Shadow Warrior v1.0/1.1 differences

[MrFlibble]

As with many other shareware games of the time, the initial shareware releases of Shadow Warrior (v1.0 and v1.1) have been made before the registered version was completed (v1.2) and as such reflect a pre-release state of the game.

While the general content of the early shareware releases is the same - there are four levels, and available weapons, items and monsters are similar to the final release - there are quite a few noticeable differences worth mention:

• First off, versions 1.0 and 1.1 have self-running demos, similar to other FPS games of the time, including Build games in general and the direct predecessor of Shadow Warrior, Duke Nukem 3D. Both early versions feature demo records of two levels, Zilla Construction and Master Leep's Temple. The self-running demos can be turned off with the -nodemo command line parameter.
• Further on, the early versions use the rotating shuriken selection marker, as opposed to v1.2 that uses the Yin Yang symbol as the selection marker. Here's a screenshot from v1.1, with a similar screenshots from v1.2 for comparison:
  
• Versions 1.0 and 1.1 also do not have episode titles yet. On the episode selection screen, the episodes are simply called "Shareware levels" and "Registered levels":
  
• In both versions 1.0 and 1.1, it is impossible to switch between single UZI and dual-wielded UZIs after the second UZI had been picked up. It is not clear whether this was an oversight in the earlier versions, or the intended effect which was changed in v1.2.
• Versions 1.0 and 1.1 do not yet have the air meter that shows the amount of remaining air while underwater, or the boss health meter. Those were added in v1.2, along with a command line parameter that allows to disable the meters.
  
• Compared to v1.0, most of Lo Wang's voice clips have been edited to increase their volume in v1.1. These new versions remain unchanged in v1.2.
• Throughout the levels, there are many minor differences concerning placement of certain item caches, switches and the like, which do not, however, affect the general layout of the levels.
• One of the notable graphical differences between v1.0/1.1 and v1.2 is the appearance of Lara Croft in the secret area on level four. Early versions use the same graphics as the beta version, with a more anime look. Version 1.2 replaced this with an appearance that is much closer to the original character:
  
  Interestingly enough, the walkthrough for level 4 here on the 3D Realms' website shows a screenshot of the Lara Croft area with the beta graphics.
• The built-in command line help in v1.0 mentions two command line parameters, -commbat# and -coop#, which turn on fake multiplayer and fake co-op modes in single-player game. Version 1.1 removed the description of these parameters from the built-in help, but they are still listed in the electronic manual (SWHELP.EXE). Version 1.2 removes all mention of these from its electronic manual as well. Nevertheless, the -commbat# and -coop# parameters work in all three versions, although no parameter that would actually turn on bots in "fake multiplayer" single-player games is mentioned in any of these versions.
• There is a Win95 compatibility mode for MIDI music in early versions which can be activated with the -win95 or -win95awe32 command line parameters. Version 1.2 also makes no mention of this whatsoever.

You can get the old versions of Shadow Warrior shareware at RGB Classic Games. One thing though, they seem not to run in DOSBox at all.

[MrFlibble]

Some more stuff that I've noticed (shots on the left are from v1.0, on the right from v1.2):

• Once a heat seeker card is picked in v1.0, the missile launcher automatically switches into heat-seeking mode. In v1.2, you still need to manually switch it to heat seeking mode after picking the card. This turned out to depend on whether the missile launcher is the currently selected weapon when the card is picked, and is unrelated to the version number.
• Version 1.2 added sprites for broken neon lamps, which are used in the first level of the shareware version:
  
  Another example is the seats at the train platform (v1.0/1.1 only has flickering lights):
  
  Interestingly enough, v1.2 does not seem to have any neon lamps that can actually be destroyed by the player, even though this feature was already present in Duke Nukem 3D. Some lamps were made destructible in v1.2 but others remains as they are in v1.0.
• A much more noticeable change in the level layout can be found in level 3, where a niche that contains sticky bombs was moved from one side of the pool to the other:
  
• The same level has a secret underwater area with a switch, which was moved from one wall to another:
  
  This change actually occurred in v1.1 already.

[MrFlibble]

Originally Posted by MrFlibble

You can get the old versions of Shadow Warrior shareware at RGB Classic Games. One thing though, they seem not to run in DOSBox at all.

zirkoni at Abandonia Forums has very kindly notified me that the old versions of Shadow Warrior shareware actually work with the recent builds of Taewoong's DOSBox and with DOSBox-X.

[MrFlibble]

Originally Posted by MrFlibble

• Once a heat seeker card is picked in v1.0, the missile launcher automatically switches into heat-seeking mode. In v1.2, you still need to manually switch it to heat seeking mode after picking the card.

My bad, this actually depends on whether the missile launcher is selected when the heat seeker card is picked (when the launcher is the currently selected weapon, it will switch into heat-seeking mode automatically), and this behaviour is identical in all versions.

Originally Posted by MrFlibble

Interestingly enough, v1.2 does not seem to have any neon lamps that can actually be destroyed by the player, even though this feature was already present in Duke Nukem 3D.

This is also not entirely correct, as there are some breakable neon lamps; others remain indestructible, like in previous versions.

Anyway, I also noticed this little thing:

The simple sky texture in level 3 was replaced by a panoramic view of mountains and forest. This change, however, is not very obvious because most of the sky is obscured by structures in the open areas (temple entrance and courtyard; the area with chasms later into the level has a different sky altogether), with only the sky being visible in both versions unless you really look around.

Another difference is that v1.2 seems to have weapon priorities: for example, if you start level 3 with no previously collected weapons, pick the UZI and then pick sticky bombs, you'll switch from the UZI to the sticky bombs; however, if you pick the bombs first you won't switch to the UZI automatically when you pick it. In v1.0, you'll switch to whatever newly acquired weapon you've picked, no matter what it is and what you already have in your arsenal.