorpal blade went snicker-snack! He left it dead, and with its head He went galumphing back. “And hast thou slain the Jabberwock? Come to my arms, my beamish boy! O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!” He chortled in his joy. ’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe: All mimsy were the borogoves, And the mome raths outgrabe. by Lewis Carroll Il brilgue: les tôves lubricilleux Se gyrent en vrillant dans le guave. Enmîmés sont les gougebosqueux Et le mômerade horsgrave. «Garde-toi du Jaseroque, mon fils! La gueule qui mord; la griffe qui prend! Garde-toi de l’oiseau Jube, évite Le frumieux Band-à-prend!» Son glaive vorpal en main, il va- T-à la recherche du fauve manscant; Puis arrivé à l’arbre Té-té, Il y reste, réfléchissant. Pendant qu’il pense, tout uffusé, Le Jaseroque, à l’oeil flambant, Vient siblant par le bois tullegeais, Et burbule en venant. Un deux, un deux, par le milieu, Le glaive vorpal fait pat-à-pan! La bête défaite, avec sa tête, Il rentre gallomphant. «As-tu tué le Jaseroque? Viens à mon coeur, fils rayonnais! Ô jour frabbejais! Calleau! Callai!» Il cortule dans sa joie. Il brilgue: les tôves lubricilleux Se gyrent en vrillant dans le guave. Enmîmés sont les gougebosqueux Et le mômerade horsgrave. by Frank L. Warrin Es brillig war. Die schlichten Toven Wirrten und wimmelten in Waben; Und aller-mümsige Burggoven Die mohmen Räth’ ausgraben. »Bewahre doch vor Jammerwoch! Die Zähne knirschen, Krallen kratzen! Bewahr’ vor Jubjub-Vogel, vor Frumiösen Banderschnätzchen!« Er griff sein vorpals Schwertchen zu, Er suchte lang das manchsam’ Ding; Dann, stehend unterm Tumtum Baum, Er an-zu-denken-fing. Als stand er tief in Andacht auf, Des Jammerwochen’s Augen-feuer Durch turgen Wald mit Wiffek kam Ein burbelnd Ungeheuer! Eins, Zwei! Eins, Zwei! Und durch und durch Sein vorpals Schwert zerschnifer-schnück, Da blieb es todt! Er, Kopf in Hand, Geläumfig zog zurück. »Und schlugst Du ja den Jammerwoch? Umarme mich, mein Böhm’sches Kind! O Freuden-Tag! O Halloo-Schlag!« Er schortelt froh-gesinnt. Es brillig war. Die schlichten Toven Wirrten und wimmelten in Waben; Und aller-mümsige Burggoven Die mohmen Räth’ ausgraben. by Robert Scott ’Twas Billy, and the Skypest Slugs McMire and Mimrock in the game All Lindsey were the Pogo Gargs, And the Mushrooms insane. “Beware the Gannalech, my son! The Vorticons! The QED! Romero Robo Red, and stun The Fribbulus Shikadi!” He Vlook his Neural Stun in hand: Long time Orbatrix foes he saw— So rested he by an Eyeball tree And played some Paddle War. And, as in Dopefish thought he stood, The Gannalech, with Gnosticene Came Wormouth through the Shelley wood And Berkeloids Three-Fourteen! ONE UP! Foob! ONE UP! Foob! And Boobus Bloog The Neural Stun went Shikker’s snack! He Flect it Bip, and with his ship, He Bean-With-Bacon’d back. “And Slicestar Teln the Gannalech? Come to Miragia, Schoolfish Burrh! O Megamatic! Korath Three!” He Vortiville high score. ’Twas Billy, and the Skypest Slugs McMire and Mimrock in the game All Lindsey were the Pogo Gargs, And the Mushrooms insane. by Unknown (from “Patchwork Mod” docs)

    IKM MOD Version 3.14
                 (C)Copyright International Keening Machines Corp 1989-1992.
                 (C)Copyright Mortosoft Corp 1992-2007.

    C:\>cd keen\ck55

    C:\KEEN\CK55>ted5

    -- The CK Guy

<subliminal>Release the Keen source.</subliminal>