Proto:The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall/October 1995 Demo

This is a sub-page of Proto:The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall.

Oh dear, I do believe I have the vapors. This page contains content that is not safe for work or other locations with the potential for personal embarrassment. Such as: Completely naked nymph.

Download Daggerfall Earlier Demo File: Daggerfall Oct1995Demo.zip (12.87 MB) (info)

In order to promote the game's release, Bethesda released a demo several months before the game was actually released. Because of this, there are quite a few differences. It was released mostly to show off/promote what the final game had to offer. The demo was released on the Bethesda Sampler, but it was also given out on the Internet and to various magazines.

Because this was only available on a few CDs, it has become rather difficult to track down a copy of this demo. Fortunately, a copy of it was found and has since been slowly spreading.

This version has so far been only seen on a few demo CDs before being replaced by a newer demo. It's also a little buggier than the November 1995 demo.

General Differences

The demo not only allows the player to roam in small dungeon, but also interact with small portions of the interfaces and see a very detailed bestiary made for this demo. The bestiary is notable for containing smoother animations for the characters, though these are stored as FLC files rather than the texture files of the actual enemies.

The demo shows this screen when booting up the game, with a view of the castle seen in the intro.

Likewise, the game has a unique screen when quitting the game that doesn't appear in the final game.

Gameplay Differences

The demo's notebook in action

• Warnings like "You are too far away" are rendered at the bottom of the screen.
• Long jumping is present, but it seems to be no different than regular jumping.
• Many controls present in the final game are absent here - Ex.: The character cannot run nor can he abort a spell.
• To cast a spell, the player has to go to the spellbook, choose a spell, and click the mouse to cast it. The final game allows you to cast a spell from the keyboard.
• The player has to jump up the stairs, rather than simply walking forward.
• Many of the features in the pause menu are either removed or disabled.
• When clicking on inventory in the menu, the info will only stay on-screen as long as the player is holding on the info button. The final game lets the info stay on-screen until the player clicks on the screen multiple times.
• An eavesdropping feature is present in this demo. It was likely replaced with a teleporting feature. (See below)
• The notebook is far more complex than the final version, working more like a text editor. The graphics still remain in the final version.
• No sound effects at the character creation screen, likely for demonstration purposes.
• Three additional skills are present in the game - Disguise, Elvish, and Faerie. These are mentioned in the final game's manual, but they are absent in the final game's executable. Descriptions for them remain inside TEXT.RSC however.
• Archery appears to be called "Missile".
• Dragonish is simply called "Dragon".
• A Plesiosaurus (misspelled in the game as "Pleiseosaurus") is listed inside FALL.EXE at 10D6FA, at the end of a list of enemies in the game.
• The special class advantage of "Climate Survival" is listed in the executable.
• If items like bottles or weapons are dropped in the demo version, you actually see the item dropped rather than a pile of stuff. This may have been changed as dropping multiple items will sometimes cause odd overlapping in the demo version.

Demo	Final

• A soliloquy generator is present in this version and some samples can be seen in sonnets.txt. While some of the lyrics for the soliloquys are in the final game's data, they go unused. The titles for the soliloquys are completely removed.

Spell Differences

• Fenrik's Door Jam, Bouyancy, and Frostbite don't have their names. They are instead defined as GEN Spells #1, 2, #3, and #4.
• Feet of Notorgo is referred to as Feet of Torgo, which is likely accidental.
• Calm Humanoid is referred to as Calm Mortal.
• The game's drugs, plus Lycanthropy, lack the ! in front of their names internally.
• Some additional Spells are defined in the demo's SPELLS.STD:

Spell Name	Spell Number
GEN Spell #4	4
remedy	21
acidic field	43
Sanctuary	48
ghostform	63
trip	65
harbour air	68
notorgo's curse	69
Squid Ink	70
Telekinesis	93
Bat	95
Wolf	96

Most of these entries happen to match up with the blank spaces in the final game's SPELLS.STD. Darkness, Flare, and Dim are also defined as Spells 97-99, but were replaced with Balyna's Balm, Quiet Undead, and Tame. Some of these are mentioned in the manual, but were removed in the final game.

