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Captain Red

So how much did you pay for doom when you first got it?

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I got my first computer and D2 at a Sam's Club in 1996. I think D2 was $39 or $49. I think the original receipt is around here or my family's house somewhere, for sure had it up until a few years ago, probably still around. My uncle purchased D1 for maybe $30 a few years prior, I think.

Same uncle also bought me Doom for SNES the day before release for an early b-day present at Babage's or EB, one of those mall chains. That was $59 or $69, maybe even $79 IIRC.

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Oddly enough the only one I remember for sure was $5 for the shareware episode (which would have been version 1.1 or 1.2, I think) in June, July or August, 1994. At some point I bought the Survivor's Strategies & Secrets guide that included the 1.25 shareware which I suppose counts. Doom II and Ultimate Doom were gifts not long after they were released, then I bought the Collector's Edition with second copies of those along with Final Doom for $30 or $40 in 2001. I got used copies of Heretic, Hexen and Strife sometime in the mid-2000s. (And Doom 64, the only console version I have.) Then the id Super Pack came along on Steam in 2008 and I can't remember how much it cost...

So that's two shareware versions, three copies each of Ultimate Doom and Doom II and two each of Final Doom, Heretic and Hexen, plus one of Doom 64, the Master Levels and Strife. I'll buy Strife a second time if Veteran's Edition ever shows up on GOG.com...

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CODOR said:

Oddly enough the only one I remember for sure was $5 for the shareware episode (which would have been version 1.1 or 1.2, I think) in June, July or August, 1994.

The very first shareware version I had (as downloaded by my friend, and then I got a copy from a magazine cover disk (or two disks to be exact) was actually listed as version 0.99 I think but I also think that is considered to be 1.0.

The shareware versions were updated by id as things progressed so if the version you got was up to date, it should have been newer than 1.2 by August 94. Maybe version 1.4 or 1.5? Of course, it could easily have been any versions prior to that depending on who was selling/packaging it and when they had got the copy that they used as a master.

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My dad bought it before I was born so I "first bought" it on Steam. I got all the classic Doom games for £2.49 or something stupid cheap with Doom 3 + ROE around the same price. Fuck if I know how much my dad paid for it. Knowing him, he probably got it off a friend for free. I never did see any "original" disks laying around.

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For as long as I can remember my dad owned a Shareware doom CD, 1.666. The price was on the CD case, $9. In 1997 or so he bought me the Ultimate Doom box, probably would have cost him about $30 at the time. My brother found Doom2 floppy disks somewhere in that same time frame but I have no idea how he acquired them..

I haven't had any of these for years and years though. Wish I still did!

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Back in 1995 or 1996 for Ultimate Doom on CD, around $49. Much later in the 2010s, I grabbed the versions off Steam for $5 each.

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I didn't even play Doom yet because I got the Shareware WAD and attempted to play it on GZDoom, it says it needs to be "registered".

For Doom II, it was GZDoom it all da way.

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"Registered" means full game. Shareware version only contains Episode 1, but it's available for free. You need to pay for full Doom 1 / Ultimate Doom. GZDoom won't let you play shareware version, but some other ports will, I think. Or you can launch the shareware executable in DOSBox.

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scifista42 said:

GZDoom won't let you play shareware version

That's simply not true:



However, you can't load additional files with the shareware IWAD:



That is in keeping with id's wishes, is consistent with the original EXE and should be the same with the various source ports too.

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Enjay said:

However, you can't load additional files with the shareware IWAD


There was a period where several source ports (including ZDoom) would allow it. I even went ahead and posted it several times, and made some tests with it. DoomBuilder (the original) will also allow you to map using nothing more than the Shareware IWAD as a basis.

In practice however, it's not as cool as it sounds, : even if you take the most minimal, crappy 1994 PWAD shovelware CD-ROM full of E1M1 modifications, you'll soon find that very few maps will be playable with just the Shareware IWAD: there's almost always going to be some missing texture, flat or thing. And ofc no PL or BFG.

Edit: in addition, due to how the hackish TEXTURE1 lump works, any PWADs created with the shareware IWAD as a basis, are not usable with the registered IWAD, so this would really be a "shareware only" modding scene in the strictest sense of the word.

So, even if a "shareware only" modding scene had developed, it would not discourage people from buying (or warezing) the full game IMO: seriously, who would be content with playing just E1-styled maps with weapons only up to the RL, and only Doom 1 monsters w/o even lost souls, cacodemons etc., not to mention no Doom II support? Ofc, with DEHACKED things could be pushed a bit more, but still....

Avoozl said:

When you think about it Doom did sell very cheaply back in the day.


Doom must be the best value-preserving game franchise of all times. It hasn't been bargain-binned once, unlike other "big" titles. It's like a Rolling Stones or Led Zeppelin CD reissue: those are never sold at discounted or bargain prices on high street, but maintain their value, or even increase it. It's a veritable cash cow for whoever holds the copyrights, and rest assured that it will be milked for all that it's worth (and oh boy, it's still worth a lot).

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All true stuff about the shareware modding. I *think* there was a time when even some of the early Doom versions would have allowed it. If anyone really wanted to, they could just mod the IWAD and distribute that. However, that would mean mods of a couple of megabytes in size when 28.8k modems were still the thing and bulkletin boards were where files could be found.

