ETTiNGRiNDER

It's a nice thought, but this mostly wasn't possible for the stuff I was working with, a good portion of which is so old that the only contact given was a CompuServe address. The one time I was able to get in touch with an author, it was someone still semi-active who I was able to persuade to upload the file himself.

I did this with Heretic/Hexen stuff for a while and found it a far more frustrating experience than just trying to upload my own WADs. - First it generally required re-fitting all of the relevant data from the text file into the modern template (and guessing at any missing data, like assuming the file timestamp is suitable for a release date when not given). Then at some point (probably after management passed on from Ty) they started demanding that the text file in the .ZIP match the external one, so I started needing to include a renamed version of the original TXT in addition to a copy of the updated one. - Occasionally a DOS-valid filename had to be renamed to be accepted (eg. MIKE&KIL.WAD). I guess it's so as not to annoy POSIX systems with a character that requires an escape sequence? - There are a few sets that have a mixture of original levels with the occasional modified/converted IWAD level, leaving me with the choice of mutilating the WAD by removing a level or just not bothering to upload it. I went with the latter. - Ditto verboten sound replacements, though I'd feel less bad about stripping a joke sound effect from a WAD than a whole level, I would still prefer not to mess with someone's WAD for reasons other than game-breaking bugs. - Finally there are those WADs for which I couldn't find any text file at all, due to sloppy shovelware CD manufacturers or who knows why else. These were also ones where I had to shrug and give them a no-go regardless of if they seemed to have any value worth preserving. I guess on the preservation front, there's an argument to be made that it's better for the file to be preserved at all, and in a few cases where the TXT allowed it and there were fatal bugs in the WAD I added a bugfixed version since there's not much point in a WAD that can't be played, but another part of me feels there should be a collection that keeps the releases as pure as possible to the originals, no "uploaded by so-and-so" tags, no edits to meet this or that demand of a particular archive's rules. Given my current circumstances, it's somewhat of a moot point as it's unlikely that I'm going to be working on anything related to these files any time soon, but if someone wants me to gather up the remaining known or suspected lost stuff I've been sitting on so they can do their own preservation efforts, they're welcome to message me.

IIRC the EGADICT etc. files in the original DOS releases of these games were shipped as internal data inside the .EXE rather than separate files so you'd need to know what portion of the EXE they are and extract them if the tool wants an external one. https://moddingwiki.shikadi.net/wiki/EGAGraph_Format

Isn't the loophole that Mickey Mouse is still a trademarked character, so they can exert control that way independent of copyrights?

@TheHambourgeois Underwater level?

It's at least partially an issue with a bug in the vanilla engine that causes problems with added sprites (which the exclusive H!ZONE episodes had). Why they went the proprietary route rather than use something standard like the DEUSF solution most TCs/PCs of the time used, I could only speculate, it may in part have been just that, a desire to keep things proprietary.

Legal hassles might be part of it but also the "original WAD files" don't exist in the way you'd expect them to. H!ZONE used a nasty installer that patched the new episodes directly into your IWAD, so the closest to the original thing you can get is to dig up a disc image of the compilation and install it in DOSBox.

I'm mostly comparing to some of the more eye-burning specimens from the old Medieval Textures/Baker's Legacy packs. Keep up the good work.

@TheHambourgeois Oooh, recolors that actually look good. Thank you! Those magic lights are cool, too!

I.M. Meen also straight-up clones ShadowCaster's interface for... some reason (IIRC people investigated and concluded it wasn't based on the same engine despite the similarities)

@Shanoa The red orb could possibly use a touch more contrast (if the palette will allow for it) to give it a bit more of a high-gloss look like the others. Otherwise looking pretty good.

I think they did that so that they could flag the orb but not the statue as fullbright. Might've also saved a little bit of WAD space but the former is probably the main reason.

@TheHambourgeois I feel like the wood ones might look better if the decorative panels were made from a single piece of wood rather than planks.

Not sure if it's the longest per se if you're just trying to run to the exit, but I'm pretty sure it has the highest monster count. Maybe. I have a bunch of material for one on my HD but it's not as complete or organized as this is so would take a bunch of additional mapping to actually make it into something finished. Noted, I'll see about getting a comprehensive look at the problem.

Seeing as people are mentioning some things that got preview material released but maybe never came out in a playable form at all, I still occasionally think back on Killian Reed with a certain disappointment that it never saw the light of day. Even the videos are down now but there are some fragmentary images and such on the thread still. https://forum.zdoom.org/viewtopic.php?t=26918