Identifying ALL physical releases of DOOM? - Official retail, mail order, big boxes, floppys, CD-ROMs, etc

[Doomkid]

Thank you, that matches the manual that came with my little frankenstein mail order box, further confirming black back with "Paul Raydek" (rather than a red back with "Paul Radek") really does only^(?) belong with the Manaccom release.

 

I wish some Aussie out there who got Doom via mail order back in the day could chime in, but it's such a specific piece of trivia..

 

EDIT: SIKE, it's been proven below that some international mail-order copies also had the black back manuals!

[Callann]

Glad to be of assistance Doomkid.

 

Can you help identify which version I have? I purchased it here in Australia when it first came out.

 

I'm not up to speed with the version history. 

[Callann]

After a bit of research I'm presuming it's Version 1.1?

[Murdoch]

On 1/12/2023 at 2:48 PM, deathz0r said:

and as a bonus, have the receipt as well, which shows a curious purchase date relative to the floppies:

 

Hmmm yes, that receipt cannot be from those discs. 1.2 of course was not released until 2 months later. Possibly the ex picked it up off of ebay or something, rather than buying it at the time and it was, like so many of these sets seem to be, a mix of bits from different times rather than 100% complete? 

 

Interesting it seems our old friends at Manaccom were not fond of using their official floppy labels more than was completely necessary. Cheap bastards.

[Doomkid]

5 minutes ago, Callann said:

After a bit of research I'm presuming it's Version 1.1?

It definitely looks like it!

 

My floppy collection was getting too big NOT to buy one recently, so I bit the bullet and purchased an IBM brand USB floppy drive. It looks like Sony, Imation, and a couple other name brands also made them back in the late 90s and early 2000s. If you are eager to check it out or have other floppy disks around the house as well, maybe it would be worth picking one up. (Never a no-name-brand one though, dear god. As bad as the no-name USB CD/DVD drives I've come across are, I hate to imagine what a no-name floppy drive would do to you valuable disks..)

[Murdoch]

On 1/13/2023 at 12:16 AM, Doomkid said:

It's starting to look like, although "blue label" DOOM disks were indeed common in the Manaccom releases, they were pretty much always disk 1, which further confuses the issue since my "blue label" disk is disk 4.

 

Are you sure yours is a Manaccom release though? It doesn't look like it. I suspect distributors got boxes, manuals and labels from id, but used their own floppies for making the discs themselves. Manaccom saved on labels by only putting them on disc 1, while other distributors put them on all of the discs like they should have. Yours is mostly likely a "mixed breed" set, discs from different sources, hence the copied third disc and different label colours, slapped together by someone wanting to pimp a complete set on eBay. I think the red labels were more likely to be 1.2 right? Have you actually tried to do an installation with the files from the discs? So two of the discs might be 1.2, the fourth might be 1.1, and the third... who knows?

[Doomkid]

At this point I'm pretty much convinced Disk 4 is not from a Manaccom release - I think it's strictly the manual, and even then I only say that because it has a black back rather than a red back (the red back seemingly the "correct" one for mail order Doom, since the graphic matches the back of the actual box, but anyone else who owns an Aussie mail order copy, I welcome you to weigh in).

 

All of the disks have 1.2 on them, and oddly, Disks 1, 2 and 4 (the non-copied ones) all do share a serial code on the disk itself. I'm thinking they came from the same distributor who sent out mail order copies to Aussies under license from id, just at slightly different times of year. Would explain the matching serial codes and disk color, but non-matching labels.

 

I also checked the file attributes on all the disks - the others all had "date created" listed as 1-1-1980 as they should and a "date modified" of Feb 1994, but the copied disk had a "date created" from late 1998 which must have been when the owner moved the file over to the disk. To me the clean timestamps just further cement 1, 2 and 4 as legit non-copied disks.

