DOOM Archaeology: The First 25 WADs

[Murdoch]

3 hours ago, thestarrover said:

These wads appear to have been released by the end of March 1994:

 

E1L1.WAD 03/19/1994 by Eric Stenborg

E1L1.TXT 03/19/1994

E1L1.ZIP on the The Arcade Room BBS File Archive (archive.org) or HERE (cd.textfiles.com)

 

MRE1M1.WAD (modified E1M1) 03/27/1994

MRE1M4.WAD (modified E1M4) 03/28/1994

No text file included. Unknown author

Levels included in MRE1WADS.ZIP (03/28/1994)

Download: The 640 Meg Shareware Studio Vol 5 (1994) or Cream of The crop 3 1994  or Retroarchive

 

Is it possible that these release dates are right?

 

 

I see no reason to doubt them, but are they original levels?

[deathz0r]

A few corrections:

• All file dates I can see for DMMKS that have a March date show either the 27th or 28th of March - I'm leaning towards the 27th as the sources which have the 28th as a date are all before 6AM.
• STEPS1 and STEPS2 first appear in DoomED 2.50B (DE_250B.ZIP) with a date of March 28th, while MINE1 and STEPS3 first appear in DoomED 2.50B3 (DE_250B3.ZIP) with a March 30th date.

More importantly, I'm confused as to why DYLAN2 is excluded from the list even though you explicitly mention it with note 3 - the following shovelware CDs all show a March 29th date:

 

Amiga ACS 02-98 (no text)

Level 09-95

PC Zone April 1995

Shareware Supreme Games (no text)

Taz #2 (zipped)

Death Match: The Ultimate Game Player's Kit

Doom Heaven (zipped)

Doom Magazine (no text)

Doom Magazine 2 (no text)
PC Zone October 1994 (no text)

 

This conflicts with STEPSx being listed, which are all incremental updates to the same base map.

Edited September 18, 2023 by deathz0r

[thestarrover]

13 hours ago, Murdoch said:

 

I see no reason to doubt them, but are they original levels?

I wrote the post precisely for this reason, since I am absolutely not an expert, but the topic is really interesting and I would like to know it better.

E1L1.wad in my opinion is an original level: we know the author and the release date seems to have been preserved since the file was zipped. I've checked out some of the many modified E1m1 levels I have in my archive but they were all released later and/or are completely different.

I have some doubts about MRE1WADS.ZIP instead.

Alongside with MRE1WADS.ZIP in Cream of the Crop 3 cd there are 23castle.wad and Maniac.wad by Jean-Franáois Brissette (DMMANI.ZIP)

All three were published between March 27 and 28, 1994 but only 23castle.wad is in the list and I'm curious to know the reason for their exclusion.

 

MRE1M1.WAD AND MRE1M4.WAD, in some CDs, have been released separately as MRE1M1.ZIP and MRE1M4.ZIP but the release dates are identical to the "collected" release.

Both levels have been converted for Doom 2 and included in the Maximum Doom CD, as reported on Classicdoom.com (MRE1M12.WAD and MRE1M42.WAD)

 

In the PC Zone December 1994 CD, Computer Shopper Subscription CD and Boink! cd  there is a wad called E1L1.WAD (E1L1.ZIP) released on 03/13/1994. it is a modified version of E1M1. No text file and unknown author.

[deathz0r]

On 11/18/2021 at 8:42 AM, Never_Again said:

The one truly interesting entry in your list is DMGRAV. Three CDROMs in my collection - Deathmatch 7000 and the two Doom Magazines - list it as dated Jan 14. This is nearly two months before ORIGWAD and CROSS were created. The barebone design - a single sector shaped like a fish - and the SEGS/NODES counts may lead one to speculate that this, too, was done with a hex editor.

 

So this could be a fourth made-by-hand level in existence but the question of its true date remains open.

I decided to look into DMGRAV - the existence of the PLATFORM lump confirms for me that this was made with Geoff Allan's DoomED, and the PWAD header rather than an IWAD header also tells me that it was made no earlier than March 28th, 1994.

