RGB Classic Games Forum

Here's what appears to be Inner Worlds shareware v1.1:
ftp://ftp.gamers.org/pub/archives/uwp-u ... e/iw11.zip [Added to the site]

Found it via FileWatcher.com.

And here's Abuse shareware v0.33:
ftp://ftp.gamers.org/pub/archives/uwp-u ... buse33.zip [Added to the site]

Apparently, Crack Dot Com would release beta builds of the game to the public.

Solar Winds
There's no version 2.0 of this game, the stuff in the document is a mistake. If you check the EXE and all other game affecting files in this so called 2.0 and 1.1, you will notice that they are byte for byte identical.
[Updated game description to acknowledge this. Although only the documentation has changed, I consider it a legitimate "release", and it's notable for changing the name of the full version from Galaxy to Universe.]

Even version 1.0 calls the second episode Universe in SOLAR1.DOC. From where does this Galaxy thing originate from? Also I still wouldn't call these 2.0 completely legitimate releases since most of Epic MegaGames games were released at some point with this very same document stating that it is version 2.0 when in fact it is completely identical to the previous version/release. I guess Sweeney just got quite lazy when putting together the updated documents (and probably realized that their version history was a mess so he didn't bother either trying to figure out what version numbers the most recent revisions of the games really carried).

Heretic
You are missing the public three level beta released two days before the initial shareware release.
Public Beta Shareware - Installer
[Game fails with corrupt WAD message]

Right, I forgot. It requires your computer clock to be set before some date in December 1994 I can't exactly remember at the moment to function properly. FakeDate takes care of the problem, but I guess it could be a bit difficult to distribute here.

Hugo II, Whodunit?
Found version 2.0 of this one and...
Shareware Version 2.0 - Files
[Contains advert.ems]

Can't you just delete that file? Or are you also trying to find the very original archive the stuff was distributed in? I don't think there's any realistic chance of ever getting these since many BBSes either added a file or a comment to archives that passed through. Besides, even the ones that seem clean might have had BBS ads at some point but someone removed them before passing them on. And it's not like the files you are currently carrying are the original archives either, Xenophage: Alien Bloodsport v1.0 Shareware and Boppin' v1.0 Shareware certainly aren't.

don't forget comments in the archive itself. Cream of the Crap do this alot.

Litude wrote:

Solar Winds
There's no version 2.0 of this game, the stuff in the document is a mistake. If you check the EXE and all other game affecting files in this so called 2.0 and 1.1, you will notice that they are byte for byte identical.
[Updated game description to acknowledge this. Although only the documentation has changed, I consider it a legitimate "release", and it's notable for changing the name of the full version from Galaxy to Universe.]

Even version 1.0 calls the second episode Universe in SOLAR1.DOC. From where does this Galaxy thing originate from? Also I still wouldn't call these 2.0 completely legitimate releases since most of Epic MegaGames games were released at some point with this very same document stating that it is version 2.0 when in fact it is completely identical to the previous version/release. I guess Sweeney just got quite lazy when putting together the updated documents (and probably realized that their version history was a mess so he didn't bother either trying to figure out what version numbers the most recent revisions of the games really carried).

I recently downloaded several versions of Solar Winds from various FTP sources (found with FileWatcher) and wondered why the alleged versions 1.1 and 2.0 have identical EXE files with an internal stamp saying "Shareware version 1.1".

Litude wrote:

Heretic
You are missing the public three level beta released two days before the initial shareware release.
Public Beta Shareware - Installer
[Game fails with corrupt WAD message]

Right, I forgot. It requires your computer clock to be set before some date in December 1994 I can't exactly remember at the moment to function properly. FakeDate takes care of the problem, but I guess it could be a bit difficult to distribute here.

Taewoong's DOSBox SVN builds can take care of this with the ability to set an internal date within DOSBox.

Litude wrote:

Hugo II, Whodunit?
Found version 2.0 of this one and...
Shareware Version 2.0 - Files
[Contains advert.ems]

Can't you just delete that file? Or are you also trying to find the very original archive the stuff was distributed in? I don't think there's any realistic chance of ever getting these since many BBSes either added a file or a comment to archives that passed through. Besides, even the ones that seem clean might have had BBS ads at some point but someone removed them before passing them on. And it's not like the files you are currently carrying are the original archives either, Xenophage: Alien Bloodsport v1.0 Shareware and Boppin' v1.0 Shareware certainly aren't.

I'm also wondering if the original ZIP files made by BBS's and shareware vendors can be counted as truly original. In fact, since the distribution could also take place on floppies without any archives at all (which, as is my understanding, was a common practice back then), I guess a "clean" archive created today (for example, using original archiving software from the same time period for greater authenticity) is no worse than the one created by a shareware vendor back then, given that all original files are included in the unmodified form (packing lists should help a lot, but they're not included in all distributions).

