Doom WAD is the default format of package files for the video game Doom and its sequel Doom II: Hell on Earth , that contain sprites, levels, and game data. WAD stands for Where's All the Data? [1] . Immediately after its release in 1993, Doom attracted a sizeable following of players who created their own mods for WAD files—packages containing new levels or graphics—and played a vital part in spawning the mod-making culture which is now commonplace for first-person shooter games. Thousands of WADs have been created for Doom, ranging from single custom levels to full original games; most of these can be freely downloaded over the Internet. Several WADs have also been released commercially, and for some people the WAD-making hobby became a gateway to a professional career as a level designer.
There are two types of WADs: IWADs (internal WADs) and PWADs (patch WADs). IWADs contain the data necessary to load the game, while PWADs contain additional data, such as new character sprites, as necessary for custom levels.
When developing Doom, id Software was aware that many players had tried to create custom levels and other modifications for their previous game, Wolfenstein 3D . However, the procedures involved in creating and loading modifications for that game were cumbersome.
John Carmack, lead programmer at id Software, designed the Doom internals from the ground up to allow players to extend the game. For that reason, game data such as levels, graphics, sound effects, and music are stored separately from the game engine, in "WAD" files, allowing for third parties to make new games without making any modifications to the engine. Tom Hall is responsible for coming up with the name WAD. [2]
The idea of making Doom easily modifiable was primarily backed by Carmack, a well-known supporter of copyleft and the hacker ideal of people sharing and building upon each other's work, and by John Romero, who had hacked games in his youth and wanted to allow other gamers to do the same. However, some, including Jay Wilbur and Kevin Cloud, objected due to legal concerns and the belief that it would not be of any benefit to the company's business.
Immediately after the initial shareware release of Doom on December 10, 1993, players began working on various tools to modify the game. On January 26, 1994, Brendon Wyber released the first public domain version of the Doom Editing Utility (DEU) program on the Internet, a program created by Doom fans which made it possible to create entirely new levels. DEU continued development until May 21 of the same year. It was made possible by Matt Fell's release of the Unofficial Doom specifications. Shortly thereafter, Doom players became involved with further enhancing DEU. Raphaël Quinet spearheaded the program development efforts and overall project release, while Steve Bareman led the documentation effort and creation of the DEU Tutorial. More than 30 other people also helped with the effort and their names appear in the README file included with the program distribution. Yadex, a fork of DEU 5.21 for Unix systems running the X Window System, was later released under the GNU/GPL license. [3] Carmack additionally released the source code for the utilities used to create the game, but these were programmed in Objective-C, for NeXT workstations, and were therefore not directly usable by the mass userbase of IBM PC compatible.
Jeff Bird is credited with creating the first custom WAD for Doom, called Origwad, on March 7, 1994. [4] Soon, countless players were creating custom WADs and sharing them over AOL, the CompuServe forums, and other Internet-based channels. Many of the WADs were made in the style of the base game, others were based on existing TV series, movies, or original themes. Some of the id Software staff have revealed that they were impressed by some of the WADs. John Carmack later said the following about a Star Wars -themed modification:
I still remember the first time I saw the original Star Wars DOOM mod. Seeing how someone had put the Death Star into our game felt so amazingly cool. I was so proud of what had been made possible, and I was completely sure that making games that could serve as a canvas for other people to work on was a valid direction.
Another early modification is Aliens TC, a total conversion based on the movie Aliens .
Even though WADs modified Doom by replacing graphics and audio, the amount of customization was somewhat limited; much of the game's behavior, including the timing and strength of weapons and enemies, was hard-coded in the Doom executable file and impossible to alter in WADs. DeHackEd, a Doom editing program created by Greg Lewis, addressed this by letting users modify parameters inside of the Doom executable itself, allowing for a greater degree of customization.
Around 1994 and 1995, WADs were distributed primarily through BBSs and via CD collections found in computer shops or bundled together with instruction guides for level creation, while in later years Internet FTP servers became the primary method for obtaining these works. Although the Doom software license required that no profit be made from custom WADs, and Shawn Green objected to people selling their WADs for money, [6] some WAD sets and shovelware bundles were nonetheless obtainable for a price at certain outlets.