 

I don't believe this was made by hand. I believe the June date is the most plausible.

[Never_Again]

@thestarrover:

The E1L1 WAD (dated 1994-03-19) you linked to on the previous page is clearly a slight modification of the E1M1 from a pre-v1.2 IWAD, so I'm puzzled by your later remark

 

On 9/18/2023 at 5:42 AM, thestarrover said:

E1L1.wad in my opinion is an original level: we know the author and the release date seems to have been preserved since the file was zipped.

 

Were you thinking of some other WAD?

The dates for all three WADs you listed look OK. The maps are all basic edits of levels from a shareware IWAD, "basic" meaning "no changes to 2D geometry".

 

 

On 9/18/2023 at 5:42 AM, thestarrover said:

Alongside with MRE1WADS.ZIP in Cream of the Crop 3 cd there are 23castle.wad and Maniac.wad by Jean-Franáois Brissette (DMMANI.ZIP)

All three were published between March 27 and 28, 1994 but only 23castle.wad is in the list and I'm curious to know the reason for their exclusion.

 

The reason is stated in the first post of this thread (the first sentence after the list itself, in fact): "Only WADs containing original, new-from-scratch levels are included". That excludes any IWAD level edits, regardless of the extent of the modification done to the levels. There are some really good early edits out there, of which Greg Grimsby's E2L2_GG1 (March 24) is probably the best; they are not the subject of this thread, though.

 

 

On 9/17/2023 at 9:52 PM, deathz0r said:

A few corrections:

• All file dates I can see for DMMKS that have a March date show either the 27th or 28th of March - I'm leaning towards the 27th as the sources which have the 28th as a date are all before 6AM.

 

It's on the Deathday Collection CD-ROM in \MIXED\DMMKS and  \WADS\1 with the 1994-03-26 9:58:24 pm date. The various March 27 entries in my collection all reproduce the x:58:24 part, only the hour part is different (from 4am to 1pm).

 

 

On 9/17/2023 at 9:52 PM, deathz0r said:

• STEPS1 and STEPS2 first appear in DoomED 2.50B (DE_250B.ZIP) with a date of March 28th, while MINE1 and STEPS3 first appear in DoomED 2.50B3 (DE_250B3.ZIP) with a March 30th date. 

 

These are important details that I was not aware of. I have copies of DE_250B3.ZIP but not the earlier DE_250B.ZIP. Could you provide a link to it, please? Preferably to an archive.org CD-ROM with a browseable file list.

 

 

On 9/17/2023 at 9:52 PM, deathz0r said:

More importantly, I'm confused as to why DYLAN2 is excluded from the list even though you explicitly mention it with note 3

[...]

This conflicts with STEPSx being listed, which are all incremental updates to the same base map.

 

Good point. DYLAN2 was intentionally omitted as it is not an original; therefore I should have limited the STEPSx entry to STEPS1 and it should be dated March 28. As for MINE1, the following CD-ROMs at least list it with the March 29 timestamp:

 - 1000 Doom Levels

 - 4-ever-Doomed

 - Cobra Doom Utilities

 - D!Zone 150

 - Doom Magazine

 - Doom Mania

Perhaps there was a DE_250B2.ZIP on 29th?

 

re: DMGRAV: we might never know for sure but given the meager data I'm inclined to concur.

Edited September 23, 2023 by Never_Again

[thestarrover]

1 hour ago, Never_Again said:

The reason is stated in the first post of this thread (the first sentence after the list itself, in fact): "Only WADs containing original, new-from-scratch levels are included". That excludes any IWAD level edits, regardless of the extent of the modification done to the levels. There are some really good early edits out there, of which Greg Grimsby's E2L2_GG1 (March 24) is probably the best; they are not the subject of this thread, though.

 

You are definitely right! I focused on the dates and completely forgot the subject of the topic. Sorry!

