I also was completely flabbergasted by that. It makes no sense at all. And I think it was in the base game it seems. Playing on Hammer of Thyrion as well. What a blunder. Really annoyed me. I initially set the present wheel to Isis (two steps further than Gemini) and the past I set the wheel to Gemini cause according to the info Vernal Equinox lands in Gemini....which is now a complete LIE. I love Hexen 2 but man that frustrated me..

spoilers below.

so this puzzle has really pissed me off. i tried it back in 90's when i was a kid and i tried all the 12*12 combinations and still did not managed it. i have to use noclip which has broken the "fair" gameplay.

so these are all the related texts from the game. this is for both original game and Hammer of Thyrion as well, since HoT is just an engine, it does not mess with the game data.

Summer Solstice falls in the constellation of the Hippopotamus

Vernal Equinox lands in the constellation of Gemini

Prophecy of Amun: Setting the wheel of ages to alignment with each equinox shall Upper and Lower Egypt unite

RamsessesII fortells of the wheel of ages being aligned on both equinoxes at the same, yet different times

On this wall, the scribes give calculations for the planet's shift over time in the Zodiac. These calculations instruct the advancement of the Wheel of Time in the current day two steps further than Gemini

so, per my understanding, the game tells you both wheels need to be on two different Equinoxes in both times. at least, this is how i understand "being aligned on both equinoxes" wording. given that one equinox is gemini and summer solstice is hippopotamus, i can count that another equinox is jackal. also, due to the planet's shift an equinox in present day is two steps further than gemini thus its isis. so the wheels should be set to jackal - isis. L - logic.

but no. this did not worked out and i had to check the walkthrough, it is hippopotamus - isis, which is insane and frustrating. this time i had a "fair" gameplay, well... mostly.

I thought i was the only one who got it wrong but it seems the one that is wrong is the game

Originally posted by vsd:

spoilers below.

so this puzzle has really pissed me off. i tried it back in 90's when i was a kid and i tried all the 12*12 combinations and still did not managed it. i have to use noclip which has broken the "fair" gameplay.

so these are all the related texts from the game. this is for both original game and Hammer of Thyrion as well, since HoT is just an engine, it does not mess with the game data.

Summer Solstice falls in the constellation of the Hippopotamus

Vernal Equinox lands in the constellation of Gemini

Prophecy of Amun: Setting the wheel of ages to alignment with each equinox shall Upper and Lower Egypt unite

RamsessesII fortells of the wheel of ages being aligned on both equinoxes at the same, yet different times

On this wall, the scribes give calculations for the planet's shift over time in the Zodiac. These calculations instruct the advancement of the Wheel of Time in the current day two steps further than Gemini

so, per my understanding, the game tells you both wheels need to be on two different Equinoxes in both times. at least, this is how i understand "being aligned on both equinoxes" wording. given that one equinox is gemini and summer solstice is hippopotamus, i can count that another equinox is jackal. also, due to the planet's shift an equinox in present day is two steps further than gemini thus its isis. so the wheels should be set to jackal - isis. L - logic.

but no. this did not worked out and i had to check the walkthrough, it is hippopotamus - isis, which is insane and frustrating. this time i had a "fair" gameplay, well... mostly.

Someone should really make a patch that fixes the in-game hints. Either that, or Bethesda should re-release an updated version of the game like they did with Quake.

Easy fix for the puzzle is a small modification to data1\Strings.txt

Change
to

Originally posted by JorisV:

Easy fix for the puzzle is a small modification to data1\Strings.txt

Change

Summer Solstice falls in the@constellation of the@Hippopotamus

to

Autumnal Equinox@falls in the@constellation of the@Hippopotamus

I don't think that would solve the issue of the constellations having to be shifted depending on what time period you're in.

Originally posted by Android994:

I don't think that would solve the issue of the constellations having to be shifted depending on what time period you're in.

That's where this text hint will help you out. This hint also helps to determine which constellation you need to set in which time period.

The main issue with the ingame hints is that the game mixes equinox and solstice[www.britannica.com].
The autumnal equinox (the other equinox) is 9 months further than summer solstice. Which would shift Hippopotamus to Jackal.

Originally posted by JorisV:

Originally posted by Android994:

I don't think that would solve the issue of the constellations having to be shifted depending on what time period you're in.

That's where this text hint will help you out. This hint also helps to determine which constellation you need to set in which time period.

On this wall, the scribes give calculations for the planet's shift over time in the Zodiac. These calculations instruct the advancement of the Wheel of Time in the current day two steps further than Gemini

The main issue with the ingame hints is that the game mixes equinox and solstice[www.britannica.com].
The autumnal equinox (the other equinox) is 9 months further than summer solstice. Which would shift Hippopotamus to Jackal.

It's been a while since i did that puzzle, but i seem to remember that the puzzle solution doesn't *not* take the constellation shift into account even though the hints point to it.

This puzzle is super-misleading. After having been round and round in circles thanks to clues that only serve to confuse players rather than help: And starting the game all over again due to becoming convinced that my game was bugged, because the logical solution wasn't working: I realised that the game does tell you the solution but also tells you a couple of other things that serve only to push you toward a different answer (that happens to make more sense).

For a start it says that the Equinox's must match, which everyone is going to assume means they need to be set to the same value.
There's also a board that states the wheels must be set to the "same time but different" or words to that effect which reinforces your suspicion and that there will be a clue later on that would point to any adjustments to one or more of the wheels.
It then tells you that the Summer Solstice needs to be set to Hippopotamus. This appears to be irrelevant because you've been told to find a pair of Equinox's, not a Solstice. Not everyone's a Hippy and isn't going to know that apparently Solstice and Equinox mean the same thing (?). And using the Hippo specifically feels like a joke.
Fourthly you find a board which says Vernal Equinox is Gemini. Heck knows what Vernal means but it's the first Equinox we're given and we're looking for Equinox's.
And finally you'll see a board stating that due to planet shift over the years, the present-day one should be set to +2 the given answer.
Therefore the only logical solution taking into account the given clues is: Gemini (intact roof) and Gemini (broken roof) +2 which turns it into Gemini + Isis. But this is wrong, obviously.

Even though the game stated that the wheels should be set to the same times and told you to look for Equinox's, the answer is Hippo (intact roof) and Isis (broken roof).

If there is a remake/master of this game at some point, the wording of the clues here need some major tweaking. Don't tell your players to look for a 'Whatchamacallit' and then provide them with a 'Doohickey' and expect them to know that's actually what they need.

To make matters worse, 50% of the guides and walkthroughs you'll find online have the wrong answer because I guess a lot of authors spend their time rewriting other peoples work without actually checking if it's right or not.