Book Differences

Author names are missing in some of the books. Also, there is slightly different formatting in the demo version's books, with all of the books including keywords.

BOK00000

The title of the book is "The First Scrolls of Bajdit" in the demo, while it is known as "The First Scroll of Baan Dar" in the final version. Likewise, any reference to Badjit was changed to Baan Dar.

King Edward Books

The King Edward Books, parts I to X, are in BOK00009 through BOK00019. These were deleted from the final game and placed into BOK00100 through BOK00109 instead. Parts XI and XII are missing from both demos. Parts IX and X are also absent in the October 1995 demo, but are included in the November 1995 demo.

Aesthetic Differences

The HUD

Demo	Final

The HUD is nearly identical to the final version, except that the eavesdropping feature was replaced and the teleporting feature was put in.

Character Screen

Demo	Final

A very miniscule difference, but the "TO HIT" text has some slightly off-color pixels.

The Map

Demo	Final

The map does not show any floor or wall textures in the demo version. It also is missing the 2D automap and the compass.

Inventory Screen

Demo	Final

A glaring bug in the demo is that the helmets do not show their transparency correctly. The arrows are not colored red or green depending on how far you've scrolled through an inventory. Also, there are no numbers as for how much armor the player is given.

Opening Menu

Demo	Final

The menu is normally inaccessible, since the demo has its own menu. The graphics are in the demo's files though, but it's a leftover from Arena. Nevertheless, the menu was re-rendered to be in 3D in the final game.

Character Creation Menus

Demo	Final

In addition to the ability of importing characters from Arena, it seems like pre-made characters would have also been available. However, the feature might have been considered somewhat redundant, seeing as the final game can load games.

Demo	Final

Also, for some weird reason, one of the character creation option menus had its options swapped.

Rest Menu

Demo	Final

"Loiter for a while" was added to this menu.

Options Menu

Demo	Final

No gradients are present and the option to exit (or in the case of the demo, going to the main menu) is not highlighted. Also, note the removed clothing features are mentioned in the menu.

Banking

Demo	Final

The banking user interface was heavily revised in the final version.

Talking

Unused Talk Image	October 1995 Demo	Final

The talk interface is similar to the unused talk interface image from the final game, but uses the final game's art style.

Textures

TEXTURE.053 (Signs)

October 1995 Demo	Final

This sign for the Mages' Guild is held up with a stylized golden hanger than standing on a pole.

There are also loads of signs that have no final equivalent.

TEXTURE.071 (Desert Store Int.)

October and November 1995 Demos	Final

Aside from the re-coloring of the shelves and an added frame, this sprite more or less looks the same. However, a plant got covered up in the final version.

October and November 1995 Demos	Final

The basic motif is the same. However, it was re-done to make it look like it is in a closet rather than out in the open. Some armor and a sword were also added.

October and November 1995 Demos	Final

October and November 1995 Demos	Final

These two shelves were re-organized quite a bit. The latter texture also has a wood backing in the final.

TEXTURE.074 (Door Set)

October and November 1995 Demos	Final

The two slightly differently colored doors in the demo are similar to a door present in the final version, but less detailed.

October and November 1995 Demos	Final

This texture was made bigger.

TEXTURE.087 (Fireplaces Winrak Silo)

October and November 1995 Demos	Final

The fireplace was completely redone. The stonework only surrounds the fire in a semicircle and the fire has more detail.

October and November 1995 Demos	Final

There are many more bottles in the demo, whereas the final has some barrels added.

TEXTURE.092 (coffins organ)

The textures look somewhat less like skeletons and/or decaying corpses are in the coffins.

October and November 1995 Demos	Final

October and November 1995 Demos	Final

October and November 1995 Demos	Final

October and November 1995 Demos	Final

TEXTURE.093 (Torture Set)

Half of the textures were re-drawn, as they were less detailed and looked unrealistic in the demo version.

October and November 1995 Demos	Final

October and November 1995 Demos	Final

October and November 1995 Demos	Final

October and November 1995 Demos	Final

October and November 1995 Demos	Final

TEXTURE.122 (Mountain Dungeons A)

This entire set of textures were re-drawn in some form or another.

