date: Wed 30 Jul 2025 08:38:15 PM PDT
subj: doom and doom II
------------------------------------------------------------

I remember long time ago, over 30 years now, the game company ID
was rocken it in the video games world. The family computer a
386sx or 486 ... I can't remember what it was specifically, but
it was hosting Wolf 3D, and Wolfenstein, and Duke Nukem
(Apogee). I know it started as a 386, and I paid to upgrade it
to a 486 and I know there was an sx and dx and a math
co-processor, but which i386 chip had the combo of sx or dx and
math co-processor, I can't remember anymore. I do know Wolf 3d
was one of the games I played, and later Wolfenstein. Then my
brother and I heard of Doom hitting the BBS's. 

Trying to get Doom wasn't easy. The BBS back then had time
limits. My access levels typically didn't allow me to keep a
line tied up long enough to download Doom. It was a complicated
process to download a large file, or set of files. Each night I
had to login to the BBS, The Wrong Number, and add as much time
as was allowed to the time bank, until I had enough time for a
session that would allow me to download Doom. After a week of
doing saving time each night,  I attempted to download Doom, at
the time I might have had a 28K modem, so a download of 1.44
megabytes took a long time. Inevitably in the middle of
downloading someone at our house would pick up the phone,
causing the download parity to fail and abort the zmodem
transfer. After several attempt to download Doom, and failing to
get a complete download, I had to find another way to get Doom
shareware version.  

Around that time I was driving in town and I spotted a computer
store in I hadn't been to, so I decided to stop in and take a
look at their shop. I saw all the nice new computers I couldn't
afford, but to my surprise a few of them were using Doom as a
demo to help sell the computer. The light bulb in my mind went
off, 'I'll copy the game from the computer at this store!' I
quickly left the store, got in my parents car, and drove home.
When I got home I told my brother Doom is on a computer at a
store near Copland Sports! Lets grab some floppies and see if we
can make a copy! So my brother and I get in the car and drive
back across town to the computer store. I ask one of the
salesmen if I could make a copy of the Doom shareware game. 
	
	Back then sometimes people didn't like to share even if
	the software was shareware. It was this I have it you
	want it but don't have it thing that gave some people
	some strange power in the computing world. To my
	surprise the salesmen seemed happy to let us make a copy
	of the game. Back then  putting a floppy in a drive at a
	computer store, was messing around, and usually got the
	attention of someone in negative way. Not this time! 

Hoping I knew enough to make a copy and the original setup files
were there, I put the 3.5 inch floppy discs into the computer,
got to the MSDos shell and made a copy. I made an extra copy
just in case something happened between the trip home, and for
good measure. If I had to drive back and ask again, the person
who said we could make a copy might not be there, and I didn't
want to even have to ask again, or risk hearing "no!" I would
have to rebel and make a copy anyway, or find away to do it
quickly without anyone know, just stuff that was considered
shady, and I didn't want to risk having to do that.  

I was so excited about obtaining the game, but now it was time
to get in the car and back home to see if we can make it work on
our system. My brother and I got in the car and drove home. We
felt like something big had happened. 

When we got home it was time to install the game. That came with
challenges because our tiny 20 meg hard drive was already maxed
out and double spaced. So it was time to make important
decisions about what to remove, and that was never easy. Removal
meant attempting to use msbackup to transfer the game and saves
to floppies in a funky msbackup way. A compressed file with
catalog on one of the disks. Usually it took more than one
floppy to backup what we were remvoing. The process was also time
consuming to do. Finding enough floppies that didn't have other
crap on them, or at least crap we didn't care about any more,
but back then obtaining programs and create data wasn't as
abundant as these days.  Our methods of marking what was on a
floppy disc wasn't so good back then, not to mention we used to
reuse floppy discs over and over again, and sometimes in a hurry
we wouldn't even write what was on the discs. That meant put
each floppy in the drive, and dir it,to check what was there.
Eventually we made enough room for another program to be
installed. They were called programs back then.
	
