[MetHy]

Was this difficulty glitch fixed in the last version of Blood?

[MrFlibble]

MrFlibble, on 05 November 2014 - 10:50 AM, said:

On a slightly related note, not sure if this could be interesting, but Litude mentioned a possibly leaked v0.91 beta demo which includes three levels.

This early demo was mentioned on the official Blood website (Wayback Machine copy), which confirms that this was, in fact, a legitimate magazine-only release:

Quote

The magazine version that you have is only available from magazine CDs. The magazine version is a very early build of Blood, and it only has 3 levels. The full shareware has 8 levels, and the full registered Blood has 42 levels and 4 episodes! Also, the problems that are in the Magazine demo have been fully addressed in the latest shareware version of Blood ( version 1.02 ). Download a copy of the shareware from HERE, or buy the CD copy in the stores for $9.95 that includes cinematic Softimage® rendered cutscenes, a music video from Type O Negative, and a coupon for $10 off the full registered version of Blood! [source]

BTW, what about the v0.99b Internet Shareware? The installer says Retail Shareware v1.0, and SHARE.SHR has the same size as the one found on the Retail Shareware CD.

Was this version really distributed online? It's about twice as large as any other shareware version, and contains Smacker animated logos alongside a copy of TEN client, which were otherwise not included in the Internet Shareware releases. Was it really distributed like that?

MetHy, on 11 November 2014 - 08:20 AM, said:

Was this difficulty glitch fixed in the last version of Blood?

Apparently not, as a user here mentions that v1.21 still displays buggy behaviour.

[MrFlibble]

BTW, here's Blood Internet Shareware v1.10 (with installer):
https://mega.co.nz/#...Ve3R-KNCKUhkG2E

[Edit] A demo version of Powerslave which seems to have been an exclusive magazine coverdisk release can be found on the PC Gamer #2.13 (CD image @archive.org) and also on the NEXT Generation Nov 1996 CD (CD image @archive.org). Here's the list of files in this version that are different from the Dec 1996 Internet demo:

DEMO     VCR            404,067 30-07-1996  9:50
INSTALL  EXE            252,725 22-07-1996 14:31
PS       EXE            804,358 22-08-1996 16:48
STUFF    DAT         23,646,613 22-08-1996 16:44

The demo has the first four missions and the tutorial. Unlike the later Internet demo, the multiplayer map (LEV30.MAP) is not included. All map files have identical sizes to those found in inte Dec 1996 version, except LEV3.MAP.

STUFF.DAT contains a lot of assets from the full version. There seem to be two different versions of some sounds, like the player's taunts. One noticeable difference in this version is that the alien door sound is used for moving platforms. Mummies seem to not use the red skull attack.

[MrFlibble]

MrFlibble, on 07 August 2015 - 12:13 PM, said:

BTW, what about the v0.99b Internet Shareware? The installer says Retail Shareware v1.0, and SHARE.SHR has the same size as the one found on the Retail Shareware CD.

Was this version really distributed online? It's about twice as large as any other shareware version, and contains Smacker animated logos alongside a copy of TEN client, which were otherwise not included in the Internet Shareware releases. Was it really distributed like that?

The updates at 3D Gamers' Archive seem to suggest that both v0.99b and v0.99c were available is stand-alone downloads and not just patches:

Quote

970326 : added Blood v0.99c shareware and upgrade patch (superseded v0.99b)
<...>
970314 : added Blood v0.99b shareware and upgrade patch (superseded v0.99) [source]

A download of v0.99c is also mentioned here.

However, it still does not resolve the question of Retail Shareware v0.99b packed into a PKZIP SFX file allegedly for Internet distribution. I'm assuming that this might have been a mistake by Monolith or repack by a third party.

BTW, the Total Entertainment Network seems to have distributed its own versions of Blood shareware v1.0 and v1.1, which included the TEN enabler:

Quote

Blood Shareware 1.0
Got Blood? No?
Then download Blood Shareware Version 1.0 now!
File size: approx. 15 megabytes. This version already has the TEN enabler for Blood included.

The files were called blood10.exe and blood11.exe. The respective download pages:
http://web.archive.o...ood/getbld.html
http://web.archive.o...ood/getbld.html

[Corvin]

I removed that 30 meg bastard of SWv099B, I guess it was just BS.

I did pass over the TEN repacks a few years as that's all they are.

I still think the others are repacks as well, Monolith released patches and the other guy repacked the patched up versions.

[MrFlibble]

Corvin, on 19 August 2015 - 02:22 PM, said:

I still think the others are repacks as well, Monolith released patches and the other guy repacked the patched up versions.

It could be, because the v0.99b and v0.99c updates were released in such a short time span. It was highly unlikely that both the end-users and third-party sites that hosted the shareware game would re-download/re-upload the stand-alone version instead of the much smaller patch.

On the other hand, major developers did have the resources to upload the updated full version. This would benefit new users who had not downloaded the initial release, and would otherwise have to download the full game and then apply the patch(es) to it.

Also, it is my understanding that the admins of 3D Action Gamers' Archives generally uploaded files they got from official sources without any modifications.

It is quite hard to track down these versions, if they exist. Hallfiry's magazine cover disk catalogue shows the typical trend of the first release being published, after which the magazine editors would not bother spending valuable CD space on updated full versions in future issues. Here are the entries found on the CDs for Internet Shareware (unpacked installer):
http://www.kultcds.c...dir=&dn=&descr=

The majority of entries is the initial v0.99 release (9 entries). There's one more each for v1.02, v1.10 and v1.11. The smallest file is an incomplete v1.11 release.

Hallfiry's catalogue does not cover every gaming magazine cover CD in existence, but the trend is obvious.

A v0.99 was available from ftp.funet.fi/pub/msdos/games/monolith/. The Wayback Machine has preserved its HTTP mirror. Apparently, the initial shareware release had not been updated since its upload there, as the WM snapshot dates back to the early 2000s. The same folder contains the v0.99b and v0.99c upgrade patches.

[Corvin]

Good research again!

Didn't Monolith post the shareware as a filename blood.exe? Maybe they just uploaded over the previous version with the same file name. Maybe why it's hard to track down the official releases since they where released so close apart like you mentioned.

It's not entire vital to have these as they are only going to be the patched up versions, and truly today that's redundant, not that it was back then tho. I belive the Mag CD's just patched whatever they had and 3D Action Gamers I'm sure just mirror whatever was released, again like you mentioned.

I did do a lot of this research before, that's why I have those words posted on RTCM "I believe they where just patches" because Monolith would have changed the download too quick to have it had been archive on the wayback. I just want to save others the hassle of perusing something like this, but I'm glad you did in away, it confirms some of what I found.

[MrFlibble]

Corvin, on 23 August 2015 - 02:39 PM, said:

Didn't Monolith post the shareware as a filename blood.exe? Maybe they just uploaded over the previous version with the same file name. Maybe why it's hard to track down the official releases since they where released so close apart like you mentioned.

Yes, all shareware distributions are called blood.exe, and only differ by their size. Actually I suspect that Monolith might have had a full complement of files (single-file shareware, split files shareware, and patch where applicable) for every shareware revision, but obviously this is hard to verify now.

Magazine CD editors used different approaches. Some would actually put the files they downloaded on the CD in unmodified form, but this is somewhat rare. Many would repack the files to conserve space on the CD, with RAR being quite a popular format at least in Europe. Installers packaged into single files, as is the case with Blood, would be most probably unpacked and placed on the CD in this form.

[Corvin]

Just a note; I don't recall GT or Monolith ftp having any of these files saved. However I think the GT ftp is available on the wayback, but I don't have the few ftp addresses they used.
I do remember them having a small Duke3D set of files saved hidden away including the Aliens TC they nobody was suppose to have online.

