Masters of Wolfenstein

                      

About This Page

The Masters of Wolfenstein project is an effort by Mark Lemmert and Alan Yee to document tips, tricks, exploits of one of our favorite titles in gaming history: Castle Wolfenstein on the Apple II

We hope that this page becomes a destination for all Masters and aspiring Masters of Wolfenstein.  Please share your tips, questions, and stories!

We're just getting this started, and adding content rapidly to share information, so please excuse any typos and formatting issues.

Maximum SS Per Room: 6

This video shows what happens when a 7th SS tries to enter a room....

In The Words of Silas Warner

Click here to listen to a 30 second clip of Silas Warner talking about creating the voices in Castle Wolfenstein at KansasFest circa 1992.


The full keynote address Silas Warner gave at the event is linked here.

What the Heck is this Guard Saying?

(Story by Mark Lemmert)

The voices are one of the most fun parts of Castle Wolfenstein. I never had the manual (which lists the words said by the guards) when playing the game as a kid in the 1980s, so my friends and I had to speculate on what the guards were saying.

The guard in this video to us sounded like he was saying "ska-why-a". Guards always say it when they are out of bullets, so my friends and I began to use it as a verb. We'd say things like, before you go in there you better ska-why-a your gun first.

Or, in this video the guard to us sounded like he was saying "roscoe". If I had the manual when first playing the game I would have been listening for the words it listed and perhaps "heard" them differently.

Maybe we just watched too much Dukes of Hazzard back then :-)

Castle Map (**SPOILER ALERT**)

Field Marshal Roster

If you've achieved Field Marshal through gameplay (starting at private and being promoted through the ranks) send us your name and we'll add your name to the Field Marshal Roster!

• Silas Warner
• Alan Yee
• Mark Lemmert
• Fred Johnson
• Don Malone
• Chris Torrence

Take the Iron Man Challenge! Click here to download a disk image of Castle Wolfenstein at Field Marshal rank (playable in any Apple II emulator). See if you can make it out alive!

Gameplay Videos

• 6502 Workshop: Castle Wolfenstein Iron Man Challenge (attempt #1)
• 6502 Workshop: Castle Wolfenstein Iron Man Challenge (attempt #2)
• Lost Sectors Video Podcast: Castle Wolfenstein discussion
• Lost Sectors Video Podcast: Castle Wolfenstein deep dive

Mods

• Blinking Disable

Changing a single byte in the Castle Wolfenstein binary file disabled the "blinking" that occurs when the player walks into a wall.

Click here to download a disk image playable in any Apple II emulator.

Tips, Tricks and Exploits

• If guards shoot at your head from above, you stand more of a chance of dying, even if you have a bulletproof vest on.

• when a guard is walking away vertically, the chances of hitting them with a grenade are bit guaranteed. But once the guard approaches you and you throw a grenade at them, the hit is certain.

• If guards shoot at you horizontally, you take hits if you are on the same level. But if you step once up, they shoot at your feet and this has no effect. Just be sure to angle-down your gun as they walk toward you so they eventually surrender.

• If you open a door, you can walk through and the door won't close. A guard may still close it later. But if a guard opens a door, there is the rare occasion that the door will automatically close while you are in the doorway, cutting you in half forever.."forever" until you reboot, that is -- yes, a sucky way to lose the game, but it happens.

• If two exits are perfectly aligned (left and right or up and down), throwing a grenade out one exit will come back into the room via the other exit. Same applies for shooting bullets. 

• Whenever you surprise an SS and hold up that guard, you can always press "U" to steal his bulletproof vest. But if the SS spots you first, you either have to bump into him or exit and re-enter to steal the vest.

• If you stand next to a guard or SS and throw a grenade at them, they will die in the explosion, but any uniform or vest you are wearing will be blown off. Still, this can be a last ditch effort to save yourself and kill the guard. If you are fast enough to step at least once away from the explosion, they will die while you retain your uniform and vest. This takes practice. 

• If you explode a guard or SS and leave the room, they will die and you may return to the room as if nothing ever happened, though a guard is now missing. But wait in the other room for the explosion to die out; otherwise, any remaining guards will hear this i. Eitger room and be alerted, or worse, follow (in the case of SS).

• You can hold your gun at an angle right at the edge of a horizontal wall and fire up-left or up-right or even throw grenades. Firing horizontally right up parallel to a wall gives you protection while hitting guards more at head level so they stand more of a chance of dying.

• 3rd time gets an SS: When you go from room to room without shooting, killing or getting the SS on your tail, an SS will appear after you do enter the third room. These SS will typically be without ammo and cannot follow you out of a room, but they will still be around to capture you. I sometimes use this to "conjure up bulletproof vests" if I get mine blown off in an explosion, rather than go back to find a chest. Too bad you can't take a uniform off a soldier (A correction for a future version mod to the game, perhaps?).

• Can't get through a door? No keys? No problem! Find a guard pacing up to a door. Get next to him so there is the door, the guard and you. Move toward the guard and bump him through the door! You're free to keep moving!

• Did you upset some regular guards in a room? No problem! Just exit a room and come back in and voila! All's forgotten. Unless you have no uniform and they spot you...

• Want to upset guards in a room before you enter it? Just throw a grenade in there, first. Then go into the room and they'll be upset when you enter. Any SS will be especially upset. But..throw the grenade in, then "dodge in" and "dodge out" back to where you started. The SS will follow you but regular guards will forgive the grenade and such when you re-enter. It is a nice way to pull all armed SS out of a room. Beware of any SS who have no bullets, though. They will still be there to grab you.

• Accidentally throw a grenade and a chest full of explosives? Same stuff..if you can exit quickly before the grenade hits the chest, all is untouched by the time you re-enter.

• SS following you? No problem! Just go back into the room that you just exited (where the SS started) and the SS won't follow you immediately for a while. If you just wait long enough, they will eventually appear but it'll take them many rooms before they pick up your trail again.

• If you block an entrance with a dead guard, the SS will lose your trail for a while, just the same way you lost them using the exploit explained above.

• If you block an entrance where an SS appears but just has enoughnroom to appear, you will have trapped any SS in that one spot, forcing them to stand still until you rob them of their things or kill them.

• Kamerad-Achtung-bullet/grenade: if you stand above a corner wall and point into it and press the space bar (search), a guard in that corner will be held up and say Kamerad, followed by escaping your fake grasp, responding with Achtung! If you are fast enough to fire, you may get the guard through the corner as usual. But a grenade always does the job.

                  O.     <-- you
                 /l)
     =====
            G =
              =

Search thru walls:

                G
   ==========
            O
             |/
            /\

• Press space while pointing up at guard at angle (not directly overhead). This steals guard stuff but doesn't leave it later if guard is killed, so search wisely... If SS, you will alert everyone since SS won't be held up that way.

• If you enter a room and come back in, SS can be U(sed) to hand over their bulletproof vests. This is quieter than running into them to get them into that mode, too.

• Haven't checked this in a while: killing more than 7 SS in a room and going into that room produces Achtung voice but no one is alive to say it (The first video link you had sent). Once in the room, I vaguely recall pointing down at a bottom-opening doorway (if available), pressing space bar and hearing Achtung on demand. Will have to try that one again to make sure...

• Pressing space bar to search a regular guard while SS in room duplicates SS bulletproof vest on regular guard briefly. But if you get lucky and can kill regular guard begore this happens, regular guard will have died with bulletproof vest in his searchable inventory. Rare and hard to duplicate.

Technical Discussion

Over the years, various people have examined Castle Wolfenstein in depth. As we come across this kind of content, we'll link to it here.

• 2014 Comp.sys.apple2