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peach freak

So is Doom no longer available through id Software's site?

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I was browsing through id Software's site the other day, and didn't see an area where you could buy the PC Doom games.

I ask because in my Doom guides on GameFAQs, I try to keep up to date where you can buy a copy of Doom.

So, outside of places like eBay and Amazon (and of course, yard sales, flea markets, etc), is the only other way through Steam? Which, correct me if I'm wrong, but I wouldn't like the idea of needing an internet connection to play a 20 year old game. I mean, what if you were on an airplane or something?

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You don't need to be online to play the Steam copies of Doom, unless you get it through the BFG Edition. (Even there, you can just grab the wads and play them in another port.) The Ultimate Doom, Doom 2, and Final Doom on Steam are just bundled with copies of DOSBox and can be run even without the client open.

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peach freak said:

correct me if I'm wrong, but I wouldn't like the idea of needing an internet connection to play a 20 year old game.

Steam sells you the original IWADs. The original .exe is free, source ports are also free. Advanced source ports are even specially programmed to find your IWADs in Steam's directory. You can manually pull them out of course. This is how you play Doom independently on Steam.

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Also Steam generally doesn't require you to be online to play games. Once activated, you can play offline, unless you want to play over network, obviously.

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However, I think Steam would refuse to let you play your games if you stay offline for more than a month or two, and would demand online verification. I'm not entirely sure, though.

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Ah, alright, thanks for the clarifications.

And as I asked earlier, it appears that you can't buy any games directly through id Software anymore? Unless the link has changed?

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scifista42 said:

However, I think Steam would refuse to let you play your games if you stay offline for more than a month or two, and would demand online verification. I'm not entirely sure, though.

It complains that you haven't logged in for some time, and e-mails you a code to type in. Very annoying.

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scifista42 said:

However, I think Steam would refuse to let you play your games if you stay offline for more than a month or two, and would demand online verification. I'm not entirely sure, though.


Depends on the game. Some games use Steam's built in DRM, which requires at least having the game online during first boot, but a lot don't, and that includes the Doom files on Steam.

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NuclearPotato said:

Depends on the game. Some games use Steam's built in DRM...

I'm convinced that this applies to practically all modern games (having Steam-modified executable), only not the old ones (games from 90s and such).

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NuclearPotato said:

Depends on the game. Some games use Steam's built in DRM, which requires at least having the game online during first boot, but a lot don't, and that includes the Doom files on Steam.

It isn't the case with Doom. The IWAD files are right there.

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scifista42 said:

However, I think Steam would refuse to let you play your games if you stay offline for more than a month or two, and would demand online verification. I'm not entirely sure, though.

I had a PC running Steam without internet access for over a year. No problem for Steam itself it seems. Of course, I can't tell if that works for every game, as they may come with their own verification methods.

JudgeDeadd said:

It complains that you haven't logged in for some time, and e-mails you a code to type in.

It does, but only when your PC has internet access. If it has not, it starts always in offline mode. It really has to be disconnected. Steam does not get tricked by a firewall block.

fraggle said:

It isn't the case with Doom.

It isn't the case with any DOS game, I suspect. Just use your own copy of DOSbox, and any DOS game is Steam free.

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You can get Doom 3: BFG Edition from Bethesda, and it includes Ultimate Doom and Doom II, as well as No Rest for the Living. No word on Final Doom.

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mdmenzel said:

You can get Doom 3: BFG Edition from Bethesda, and it includes Doom and Doom II

Not exactly the original IWADs, but the BFG:E versions of them. That said, it seems you are right.

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mdmenzel said:

You can get Doom 3: BFG Edition from Bethesda, and it includes Ultimate Doom and Doom II, as well as No Rest for the Living. No word on Final Doom.


But that's not the "Pure" version.

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Nothing stopping you from patching the butchered BFG Edition offerings to the proper 1.9 versions.

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That's provided you've no objections to the Steam client installing on your PC in order to register the BFG Edition, I'd been avoiding that software for years.

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Sodaholic said:

Nothing stopping you from patching the butchered BFG Edition offerings to the proper 1.9 versions.


Is that technically legal? And the patch won't even care that it wasn't the original IWAD?

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peach freak said:

Is that technically legal?

As far as I know. I don't see why it wouldn't be legal.

peach freak said:

And the patch won't even care that it wasn't the original IWAD?

I'm just talking about a simple, one-way diff patch. Should work just fine.

chungy said:

No, it's not legal.

How is a diff patch likely to be illegal? It's completely useless on its own, and the resulting file is not significantly different. You're not gaining access to any exclusive content that you would otherwise have had to pay for, it's just slightly different versions of the same product.

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Sodaholic said:

As far as I know. I don't see why it wouldn't be legal.
I'm just talking about a simple, one-way diff patch. Should work just fine.
How is a diff patch likely to be illegal? It's completely useless on its own, and the resulting file is not significantly different. You're not gaining access to any exclusive content that you would otherwise have had to pay for, it's just slightly different versions of the same product.


I think by definition it is TECHNICALLY illegal as the patch would be distributing assets that the recipient doesn't own otherwise and that you don't have explicit permission to distribute in the first place. For example, providing them with the red cross sprites while what they own only has the pill sprites or providing them with the nazi-fied textures that their IWAD doesn't have otherwise.

Though, I don't think id, and thus far Bethesda, has ever tried to sue anyone over small stuff like this. Countless doom texture/map packs for doom 2 and vice versa being the biggest case in point. As long as you aren't distributing the IWADs wholesale, I don't think it matters really.

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