Anyhow, wish I had the wayback machine available to me be back then, if i run into an old address I'll post it.

[MrFlibble]

AFAIK the Wayback Machine either does not crawl FTP sites at all or does very limited archiving of them. The files that are preserved (or at least those that I could find) are from HTTP mirrors. In some cases, these mirrors had an address like http://ftp.somesite.com/, and thus they got preserved. However even if the WM indexed such a page it doesn't mean that the files are there. In the 90s, often only files below 10 MiB are reliably preserved, and sometimes not even that. robots.txt are also a problem with many official sites (e.g. http://ftp.gtinteractive.com/).

There's a separate Internet Archive project for FTP archival, found here. It's very fragmentary though, and in some cases only relatively recent snapshots are stored.

[MrFlibble]

Here's the demo of Legend of Seven Paladins 3D w/ De-ICE installer in a single ZIP archive: 7PALADIN.ZIP.

Found the file here:
http://www.kultcds.c...ax=3539301&o=da

The file name is a guess, also no idea if it's original or the authors of the CD combined the already known three-part split version. If the file is original its name could be 75demo.zip instead.

[Daedolon]

I have the full Monolith FTP saved in case anyone needs anything.

[Corvin]

Thanks MrFlibble. It appears to be just the 3 parts put together. But I'll post it.

[MrFlibble]

Corvin, on 02 April 2016 - 02:37 PM, said:

Thanks MrFlibble. It appears to be just the 3 parts put together. But I'll post it.

There's probably no way to tell if it's original or not, unless there was a single-file download mentioned somewhere in newsgroups or something. Most of the stuff on that CD are repacks, sadly. Then again, back in the day repacks were common, and if no extra files were added they're perfectly legit. Of course, it's always better to have the original thing if possible, but the split-file versions don't seem to have the Apogee authenticity verification routine, even though the installer uses their custom of marking downloadable shareware as "Online/BBS Editions".

[Corvin]

yup I made notes on the page about where it came from. The one you sent has the authentication thingy. But its mostly just the 3 split files package together....

As for the split version, I can't remember exactly if it has the authentication (or are u saying it doesn't?), but I think two people sent me identical files over a years period back then. they sent pictures of the CDs and file contents etc...

[MrFlibble]

Corvin, on 04 April 2016 - 02:32 PM, said:

yup I made notes on the page about where it came from. The one you sent has the authentication thingy. But its mostly just the 3 split files package together....

As for the split version, I can't remember exactly if it has the authentication (or are u saying it doesn't?), but I think two people sent me identical files over a years period back then. they sent pictures of the CDs and file contents etc...

I'm sorry if what I said was confusing, I meant the verification of the ZIP file. The installer itself, as usual for the time period, unpacks a self-extracting archive which does have authenticity verification, however it's different from the one used by Apogee/3DR.

What Apogee used was PKZIP authenticity verification (available to registered users only, that's why it's relatively rare I guess). This was included with all ZIP files and with self-extracting ZIPs that the early installers contained. However then they switched to the current installer that directly unpacks the files from a SHR archive (which is apparently still ZIP in most cases), leaving the standard PKZIP verification to ZIP archives only.

I'm using FreeCommander, which makes it easy to identify most ZIPs with authenticity verification thingy, as some of the files inside are usually highlighted in green:


I haven't found any info on what it's supposed to mean actually, but it's a reliable indicator in most cases. Opening such an archive with 7-Zip will show a lot of weird attributes for individual files:

Again, no idea what these are, but they are somehow related to the authenticity verification routine.

[MetHy]

Hey guys, remember that magazine full of demos I mentionned page 1 ITT?

Well I'm still investigating to look for the Exhumed, Duke It Out In DC, Redneck Rampage and Witchaven demos, which i'm sure the magazine had, but here is the Tekwar demo.

I'm no Tekwar expert so it's up to you to see if it's any different than the other demos.

Attached File(s)

•  TEKWAR.ZIP (6.92MB)
  Number of downloads: 8

[MetHy]

Witchaven demo.