October and November 1995 Demos	Final

October and November 1995 Demos	Final

The first two textures have some green spots added to them to look a little more moldy. They were also shifted to the left by a few pixels.

October and November 1995 Demos	Final

October and November 1995 Demos	Final

The third texture in the demo was used for the fourth texture in the final version, albeit with a frame around it. In the demo, said fourth texture has marble inside of a frame. Not to mention, the frame has been slightly redone in the final version.

October and November 1995 Demos	Final

October and November 1995 Demos	Final

These two bricks walls became two marble walls (with slight differences).

TEXTURE.124 (Mountain Dungeons C)

This set was also completely redrawn.

October and November 1995 Demos	Final

October and November 1995 Demos	Final

The first two textures were changed from concrete bricks with yellow moss to stone bricks with green moss.

October and November 1995 Demos	Final

This texture had some of the bricks recolored.

Demo	Final

This texture has a different texture on the inside, as well as a brighter frame.

Demo	Final

And, this texture was changed in a similar way to the first two bricks, although the texture in the demo doesn't have any moss.

Others

October and November 1995 Demos	Final

The giant bat was made larger and it was completely re-drawn for the final version.

October 1995 Demo	November 1995 Demo	Final

The skeleton has stiffer movement and wields only a knife. On the plus side, it has eight frames of animation when walking instead of four.

October 1995 Demo	Final

The gargoyle is in this build, but the graphics look very unpolished. He doesn't brandish a mace nor does he look particularly threatening. Needless to say, the gargoyle got a much needed visual overhaul in the final version.

October 1995 Demo	Final

The tiger was re-rendered to make it much less blocky. In an interview in Power Play 11/95, Ted Peterson actually stated that he and Julian Lefay originally wanted Mark Jones to draw sprites by hand instead of rendering them, fearing they might look like Origami. Mark Jones rendered them behind their backs and could surprise them with good results. The paper tiger above must have been a nightmare for them, though.

October 1995 Demo	Final

Same here, and she has a hand-drawn face in some angles.

Demo	Final

The wagon is not seen in this demo, but does have different wheels.

October 1995 Demo	Final

The pavement texture is different.

October 1995 Demo	Final

The werewolf graphic is similar to the final version, but lacks a background and it looks incomplete due to the lack of coloring.

October and November 1995 Demos	Final

Dungeon exits are somewhat less obvious in the final version, as a skull was added.

October and November 1995 Demos	Final

TEXTURE.380 contains an early blood-splattering animation used when hurting something. However, it looks significantly less realistic than what was used.

Unused Graphics

The October 1995 demo contains some exclusive graphics, but these were removed from later demos and the final version.

Fish

Some fish graphics that were once used for underwater terrain. These were seen in a pre-release screenshot, but completely removed from the final version.

Interface Images

In addition to MENU.IMG, three additional menus with the same style are also in here, SLIDE.IMG, SOLID.IMG, and RAMP0.IMG. As with the final version, none of these images ever appear in the game. Only the former two are in the November 1995 demo.

Clouds

A number of clouds are included in the game's data. These likely would have been used for the skies.

Tapestries

These tapestries are much more detailed than the ones used in the final game, but these don't have any real equivalents.

Text Differences

• Rather than going into detail with each disease, contracting a disease only displays "You have contracted (insert disease here)."
• For each of the blessings, "You will find that for the next few days" is instead "You will find that for the next forty-eight hours".
• Sumurset is spelled as Summurset.

October 1995 Demo	Final
You are poisoned	You have been poisoned.

Tenses were changed. Weirdly, this is the only such message survived to the final version (see below).

October 1995 Demo	Final
Mages are those that devote their lives to the study and practice of the arcane magical arts. An experienced mage can be a deadly force to reckon with. The skills most important to a Mage are: Alteration, Mental, Mysticism, Curative, Destructive, and Illusion.	Mages are those that devote their lives to the study and practice of the arcane magical arts. An experienced mage can be a deadly force to reckon with. The skills most important to a Mage are: All Schools of Magicka -- Mysticism, Alteration, Thaumaturgy, Illusion, Destruction, and Restoration.

For some reason, the writers needed to specify that this is for all schools of magicka.

