The Beta Wiki Thread

[MrFlibble]

Added some more press releases and placeholders for lost ones (with accurate dates that you have never seen anywhere else )

Where did you get the ones that haven't been archived by the Wayback Machine?

[Hallfiry]

Added some more press releases and placeholders for lost ones (with accurate dates that you have never seen anywhere else )

Where did you get the ones that haven't been archived by the Wayback Machine?

I got the Mac announcement from groups.google (I think it was in comp.sys.mac.announce or something).
Warcraft 1 announcement and Blizzard name change were more tricky. They are listed as "first use" at the Patent and Trademark Office. You have to note though, that this is a rare occasion where these dates are actually correct. Often they are far off, because companies don't bother to hand in correct documents on time.

Most other releases I get from http://www.thefreelibrary.com

[MrFlibble]

Cool!

Would be awesome if you submitted the Warcraft release date as a correction for the MobyGames entry. Currently they only list the year of release.

[jimmsta]

I had never heard of the free library before, but it looks like it's a treasure trove of all articles previously released, whether it be PR releases, or other articles. Very cool resource, and a special thank you to Hallfiry for mentioning it.

[Hallfiry]

I had never heard of the free library before, but it looks like it's a treasure trove of all articles previously released, whether it be PR releases, or other articles. Very cool resource, and a special thank you to Hallfiry for mentioning it.

You're welcome.

I've noticed that seemingly there are Blizzard patches that contain press releases. I have an official packed version of the Warcraft1 1.21 patch (the newer variant, I think) that contains a file named WAR2PR.TXT that has the Warcraft 2 announcement press release. We should keep our eyes open for these things. (If I'm not mistaken, Warcraft 2 is the last Blizzard game that was not delayed and actually came out before the planned release date)

[MrFlibble]

I had never heard of the free library before, but it looks like it's a treasure trove of all articles previously released, whether it be PR releases, or other articles. Very cool resource, and a special thank you to Hallfiry for mentioning it.

Same here, The Free Library seems like a very cool resource

[Hallfiry]

I had never heard of the free library before, but it looks like it's a treasure trove of all articles previously released, whether it be PR releases, or other articles. Very cool resource, and a special thank you to Hallfiry for mentioning it.

Same here, The Free Library seems like a very cool resource

Protip: since they changed to power their keyword search by google, you get crap results there.
Switching to "title" will make you barf rivers of gold, silver and gemstones.

[MrFlibble]

As a bonus, here's an official announcement of the Mac version of the demo: Jul 17, 1996.

Just in case someone needs it, here's a working download link for the Mac Warcraft II demo:
http://web.archive.org/web/200405190924 ... i-demo.hqx

[Hallfiry]

WC 1 shareware CD 1.21 is now up:
http://www.blizzardarchive.com/pub/index.php?id=war1

It's not soooo special (even though it's pretty rare and I got it boxed), but surely a nice thing

[MrFlibble]

Cool! I take it there are video cutscenes, as in the regular CD version? Also briefing voice-overs probably?

Is there any CD Audio music, BTW?

Also, are you going to post CD and box cover photos?

[Hallfiry]

Cool! I take it there are video cutscenes, as in the regular CD version? Also briefing voice-overs probably?

Is there any CD Audio music, BTW?

Also, are you going to post CD and box cover photos?

Strangely I didn't hear briefing voiceovers, though they should actually be included (maybe I configuured something incorrectly). It also features cutscenes.

There is no CD Audio.

The retail price of the shareware (how paradox) was 4.95$ according to the price sticker (that I peeled off, now).

Scans coming soon...

[MrFlibble]

The retail price of the shareware (how paradox) was 4.95$ according to the price sticker (that I peeled off, now).

To the best of my knowledge, the practice of selling physical copies of shareware episodes goes back to the floppy times. The idea was that people who couldn't download the shareware episode could buy it for the cost of the media and its packaging (plus shipping and handling in case of orders). In fact, most if not all license texts that are included with shareware games indicate the maximum price a retailer or a shareware vendor may charge for a physical copy of the shareware version. For example, here's a floppy shareware version of Blake Stone.

Thanks for mentioning the price, I kind of assumed that shareware CDs, even if it were simply a jewel case and not a boxed edition, would cost more (about $10).

What about the MIDI music? The downloadable demo only has two MIDI tracks, with the Orc one (IIRC) also doubling as the main menu and mission briefing themes. No idea why they decided to remove more tracks, it's not like MIDI files take up a lot of space.

[Hallfiry]

Thanks for mentioning the price, I kind of assumed that shareware CDs, even if it were simply a jewel case and not a boxed edition, would cost more (about $10).

I'll even go as far as writing down the number that is written on the sticker, because I don't know if it can be of any future use: 1026

What about the MIDI music? The downloadable demo only has two MIDI tracks, with the Orc one (IIRC) also doubling as the main menu and mission briefing themes. No idea why they decided to remove more tracks, it's not like MIDI files take up a lot of space.

You won't believe it, but that shareware version has a full data.war file. All file slots are filled (warcraft 1 uses a fixed index), there are no empty entries.

The promised scans:

[MrFlibble]

Cool, thanks!

BTW, it doesn't have CD copy protection, does it?

[Hallfiry]

Cool, thanks!

BTW, it doesn't have CD copy protection, does it?