Both of these are from PC Collector Hors Série issue n° 01 - from March 1996.

If you guys are interested in other non Build FPS demos like Operation Body Count, Strife, Terminator: Future Shock, this magazine has it all in one issue or the other. Probably more too.

Attached File(s)

•  WHAVEN.ZIP (6.46MB)
  Number of downloads: 7

[MetHy]

Found Powerslave! Same issue from that magazine but I almost missed it, it's not advertised in the "demo" department of the disc and it's located among sharewares.

I don't know if it's the same demo you guys have, but all I know is that it's not a level from the final game. All the files are all messy in the folder and it says "POWERSLAVE BETA FREEWARE DEMO from Playmatestoys."

Attached File(s)

•  POWERSLA.rar (3.34MB)
  Number of downloads: 7

[MetHy]

Check this shit out!
So this magazine not only came with game demos, but also with mods and maps for games. There is a bunch of old 1996 DN3D mods in there in anyone is interested I can update, but it's probably nothing you haven't seen before... They're mostly simple .con mods.

But anyway among stuff there is a folder with some screenshots, including beta screenshots... and this Dukematch picture supposedly taken by Randy Pitchford ?

Attached File(s)

•  IMAGES.rar (749.66K)
  Number of downloads: 10

[MetHy]

More screenshots! Maybe this is nothing new to you guys but I don't recall ever seeing some of those.

Those should be commercial screenshots given to the press?

Sorry if this isn't the right thread but this did come alongside the DN3D demo I linked to ITT.







More in the rar file.

Attached File(s)

•  Screenshots.rar (653.52K)
  Number of downloads: 9

[MetHy]

All of this is from PC Collector issue # 02 from may 1996.

Here is EditCon v1.1 by.... Charlie Wiederhold !

This should be the last non-demo post I swear Unless you guys want to move all this non demo stuff to another thread and I'll upload all there is.

Attached File(s)

•  EDITCON1.rar (51.23K)
  Number of downloads: 3

[MrFlibble]

MetHy, on 30 April 2016 - 02:51 AM, said:

Both of these are from PC Collector Hors Série issue n° 01 - from March 1996.

These French mags are actually well documented in Hallfiry's Magazine Coverdisk Catalogue, and downloadable ISOs are available from the Abandonware Magazines site. Here's TEKWAR.ZIP and WHAVEN.ZIP. Unfortunately, both these (as well as many other ZIPs from PC Collector CDs) are repacks, not original archives.

The TekWar demo you found appears to be identical to the version available from RTCM as the Capstone/US Gold Beta Demo. The Witchaven demo seems to be not documented at RTCM yet, as the archive with different executables ("Witchaven Different Demo Files") only contains SETUP.EXE dated July 31, 1995, while your version also has WH.EXE from the same date. A brief check suggests that the regular Internet demo of Witchaven (WH.EXE dated July 21, 1995) has an internal version number of 0.1, while executables from July 29 and July 31 have 1.0 as the internal version number.

The Powerslave beta demo is a widely known (presumably the earliest) release of the game. Here's a clean, original ZIP archive: pwrslave.zip.

MetHy, on 30 April 2016 - 03:32 AM, said:

Check this shit out!
So this magazine not only came with game demos, but also with mods and maps for games. There is a bunch of old 1996 DN3D mods in there in anyone is interested I can update, but it's probably nothing you haven't seen before... They're mostly simple .con mods.

You're welcome to post those findings in the unofficial demo add-ons thread. After all, 3D Realms officially sanctioned CON mods.

As for screenshots, they mostly come from downloadable packs. In IMAGES.rar, DUKE3D1.PCX through DUKE3D5.PCX are from DUKE3D.ZIP which was included with Terminal Velocity shareware v1.1. Other PCX files in the same folder seem to be screenshots of Levelord's secret messages in E1 maps - no idea if official or made by some player. The contents of Screenshots.rar are identical to those of dukeshow.zip sans the DOS PCX viewer utility.

