IWAD

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For more information on this article, visit the IWAD page on the Doom Wiki.
An IWAD - short for Internal WAD - is the main resource file for a Doom-engine game, containing all the game's original sounds, levels, and graphics. ZDoom needs an IWAD file in order to play; without one the ZDoom engine has no game data to use.

Supported IWADs

Notes:

GameNameFile nameFile aliasesNotes and download links
Doom (Shareware) doom1.wad Free download: Doom shareware at Doomworld/idgames
Doom (Registered) doom.wad Commercial game
"Freedoom Demo" doom1.wad freedoom1.wad Free Download: official site
Ultimate Doom doom.wad doomu.wad Commercial game
"Ultimate" Freedoom doom.wad freedoomu.wad Free Download: official site
Doom II doom2.wad Commercial game
Final Doom — TNT: Evilution tnt.wad Commercial game
Final Doom — The Plutonia Experiment plutonia.wad Commercial game
FreeDM freedm.wad Free Download: official site
Freedoom doom2.wad freedoom.wad Free Download: official site
French Doom II doom2f.wad Commercial game, patch available at Doomworld/idgames
Heretic (Shareware) heretic1.wad Free download: Heretic shareware at Doomworld/idgames
Heretic (Registered or Commercial) heretic.wad Commercial game
Blasphemer heretic.wad blasphem.wad, blasphemer.wad Free Download: official site
Hexen (Demo) hexen.wad hexdemo.wad, hexendemo.wad Free download: Hexen demo at Doomworld/idgames
Hexen (Full) hexen.wad Commercial game
Hexen: Deakhkings of the Dark Citadel hexdd.wad Commercial game, requires Hexen
Strife (Teaser) strife0.wad Free download: Strife teaser at Doomworld/idgames
Strife (Full) strife1.wad Commercial game no longer sold, also loads voices.wad
Chex Quest chex.wad Commercial game no longer sold
Chex Quest 3 chex3.wad Free Download: official site
. Action Doom 2: Urban Brawl action2.wad Free Download: official site
. Harmony v1.1 harm1.wad Free Download: official site


ZDoom will detect any of those present in its search path and let you choose at startup which game to play (if it doesn't, see the FAQ). In addition to them, some "total conversion"-type mods, such as Wolfenstein 3D TC, can be played as their own IWAD; however since they are not detected as such by ZDoom, you need to use the -iwad command line parameter.

In order to play a custom level designed for any of the above games you have to have that particular game's full IWAD (loading PWAD with shareware, demo or teaser versions is disabled). If you do not have the necessary IWAD, or if you have an old, unpatched version of the IWAD in question, you will get an error message on startup. (But often old versions are accepted too.)

The IWAD file(s) should be placed into the same directory as the ZDoom executable. You may also configure other directories for ZDoom to search in the zdoom.ini file. On Linux, the directories $HOME/.zdoom and /usr/local/share are checked by default. Finally, if you have bought Ultimate Doom, Doom II, Final Doom, Heretic, or Hexen from Steam, ZDoom is able to find the IWADs directly in the Steam folder and you do not need to move or copy them to ZDoom's folder.

Obtaining IWADs

As noted aboved, some IWADs can be downloaded freely; however most "full" games are not and must be bought from one of the following sources:

Id Software Store
This store offers downloadable versions of Ultimate Doom, Doom II: Hell on Earth, Final Doom, Heretic: Shadow of the Serpent Riders and Hexen: Beyond Heretic.
Note: The version of Hexen: Beyond Heretic available on the Id Store is not patched. You need to download and apply the Hexen 1.1 patch first.
Steam
This store offers downloadable versions of Ultimate Doom, Doom II: Hell on Earth, Final Doom, Heretic: Shadow of the Serpent Riders, Hexen: Beyond Heretic and Hexen: Deathkings of the Dark Citadel; as well as the Master Levels for Doom II which is a set of PWAD, not an IWAD.
Note: The version of Hexen: Death Kings available on Steam is not patched. You need to download and apply the Death Kings 1.1 patch first. (The "readme.txt" file it tries to patch has been renamed readme-dk.txt by Steam, but is not important.) All other IWADs from Steam are fully patched.
Amazon.com, eBay.com, etc.
Second-hand copies of the original games can be found on such sites. While less reliable than the official Id Software and Steam stores, they are the only remaining sources for legitimate copies of Strife: Quest for the Sigil and the original Chex Quest.
Flea markets, used-games bins in brick-and-mortar stores, etc.
It's mostly a matter of luck, but they can still sometimes be found this way.

See also

Retrieved from "http://zdoom.org/wiki/IWAD"
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