
                         How To FTP Shareware Doom
                         ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

                           Last Change: 3/Mar/95
                           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Notes:
^^^^^^
Please read ALL of this file before attempting to get the game, to make
sure you understand what to do. A list of Doom ftp sites will be sent to you
immediately following this message. Use this list to decide where to obtain
files by ftp. If you require more details about how to use ftp then email me
asking for the 'introduction to ftp' help file. Note: it's possible that you
may have received this message second and the ftp list first; if that happened,
apologies for any confusion caused. Finally, once you get onto an ftp site and
have found the main Doom directory, you will find all the files discussed here
in the 'idstuff' sub-directory.

Introduction.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^
One easy way to get Shareware Doom is from an ftp site.

Many sites have the shareware version, which is the whole of episode 1 from
the registered version (the full game has a further two episodes but you
will NOT be able to find this on ftp sites for obvious reasons! :D). However,
there are only a few sites that are _guaranteed_ to have the appropriate files.
These sites are the main Doom ftp site (see ftp site list) and the various
'mirrors' of this site which exist around the world.

Sites will usually also have the various patch files with which one can upgrade
older versions of Shareware Doom (and also Registered Doom patches, if you
happen to have Registered Doom). There are quite a few older versions of
Shareware Doom floating about (many people never bother upgrading), but the
only one which is available from the main Doom ftp site and its mirrors is the
_latest_ version of Shareware Doom, namely v1.9. Note that if you are looking
for Shareware Doom that is NOT to be run on a PC, then look in the appropriate
sub directory within 'idstuff' (eg. SGI, SUN, NEXT, etc.) and note that non-pc
Shareware Doom will tend to be from v1.6 to v1.8. Always download the
accompanying text files for non-pc versions as the installation instructions
will be very different from the pc version.

If you intend to upgrade an older version of Shareware Doom, then please see
Appendix A which has more information on this subject.


Downloading Shareware Doom.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Here are instructions for downloading Shareware Doom, version 1.9...

Step 1: Ftp to an appropriate site.

As an example, I did this (I'm using Unix, incidentally. PC users might
use an ftp program from Windows, etc.):

   ftp ftp.luth.se

This site is in Sweden, Europe, by the way.

At the prompt for your name, enter 'ftp' (minus the quotes). If 'ftp' gives
an error, enter 'anonymous' instead.

As a password, enter your full email address; i.e. you'd enter:

   <name>@<address>

e.g. I entered:

   mapleson@cee.hw.ac.uk

Actually, I could have abbreviated this to just:

  mapleson@

since most ftp sites 'fill in' the rest automatically.

Type the password carefully as it won't be echoed to the screen.


Step 2: Goto the appropriate directory.

On this particular site, enter:

   cd pub/doom/idstuff

followed by:

   dir

(on some sites you might have to enter 'ls -l' though this is not common.
I'd include the -l to see how big the files are)

Amongst the various files, you'll see these two:

-r--r--r--  1 31       20            488 Feb 15 23:44 doom_19s.txt
-r--r--r--  1 31       20        2450688 Feb 15 23:46 doom_19s.zip

The file doom_19s.zip is the shareware game in zip (compressed) form. The file
doom_19s.txt is a brief contents description of the zip file. The README
contained within the zip file has a more detailed decription.

The other files which will be visible are patch files for various version of
Shareware and Registered Doom I, plus patch files for various version of
Registered Doom II (there is NO Shareware version of Doom II). See Appendix A
for more details on patch files.


Step 3: Use binary mode.

Before you can get the file(s), you have to switch to binary mode, otherwise
any files you get will be useless. So enter this:

   bin

Or, if that gives an error (very unlikely), enter this:

   image

You'll get a message saying 'Switched to type: binary', or something
similar ('Switched to type I, binary.', is a common message).