[MetHy]

So nothing new except maybe Witchaven?

Here is a 2nd demo version of Powerslave! This time from issue #06, january 1997. The other one earlier was from issue#01.

It seems to be slightly different than the other one?

Still looking for the Redneck Rampage and Duke It Out In DC demos. Then I'll probably stop digging.

Not every issue is on abandonware-magazine.org and I may have a couple of non-uploaded ones at my parents. I'll check next time I visit, but might not be too soon.

Attached File(s)

•  PWRSLAVE.zip (3.8MB)
  Number of downloads: 5

[Corvin]

Thanks MetHy

[MetHy]

Found the Redneck Rampage demo!

Spoiler

'REDNECK RAMPAGE' ALPHA DEMO VERSION 0.7 'MOONSHINE'


ABOUT THIS VERSION

This is the alpha test demo of Redneck Rampage. It is about one-third of
the first level of the full version of the game. As with all free demos,
there are bound to be a few rough edges:

* Although you can play a network game with up to 8 players, we
recommend no more than 4 in this demo version.
* You may experience 'Out of Sync' problems in network play.
If this happens, start a new game. If it continues to happen,
try playing with enemies turned off.
* There is no end to this demo: once you have killed all the enemies,
there is really nothing more to do, except to continue to roam around
Taylor Town and keep trying to get the truck to drag your corpse
around.

From issue #09, July '97.

Won't let me upload it on the forum for some reasons so here it is :
http://www72.zippysh...TyuO8/file.html

[MetHy]

And here is the Duke It Out in DC 1 level demo from the same issue

http://www98.zippysh...zvqqi/file.html

That's all I wanted to find. I played the shit out of that demo as a kid. It comes with only one level but IIRC it has all the art files from the add-on so I'd have fun using that in our shitty maps as a kid.

readme file coming with the demo

Spoiler

Overview
--------
After an alien ship crash lands at the Capitol Building, aliens began a
vicious assault destroying critical government buildings, invading national
monuments, and taking over key military installations. The Aliens even
managed to destroy our secret government tunnel system brining our government
to a standstill.

Arriving in D.C., Duke is dropped off on the front lawn of the White House to
begin his search for the President.


Level 1 - Hell to the Chief
---------------------------
This level puts you smack dab in our nations center of power - the White
House. Here's your chance to see the oval office up close. Although, you may
be distracted by some unwanted tour groups.


Level 2 - Memorial Service
--------------------------
Honest Abe never had it so bad... The Aliens have shown up in force at the
Lincoln Memorial, but Duke arrives with his own brand of protest!


Level 3 - Nuked Files
---------------------
If the truth is out there, there is no better place to find it than at the
FBI building. Duke begins his own investigation into the aliens, with
pipebomb in hand.


Level 4 - Smithsonian Terror
----------------------------
Duke arrives at the Smithsonian and begins his search of this massive museum.
Duke wants to turn the aliens into a permanent exhibit on endangered species.


Level 5 - Capitol Punishment
----------------------------
An alien ship has crash landed into the Capitol Building where aliens have
taken over both the House and Senate. Duke decides to impose his own form of
term limits - at the end of a shotgun!


Level 6 - Metro Mayhem
----------------------
The DC Metro System, once a showcase of safe and efficient travel, is now a
deathtrap where the aliens entertain themselves by running over hapless
commuters. It's time for Duke to send them to their final destination!


Level 7 - Brown Water
---------------------
Duke finds that the D.C. sewer system is a common hang-out for alien scum.
The sewage system may soon overflow from all the alien waste Duke is about to
flush through it.


Level 8 - Dread October
-----------------------
The most advanced nuclear submarine in the U.S. Navy has a new alien admiral.
Duke shows up to institute a change in command.


Level 9 - Nuke Proof
--------------------
Our nations most secure command bunker now serves as the central command
center for the worldwide alien invasion force. It is virtually impenetrable
to any kind of Nuke attack, unless your name's Duke Nukem!