I guess one of the reasons a scene never developed was that, from the outset, id were very clear that mods should not run on the shareware iwad. Modders were generally quite keen to comply with that and a number of bulletin boards and services such as Compuserve would also try and enforce the rule. If you look at a lot of the very early PWAD maps, they run on E2M1 because that was an easy and commonly used way to make your map incompatible with the SW IWAD. Even better was including a item from the full game in your map which would cause the SW game to crash/refuse to start. People, myself included, tended to do these kinds of things so the "don't mod for the SW game" mindset was there and reinforced from the start.

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Enjay said:

The shareware versions were updated by id as things progressed so if the version you got was up to date, it should have been newer than 1.2 by August 94. Maybe version 1.4 or 1.5? Of course, it could easily have been any versions prior to that depending on who was selling/packaging it and when they had got the copy that they used as a master.

It had pitch shifting so it must have been 1.2 or earlier. The clerk said something like "you don't have Doom yet?!" when I brought it to the counter, so I figure it might have been sitting around for a while. (I think I still had a 2400bps modem and was paying long distance for a decent BBS in 1994, which would explain why I paid for the shareware version at least six months after it came out...)

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Nothing! I borrowed Final Doom & Ultimate Doom off a friend, he moved away from the area so I still have it! I've considered it an extended loan :)

Dave

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Time for the old guy to rant: I ordered Doom from ID software by mail (you know, where that dude in the blue suits comes to your house and physically picks up a letter) after buying a shareware floppy from Staples. Doom 2 I purchased off-the-shelf from a computer store (CompWharehouse? -- something like that).

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I did much the same (the mail purchase part). I'm trying to remember what I had to do about the money side of it. I can't remember if I was able to include a personal cheque (that's how we spell it in the UK) in £ or if I had to do something like get an international money order in $.

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Nothing! Notta! Zip! Thy Doom possessions were purchased by my father before thy first breath, and thus I was a demon slayer from birth and ongoing.

Though recently I did spend $45 on getting a mostly new boxed copy of The Ultimate Doom for the poster since I believe my Mom threw the old one away many years ago. It's a nice poster :)

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Boxed Doom 2 (v1.666 afaik) on 5 3.5" floppies, and I cannot recall how much, it was a long time ago.

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Sod all, because I was too young to go around buying it myself when I first got the game. All three of the original games were gifts.

First version I did pay for with my own money was the PlayStation version for £15, which I ended up buying twice more (one for link games, the other as a replacement), and then Final Doom (again two copies, because link games).

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clarry said:

Copied the floppies from my uncle.

Never paid for Doom.


COME ON GUYS

There's actually a sequel to this and it's even cringier though the tune itself is banging if I say so myself

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I don't believe I've paid for a single entry in the Doom series. Makes sense, as Doom, Doom II, The Ultimate Doom and Final Doom all came out before I was 7, so obviously I'd have played my dad's copies (the original when I was four or five, not long after it came out). I've since kept a copy of the IWADs handy throughout my life and on every PC or laptop I've owned, although I've long since left the executables behind in favour of ZDoom (and before that I had Doom95 with Final Doom). I do remember some floppy disks being around with Doom on, but I doubt even they were originals. I certainly don't remember any sort of official packaging, branding or labelling.

Doom64 I didn't play until very recently, using Doom64 EX, so you can guess how I got hold of that. Doom 3 and Resurrection of Evil were both bought for me as presents when they were new. I did consider buying the BFG Edition, but with all the other stuff I still have yet to play, replaying a game I thought was moderately entertaining doesn't seem worthwhile, even with a new episode and some improvements.

I suspect I'll be buying the new Doom though, so that spree may end after some 23 years or so.

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My dad had floppy versions of Doom in the mid 90s, and later he bought the Depths of Doom Trilogy (Ultimate Doom, Doom II and Master Levels). Don't know how much he paid for it though. Ended up losing the CDs in the early 2000's, so I didn't play until PRIMEVAL gave me copies of the IWADs in 2008 or 2009. I ended up buying Ultimate Doom, Doom II, Final Doom, and the Master Levels on Steam back in August 2012 during a QuakeCon sale (coincidentally, like the one going on now). I don't remember the price, but it must have been cheap. $2.50 or $5 each, at the most.

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Nothing at first, as a friend of my dad's gave us his old 486, which had been preloaded with Doom, Doom 2 and Maximum Doom. Maximum Doom left quite an impression on me, because it was my introduction to video game mods.

I think the first copy of Doom I paid for with my own money would've been the GBA version when I was in college. That would've been £10 or less. I later bought the PC version for myself by getting the Collectors edition for about £2 in a charity shop.

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Enjay said:

And it even features id and Doom!

There wasn't any doom in 1992, that's why it's not mentioned in the first one.

I spent no money at all, GreyGhost did :P. It was an ID sale on steam and the classic doom collection was 75% off, if the regular price is 5$, GreyGhost spent 1.25$ on it and even bought some for others too, it was a pleasant surprise. To this day I'm still thanking GreyGhost for buying this masterpiece for me, thanks man!

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