4. Next, enter this:

   hash

This will make '#' symbols appear during the ftp process, enabling
you to see how the transfer is getting on. Each '#' represents a
certian number of bytes transfered. It varies from 1024 to 8000
upwards. Incidentally, if you can use the ncftp program, that program
actually tells you what percentage of the transfer has been completed
so far, which is more informative than # symbols. I, however, can only
use ordinary ftp. Users of Mosaic or Netscape (or any other World Wide Web
browser) will find such programs also give a good indication of how the ftp
transfer is going.

It isn't necessary to enter hash for the ftp to work, but I always do
because I find the feedback useful. It's reassuring to see those hash signs
appearing. :)

Enter this to get the big Doom file:

   get doom_19s.zip

followed (after a possibly hefty wait!) by:

   quit

to exit the ftp program (or click on 'Disconnect', whatever is appropriate).

Actually, a safer way to exit ftp is to enter 'close' before entering
'quit', but (so far) leaving out the 'close' has caused me no problems.

Of course, you might find you can't get onto a site because too many
other people are on it. If this happens, use a different site or try
later on.

Also, you can keep an eye on how the ftp is going by repeatedly listing the
file that's getting created as you wait (assuming you can do more than one
thing at once, using some kind of windowing system. I use XWindows on an SGI
Indy, so this is easy). Comparing this to how big the file will eventually be
gives you some idea of how long it's going to take. If it's gonna take *hours*,
kill the process off (if you can! Easy on Unix) and try a different site. Try
to use a site that's closest to you and don't forget that the early hours of
the morning (say, 3am to 8am, local time of the site) will be the best time to
transfer files.

How long the file(s) takes to transfer will vary greatly from site to site,
from 30 to 40 seconds to as much as an hour.

The example site I used here is usually pretty fast (peaks at 100K/sec
where I am in Edinburgh); however, in this case, I downloaded the file in
mid evening so it took just under 14 minutes (the fastest I've had from this
site for this file is 30 seconds). Unfortunately, modem users are going to
get MUCH slower rates. If you're in the UK, download at cheap rate times! :D

But most of all, always try and use a site that's closest to you; ie. if a
mirror of the main Doom ftp site is closer to you than the main site itself,
then use the closer one. Actually, this is a general rule as it depends partly
upon what kind of machine is actually running the ftp site which you're trying
to access. For instance, ftp.luth.se (in Sweden) is run by a much more powerful
machine than the one which manages a Doom mirror site in the UK, so even
though the Swedish site is much further awaym it's actually up to six times
faster than the UK site from where I am! :D

You can also do a little test to see how fast the site is. Download a small
file (any one will do) that's around 30K. From this you can work out how long
the Shareware game would take to download and hence the overall speed of one
site compared to another. You'll probably find speeds vary greatly throughout
the day. Build up a list of 'best times' to access various sites. Doing this
could gratly reduce your phone charges, so it's well worth it. Anyway, on with
the ftp...

The file you get is a 'zip' file which means it has been compressed. You need
an unzipping program to extract the original file(s).

UNIX users should have a system command called 'unzip', so enter:

   unzip doom_19s.zip

PC users need something like PKUNZIP v2.04g, in which case you'd enter:

   pkunzip doom_19s.zip

A few words on unzipping files: make sure, if you're using PKUNZIP, that you
have version 2.04g just to be on the safe side. If you do not have this, I
can send it to you if you have a uudecoding program, or you can ftp PKUNZIP.

Where to get pkunzip by ftp:

pkunzip:   Version 2.04g is available from oak.oakland.edu in the directory
           /pub/msdos/zip and the file name is pkz204g.exe (this is a self-
           extracting archive. Run the program and the various pk utilities
           will be extracted for you automatically).


I got the following from unzipping the file:

  Inflating: install.bat            
  Inflating: deice.exe              
  Inflating: dooms_19.dat           
 Extracting: dooms_19.1             
  Inflating: dooms_19.2             

Thus, entering 'ls -l' (I'm using Unix; pc users use dir of course) gave:

-rw-r--r--  1 mapleson    17303 Feb  2 01:23 deice.exe
-rw-r--r--  1 mapleson  2450688 Mar  3 12:14 doom_19s.zip
-rw-r--r--  1 mapleson  1439232 Feb  2 01:24 dooms_19.1
-rw-r--r--  1 mapleson   994588 Feb  2 01:24 dooms_19.2
-rw-r--r--  1 mapleson      226 Feb  2 01:23 dooms_19.dat
-rw-r--r--  1 mapleson      184 Feb  3 18:13 install.bat

You can now delete the doom_19s.zip file if you want to.