	At this point I can't remember what had to be removed
	from the system. I only know choosing to remove
	something was always a painful decision.

It was time to install the game, putting in the floppy for
install was an awesome feeling. Hearing the click and slide of
the protective cover was always exhilarating when it was to
install a new program. Eventually the setup.exe program was
loaded and it had that ID Wolfenstien feel, but more. The
progress bar with the percentage moving from left to right like
a futuristic space vehicle's fuel take filling up. It was
exciting. Then the setup for sound. Fortuitously I purchased a
sound blaster card, so setting up the sound and midi for the
game was easy and the final step. Loading the game, the moment
of truth about to happen.  Any moment  and we would find out if
all the work we did to obtain the game would pay off  Back then
loading a game took enough time for a person to wait with
anticipation for what may turn out to be some memory management
usage error, or some other config.sys autoexe.bat mess up
preventing the game from running, but not this time. ID crew
knew how to make it happen. The game loaded.

I remember the game for the first time running so slowly it was
barely playable, but still it was running. I played with the
options to set the graphics on low, and reduce the size of the
window enough to get the game to be playable. It was an amazing
experience to see a world in 3D on the computer like never
before. Our computer room was a closet under the stairs. The
sheet rock on the wall was cut out so we could put the monitor
as far back as possible on a piece of counter top cut to fit the
width of the closet. The speakers on the side of the monitor,
the door shut (no vents), my brother and I in the closet comping
out. To us we were in another world! It was truly incredible and
scary.  Doom was scary!, and some of the levels with the rooms
that blink from total darkness to a flash of corridors with a
monster or solider coming at you, put you in an unsure situation
while playing the game.

I think Doom was the best video game experience I've ever had. I
say this because the level of immersion and game play was spot
on, and it was really a first for its time. I know there were
other 3D games, but not like Doom. Not at the cadence and
artistry. So that experience sticks with a person, it certainly
stuck with me. 

Later I would obtain Doom II, and back in the closet for hours
at a time. I finished Doom II in co-op mode with a good friend
who lived down the street. At night we would dialup each other
and start the game. There was no VOIP (voice over IP) back then,
and so all our team play was via the chat feature in Doom II.
Such a fun experience. Playing Doom II, ... adventuring in
another world with a friend each night until we beat the game. 

I can't forget those times, how much fun it was, and how it lead
me to a career in computing. To this day I still play Doom and
Doom II. These days I play a bit different. Back then it was
just the keyboard. I didn't use a mouse at all. Eventually after
finishing Quake only using a keyboard, I was shown how to use
and configure a mouse, and how it was superior to keyboard only.
Now its Steam Deck with Doom + Doom II, or my Raspberry PI using
Dosbox mouse and keyboard. Always a great escape to Doom out.

What makes Doom so good is the game play itself. Its just about
playing the game, like if you were playing Donkey Kong, or
Mario, but less difficult. Donkey Kong you don't have a skill
tree, or character to choose, you just put in a quarter and
play. In Mario everything your character needs is found on the
field of play. Mario doesn't buy stuff,or sell stuff, so the
player only has to focus on playing and understanding the
enemies of world, not the unknown outcomes of the skills
chosen, or equipment purchased or mods. A game like Mario and
Doom are pure, and its about playing, and escaping the world of
complex decisions and outcomes. I love DCSS but skill trees and
weapons choices and enhancements have an impact on the results
of the game. In Doom I never have to worry much about the
unknowns for the weapon I'm using. The game shows the player
very clearly how each weapon impacts the player. 

I'll once again be finishing Doom all episodes, and Doom II, in
the moments my kids are asleep and I have a little time to
escape. For tonight ... I might have to skip it due to writing
about it. 

Take care everyone. If you have a Doom story to tell, please
share it with me.

bbsing @ sdf.org