Some missing game versions

[Litude]

Yeah I meant 1996; my finger must have slipped.

[MrFlibble]

Since CGW quite often had exclusive demos with very different content from that of the regular demos, I'm assuming that someone over at CGW requested to get an exclusive demo of Duke Nukem 3D with a level or something that wasn't present in the normal shareware. But somewhere down the line the message probably didn't quite get through and they ended up with this weird demo which just includes the first level.

Aww, I also thought, "If they were doing an exclusive one-level demo, why didn't they include some extra content with it?" An extra official Duke Nukem 3D level would have been awesome

[MrFlibble]

According to this, there have been at least two shareware CD editions of Blood, v0.99b and v1.02. Also, but the RTCM website offers the CD v1.0 release (haven't checked it, could be v1.02). Are there any other known CD releases? Do they all differ from their respective counterparts by the presence of videos and CDA music?

And also, is the v0.99b from the site originally a CD version or an electronic distribution version? It's much larger than the other downloadable shareware versions that are available.

[Litude]

There's just one CD shareware version of Blood afaik, 0.99b which is a CD only version as well. If you read the text carefully on that website, you'll notice that it says as much:

Blood Shareware CD Version 1.02
Only get this patch if you bought Blood shareware from a software store and subsequently applied patched up to 1.02.

So the patch is only to be used if you bought the 0.99b shareware CD and then patched that version up to 1.02 previously by using another patch.

Also the shareware CD offered at RTCM is also 0.99b (I've checked). No idea why it's called 1.0 there.

[Hallfiry]

Also the shareware CD offered at RTCM is also 0.99b (I've checked). No idea why it's called 1.0 there.

The readme and the bloodhlp call it version 1.00, but the game says 0.99b on starup

readme:
"BLOOD Shareware v 1.00 README.TXT
March 3rd, 1997"

[MrFlibble]

There's just one CD shareware version of Blood afaik, 0.99b which is a CD only version as well. If you read the text carefully on that website, you'll notice that it says as much:

Blood Shareware CD Version 1.02
Only get this patch if you bought Blood shareware from a software store and subsequently applied patched up to 1.02.

So the patch is only to be used if you bought the 0.99b shareware CD and then patched that version up to 1.02 previously by using another patch.

Right, I got confused a little (Or quite a bit in fact! )

Also the shareware CD offered at RTCM is also 0.99b (I've checked). No idea why it's called 1.0 there.

Thanks for checking this! I'm a bit slow on bandwidth, so couldn't do a fast-check myself. But what of the version 0.99b here at RGB Classic games? It's larger than other shareware versions, but smaller than both the CD at archive.org and at RTCM. Or is it just the files, no CD Audio music?

Also the shareware CD offered at RTCM is also 0.99b (I've checked). No idea why it's called 1.0 there.

The readme and the bloodhlp call it version 1.00, but the game says 0.99b on starup

readme:
"BLOOD Shareware v 1.00 README.TXT
March 3rd, 1997"

Heh, I guess they already prepared the readme for the full release yet decided to use an earlier build (no pun intended) of the game. I don't know the release history of Blood all that well, so I dunno why they went for a pre-v1.0 public version (leilei said that with Quake it was due to a leaked version, same thing here? Or not? ).

[Hallfiry]

I found something interesting:
http://dukertcm.com/knowledge-base/down ... shareware/

Oh and about the Quake deathmatch test: Power Play found it strange, too

[Litude]

Found some new stuff recently, this includes two quite early demos of Corridor 7: Alien Invasion; another early Diablo pre-release demo; A German version of the Final Fantasy 7 "World" demo and seemingly endless amounts of versions of Nitemare-3D (both Windows and DOS versions).

Something else interesting I came across is a shareware version of Cyberboard Kid. Yes, it seems the game was actually released under that name in Australia and New Zealand published by Manaccom.

[Hallfiry]

There's another german demo of ff7 that shows the combat system:
http://www.2shared.com/file/RcHqYly8/ff7.html

Your 0816 Diablo demo is incomplete. That's the complete release:
http://hakker.simpsons-online-sehen.de/ ... iginal.rar

[MrFlibble]

Wow, those are pretty cool finds Thanks!

