"Pre-registered" shareware releases

[MrFlibble]

Some of the games distributed under the Scott Miller model had initial shareware version releases before any respective registered versions were available. However, the information on whether a shareware release was made before the registered versions or not isn't always readily available. On top of that, even though in many cases the version numbers coincide between the shareware and registered versions, this is not always the case. For example, the first registered version of Descent is v1.0, however it corresponds to shareware v1.2 (details here).

I've tried to track down information on the "pre-registered" status of shareware releases. Here's what I got so far:

• Abuse v0.32, v0.33, v0.34, v1.01
• Amulets & Armor v1.0
• Blood v0.99 to v0.99c (?)
• Cosmo's Cosmic Adventure v1.0 and v1.01 (source)
• Cyril Cyberpunk/Cyberboard Kid v0.51
• Death Rally v1.0 (source)
• Descent v1.0 and v1.1
• Doom v1.0 (source)
• Duke Nukem 3D v1.0 and v1.1 (source)
• Major Stryker v1.0 and v1.3 (source)
• Monster Bash v1.0, v1.01, v1.02, v1.1 (source)
• Quake v0.91, v0.92, v1.00 (?) (source)
• Rise of the Triad v1.0 and v1.1 (source)
• Shadow Warrior v1.0 and v1.1 (source)
• Terminal Velocity v1.0 (?) (there's no registered patch from v1.0 to v1.1)
• Tyrian v1.0 (source)
• Wacky Wheels v1.0 (source)
• Wolfenstein 3-D v1.0 (source)
• Xenophage: Alien Bloodsport v1.0 (source)

The list is obviously incomplete, and I would appreciate any more information on the subject.

[developertn]

Thank you MrFlibble. Some interesting information there! I have Quake 1.06d or something like that. I just know it is 1.06 at least. However I am not going to release it since it came from the authentic disc instead of online.

Along the lines of version numbers some authors for instance myself do not always put version numbers in there new releases. You have to figure that out by the filename or the actual workings of the program itself.

For instance, this updated version of my clocker actually tells you how close you are to estimated MS-DOS speed. However the version number is not listed so if you would use the previous version you would think it is identical until you look closer.

http://www.mediafire.com/download/3m7i6 ... NDDAY3.BAK
http://www.mediafire.com/download/2wf0z ... NDDAY3.EXE
http://www.mediafire.com/download/aeijh ... NDDAY3.OBJ
http://www.mediafire.com/view/08748i7ea9c13q4/2NDDAY3.C


This bases its calculation on MS-DOS running on a system that is about 25mhz.

So if you could match the values closely or even it is running approximately 25mhz.

In mathematical sciences, the word "approximately" gives subtle leeway however not much.

Thank you God for an interesting version and so on!
Bless Jesus Christ, then bless my mom she took me to church today.
Honour to my own mother Huong Thi Vu for putting me through school.
Honour to my own father Nguyen Binh Thuy for trying to raise me the best he could.

Loving greetings to my cousin Carl Anh Cuong Cao Vu for always trying to be there for me.

Thank you to all my supporters whomever you are.

[MrFlibble]

Apparently there are also some curious cases of post-v1.0 shareware versions that are not paralleled by registered releases. For example, there's Stargunner shareware v1.1 but the registered version skips to v1.1a (with an additional fix).

Also some shareware games do not have respective registered versions because those were never released. It seems that One Reality did not ship any registered DOS versions of Nebula Fighter and Crazy Drake:

One Reality will no longer have a web site. We are no longer taking orders for Crazy Drake and Nebula Fighter. For those of you who had pre ordered Nebula Fighter, your orders have been canceled and the information you sent destroyed. None of your credit cards were ever charged. We only charge the day we ship the product. We are having to seek a new retail publisher at this time. This new publisher will distribute both games to store outlets near you. When we do sign a new publisher we will announce it here. We are hopeful this will be soon. We apologize for this inconvenience. [source]

Both games have shareware DOS releases. However, the new publisher, eGames, seems to have only distributed Windows versions.

[Edit] It seems that the registered DOS version of Crazy Drake was available at some point, but so far I have found no info on whether it was distributed by One Reality or through some other publisher.

[DOSGuy]

Argh! I tried to use your links for Nebula Fighter and Crazy Drake, and I'm getting some error message related to Moby Games' cloud storage. "Website is offline", "No cached version of this page", "Error 522".

You Browser Working -> Newark CloudFlare Working -> http://www.mobygames.com Host Error

That seems like a problem.

[MrFlibble]

Hmm, MobyGames works for me now, but I guess there might have been an update which temporarily blocked access or resulted in an error?

There doesn't seem to be any announcement in the forums of the site having gone offilne recently. What browser are you using?

[Hallfiry]

Hmm, MobyGames works for me now, but I guess there might have been an update which temporarily blocked access or resulted in an error?

There doesn't seem to be any announcement in the forums of the site having gone offilne recently. What browser are you using?

I had the same problem as DOSGuy when I first read his post, so I guess it was indeed some downtime.

[DOSGuy]

Works for me now.

[MrFlibble]

Added Amulets & Armor shareware v1.0 to the list, which I forgot for some reason.

[MrFlibble]

Added Cyril Cyberpunk to the list.

[MrFlibble]

Apparently, there are several shareware releases of Necrodome with version numbers below 1.00. Two known versions are 0.36 and 0.40, with a possibly earlier one here.

[MrFlibble]

Apparently, there's an even earlier release of Necrodome:
http://www.kultcds.com/Catalog/index.ph ... 2FNecrdome

Most date stamps come from early May 1996, compared with late August 1996 for v0.36 and the yet unknown version, and early September 1996 for v0.40.

[Edit] I just checked the CD on which this is found, apparently it's the exclusive E3 demo version. Just like the later shareware versions, it contains five levels.