Nope, you can install and play it and don't have to type in the 17th word of the third verse of chapter 5 of a lost manuscript from the 3rd century BC while balancing the game box on your head.

It doesn't have any other weird protection mechanisms like sub channels, extra tracks, etc., either.


Differences between the data.war contents of retail (1.21 retail!) and the shareware are the following:
The bottom part of the title pic is different (copyright FormGen, etc.)
The mission files are different (that wasn't so hard to guess)
One dialog file is different by having a button that brings you to the ordering info.

[MrFlibble]

Nope, you can install and play it and don't have to type in the 17th word of the third verse of chapter 5 of a lost manuscript from the 3rd century BC while balancing the game box on your head.

It doesn't have any other weird protection mechanisms like sub channels, extra tracks, etc., either.

Good to know that. BTW, the Warcraft II CD shareware explicitly indicates that the game can be played without the CD, and in fact encourages "spawning" the shareware version:


A similar information screen is displayed in the game itself if you launch the shareware version without the CD (in the place where the registered version displays the "Please insert the CD, otherwise you can only join multiplayer games" message).

It's a pity that the shareware CD of StarCraft cannot be spawned in a similar manner (or did I miss something?).

[Hallfiry]

It's a pity that the shareware CD of StarCraft cannot be spawned in a similar manner (or did I miss something?).

But SCSW has bnet (if it can still connect), so you can actually play together (as with DiabSW).

[MrFlibble]

Well, TBH I'd prefer unlimited sharing of the SP campaign. I know it can be played as an add-on for the full game, but it isn't the same thing unless you play vanilla v1.01 or something like that.

[MrFlibble]

I've just noticed that two Bestseller Games CDs have a Warcraft installer with the date stamp from Nov 03, 1994:
http://www.kultcds.com/Catalog/index.ph ... 66999&o=da

Is that some kind of a full game release, or a demo as well?

Also, what's with this demo?
http://www.kultcds.com/Catalog/index.ph ... 63817&o=da

[Hallfiry]

I've just noticed that two Bestseller Games CDs have a Warcraft installer with the date stamp from Nov 03, 1994:
http://www.kultcds.com/Catalog/index.ph ... 66999&o=da

Is that some kind of a full game release, or a demo as well?

They are full releases.

Also, what's with this demo?
http://www.kultcds.com/Catalog/index.ph ... 63817&o=da

Warcraft 1 1.12 demo as found on Blizzard's "ftp":
http://ftp.blizzard.com/pub/demos/war1demo.zip

[MrFlibble]

Also, what's with this demo?
http://www.kultcds.com/Catalog/index.ph ... 63817&o=da

Gotta check that one... brb

Sorry, false alarm, this turned out to be the regular demo from Blizzard's FTP. Only the dates are wrong.

[Hallfiry]

Also, what's with this demo?
http://www.kultcds.com/Catalog/index.ph ... 63817&o=da

Gotta check that one... brb

Sorry, false alarm, this turned out to be the regular demo from Blizzard's FTP. Only the dates are wrong.

Seems like we found out at the same time

I think TempGuest mentioned that the TEN version is based on the Oct 06 demo. we should proably check the data.war contents for dragon sprites, etc.

[MrFlibble]

I think TempGuest mentioned that the TEN version is based on the Oct 06 demo. we should proably check the data.war contents for dragon sprites, etc.

So the TEN version is just a demo playable over TEN? Not the full game?

Also I haven't heard of any dragon sprites before (probably it's something mentioned in TempGuest's documentation?).

Apparently there are only a couple of zipped Warcraft demo files on the cover CDs in your collection. This one here is again the Nov 23 demo, but another one might be interesting:
http://www.kultcds.com/Catalog/index.ph ... 36918&o=da

I mean, it would be nice to find the original, unmodified zip files for the early demo versions.

[Hallfiry]

I think TempGuest mentioned that the TEN version is based on the Oct 06 demo. we should proably check the data.war contents for dragon sprites, etc.

So the TEN version is just a demo playable over TEN? Not the full game?

Also I haven't heard of any dragon sprites before (probably it's something mentioned in TempGuest's documentation?).

Dragons are listed as units in the game exe but they are missing in the war archives. They have an empty slot in the demos (afair) but not in the retail version.

Apparently there are only a couple of zipped Warcraft demo files on the cover CDs in your collection. This one here is again the Nov 23 demo, but another one might be interesting:
http://www.kultcds.com/Catalog/index.ph ... 36918&o=da

Ye same olde 1.12 demonstration.

I mean, it would be nice to find the original, unmodified zip files for the early demo versions.

That would be neat, but unlikely (atleast for the Oct04 version).

[MrFlibble]

Apparently there are only a couple of zipped Warcraft demo files on the cover CDs in your collection. This one here is again the Nov 23 demo, but another one might be interesting:
http://www.kultcds.com/Catalog/index.ph ... 36918&o=da

Ye same olde 1.12 demonstration.

So they just re-zipped it, I guess (since it's slightly smaller than war1demo.zip at Blizzard's).

Also I just found this (kind of) weird file: WARCD.ZIP

It seems to be one of the early October versions (pre-installed), but the fact that it has "CD" in the title makes it a bit confusing. On a second thought though, it might be simply a way to tell the user that the full game is released on CD, because everything else in that folder are shareware games that were unlikely to be published on CDs

BTW, I've just realized that the late November demo has the multiplayer option, while the earlier ones don't, right?