[thestarrover]

On 9/23/2023 at 9:35 AM, Never_Again said:

DE_250B.ZIP.

DB TOOL CLUB CD #14 (archive.org)

 

Current Shareware 2 ( Cd.Textfiles.com)

[Redneckerz]

@Never_Again based on the current research done, i'd love to add in some additions.

 

1994-01-28 David Simpson's unnamed WAD. Manually created with a hex editor. See this post. This is a matter of personal opinion, because i understand an actual WAD file would be most desirable, but based on the amount of postings and the details Simpson goes into them, i am convinced that this was the first original level for Doom.

 

1994-03-11 CROSS - This was partially made with a hex editor, but additionally with a custom program in C generating its structures, using a modified PWAD routine from NewDEU. So basically, a custom program was used there. Usenet post.

 

I also have a question:

• Raphael Quinet has had atleast one level released using NewDEU.  These are:
  • 1994-03-10 E1L1RWQ.WAD. However a Usenet post mentions a date of March 2, 1994 and made with NEWDEU 4.2.
• As we now know, NewDEU never had a functioning nodesbuilder (That was DEU5BETA). So my question is as follows:
  • How were those nodes made for this map? Ofcourse i can assume hex editing, but unless the structure remained the same, i am still a bit puzzled how this map could have been released.
    • Admittely, i haven't checked in SLADE to see differences. But i am going to ask anyway :)

And a suggestion:

• I think it would be cool if, in accordance with the first two WADS, all the other listed WADS get a notion of which editor they were made with.
• Also noteworthy might be the individual node generator (NODE_GEN.ZIP) Jason Hoffoss from DMAPEDIT fame made on March 30, 1994. (So within the timeframe). DMAPEDIT 2.0 released April 3, 1994.

[zokum]

If you understand the data structure, building nodes and other structures by hand for small maps isn't too hard. The blockmap will work fine if all you do is to make one single list of all linedefs, and have them all point to that. The reject map would work fine if it's only a few sectors and you set all 0s in the table.

 

The only hard part is the nodes+segs+ssector part, but for simple maps, this isn't all that complicated either. Knowing where each lump starts and begins makes it easier to figure out what the data is. People could also have been mailing id with questions, and getting good answers from there. Since they included a -file parameter, they most likely must have received mails about this feature.

 

For a simple 2-3 sector wad with all 90 degree angles, making the data structures by hand isn't all that complicated. You can probably get away with 3-4 partitions and a handful of segs lists. The real difficulty imo, lies in making a good bsp builder that can make good and correct trees for any map. It gets a lot more complex when one has to start splitting segs. I think Abrash wrote a fair bit about BSP and his column was well known and inspired Carmack, so chances are people implemented the algorithm(s) mentioned there.

"In 1992, I did a series of columns about my X-Sharp 3-D library, and hung out on DDJ's bulletin board. There was another guy who hung out there who knew a lot about 3-D, a fellow named John Carmack who was surely the only game programmer I'd ever heard of who developed under NEXTSTEP. When we moved to Redmond, I didn't have time for BBSs anymore, though."

https://github.com/jagregory/abrash-black-book/blob/master/src/chapter-60.md

People probably made stuff that is lost to time since a lot of stuff probably never made it to the internet. I think we all know people who can do quite cool things, but never release it to the public. Most of the doomers I know have gems hidden on hard drives and google drives etc.

[deathz0r]

On 9/27/2023 at 5:06 PM, Redneckerz said:

1994-01-28 David Simpson's unnamed WAD. Manually created with a hex editor. See this post. This is a matter of personal opinion, because i understand an actual WAD file would be most desirable, but based on the amount of postings and the details Simpson goes into them, i am convinced that this was the first original level for Doom.

I agree with putting it in the OP, if the lost DEATH.WAD is any indication. The main difference between David's map and the lost DEATH.WAD was that the latter was distributed.