If you don't already have the files on your pc, you will need to transfer
them to floppies and get them there. You'll need two high density floppy
disks. Say they're called Disk 1 and Disk 2.

Place the file 'doom_19.2' on Disk 2 (Disk TWO). Place all the remaining
files on Disk 1.

On your pc, insert Disk 1, select drive A, and enter:

   install

The game will then install itself.

The two disks take about two and a half minutes to load from the two floppy
disks. After this is finished, you will be asked to re-insert Disk 1 and
press RETURN (by the way, if you can afford the hard drive space, you can
install the game direct from having the files on your hard drive, in a
directory call INSTALL or something, which is MUCH faster! Just copy them
over and enter install from there).

Having pressed RETURN, it will ask you what drive you want to decompress the
game to. Just press the letter that corresponds to the drive you want.

Then, you are asked for the directory to install into (usually in the form
<drive>:\DOOMSW or something similar). Again, just press RETURN (unless you
want to alter the directory specification to \games\doom or something).

After pressing RETURN, the game will 'DE-ICE' - that is, it will decompress
itself onto the drive. This process only takes 20 seconds on a 486/66, but
it'll probably take somewhat longer (maybe a minute or two) on something
like a 386/40. Depends on your processor and drive type. What I _can_ say is
that about 4 lines of dots appear (you'll know what I mean by that when you
see it). The speed at which the dots are displayed should then give you some
idea as to how long it's going to take to DEICE. Shouldn't take long...

When it's finished, the game will automatically run the Doom setup program:

Select your sound card settings (if wanted/possible), re-configure the
controls if necessary/desired, etc. Then select the 'Save settings and
run Doom' option.

And that's it! Note: make sure that if you reconfigure the mouse or keyboard
controls, you must press F10 to accept the new setup, and _not_ RETURN!

This setup program can be run any time from DOS by entering 'setup' from
your Doom directory, by the way.

Doom runs best on a 'clean' system, i.e. make sure you have nothing
unnecessary running in memory, sych as EMM. If you have DOS 6.2 or higher,
hold down Shift during boot-up. Alternatively, create special autoexec.bat
and config.sys files that have the barest minimum of essentials for playing
Doom (sound card commands, etc).

The biggest improvment you can get in speed in Doom (after selecting low
res mode and/or reducing screen size) is to upgrade from 4 meg to 8 meg of
RAM. If the game is slow, try reducing screen size and use low res mode. After
memory, a big improvement can be obtained by using a VESA Local Bus and good
video card. Doom is a bus-instensive game. I hear a good video card is the
Tseng series. If don't have much memory, a faster hard drive helps. Obviously,
a faster processor will always give a general speed-up, but RAM and bus speed
are probably the key factors as regards smoothness of game play.
 

NOTE! Read the README file in the Doom directory! It has LOTS of useful info
and trouble-shooting answers.

Have fun! :)

Ian.

PS. Some of you may try Nightmare mode first. Remember: only the iddt and
idclev cheats work in Nightmare mode, so don't complain when you find you
can't get god mode, max ammo, etc. In case you have NO idea what I'm talking
about, here is a small cheat summary (for full details, ask me for the
cheats file - if I haven't already sent it to you. The cheats work by just
typing them at anytime during normal play):

iddqd         - Gode mode.
idkfa         - Gets you max ammo, health, colour keys, etc.
idfa          - As idkfa, but no keys.
idspispopd    - No clipping (walk through walls). The equivalent code in
                Doom II is 'idclip'.
idbehold      - Power up (followed by one of S, V, I, R, A or L).
idclev        - Warp to episode/level (press two digit keys after typing).
idmypos       - Display co-ordinates in hexadecimal notation.
idchoppers    - Gives you the chainsaw.
iddt          - Toggle map detail (can only be used whilst in Map Mode).