[Murdoch]

1 minute ago, Doomkid said:

All of the disks have 1.2 on them, and oddly, Disks 1, 2 and 4 (the non-copied ones) all do share a serial code on the disk itself. I'm thinking they came from the same distributor who sent out mail order copies to Aussies under license from id, just at slightly different times of year. Would explain the matching serial codes and disk color, but non-matching labels.

 

Probably we are ascribing too much significance to label colours. It may just be id randomly decided to change the colour, and your set they just happened to run out of one colour mid-assembly before shifting to the other, and there's no more to it than that.

[Skye_DS]

On 11/20/2022 at 1:48 PM, Doomkid said:

I was wondering if my fellow Doom nerds would be willing to help me compile a full list of known / authentic pressings of Doom, Doom 2, Final Doom and any other official Doom materials.

 

TheUltimateDoomer666 compiled an incredibly useful list of official retail versions from the 1990s HERE. I'm mostly interested in versions for computers, sold on floppy disks and CD-ROMs.

if you want to get down to the actual home console releases i have a list (also containing homebrew)

• Sega 32x
• Atari jaguar (the base for a good amount of original console ports
• Super NES
• Playstation (which i used to own and love and is the best classic console port)
• 3do (worst port by far but has a awesome soundtrack)
• Sega Saturn (rare collectors item, grouped with 3do as far as how bad, similar to ps1 port)
• game boy advance (this is a decent port but for the definitive experience play the homebrew prboom port, will be posting more about this port)
• Xbox original (doom 3, not sure about doom 1 and 2 but there probably is a homebrew port out there)
• Xbox 360 (XBLA port, good for multiplayer, also came with no rest for the living wad, also Bfg port which is...eh)
• Playstation 3 (Doom Classic Complete, delisted ports, fairly good in my opinion, also Bfg port which is of course...eh)
• 25th anniversary release (ps4, xbox one, switch, pc. was a not that good port, but various problems with it got fixed, this port got replaced with the Unity port which is pretty good for consoles in my opinion, suprisingly the 25th was my first Doom experience, despite how trash it was..man i played it 24/7)
• Doom eternal port (Doom 1 found in the campaign of doom eternal, Doom 2 by entering the code "FLYNNTAGGART". these are based off of the Bfg port..which..again..is..eh.
• nintendo 3ds (jank port so far, no has custom wad support, i keep 2 versions, one downloaded from universal updater which is good for og campaign, has very good controls, but no mod support, latest 3dsx release 2.5.0 has many various problems, save problems, but wad support)
• nintendo ds (homebrew port)
• nes (made by theRasteri, check his video out)
• nintendo wii  (homebrew)

[Boaby Kenobi]

@Skye_DS That's not what this thread is for

[Boaby Kenobi]

On 1/8/2023 at 5:51 PM, Murdoch said:

 

Ok kind of awkward to read that. What's the actual source

 It was from Wikipedia and it links to an article with John Romero but when I read the article he doesn't appear to mention anything about Apogee so I honestly don't know.

[Callann]

6 hours ago, Doomkid said:

It definitely looks like it!

 

My floppy collection was getting too big NOT to buy one recently, so I bit the bullet and purchased an IBM brand USB floppy drive. It looks like Sony, Imation, and a couple other name brands also made them back in the late 90s and early 2000s. If you are eager to check it out or have other floppy disks around the house as well, maybe it would be worth picking one up. (Never a no-name-brand one though, dear god. As bad as the no-name USB CD/DVD drives I've come across are, I hate to imagine what a no-name floppy drive would do to you valuable disks..)

Thanks for that Doomkid.

Having wrecked floppy disks in the past I'm not game enough to test them out on any floppy drive these days.

 

Apologise for going off-topic but a Manaccom collector has reached out to me elsewhere asking if I'm interested in selling my copy.

Could any fellow members assist me with a realistic value? Being a genuine collector I'm happy to be looking at a fair value rather than max value.