Just my opinion though

Here's the earlier demo of CyClones, the one with the open-area military base (or something) map:
ftp://ftp.padua.org/pub/msdos/dos/games ... clones.zip

Also, not sure if it's going to be useful, but here's the v2.0 to v2.1 patch for Tyrian, which works with both the shareware and the registered versions of the game:
ftp://ftp.chatnfiles.com/Shareware-Extr ... /TYR21.ZIP

I'm not sure what the position of game patches are in RGB Classic Games. Patches can be rare too.

I have an original 0.91 to 0.92 shareware patch for Quake somewhere

Here's a different zip of the Tyrian patch, from a fan site:
http://members.iinet.net.au/~vannevar/t ... rup201.zip

I mistakenly called it a v2.1 upgrade in the previous post, but actually it's v2.01 upgrade, as indicated in FILE_ID.DIZ.

MrFlibble wrote:Here's a different zip of the Tyrian patch, from a fan site:
http://members.iinet.net.au/~vannevar/t ... rup201.zip

I mistakenly called it a v2.1 upgrade in the previous post, but actually it's v2.01 upgrade, as indicated in FILE_ID.DIZ.

That and the file name of the patch is actually the only place where it's called v2.01, all other places call it v2.1 (or v2.0 in some places presumably because they forgot to update that text string) including the start up screen of the game, the official website and the FILE_ID.DIZ in the pre-patched archive. I think whoever put together the patch must have been mistaken.

Hmm, I checked the FILE_ID.DIZ in the first archive I've linked to, and it says v2.01 as well. On the other hand, there's a string inside FILE0001.EXE that says "Tyrian v2.1", so I guess it's the correct version number after all.

I just noticed that the file size of the Warcraft II demo distribution on the site slightly differs from what I have on my PC, and indeed the version that I've got is marked WARCRAFT 2 DEMO BETA v1.02elc, as opposed to WARCRAFT 2 DEMO v1.20elc on the site. I don't remember where I downloaded that one (that was quite a long time ago), so I uploaded it here:

Warcraft II Demo Beta v1.02elc [Added to the site]

Also take note that in the description, the word "campaign" is used in two rather different senses within a single paragraph:

An expansion pack called Beyond the Dark Portal added two new campaigns and ten new heroes. The game was re-released in 1999 as Warcraft II: Battlenet Edition for Windows and Mac, which made it easier to play multi-player games over the internet. There are 28 campaigns in this game, with only 6 unique campaigns playable in the shareware demo.

(emphasis added)
Obviously, in the last sentence the word "campaign" denotes a single mission (level), while in the first sentence in the quote it refers to a set of missions.

BTW, here's some demo of In Pursuit of Greed from yet another PC Gamer demo disk, I haven't checked which version it is though:
http://cd.textfiles.com/pcgamer/pcgamer014/GREEDEMO/

Hmm, just found what appear to be the original files of the Zombie Wars demo A1 version on the CD Action disk:
http://cd.textfiles.com/cdaction/cdaction06a/ZOMBIE/

A demo of Starcraft from June 1998. The size is slightly different from the one on the site (and Blizzard FTP), so I guess this must be v1.0:
http://cd.textfiles.com/cdaction/cdacti ... SCDEMO.EXE

Here's what is definitely a v1.0 demo of Starcraft:
http://elektron-bbs.dyndns.org/files/wi ... scdemo.exe

The same FTP (here's the directory master list) has some other possibly interesting downloads, for example, a demo of KKND2: Krossfire.

I've learned recently that there's an official pre-release demo of Warcraft: Orcs and Humans that was released some time before the full game came out (the installer files are dated October 4th, 1994). This demo has a few notable differences, like different Human Barracks graphics, and certain human unit voices that were replaced in the final game and some other, mostly minor things here and there. A copy can be found at cd.textfiles.com:
http://cd.textfiles.com/sprintos6/GAMED ... RCRAFT.ZIP
This one has an added comment in the zip file, and the readme was replaced by a BBS ad (the copy of the original readme file gets installed in the demo folder), but hopefully a cleaner archive can be found as well.

[Edit] Here are comparison screenshots of the Human Barracks:

Regular demo v1.12.


Pre-release demo.

Other differences include higher cost of spell research, and also spells are researched one after another, similar to different levels of weapon or armour upgrades. For example, you first research Healing for the Cleric, and only then you get to research Holy Vision. The button always says "Research new spell".

Cheat codes seem to not have been implemented at this stage of development as well.

According to this page (Wayback Machine copy), there used to be a large demo of In Pursuit of Greed, which must have contained some video sequences. The file is called GREEDEMC.EXE and is probably 20 593 222 bytes in size (I've gathered this information here, but all links are dead there, unfortunately). [Added to the site]