Identifying Doom Floppy Disks

[Dust]

I was wondering what version of Doom floppy I have and I thought some of you guys might know.



I'd like to know if it's the very first version or if it's a slightly later release. I realize the Doom disk says 1993 but the logo is not the one that comes up on google images when I search for the first version. Also it'd be interesting to get some detailed history on the different floppy versions for Doom and Doom II if anyone has it.

[GreyGhost]

The best way to check (if you own or can borrow a floppy drive) is by looking at the file names, which usually include the version number.

[Dust]

I'll see if I can manage to find a floppy drive. Also what version number would I be looking for?

[GreyGhost]

IBM and Sony USB drives both appear to be supported by Windows without having to track down obscure drivers.

After checking a few disks, I realized you probably won't find any version numbers on the Doom 2 disks, so we'll probably have to go by datestamps and the size of the data file on Disk 5, or install from floppy and check the size of the IWAD. We might fare better with the shareware disks, assuming they use the same naming convention as Registered Doom floppies, some don't. For example - here's the directory listing for Disk 1 of Registered Doom v1.2 -

 Volume in drive A has no label.

 Directory of A:\

17/02/1994  01:20 AM            17,303 DEICE.EXE
17/02/1994  07:02 PM               185 DOOM1_2R.DAT
17/02/1994  07:10 PM               199 INSTALL.BAT
17/02/1994  07:03 PM         1,437,184 DOOM1_2R.1
               4 File(s)      1,454,871 bytes
               0 Dir(s)           2,048 bytes free

The "1_2" in DOOM1_2R gives us the version number and "R" identifies it as the registered release. On your disk 1 the version number could be anything from "1_1" onward, with an "S" to identify it as a shareware release.

[ABRACADABRA]

Judging by the cover the doom disk is most likilly a registered retail version since GT was a retail publisher for id. The thing is - is original non ultimate doom was ever released retail?

[Uncle 80]

The Doom disk says "disk 1 of 2", so that's probably a shareware version. Registered 1.2 doom used 4 disks.

[PotatoBox]

Dust said:

I'll see if I can manage to find a floppy drive. Also what version number would I be looking for?

If your motherboard doesn't have a floppy disk controller (most don't nowadays), the best way to read floppy disks nowadays is a USB floppy drive, you can get em from newegg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&Description=floppy+disk+usb&N=-1&isNodeId=1

[GreyGhost]

ABRACADABRA said:

Judging by the cover the doom disk is most likilly a registered retail version since GT was a retail publisher for id. The thing is - is original non ultimate doom was ever released retail?

GT Interactive also published shareware, which is what the pair of Doom disks are. Registered Doom saw a retail release in Australia for PC and in Japan (where it was sub-titled "3D Alien Busters") for NEC's PC-9800.



It's Doom v1.1, on 6 disks because Imagineer decided to bundle the shareware and registered releases.

[Dust]

PotatoBox said:

If your motherboard doesn't have a floppy disk controller (most don't nowadays), the best way to read floppy disks nowadays is a USB floppy drive, you can get em from newegg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&Description=floppy+disk+usb&N=-1&isNodeId=1

Oh wow that's so simple. Thank you so much. I'll definitely be buying one of those. So with that and dosbox will I be able to run my Doom floppies?

GreyGhost said:

GT Interactive also published shareware, which is what the pair of Doom disks are.

So does that mean I have the original shareware version? Or were there multiple shareware versions and I'll have to look at the files to know for sure?

[PotatoBox]

Dust said:

Oh wow that's so simple. Thank you so much. I'll definitely be buying one of those. So with that and dosbox will I be able to run my Doom floppies?

Yup! :) dosbox should be able to read the drive no problem.

[GreyGhost]

Dust said:

So does that mean I have the original shareware version? Or were there multiple shareware versions and I'll have to look at the files to know for sure?

It's probably one of the earlier releases, since like most other distributors GT Interactive transitioned from floppy disk to CD-ROM media during the mid 90s.

[Doom Space Marina]

Hi I have a couple disks I found at a thrift store and is there a way to know the version just buy looking at the labels?

http://imgur.com/K5jne2L

[GreyGhost]

They tell me nothing, though someone might manage to identify the publisher from those part numbers.

[Ossi]

The left disk comes from the mailorder type release from GT, it's similar to the original mailorder from id but with a slightly different box size (there was also a big box version of the same release), you can expect v1.8 on them.




As for identifying which version you have I'd go with verifying the checksum of DOOM*.WAD:

http://doomwiki.org/wiki/DOOM.WAD
http://doomwiki.org/wiki/DOOM1.WAD
http://doomwiki.org/wiki/DOOM2.WAD

[Ossi]

GreyGhost said:

GT Interactive also published shareware, which is what the pair of Doom disks are. Registered Doom saw a retail release in Australia for PC and in Japan (where it was sub-titled "3D Alien Busters") for NEC's PC-9800.

https://www.mediafire.com/view/?gp7aai9zvepp6fb

It's Doom v1.1, on 6 disks because Imagineer decided to bundle the shareware and registered releases.

The japanese release in the photo is for DOS/V, the PC-98 release is a different one without the sub-title.

US mailorder release was also sold as a retail release in the UK (at HMW) and in Germany (at Saturn I believe but I might be wrong).

[Jon]

I've actually managed to lose my doom floppies, I must have loaned them to someone. Disappointing.

[HalfLife9000]

On 2/21/2016 at 8:35 AM, ABRACADABRA said:

Judging by the cover the doom disk is most likilly a registered retail version since GT was a retail publisher for id. The thing is - is original non ultimate doom was ever released retail?

i don't think Doom 1 was ever released in retail, as I only heard about people calling in for it. I don't know. Maybe later in 1995/1996 to make room for Ultimate and Final Doom. Wasn't alive then so i couldn't tell really know for sure

[Dragonfly]

6.5 year bump, wow. Idk if you got here from Twitter or something but the thread you probably meant to post in was likely to be: