Versions of Doom and Doom II

From 1993 to 1995, various versions of Doom and Doom II were released by id Software to address bugs and input from players and fans. Additionally a few early versions were preserved by testers, which eventually made their way to public archives. Surmised below are the main differences of each known version of the games, as changes were made. Executable and IWAD resource differences are noted, as well as what levels were modified, if any. For details on what was changed in each level, refer to the article about that level.

v0.2

 * Main article: Doom v0.2


 * Compiled February 4, 1993.
 * One flat level with non-orthogonal texture-mapped walls and inactive monsters.
 * Non-interactive status interface like a helmet interior
 * Commands to alter some level properties

v0.4

 * Main article: Doom v0.4


 * Compiled April 2, 1993.
 * Various recognizable levels in an early stage of design.
 * Non-functional lifts.
 * Player rifle can be fired.

v0.5

 * Main article: Doom v0.5


 * Compiled May 22, 1993.
 * More levels are present, including a version of MAP10: Refueling Base.
 * Platforms move, and doors can be opened.
 * The player is harmed by damaging floors, and can die.
 * Various items are present, and can be picked up.
 * Health kits will heal the player, but use graphics from Wolfenstein 3D.
 * Clips give ammo.
 * Keys and bonus (point scoring) items are also present.
 * The inactive monsters disappear when shot.
 * The player has a rifle bayonet for melee attacks.

Press release beta

 * Main article: Doom press release beta


 * Compiled October 4, 1993.
 * Functionally is fairly close to the commercial release
 * Includes three levels.
 * The plasma gun fires red as well as green shots.
 * The BFG9000 fires many plasma gun shots in a wide field in front of the player.

v1.0

 * Released December 10, 1993.
 * Initial public release.
 * Internally numbered as v0.99.
 * No registered version yet.
 * It is possible to play the 1.1 registered IWAD with this version, one must rename this wad to "doom1.wad", it also mentions that this is the "commercial version" in the startup screen, rather than registered.

v1.1

 * Released December 16, 1993.
 * The first registered release of Doom.
 * First appearance of gamma correction, which is either on or off.
 * A more stable version of the DOS extender (DOS/4GW).
 * Sound Blaster 1.0 support.
 * Textual changes:
 * At the text screen of Knee-Deep in the Dead "buy" is changed to "play" in the final sentence.
 * The "This version is NOT SHAREWARE, do not distribute!" text was added, to be shown with the registered version.
 * Many more, including capitalization, spelling corrections and additional error messages.


 * Serial mode multiplayer was added.
 * The command line parameters -send and -receive were added.

v1.2

 * Released February 17, 1994.
 * Rewritten sound code.
 * Modem/null-modem support. This release saw the network code split into external "drivers", providing a modular network system.
 * PAS-16 stereo support
 * First appearance of "Nightmare!" skill level.
 * Mouse and joystick can be used in the menus.
 * Gamma correction mode was expanded to include five settings (0-4).
 * Improved joystick calibration.
 * Multiplayer text macros.
 * The "-left" and "-right" network options no longer work.
 * Textual changes:
 * "CENTER the joystick and press button 1:" was added, changes to other joystick messages were also made.
 * "I_StartupSound: forking sound daemon." in 1.1 was changed to "I_StartupSound: Hope you hear a pop."
 * "OpenSocket: ..", "ListenForPacket: .." and a few others were removed.

Bug fixes:


 * Fix for the broadcast packet bug which caused many networks to suffer decreases in performance.
 * Runs under Windows
 * Z_Malloc error implemented.
 * IRQ 2 works.
 * Savegame slots 5 and 6 work.
 * Switches and platforms work when reloading from a saved game.
 * Network play no longer locks up when using a sound card.

v1.3
There are two known variants of this version: first level and second level betas. Id Software stated that these releases were unauthorized, possibly because these executables had partial support for Doom II, which was being developed at the time.

