Shadow Warrior FREE on Steam with 2 prototype builds

[Tzarge]

*Didn't see a post about this yet*
There's a free download of Shadow Warrior (1997) on Steam, it's not the REDUX version, it's the standard DOS game. It is free, and now comes with 2 beta builds of the game!

One of the beta's has been online since 1997, as it was leaked by a tech support employee who wanted to play with his friends, and it made its way beyond just the friend. It has now been legitimized, as many did not know of its existence or presence on the web.

 

You can find out more about this beta here:
http://hendricks266.duke4.net/swbeta.php

 

The other is an alpha build from 1996. If you have ever taken a look at the DN3D "GOODIES" folder found on the disc, it showed screenshots from this build. It is very unfinished for the most part, but has some interesting levels, art, etc. that you may find interesting or even useful for modding.

Even better, there's 6 other alpha/beta prototypes that may soon see release in this format as well. One of them cannot be ran due to some error with the EXE, but they may just include the folder for people to explore it. I'm not sure when these other 6 will be released, but seeing that they did this with 2 of them, I could see them doing it with the rest.

 

Duke Nukem 3d has several, several, prototype builds, and negotiations to release them are apparently being made. I think there are so many prototypes of DN3D in the archive, that it may take a really long time to ever see these, and also Gearbox has to agree to it (and so far things are looking up).

[Avoozl]

GoG has Shadow Warrior free also and it includes the redbook audio music which the Steam version seemed to be lacking last time I tried it.

Edited May 20, 2017 by Avoozl

[Chow Yun Thin]

I knew that SW DOS was free on Steam, but hadn't thought that GoG did the same thing. Thanks for the heads-up!

 

GoG also has Mount & Blade for free for the next 24 hours.

[ReX]

"Come get-a sum Waang!"

 

Ha! I loved Shadow Warrior. I must check to see if it was ever ported outside of DOS.

 

EDIT: I do recall JonoF's Shadow Warrior Port (JFSW), but it was a WIP. Any other recommendations for a stable port?

[Avoozl]

There wasn't just JonoF's port, there was also SWP by ProASM http://www.proasm.com/files/sw/Swp430.zip

 

But it needs compatibility mode set to I think Windows 7 to fix a sound crackling issue, also versions 4.3.1 and 4.3.2 have a save crash and corruption issue, but 4.3.0 is fine and there's only minor non-gameplay related differences in the later versions.

[Tzarge]

I'm not sure if the GOG version has the two beta versions with it now or not. That's really the appeal to the Steam version at the moment. Even if you own the game, if you're interested in the betas just install the steam one, and take the beta folders and then remove the SW game from Steam.

[Avoozl]

Well it's a no brainer really, GoG version for CD music, Steam version for betas.

[[McD] James]

I've yet to find a source port for Shadow Warrior that doesn't play terribly. 

Edited June 4, 2019 by Ajora

[Graf Zahl]

It's really too bad about these old Build games. In terms of artwork they easily outclassed Doom by a huge margin, but trying to play them on modern system always ends up in an exercise of frustration because the old engines handle so badly and no good ports exist.

[MrFlibble]

7 hours ago, Avoozl said:

There wasn't just JonoF's port, there was also SWP by ProASM http://www.proasm.com/files/sw/Swp430.zip

 

But it needs compatibility mode set to I think Windows 7 to fix a sound crackling issue, also versions 4.3.1 and 4.3.2 have a save crash and corruption issue, but 4.3.0 is fine and there's only minor non-gameplay related differences in the later versions.

The sound issues are fixed in the updated version released by Hendriscks266 (one of developers of EDuke32):

https://github.com/Hendricks266/SWP/wiki

[Avoozl]

22 minutes ago, MrFlibble said:

The sound issues are fixed in the updated version released by Hendriscks266 (one of developers of EDuke32):

https://github.com/Hendricks266/SWP/wiki

Good to know, thanks for the heads up.

[Agentbromsnor]

3 hours ago, Ajora said:

I've yet to find a source port for Shadow Warrior that doesn't play like a dead prawn in a sock. 

SWP is fairly painless, in my opinion. Just turn off the texture-filtering and it looks pretty accurate compared to the DOS version. You might want to get an older version though, since the later versions corrupted save files.

[<inactive>Player Lin]

2 hours ago, Agentbromsnor said:

SWP is fairly painless, in my opinion. Just turn off the texture-filtering and it looks pretty accurate compared to the DOS version. You might want to get an older version though, since the later versions corrupted save files.

 

I'm sure Hendricks266's 4.3.3-beta3 fixed the corrupted save problems, maybe not 100% but at least working. 

 

Too bad he's too busy at his college life to keeps maintaining his projects and VoidSW(SW port based EDuke32) still can't see its light yet. :(

 

4 hours ago, Graf Zahl said:

It's really too bad about these old Build games. In terms of artwork they easily outclassed Doom by a huge margin, but trying to play them on modern system always ends up in an exercise of frustration because the old engines handle so badly and no good ports exist.

 

EDuke32 just a exception I guess..but if someone means "Stable releases" then whatever. :p

 

Lack of skilled coder(whose can understand Build engine AND have time to do) always be the problem, unlike DooM has lot of them so I'm not surprise... :(

Edited May 20, 2017 by Player Lin : Fixing my shitty grammars...

[DoctorGenesis]

9 hours ago, Graf Zahl said:

It's really too bad about these old Build games. In terms of artwork they easily outclassed Doom by a huge margin, but trying to play them on modern system always ends up in an exercise of frustration because the old engines handle so badly and no good ports exist.

Yeah, it's rather unfortunate. EDuke32 is alright but it definitely isn't up to anything like your source-port, Doomsday, Doom Legacy or Darkplaces.

[Tzarge]

They're going to release the other betas of SW soon. In fact, I think they may have already.

[Pencil of Doom]

I hope those betas are made available on GoG, because no way i'm using Steam.

[DoctorGenesis]

2 minutes ago, Pencil of Doom said:

I hope those betas are made available on GoG, because no way i'm using Steam.

What's wrong with Steam?

[Phoenix]

A

2 hours ago, Tzarge said:

They're going to release the other betas of SW soon. In fact, I think they may have already.

where did you hear that?

[Tzarge]

They're currently being setup to be user friendly. So stay tuned.

 

Also, if you don't like Steam, you can take the files out and most likely set them up with the GOG version, or run them by themselves.

[Phoenix]

The title should now read ..... with 8 prototype builds

They uploaded all builds archived by Joe Siegler, and Hendricks266 (duke4) did some magic with the menus. This is like a history of game development.