During this time, id Software was working on their next game, Quake , using new technology, but started projects picking up the most talented WAD makers from the Doom community to create official expansions and to compete with the unauthorized collection CDs. The team produced the 21 Master Levels , which, on December 26, 1995, were released on a CD along with Maximum Doom, a collection of 1,830 WADs that had been downloaded from the Internet. In 1996, Final Doom , a package of two 32-level megawads created by TeamTNT, was released as an official id Software product.
Various first-person shooter games released at the time use the Doom engine under a commercial license from id Software, as such essentially being custom WADs packaged with the Doom engine, such as Hacx: Twitch 'n Kill (1997).
In addition to the many people who contributed to commercially released WADs, various authors became involved with the development of other games:
Around 1997, interest in Doom WADs began to decline, as attention was drawn to newer games with more advanced technology and more customizable design, including id Software's own Quake and Quake II . However, a dedicated following continued into the new century, with modern Doom modding becoming more popular than Quake and Quake II modding.
On December 23, 1997, id Software released the source code to the Doom engine, initially under a restrictive license. On October 3, 1999, it was released again under the terms of the GNU GPL-2.0-or-later. With the source code available, it became possible for programmers to modify any aspect of the game, remove technical limitations and bugs, and add entirely new features.
These engine modifications, or Doom source ports, have since become the target for much of the WAD editing activity, and with the decline of MS-DOS, using a source port became the only feasible way to play Doom for most people. Several source ports are in active development, and Doom retains a strong following of WAD creators.
The most common type of WAD consists of a single level, usually retaining the theme of the original game, but possibly including new music and some modified graphics to define a more distinctive setting or mood. Both single-player and deathmatch multiplayer levels are common.
WADs may have a level pack in the form of an episode, replacing nine levels, and sometimes in the form of a megawad, which replaces 15 or more levels in the game (27 in Doom, 32 in Doom II, 36 in The Ultimate Doom).
A WAD that gives the game an overhaul to incorporate an entirely different game setting, character set, and story, instead of simply providing new levels or graphic changes, is called a total conversion. The phrase was coined by Justin Fisher, as part of the title of Aliens TC, or Aliens Total Conversion. [7] Add-ons that provide extensive changes to a similar degree but retain distinctive parts or characteristics of the original games, such as characters or weapons, are often by extension called partial conversions.
Since custom map editing started in 1994, many Doom, Doom II and Doom 64 WADs have been created, and some have acquired fame even outside of the modding community. The following is a select listing of popular and historically significant WADs.
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![]() Phase 1 title screen (v0.12.1) | |
Original author(s) | Various contributors |
---|---|
Initial release | 16 April 2003 |
Stable release | 0.13.0 / 29 January 2024 |
Platform | Linux, Microsoft Windows, macOS, MS-DOS, Android |
Type | Single-player, multiplayer first-person shooter |
License | 3-clause BSD (requires a Doom engine source port under the GNU GPL-2.0-or-later to play) |
Website | https://freedoom.github.io/ |
Freedoom is a project aiming to create a free replacement (modified BSD License) for the set of graphics, music, sound effects, and levels (and miscellaneous other resources) used by Doom. [40] [41] Since the Doom engine is free software, it can be distributed along with the new resources, in effect providing a full game that is free and with full third party WAD.