On 9/27/2023 at 5:06 PM, Redneckerz said:

• 1994-03-10 E1L1RWQ.WAD. However a Usenet post mentions a date of March 2, 1994 and made with NEWDEU 4.2.

E1L1RQ is nothing more than a modified E3M1. I have a clean ZIP copy of the WAD and text file with the March 1st date.

On 9/27/2023 at 5:06 PM, Redneckerz said:

• As we now know, NewDEU never had a functioning nodesbuilder (That was DEU5BETA). So my question is as follows:
  • How were those nodes made for this map? Ofcourse i can assume hex editing, but unless the structure remained the same, i am still a bit puzzled how this map could have been released.
    • Admittely, i haven't checked in SLADE to see differences. But i am going to ask anyway :)

As I've explained in this post, while NewDEU 4.2 does read the NODES lump and puts the data into a struct and does write that struct back into the WAD (while earlier versions of DEU merely copy the NODES lump), it has no ability to modify the struct. The only way that the NODES lump could be different is that if there was some memory corruption that screwed up the struct data.

[zokum]

It should be noted that you don't have to split segs when you make node build a map, even if it a complex one. If you put vertices at the split points, there would be a 1:1 mapping of linedefs to segs. You could probably make a node builder tool that used all two-sided linedefs as possible partitions. With such a limited set of partitions, you could then pick the line that most evenly splits the amount of linedefs on each side as the partition. With some care you could in practice build your tree by hand and produce simple maps. Hard coding in a list of possible partitions is another usable idea.

If you know what you are doing, you can place linedefs in strategic places to improve the node building in Zokumbsp. I've tried it, and it works!

Edited September 29, 2023 by zokum

[Redneckerz]

On 9/28/2023 at 9:44 AM, zokum said:

If you understand the data structure, building nodes and other structures by hand for small maps isn't too hard. The blockmap will work fine if all you do is to make one single list of all linedefs, and have them all point to that. The reject map would work fine if it's only a few sectors and you set all 0s in the table.

 

The only hard part is the nodes+segs+ssector part, but for simple maps, this isn't all that complicated either. Knowing where each lump starts and begins makes it easier to figure out what the data is. People could also have been mailing id with questions, and getting good answers from there. Since they included a -file parameter, they most likely must have received mails about this feature.

 

For a simple 2-3 sector wad with all 90 degree angles, making the data structures by hand isn't all that complicated. You can probably get away with 3-4 partitions and a handful of segs lists. The real difficulty imo, lies in making a good bsp builder that can make good and correct trees for any map. It gets a lot more complex when one has to start splitting segs. I think Abrash wrote a fair bit about BSP and his column was well known and inspired Carmack, so chances are people implemented the algorithm(s) mentioned there.

"In 1992, I did a series of columns about my X-Sharp 3-D library, and hung out on DDJ's bulletin board. There was another guy who hung out there who knew a lot about 3-D, a fellow named John Carmack who was surely the only game programmer I'd ever heard of who developed under NEXTSTEP. When we moved to Redmond, I didn't have time for BBSs anymore, though."

https://github.com/jagregory/abrash-black-book/blob/master/src/chapter-60.md

People probably made stuff that is lost to time since a lot of stuff probably never made it to the internet. I think we all know people who can do quite cool things, but never release it to the public. Most of the doomers I know have gems hidden on hard drives and google drives etc.

Sadly i couldn't find DDJBSP.ZIP that is on the Abrash CD, which would have been some interesting insight.

 

Yeah, i agree, there is always people going around making awesome stuff. Even as i am writing i find useful bits of code from users that are embedded in posts and not shared anywhere (Which again cements my desire that DoomWorld one day gets a browser for every file attachment on the site. There is so much stuff embedded in here that just gets lost over time unless you have a list of all the PID's these downloads contain).

6 hours ago, deathz0r said:

I agree with putting it in the OP, if the lost DEATH.WAD is any indication. The main difference between David's map and the lost DEATH.WAD was that the latter was distributed.