 

[Skye_DS]

8 hours ago, Boaby Kenobi said:

@Skye_DS That's not what this thread is for

Oh my bad

[Boaby Kenobi]

I forgot I had these disks. I can't remember where I got them. Does anyone know which version it is? I have no way of checking the disks. Also, I have 2 copies of TUD, and one of the boxes has a sticker on it but the other doesn't, but when I checked the contents of the discs they both have episode 1 of Heretic. I wonder if all European copies of TUD have this? What about other regional releases?

[TheUltimateDoomer666]

On 1/19/2023 at 12:41 PM, Boaby Kenobi said:

I forgot I had these disks. I can't remember where I got them. Does anyone know which version it is? I have no way of checking the disks.

There are so many variations of the DOOM floppy labels that I don't think the version of that set can be easily determined without checking the disks. For unknown reasons, some DOOM floppies do not have the version number printed on the labels, despite the fact there are registered v1.1 (the initial release) floppies that specify the version number.

 

On 1/19/2023 at 12:41 PM, Boaby Kenobi said:

Also, I have 2 copies of TUD, and one of the boxes has a sticker on it but the other doesn't, but when I checked the contents of the discs they both have episode 1 of Heretic. I wonder if all European copies of TUD have this? What about other regional releases?

I believe all Ultimate DOOM CDs regardless of region contain Heretic shareware, but I don't know if all European DOS Ultimate DOOM boxes were released with the Heretic sticker on them. The Windows edition of that box (which has a Windows logo on the bottom left of the cover) was never released with the sticker on it based on all the copies I've seen, but Heretic shareware is likely still included, as it's on the Ultimate DOOM CD from the European-exclusive Quake/DOOM compilation.

Edited February 19, 2023 by TheUltimateDoomer666
Grammar.

[Murdoch]

On 1/19/2023 at 3:41 PM, Boaby Kenobi said:

Does anyone know which version it is?

 

Blue labels are most likely 1.1 original releases, but as @TheUltimateDoomer666 said, there's no way to be 100% certain by label alone. As many of the discs were assembled by local distributors, they likely grabbed whatever labels they had to hand at the time a copy needed to go out. So some suppliers may still have been using blue labels while others active at the same time were onto the red labels. There is no evidence to my knowledge of a directive by id that certain versions must be certain colours.

[suicuique]

On 1/12/2023 at 12:16 PM, Doomkid said:

Has it been confirmed beyond any shadow of a doubt that the "Paul Raydek" black-back manuals were included solely with the Manaccom releases, when it comes to Aussie versions of Doom? Or were they also used in mail-order copies for Australia? That manual having the typo and the non-red back is actually what got me thinking the blue disk came from a Manaccom box in the first place..

 

I am *quite* sure that the assumption that the manual with the black back and the name "Raydek" was part of the Manacom release alone is wrong.

 

I have two Doom Mailorder variants:

The first one I bought myself in Germany at the end of 1993. The 5.25" CDV release (the German distributor of Doom) which is identical to the US 1.1 release in box, manual and addendum. Only the floppy disks were apparently pressed in Germany.

I got the second one from a collector friend. Also a 1.1 release on 3.5" disks. This time obviously the US release with blue label disks.

 

*Both* have dexactly this manual: black back, "Raydek" and another clue to a 1.1 manual: missing "tm" clues on the front at the DooM lettering and id Software logo. These are always visible on the manuals from 1.2 release onwards.

 

I think I saw in a video about the different mailorder versions 1.1 , 1.2 and 1.666 and later that the names of the credits on the back are a dead giveaway for the different versions:
1.1: black back, sound driver: Raydek, technical support: Maurice Hale
1.2: red back, sound driver: Radek, technical support: David Osbourne
1.666+: red back, sound driver: Radek, technical support: American McGee (?)

The addendum has indented paragraphs in 1.1. Later versions do not have this.

 

I hope I have helped to clarify things a little. If necessary, I can post a few pictures.