The project distributes three IWAD files: the two single-player campaigns named Freedoom: Phase 1 and Freedoom: Phase 2, and FreeDM, which contains a collection of deathmatch levels. [42] Originally a Boom oriented mapset, it was later made merely limit-removing, and finally fully vanilla compatible, allowing play through the original executable and conservative ports like Chocolate Doom. [43]
A similar project, Blasphemer, aims to create a complete free version of Heretic , but is less fully developed than Freedoom, from which it has recycled assets. [44] Currently three episodes are drafted and a deathmatch set called BlasphDM is available. [45] Zauberer has also been initiated for Hexen , [46] and Animosity for Strife . [47]
Many level editors are available for Doom. The original Doom Editing Utility (DEU) was ported to a number of operating systems, but lost significance over time; many modern Doom editors still have their roots in DEU and its editing paradigm, including DETH, DeePsea, Linux Doom Editor, and Yadex and its fork Eureka. Other level editors include WadAuthor, Doom Builder (released in January 2003), Doom Builder 2 (released in May 2009 as the successor to Doom Builder), GZDoom Builder (released in March 2012), and Doom Builder X (released in September 2017). Some Doom level editors, such as Doom Builder family feature a 3D editing mode. As of now, these variants have been discontinued, but a newer fork has been released and is regularly updated, known as Ultimate Doom Builder. [48]
Many specialized Doom editors are used to modify graphics and audio lumps, such as XWE, SLADE, Wintex, and SLumpEd. The DeHackEd executable patching utility modifies monsters, items, and weapon behavior. In ZDoom, users can create new monsters, weapons, and items through a scripting language called DECORATE, made to address many of the shortcomings of DeHackEd, such as not being able to add new objects, and not being able to deviate far from the behavior of the original weapons and monsters.[ citation needed ]
In Quake, WAD files were replaced with PAK files. WAD files still remain in Quake files, though their use is limited to textures. Since WAD2 and WAD3 use a slightly larger directory structure, they are incompatible with Doom.
Doom is a first-person shooter game developed and published by id Software. Released on December 10, 1993, for DOS, it is the first installment in the Doom franchise. The player assumes the role of a space marine, later unofficially referred to as Doomguy, fighting through hordes of undead humans and invading demons. The game begins on the moons of Mars and finishes in hell, with the player traversing each level to find its exit or defeat its final boss. It is an early example of 3D graphics in video games, and has enemies and objects as 2D images, a technique sometimes referred to as 2.5D graphics.
id Software LLC is an American video game developer based in Richardson, Texas. It was founded on February 1, 1991, by four members of the computer company Softdisk: programmers John Carmack and John Romero, game designer Tom Hall, and artist Adrian Carmack.
QuakeC is a compiled language developed in 1996 by John Carmack of id Software to program parts of the video game Quake. Using QuakeC, a programmer is able to customize Quake to great extents by adding weapons, changing game logic and physics, and programming complex scenarios. It can be used to control many aspects of the game itself, such as parts of the AI, triggers, or changes in the level. The Quake engine was the only game engine to use QuakeC. Following engines used DLL game modules for customization written in C, and C++ from id Tech 4 on.
Quake II is a 1997 first-person shooter video game developed by id Software and published by Activision. It is the second installment of the Quake series, following Quake.
Quake is a first-person shooter game developed by id Software and published by GT Interactive. The first game in the Quake series, it was originally released for MS-DOS, Microsoft Windows, and Linux in 1996, followed by Mac OS and Sega Saturn in 1997 and Nintendo 64 in 1998.
Doom 3 is a 2004 survival horror first-person shooter video game developed by id Software and published by Activision. Doom 3 was originally released for Microsoft Windows on August 3, 2004, adapted for Linux later that year, and ported by Aspyr Media for Mac OS X in 2005. Developer Vicarious Visions ported the game to the Xbox, releasing it worldwide on April 4, 2005.
Video game modding is the process of alteration by players or fans of one or more aspects of a video game, such as how it looks or behaves, and is a sub-discipline of general modding. Mods may range from small changes and tweaks to complete overhauls, and can extend the replay value and interest of the game.
TeamTNT was a distributed group of Doom mappers, originally formed as a Doom mailing list in 1994. The team are known for creating the TNT: Evilution episode of Final Doom, as well as several free level packs and developer resources for Doom II. Their source ports, the BOOM and Boom-DM engines were used by many level designers during the height of Doom modding in the 1990s. The group was largely inactive from 2008, with their resources remaining online until the 2015 death of administrator Ty Halderman.
Final Doom is a first-person shooter video game developed by TeamTNT, and Dario and Milo Casali, and was released by id Software and distributed by GT Interactive in 1996. It was released for MS-DOS and Macintosh computers, as well as for the PlayStation, although the latter featured a selection of levels from Final Doom and from Master Levels for Doom II.
The Quake engine is the game engine developed by id Software to power their 1996 video game Quake. It featured true 3D real-time rendering. Since 2012, it has been licensed under the terms of GNU General Public License v2.0 or later.