Secret Level - Top Secret
-------------------------
It's time for Duke to expose the top secret items our government's been hiding
all these years, before the aliens get their slimey hands on them.

and the commercial mock-up screenshots :

Spoiler

Never enough explosion sprites in mock-ups !

[MetHy]

Both Powerslave demos are actually different. This is some very interesting stuff.

The first demo, you can't change controls or resolution. The level is like an alpha version of various level parts of the full game mashed together IIRC, but some parts seem to be totally unique.
A LOT of sprites are different from the final game (most notably those crab things are brown and not red like they are in the final game). Also, the Piranahs enemies seem more aggressive, it seems that the torch doesn't last as long, also the snake-shots can backfire against you which I believe doesn't happen in the final game. Also when you lose a life, you restart the level with everything from scratch VS in the final game respawning at the start of the level but with everything you've done in the previous life saved ; and there is no checkpoint.
Pretty sure some sounds are different too; and the music is new to me but it sucks.

I haven't even beaten the first demo, it's rather long for a single level, I was in front of the 2nd key when I died but I assume the level end wasn't too far.

I'm starting the 2nd demo now, seems like it's just the first level of the game though, not as different as the first demo. However the first thing I noticed is that you can set resolution up to 1600*1200 in setup.exe even though in the final release you can only go up to 640*480 ! Not sure if it actually works though; apparently it doesn't.

Edit : For the 2nd demo now, this is a lot closer to the final game. I don't know if I couldn't get the music to work or if there is none. Some different enemy placement. The door after the open sarcophagus was locked and AFAIK there is no key so it's not possible to keep playing? Which makes this demo a lot shorter than the first demo.

Also in the first demo you had access to the flamethrower and the snake-throwing-thing which are absent in this demo; as well as the mask to breathe underwater.
Pretty sure the flame sprites of the flamethrower were different than in the final release too but I could be remembering wrong.

That 2nd demo is forgettable but the first demo is totally worth a look, full of beta stuff which is absent from the final game.

[MrFlibble]

MetHy, on 30 April 2016 - 04:51 AM, said:

So nothing new except maybe Witchaven?

That's actually a pretty good result! Once some of the releases are identified you get to shuffle through lots of false leads and already known stuff before you find something new (or at least, hints that something yet unknown existed).

What I would really like to know is if the various TekWar and Witchaven demo versions (except those that we know for sure existed in downloadable form) were downloadable or CD-exclusive.

The second Powerslave demo you found is this one (PS.EXE dated Jan 5, 1996). Corvin has already added it to the site (BTW, Corvin, perhaps you'd replace pwrslavebeta.zip with this file, as the former has an external BBS comment?) There are two levels, pretty close to the final game. I had the impression that this one is the easiest to play in terms of difficulty.

To recap all known Powerslave demo versions:

• public beta (PS.EXE 31.10.1995): pwrslave.zip
  
• two-level demo (PS.EXE 05.01.1996): pslave.zip
  
• four levels and the tutorial (PS.EXE 22.08.1996): found on a couple of cover disks (not sure if distributed in electronic form)
  
• four SP levels, tutorial, and an MP level (PS.EXE 12.12.1996): pwrslave.zip
  
• one-level demo (EX.EXE 11.04.1997): exwebdem.zip

AFAIK there's only one demo of Redneck Rampage. JonoF's site seems to have the original ZIP as it was available from Interplay's FTP.

As for Duke It Out In D.C., here's the demo in its original form from Sunstorm Interactive's website (Wayback Machine copy): dcteaser.zip. Also, official walkthrough: dcwalk.zip.

[Corvin]

@MrFlibble, the other shareware of PS has the bbs files in it, I think I put them there, they maybe a comment and batch files, I forget. So the beta file on my site and the one your linking for me are identical. Thanks tho.

I'll have to check out the other PS demos tho, not sure I have those.