Is this Mac/PC Doom source code on ebay legit?

[Light37]

This is my first post here. But I saw this on ebay this week and thought maybe someone here might have a better idea than me:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/204447008415

Does this look legit? Is it actually source code? Even the lister seemed to not be 100% certain if it contained the Mac or PC source code. But skimming through the filenames it seems to at least be the PC code. If it is legit, is it anything unique that hasn't been released before?

[Murdoch]

Yes if it's legit it's definitely unique. The original source release was a linux version with the sound code removed due to licensing issues. Issues that may still be relevant so not sure selling this is legally ok. The file names look legit. The Mac version would share a lot of file names with other versions. It's possible it has both codebases, as they would need the original for reference. Date stamps look good. Size of the data gave me pause. It's too big. So not sure what might be on there to justify that size. 

 

If it's a fake, it's well done.

Edited September 8, 2023 by Murdoch

[Individualised]

<post no longer needed>

Edited October 5, 2023 by Individualised

[TheMagicMushroomMan]

Seems too good to be true. If it's not, the price is certainly too low.

[Individualised]

1 minute ago, TheMagicMushroomMan said:

Seems too good to be true. If it's not, the price is certainly too low.

Stuff like this has gone up on eBay before for similar prices, the price isn't a red flag to me.

[TheMagicMushroomMan]

24 minutes ago, Individualised said:

Stuff like this has gone up on eBay before for similar prices, the price isn't a red flag to me.

I'd imagine it's probably a reasonable price if it doesn't actually contain any real unreleased content. If it did, I imagine it could easily sell for ten times what this guy is asking for it. Still pretty cool though.

[gibfrag]

Inb4 it sells to some asshole who doesn’t share the contents for preservation and is just a hoarder or scalper (or both). 

[Hebonky]

8 minutes ago, gibfrag said:

Inb4 it sells to some asshole who doesn’t share the contents for preservation and is just a hoarder or scalper (or both). 

Well now that you said that, it will happen, thanks...

[DannyMan]

I hope it's legit

[natashanightmare]

Does not ship to Sweden  

[Ludi]

Yeah there's no way this is legit

Edited September 9, 2023 by Ludi

[Biodegradable]

Can anyone familiar with the source code verify this at all based on the documentation in the eBay listing, or is even that not enough to really discern if it's real or not?

[Ludi]

Even if it was real, the "no take-backsies" clause makes this seem like a scam.

 

While the C headers match real source code, that's not specific to any one port. I didn't see any DOS I/O headers at all.

Edited September 9, 2023 by Ludi

[dasho]

Not sure why "no returns after you have accessed and are able to copy the code within this disc" is scammy. I'm not saying it's necessarily real, but asking for a return after getting the disc sounds a bit more suspect.

[SaladBadger]

This screenshot does seem to correspond to the files listing that was included in the original source release, showing the state of the directory before Bernd worked on it.

-rw-r--r--   1 b1       prog            0 Jan 18 15:08 FILES
-rw-r--r--   1 b1       prog         5799 Jan 18 15:07 Makefile
-rw-r--r--   1 b1       prog         1943 Jan 18 15:07 am_data.h
-rw-r--r--   1 b1       prog        20263 Jan 18 15:07 am_map.c
-rw-r--r--   1 b1       prog         2494 Jan 18 15:07 am_map.h
-rw-r--r--   1 b1       prog         1499 Jan 18 15:07 am_oids.c
-rw-r--r--   1 b1       prog          338 Jan 18 15:07 am_oids.h
-rw-r--r--   1 b1       prog        14005 Jan 18 15:07 d_french.h
-rw-r--r--   1 b1       prog        25287 Jan 18 15:07 d_main.c
-rw-r--r--   1 b1       prog        15586 Jan 18 15:07 d_net.c
-rw-r--r--   1 b1       prog          744 Jan 18 15:07 defs.inc
-rw-r--r--   1 b1       prog         3569 Jan 18 15:07 dither.c
-rw-r--r--   1 b1       prog          355 Jan 18 15:07 dither.h
-rw-r--r--   1 b1       prog         4234 Jan 18 15:07 doomdata.h
-rw-r--r--   1 b1       prog        32779 Jan 18 15:07 doomdef.h
-rw-r--r--   1 b1       prog          192 Jan 18 15:07 drcoord.h
-rw-r--r--   1 b1       prog        22377 Jan 18 15:07 dstrings.h
-rw-r--r--   1 b1       prog         6582 Jan 18 15:07 dutils.c
-rw-r--r--   1 b1       prog         1821 Jan 18 15:07 dutils.h
-rw-r--r--   1 b1       prog        14072 Jan 18 15:07 f_finale.c
-rw-r--r--   1 b1       prog         7357 Jan 18 15:07 fpfunc.S
-rw-r--r--   1 b1       prog        34770 Jan 18 15:07 g_game.c
-rw-r--r--   1 b1       prog         5394 Jan 18 15:07 hu_lib.c
-rw-r--r--   1 b1       prog         2878 Jan 18 15:07 hu_lib.h
-rw-r--r--   1 b1       prog        12040 Jan 18 15:07 hu_stuff.c
-rw-r--r--   1 b1       prog          934 Jan 18 15:07 hu_stuff.h
-rw-r--r--   1 b1       prog         6238 Jan 18 15:07 i_cyber.c
-rw-r--r--   1 b1       prog        18324 Jan 18 15:07 i_dga.c
-rw-r--r--   1 b1       prog         2499 Jan 18 15:07 i_header.h
-rw-r--r--   1 b1       prog        32815 Jan 18 15:07 i_ibm.c
-rw-r--r--   1 b1       prog         1867 Jan 18 15:07 i_ibm_a.asm
-rw-r--r--   1 b1       prog          121 Jan 18 15:07 i_main.c