Edited March 8, 2023 by suicuique
Corrections

[Nate42]

I don't know if it fits your criteria, but the Quake shareware CD (and possibly the full retail as well) included encrypted full versions of Doom, Doom2, Final Doom, and others. You were meant to call a number and pay for the full licensed version, at which point they would give you the decryption key. 

[Doomkid]

Thank you both immensely for this extra info! Slowly but surely more details are falling into place. I always was curious about the "black back" manuals.. That's a long mystery solved! Must have been an initial batch that was quickly fixed up and replaced with the red backs. So cool to know they weren't married to the Aussie releases of 1.1 / 1.2.

[TheUltimateDoomer666]

16 hours ago, Nate42 said:

I don't know if it fits your criteria, but the Quake shareware CD (and possibly the full retail as well) included encrypted full versions of Doom, Doom2, Final Doom, and others. You were meant to call a number and pay for the full licensed version, at which point they would give you the decryption key. 

I have Quake registered v1.01, v1.06, and v1.09 CDs, and none of them contain id Stuff.

[Master O]

On 3/8/2023 at 12:45 PM, Nate42 said:

I don't know if it fits your criteria, but the Quake shareware CD (and possibly the full retail as well) included encrypted full versions of Doom, Doom2, Final Doom, and others. You were meant to call a number and pay for the full licensed version, at which point they would give you the decryption key. 

 

https://www.doomworld.com/forum/topic/130902-id-stuff-testdrive-tool/

[Tom2007]

this is diferint floppy disk of doom 

 

 

Edited March 9, 2023 by Jimmy 34

[IncompA]

Micro Star? Now it's getting juicy.

I did a quick search; Micro Star is actually MSI, and MSI is a Taiwanese corporation.
We got some new info.

Edited March 9, 2023 by EliDoesStuff

[TheUltimateDoomer666]

14 hours ago, EliDoesStuff said:

Micro Star? Now it's getting juicy.

I did a quick search; Micro Star is actually MSI, and MSI is a Taiwanese corporation.
We got some new info.

Micro Star is a shareware distributor that was founded in California.

Here are images from MobyGames of the shareware box the Micro Star floppies are from:

 

[IncompA]

5 hours ago, TheUltimateDoomer666 said:

Micro Star is a shareware distributor that was founded in California.

Here are images from MobyGames of the shareware box the Micro Star floppies are from:

 

Damn, I hate it when 2 corporations have to have the same name.

But this does bring up a good point; was the game distributed in Taiwan? I don't think I saw it on the originial post.

Edited March 10, 2023 by EliDoesStuff
grammartard

[Individualised]

11 hours ago, TheUltimateDoomer666 said:

Micro Star is a shareware distributor that was founded in California.

Here are images from MobyGames of the shareware box the Micro Star floppies are from:

 

At least this one mentions that it's shareware unlike certain others... but makes no mention that the shareware version of Doom is not a full game even though it goes into depth about what "Shareware" entails. It's a term casual buyers might not have been fully aware of back then so I can only imagine this was done on purpose.

[Enaklam]

So just to add to this. I have several copies of DooM, including the US Mail Order (red disks). Here is my copy of the Australia (Manaccom) 5.25 RED disks, v.2. Bonus, the disks still work.

[waftlord]

i have an original Doom 13 page manual, it's got the red skull back design and appears to be the variant with David Osborn listed alongside Shawn Green instead of American McGee.

 

Does this make it rarer of more common than the original?  Does anyone have specific details of this variant? i believe purchased in UK in 93 or 94.

it came with the red label disks (long gone, don't ask...)

 

If anyone has insights into the resale value of this piece of history i'd be interested to know, for someone with disks and box it would be an opportunity for complete.

 

i guess the actual question is why were the names different between printings, a mistake or was David Osborn replaced with McGee, making this version the original? or vice verca?

 

 

 

Edited April 5, 2023 by waftlord

[OMGWIZARDS]

Not sure if this helps, but I have these (I'm in Australia)

[Jjjj]

Someone could help me identify this copy and tell me a price for it ? Know ho have it, but is asking a huge money