Chex Quest is a non-violent first-person shooter video game created in 1996 by Digital Café, originally intended as a Chex cereal promotion aimed at children aged 6–9 and up. It is a total conversion of the more explicitly violent video game Doom. Chex Quest won both the Golden EFFIE Award for Advertising Effectiveness in 1996 and the Golden Reggie Award for Promotional Achievement in 1998, and it is known today for having been the first video game ever to be included in cereal boxes as a prize. The game's cult following has been described by the press as being composed of unusually devoted fans of an advertising vehicle from a bygone age.
id Tech 4, popularly known as the Doom 3 engine, is a game engine developed by id Software and first used in the video game Doom 3. The engine was designed by John Carmack, who also created previous game engines, such as those for Doom and Quake, which are widely recognized as significant advances in the field. This OpenGL-based game engine has also been used in Quake 4, Prey, Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, Wolfenstein, and Brink. id Tech 4 is licensed under the terms of the GNU General Public License v3.0 or later.
id Tech is a series of separate game engines designed and developed by id Software. Prior to the presentation of the id Tech 5-based game Rage in 2011, the engines lacked official designation and as such were simply referred to as the Doom and Quake engines, from the name of the main game series the engines had been developed for. "id Tech" has been released as free software under the GNU General Public License. id Tech versions 0 to 3 were released under GPL-2.0-or-later. id Tech versions 3.5 to 4.5 were released under GPL-3.0-or-later. id Tech 5 to 7 are proprietary, with id Tech 7 currently being the latest utilized engine.
A first-person shooter (FPS) is a video game centered on gun fighting and other weapon-based combat seen from a first-person perspective, with the player experiencing the action directly through the eyes of the main character. This genre shares multiple common traits with other shooter games, and in turn falls under the action games category. Since the genre's inception, advanced 3D and pseudo-3D graphics have proven fundamental to allow a reasonable level of immersion in the game world, and this type of game helped pushing technology progressively further, challenging hardware developers worldwide to introduce numerous innovations in the field of graphics processing units. Multiplayer gaming has been an integral part of the experience, and became even more prominent with the diffusion of internet connectivity in recent years.
Brutal Doom is a video game mod for the 1993 first-person shooter Doom created by the Brazilian developer Marcos Abenante, known online as "Sergeant Mark IV." It adds numerous gameplay elements and graphical effects. The mod has been in development since 2010, and continues to receive new updates.
Based on Id Software's open stance towards game modifications, their Quake series became a popular subject for player mods beginning with Quake in 1996. Spurred by user-created hacked content on their previous games and the company's desire to encourage the hacker ethic, Id included dedicated modification tools into Quake, including the QuakeC programming language and a level editor. As a game that popularized online first-person shooter multiplayer, early games were team- and strategy-based and led to prominent mods like Team Fortress, whose developers were later hired by Valve to create a dedicated version for the company. Id's openness and modding tools led to a "Quake movie" community, which altered gameplay data to add camera angles in post-production, a practice that became known as machinima.
The Cacowards are an annual online awards ceremony which honors the year's most prominent "Doom WADs", video game modifications of the 1993 first-person shooter Doom. Such modifications may be single levels, level packs, or "total conversions" featuring gameplay that significantly diverges from traditional Doom. Although generally focusing on classic Doom games, modifications for other Doom-engine based games such as Heretic, Hexen and Strife have also been featured. Since 2004, the Cacowards have been hosted at doomworld.com, a Doom fansite.
Sigil is the unofficial fifth episode of the 1993 video game Doom. Published by Romero Games on May 31, 2019, the Megawad was created by an original co-creator of Doom, John Romero, independently of the main game's then-current owner, Bethesda Softworks. It has nine missions, each with a deathmatch version, and a new soundtrack created by James Paddock and Buckethead. While initially released independently, Bethesda later released the episode as a patch for the console ports of Doom.
Bloom is a modification for the video game Doom II, originally developed by id Software. The mod, created by the Spanish indie studio Bloom Team, was released via Mod DB on October 31, 2021. Bloom combines elements from Doom II and Monolith Productions' Blood, merging enemies, weapons, and environments from both games into a crossover experience.
FreeDoom, the open source initiative to bypass the legalities of Doom's code being open source, while Doom's engine isn't.
The Freedoom single-player IWAD files are now officially supported, since recent versions changed all levels to be vanilla compatible.