E1L1RQ is nothing more than a modified E3M1. I have a clean ZIP copy of the WAD and text file with the March 1st date.

As I've explained in this post, while NewDEU 4.2 does read the NODES lump and puts the data into a struct and does write that struct back into the WAD (while earlier versions of DEU merely copy the NODES lump), it has no ability to modify the struct. The only way that the NODES lump could be different is that if there was some memory corruption that screwed up the struct data.

Ahhh, i see, it was still a modified id level, so atleast some parts remained in static. Not quite a rebuild yet. Thanks.

[thestarrover]

On 10/1/2023 at 10:05 PM, Redneckerz said:

Sadly i couldn't find DDJBSP.ZIP that is on the Abrash CD, which would have been some interesting insight.

DDJBSP2.ZIP is in disk1/source/CHAPTER60 on the cd

 

It is on archive.org

Edited October 3, 2023 by thestarrover
Link for the cd added

[Redneckerz]

10 minutes ago, thestarrover said:

DDJBSP2.ZIP is in disk1/source/CHAPTER60 on the cd

got it. Found here. Thanks! Probably the earliest inspiration for Carmack to do the things he did :)

[zokum]

I have thought about producing nodes, segs and ssector 100% by hand as a tutorial. It is fairly hardcore stuff, but it would be an interesting challenge and maybe people could learn something from it. After reading the posts here, I'll put i higher on my "one day"-list. Might as well include the whole hog, vertices, things, linedefs and sidedefs :)

Edited October 3, 2023 by zokum

[Redneckerz]

2 hours ago, zokum said:

I have thought about producing nodes, segs and ssector 100% by hand as a tutorial. It is fairly hardcore stuff, but it would be an interesting challenge and maybe people could learn something from it. After reading the posts here, I'll put i higher on my "one day"-list. Might as well include the whole hog, vertices, things, linedefs and sidedefs :)

I for one would love reading about this. Atleast you have the power of hindsight and not having to reinvent the wheel. Create your own program on C or Quickbasic even to generate these nodes :)

 

or hell, a nodebuilder in ACS ;)

 

@deathz0ronce made a mapping contest on mapping with 1994 editors only. A mapping contest ORIGWAD style, building nodes by hand or early DEU/DMapEdit/Deep might be a cool exercise.

[A339]

Amazing stuff. Thank you for sharing. 

[Jakub Majewski]

Great thread. I would love to see an extended list, covering the first 50, or even hundred PWADs. PWADs like these are a form of expression, in its early form, akin to something like cave paintings or those slideshow devices from the turn of the 19th century that resembled an animation. So, naturally, I am also interested in preserving their history.

[Redneckerz]

On 10/3/2023 at 2:54 PM, zokum said:

I have thought about producing nodes, segs and ssector 100% by hand as a tutorial. It is fairly hardcore stuff, but it would be an interesting challenge and maybe people could learn something from it. After reading the posts here, I'll put i higher on my "one day"-list. Might as well include the whole hog, vertices, things, linedefs and sidedefs :)

I really don't want to bump a thread without a lot of merit, but in this particular case, i am highly interested in this in how to do this. I know that doing it this way results in rather simple levels, but a go-to for this is gold material. So a tutorial is highly appreciated!

 

Additionally, i am attempting to contact Alistair Brown and David Simpson on their early works, specifically:

• Brown: To hear about his custom program to generate the needed structures for his work. Brown has a lot less recognition than he deserves to be credited for: His early work and activity inspired many early editor programs (Or even directly helped them). The Holy Grail would be the source code of that C++ program, as that directly inspired NewDEU to become the first node builder. But i would settle even for something as which hex editor Brown used or whatever else inspired him to do what he did.
• Simpson: The Holy Grail is simple here: A copy of his WAD, since he made it over a month before any other WAD in existence, using a hex editor. Before Brown or Jeff Bird or Raphael Quinet did anything, David Simpson figured out the NODES part of a WAD and made a level with it. Of all history, this is the Golden Nugget.