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DOOM Patcher


  The "LaDoPaTo" patching tool is hopelessly outdated and should not be used any longer. Other solutions can be found here.  

Lazy DOOMers Patching Tool

LADOPATO as we like to call it internally, is a mighty tool to convert any version of DOOM/DOOM2 IWAD into any other version. Ladopato is also a reliable tool for identifying the version number of a game IWAD.

Background

In the beginning - 1993 - DOOM was a pure DOS game. DOOM mainly consists of two important files:

  • A huge data file - the IWAD - which contains all required graphics, sounds, music and of course all the level data. This IWAD contains literally the entire world of Doom.
  • The second file is a DOS program ('exe'), which reacts to the player's input, displays appropriate graphics on the screen, and plays the corresponding sound files. This is commonly called the game's engine.
As time went by, several patches were made available to remove bugs or add new features to Doom. In those days it was easy to identify the game's version: When the game was played, the engine displayed its version number on the screen during startup, so everybody knew which version was running.

In 1996 id Software published a Windows95 version of the game engine, which could be used with any valid IWAD. This engine was called DOOM95 and was available for free, together with a limited IWAD containing only a few levels. But DOOM95 is able to use the other IWADs from the registered version of DOOM, DOOM2 or FINAL DOOM as well; And id Software encouraged everybody to do so. Please remember, this was in 1996 and Windows95 was quite cool at that time...
But so the trouble began. DOOM95 did not show the IWAD's version and it was not easy to identify it. In 1997 id Software published the sourcecode of the original game engine, and soon completely independent engines for many operating systems appeared. This mixture of different engines and different IWADs and IWAD-versions can be the reason for many problems.

So in general, it is a good idea to use the most recent version. For DOOM this is the 'Ultimate DOOM' IWAD, for DOOM2 it is V1.9. 'FINAL DOOM' does not have any official patches, the only official version is V1.9.

Ok, I can understand why I should use an update to get the latest version, but what is the point in using a BACKDATE to get a rancid ancient version?
Nosiness (sometimes called 'historic interest')! When you would like to see the swastika on the floor in E1M4 before it was removed, or you would like to play E1M1 without John Romero's modifications for better deathmatch, or you simply have some time to kill, then you maybe should try some alternative IWADs...

Ok, ok, what should I do now?


Maybe you simply should download the DoomPatcher (4,5MB) and read the doc.



Alpha-, Beta- Sharewareversion & DOS-Engine Downloads

I was asked many times, why the DoomPatcher does only patch the IWAD, but not the original DOS engines or the shareware-versions. The simple reason is, that there is no need for a patching software, because all these files are freely available for download: The shareware-versions have always been downloadable - it' their main purpose. The historic versions have been made available to the public by id software some years ago, too. And the other DOS-engines can be manually assembled by patching the Shareware executables. So there is really to need for a patching software when you can download the files right away...Please remember, that all these files (exept 'DOOM95') contain DOS-Executables, which might not work correctly unter a Windows enviroment.

DOS Executable Packages without IWADs

(by clicking this selection form I confirm, that I am the legal owner of a registered, full version of the appropriate game)

Pre-Release & Shareware-Versions

...can be found HERE