- End of main help info.

)*-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Appendix A. Using patch files.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Patch files.
^^^^^^^^^^^^
If you have an earlier version of Shareware Doom, you can either download the
latest version complete or upgrade step by step via the patch files. Which
option you choose depends on how large the patch files are, ie. how many
upgrade steps you'd have to go through to get your Shareware Doom up to the
latest version. If you'd have to use more than two patches, then save yourself
the hassle and just download the latest version complete.

If you look in the idstuff directory on the Doom ftp sites, you will see a
umber of files, most of which are patch files; here is a decription of the
various patch files available (this info only applies for pc versions of Doom
and Doom II):

 File Size     File name                    Upgrade Description
 ^^^^^^^^^     ^^^^^^^^^                    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  118016      doom2p16.zip          Doom II from v1.666 to v1.7a.
  64444       doom2p17.zip          Doom II from v1.7 to v1.7a.
  434005      d2_19pat.zip          Doom II from v1.7a to v1.9.
  152177      d2_18_19.zip          Doom II from v1.8 to v1.9.

  388592      dm1_2spt.zip          Shareware Doom I from v1.1 to v1.2. (****)
  650746      dm1666sp.zip          Shareware Doom I from v1.2 to v1.666.
  531594      dm19spat.zip          Shareware Doom I from v1.666 to v1.9.
  91165       dms18_19.zip          Shareware Doom I from v1.8 to v1.9.

  450819      dm1_2rpt.zip          Registered Doom I from v1.1 to v1.2. (****)
  770394      dm1666rp.zip          Registered Doom I from v1.2 to v1.666.
  511766      dm19rpat.zip          Registered Doom I from v1.666 to v1.9.
  90978       dmr18_19.zip          Registered Doom I from v1.8 to v1.9.

(****) I have a help file regarding these particular patches. If you intend to
use either of them, please email me for the help file.

There is also a patch file to upgrade from v1.0 to v1.1, but this is no longer
readily available (it should still be locatable by archie or gopher though).
Note that Australian players wishing to upgrade from v1.1 to v1.2 should email
me _first_ for special info.

Patch files work by 'patching' the .WAD, .EXE and other files with new data,
creating a new version of each. The patching process expects a _clean_ and
unmodified version of the game to upgrade. When using a patch, it is best to
unzip the patch zip file _outside_ your Doom directory; this is because the new
FILE_ID.DIZ can overwrite the old one, which stops the patch from working
since it expects to find the old one! This problem is particularly acute with
the v1.1 --> v1.2 patch, thus the existence of a special help file I have
regarding upgrading from v1.1 to v1.2.

Anyway, after unzipping the patch files, move the 'patch*.*' files into your
Doom directory and run them (enter 'PATCH'). Each file will be updated in turn.
The process can take some time on systems with slow hard drives, so it's best
to just leave it running and go make some coffee or something. :)

- End of Appendix A.

)*-------------------------------------------------------------------------

This help brought to you by:

The Doom Help Service (DHS).
Co-ordinator of rec.games.computer.doom.help.

WWW addresses:   

  Home page:     http://www.cee.hw.ac.uk/~mapleson/
  DHS:           http://www.cee.hw.ac.uk/~mapleson/doom/doom.html
  Help Archive:  http://www.cee.hw.ac.uk/~mapleson/doom/doomhelp.zip
  Dissertation:  http://www.cee.hw.ac.uk/~mapleson/diss/diss.html
  SGI Stuff:     http://www.cee.hw.ac.uk/~mapleson/sgistuff/sgindex.html

Ian C. R. Mapleson BSc.,
Oceans Systems Research Group,
Room G86,
Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering,
Heriot Watt University,
Riccarton Campus,
EH14 4AS,
Edinburgh,
Scotland,
United Kingdom.

email to: mapleson@cee.hw.ac.uk