Second level

 * Improvements to MIDI and modem code.
 * Additional PAS console information.
 * Could load doomr.wad (commercial mode, what would become DOOM2.WAD)
 * Textual changes:
 * "malloc in I_InitNetwork failed" was added.
 * "program loaded at: 0x%p" was removed.
 * "Game mode indeterminate" was added and "Adding external file %s." was removed.
 * "registered version." was added.
 * "Do not distribute!" was added when in commercial mode.


 * -wart parameter was changed to support loading from MAP** files, also located in m:/cdata/ (including E*M* files).
 * The command line parameters: -regdev and -comdev were added.
 * -regdev loads these files: c:/localid/doom.wad, m:/data/texture1.lmp, m:/data/texture2.lmp, m:/data/pnames.lmp and c:/localid/default.cfg.
 * -comdev loads these files: c:/localid/doomr.wad, m:/cdata/texture1.lmp and m:/cdata/pnames.lmp.
 * It is understood that these parameters were used to aid in the development of Doom and Doom II into 1 unique executable, "regdev" would have meant "registered development mode" and the "com" in "comdev" would have meant "commercial".

v1.4

 * Released June 28 1994.
 * Support for 14.4 and 28.8k modems.
 * Improved null-modem/modem support.
 * Improved version of setup:
 * Phone number list.
 * Database of modem control strings.
 * Addition of a level warp key (F1).
 * Allows up to 8 sound channels to be selected.


 * Addition of Deathmatch 2.0 (altdeath mode).
 * First inclusion of the Doom FAQ.
 * Multiplayer demos can be recorded.
 * Recorded demos no longer end when the player dies or at the end of a level. The 'Q' key must be pressed to end a demo.
 * Addition of the '-maxdemo' command line argument.
 * Addition of multiplayer "spy" mode (F12 key).
 * PWAD files can no longer be used with the shareware version.
 * Maps can be reloaded using the IDCLEV cheat code when map editing on a LAN.
 * Response file support.
 * AWE32 support.

Bug fixes:


 * Projectiles no longer trigger linedefs.
 * More than two people can play over a network without crashes.
 * Sound problem fixes.
 * Fix for a bug with the PS/2 mouse.
 * Savegame bug fix, where player saves a game under a door, restores it and presses the use key.
 * Difficulty can be selected when starting a null-modem/modem game.
 * '+' and '-' can be typed in multiplayer chat mode.
 * Map bug fixes.

v1.5

 * Released July 8, 1994.
 * Rewrite of the null-modem/modem support (SERSETUP).
 * Improved GUS instrument mapping file.
 * Increased savegame buffer size.

Bug fixes:


 * Help screen mentions the gamma correction function.
 * Bug with response file fixed.
 * Bug when using a baud rate greater than 38,400 bps in null-modem/modem games fixed.
 * Deathmatch bug fixed where items reappeared but could not be picked up.

v1.6
The registered version for 1.6 appears to be "semi-official", the patch was created by Eric Yick Leung and was distributed around various newsgroups, the IWAD file has changed since 1.2 and is not reported modified by the game executable.


 * Released August 3, 1994.
 * ENDOOM had changed, text was added by Eric, calling himself a "DOOM-GOD" and John Romero a "Chicken", a reference of the former also appears on a newsgroup thread.
 * All demos are different, but are recreations of earlier demos. DEMO1 is almost the same, DEMO2 is a cooperative demo, possibly of Leung and Romero playing, and DEMO3 is another recreation, that desyncs towards the end.

v1.666

 * Released September 1, 1994.
 * Addition of the -timer command line option.
 * Doom FAQ updated to version 5.8.

v1.7

 * Various IWAD changes.
 * DeathManager! was not included in this release.
 * README.EXE file was added back.
 * No README.TXT file.

v1.7a

 * Various level design bugs. (HOM, see through walls, etc.).
 * Sound code changes.
 * Re-appearance of DeathManager! version 1.1
 * ENDOOM lump had a phone number change.

v1.8

 * Doom FAQ updated to version 6.666.

v1.9

 * Released February 1, 1995.


 * See also The Ultimate Doom.