Oh, and when exactly did you find the original SDRAMP.EXE file for Alien Rampage v1.13? Did I miss that? Anyhow, I hope this one gets added to the site soon! ^_^

[MrFlibble]

BTW, regarding the eclusive one-level demo of Duke Nukem 3D from CGW, Hendricks266 of the Duke4.net forums says that there are some differences in the CON files, which make this version something in-between the regular v1.1 and v1.3D:

The README.DOC says this is a build of v1.1, which matches the file dates.

LameDuke: 1994-12-30
v0.99: 1996-01-04
v1.0: 1996-01-29
v1.1: 1996-02-20
v1.1 Computer Gaming World one-level demo: 1996-03-04
v1.3D Registered: 1996-04-19
v1.3D Shareware: 1996-04-24
v1.4: 1996-10-10
v1.5: 1996-12-11
Mac Shareware: 1997-07-04

Of the files in the zip, only DEFS.CON, DEMO1.DMO, DUKE3D.EXE, GAME.CON, LICENSE.DOC, and USER.CON are unique to this version when compared against v1.1 and v1.3D Shareware. (The GRP matches v1.1. ) The EXE, DMO, and LICENSE are obvious, but the CON files are of some interest considering they are partway between v1.1 and v1.3D. There is not too much of note, other than that you can see the progress being made between v1.1 and v1.3D. I bet there are changes to the EXE source code as well.

The only thing that stood out to me is the following:

Code: Select all

DEFS.CON:define CYCLOIDSPRITE 29
DEFS.CON:define CYCLOIDAMMO 42
DEFS.CON:define CYCLOIDBLAST 1642
DEFS.CON:define CYCLOID 2510
DEFS.CON:define CYCLOID_WEAPON      7
GAME.CON:actor CYCLOIDAMMO
GAME.CON:        addammo CYCLOID_WEAPON CYCLOIDAMMOAMOUNT quote 14
GAME.CON:        ifspawnedby CYCLOIDAMMO state getcode
GAME.CON:actor CYCLOIDSPRITE
GAME.CON:        addweapon CYCLOID_WEAPON 48 quote 87
GAME.CON:        ifspawnedby CYCLOIDSPRITE state getweaponcode
GAME.CON:actor CYCLOIDBLAST FREEZETHROWER_WEAPON_STRENGTH enda
USER.CON:define MAXCYCLOIDAMMO           99
USER.CON:                MAXCYCLOIDAMMO MAXTRIPBOMBAMMO MAXFREEZEAMMO
USER.CON:define CYCLOIDAMMOAMOUNT        10
USER.CON:definequote 14        AMMO FOR CYCLOID
USER.CON:definequote 87        CYCLOID WEAPON

The Devastator was originally called the Cycloid Weapon, which makes logical sense.

When I compared the CON files I saw stuff removed that I had never seen before that interested me, so I will need to do a study of all the CON files from the versions at some point and add that to my website.

I think we can justify calling this the "true" v1.2.

[MrFlibble]

MrBlackCat of 3D Realms Forums has mentioned that he's got the backup tapes of Software Creations BBS which he had bought upon the their closure. While the tapes themselves have probably deteriorated, he made backup copies which are still out there. I'm sure such an archive is a real treasure trove and can prove beneficial for anyone keen on old games and software from the era.

[leilei]

That might be useful for gamers.org

[MrFlibble]

That's right, I didn't think of it Hopefully his backups are intact.

[MrFlibble]

Here's a couple FTP sites with demo downloads, thought it could be useful* The first one (Polish) is pretty extensive:
ftp://ftp.tpnet.pl/pub/games/
ftp://ftp.gameaholic.com/pub/

*Especially since FilePlanet is said to be closing down. I've been getting most of demo files lately from there.

[Edit] Another neat place:
ftp://ftp.farlep.net/pub/clubix/demo/
ftp://ftp.farlep.net/pub/clubix/demo2/
ftp://ftp.farlep.net/pub/clubix/demo3/

[Edit 2] One more to the list:
ftp://ftp.peliplaneetta.net/pelidemot/3 ... -toiminta/