The filesizes are different, but it seems like the mac is showing it in terms of filesystem blocks rather than how many bytes are actually being used by the file's data? Someone with more classic Mac OS experience would have to chime in there.

[Murdoch]

3 hours ago, Ludi said:

Even if it was real, the "no take-backsies" clause makes this seem like a scam.

 

It really doesn't. It makes perfect sense. The buyer could easily take it, copy it, then return it and demand their money back and then freely distribute the content, leaving the seller with nothing and killing it's value too.

[Midway64]

I don't know if we're about to see the next big thing in this community, but I hope someone in Doomworld has the balls to buy it, see if there's some good stuff.

 

Spoiler

And the 'no returns' is reasonable, like Murdoch said, a buyer could buy it then copy the files then return it, killing its value if its distributed freely, and disrespecting the seller.

 

[lokbustam257]

Seems quite legit from the looks of it. A bit too much effort for a scam I would say. I hope the one that buys it is not some private collectors or something similar (or worse). Also, for a thousand dollars, I'd say it's quite fair.

[Ludi]

On second thought Murdoch is right, I'm gonna do a take-backsies on my comment ;p 

[ruler26]

@SaladBadger Are you saying the Mac OS DOOM releases may be based on the Linux Doom source? If this is based on the v1.9 DOS source, could it have anything interesting that the doom community hasn't seen yet?

[Monocled]

19 minutes ago, ruler26 said:

@SaladBadger Are you saying the Mac OS DOOM releases may be based on the Linux Doom source? If this is based on the v1.9 DOS source, could it have anything interesting that the doom community hasn't seen yet?

It could be, both MacOS and Linux are Unix based

[plums]

Mac OS was completely different before OS X, i.e. the time Doom was made, and not Unix based at all. It would've been System 7 at the time.

[Monocled]

1 minute ago, plums said:

Mac OS was completely different before OS X, i.e. the time Doom was made, and not Unix based at all. It would've been System 7 at the time.

Oh my bad

[Murdoch]

31 minutes ago, ruler26 said:

@SaladBadger Are you saying the Mac OS DOOM releases may be based on the Linux Doom source? If this is based on the v1.9 DOS source, could it have anything interesting that the doom community hasn't seen yet?

 

I do not think any firm conclusions can be made by looking at the list of file names. The different codebases are bound to have a list of common filenames. But yes, if the disc contains the legit 1.9 sources there will be at least some things the community has not seen before. The timing certainly works; the first Mac version came out after 1.9. I can't find for sure what version the Mac version used as a base, and apparently the last version of Linux Doom was released in 1996 so it's not possible to deduce based on dates a probable source codebase. At any rate, the game code logic will be the same across all three code bases - DOS, Mac, and Linux. The only difference will be in code specifically for dealing with the different OSes and hardware, and particularly the original sound code from the DOS version which could not be released due to licensing issues.

Edited September 11, 2023 by Murdoch

[Individualised]

10 minutes ago, Monocled said:

It could be, both MacOS and Linux are Unix based

5 minutes ago, plums said:

Mac OS was completely different before OS X, i.e. the time Doom was made, and not Unix based at all. It would've been System 7 at the time.

Yep, OS X is an evolution of NeXTSTEP and not the original Mac OS.

Edited September 11, 2023 by Individualised

[gibfrag]

The winning bidder’s theme song.

Edited September 11, 2023 by gibfrag

[Murdoch]

Quote

Winning bid:

US $5,006.66

 

Jesus.

[gibfrag]

It looks like the $6.66 was what ultimately resulted in someone losing the auction, lol. 

Edited September 11, 2023 by gibfrag

[ETTiNGRiNDER]

10 hours ago, gibfrag said:

It looks like the $6.66 was what ultimately resulted in someone losing the auction, lol. 

Gaming the eBay auction system is a whole ass thing and using weird numbers instead of clean round ones is one of the strategies, so yeah.

[Ludi]

Let's hope that legit or not, this is uploaded to the relevant archives.