October 1995 Demo

Final

The Knights of the Dragon have the official duty of protecting the city and royal family of Daggerfall. We are led by the honorable Lord Bridwell, the greatest hero of the War of Betony. To be considered for admission into our fighting order, one must demonstrate exceptional combat skills and a reputation for honor and loyalty to Daggerfall. In return, we provide training and a variety of services to our knights.

The Knights of the Dragon have the official duty of protecting the city and royal family of Daggerfall. We are led by the honorable Lord Bridwell, the greatest hero of the War of Betony. To be considered for admission into our fighting order, one must demonstrate exceptional combat skills and a reputation for honor and loyalty to Daggerfall. In return, our knights are treated with unparalleled respect in Daggerfall. Are you perhaps interested in joining?

The generic spiel about training and servicing knight is replaced with a promise of respect.

Removed Divines

In Daggerfall, most of the nine divines are in the final game. However, in addition to the strings that can be found in the final game's executable, their blessings are still in TEXT.RSC in the demos.

You will find that for the next forty-eight
 hours, Raen has blessed your navigational skill.
You will find that for the next forty-eight
 hours, Notorgo has lessened your chance of having
 unwanted encounters.
You will find that for the next forty-eight
 hours, Shandar has blessed your best weaponry skill.
You will find that for the next forty-eight
 hours, the Bandit God has blessed your best
 thieving skill.
You will find that for the next forty-eight
 hours, Jeh Free has blessed all your language skills.
You will find that for the next forty-eight
 hours, Vir Jil has improved the weather on
 the Iliac Bay.
You will find that for the next forty-eight
 hours, Q'Olwen has blessed your lore skills.
You will find that for the next forty-eight
 hours, Ephen has blessed all your relations
 with animals, in combat or otherwise.

In addition, many of the divines have entries in the factions file, which were removed in the final game. They still have their positions in the final game though.

(Source: MrFlibble, Hallfiry)

Unused Text

Quests

A handful of quests are present, but the first three were used for testing purposes and are not present in the November 1995 demo or the final versions.

SAMPLE

A very simple quest, which only displays one string:

This is some sample text

STARTUP

A slightly more complex quest exclusive to this demo. It is mostly to test the quest flags.

Item has been picked up.
Flag for pick up was set.
Dropped successfully.
Timer went off.
Please answer the question?
You answered yes.
You answered no.
Quest has started.
Search for item.
Item removed.
Flag 1 is on.
Flag 2 is on.
Flag 3 is on.
Flag 4 is on. 

GIVEQ

A quest is in this demo for testing purposes. The quest resource file has the following strings:

Give quest test
Quest to find the %zin97295 at %zln1529 in %zlc1529.
Give it to %znn576 at %znl576 in %znc576
You picked up that %zin97295.
%znn576 likes his %zin97295.
The %zin97295 is at %zln1529 in %zlc1529.
I think the %zin6953 is at %zln3108 in %zlc3108.
Ew! A heart.
%znn576 is a swell person.
%znn576 always hangs out at the %znl576.
Hey pisser, I'm %znn576.
That was %znn576.
Last entry

N0000002

Some of the guilds were apparently supposed to charge you for your membership, like the Mages Guild. While this file and the below file are also in the November 1995 demo, they've been deleted from the final version.

New initiates are required to pay 500 gold
on the day they are accepted. If they devote
themselves to the guild and work towards its
betterment, that is all they have to pay.
Less energetic members are required to pay
50 gold a year.

New initiates are chosen based primarily on
their talents, though persons with particularly
poor reputations amongst scholars are seldom
invited to join.

They are our guards, infantry, and escorts.
Few are spellcasters themselves, but all are
dedicated to our protection and advancement,
and are, of course, given priveleges within
the guild according to rank in the order.

We are the official association of spellcasters,
scholars, and academics of Tamriel.

Dues
Requirements
Order of the Lamp
The Mages Guild
Last Entry

N0000003

Similar to the above, but for the Order of the Lamp.

No dues are required by the Order.
Willingness to serve the order and
guild are dues enough.

We look only for persons of great
fighting ability, and those who
have already earned the reputation
as friends of the guild.

We are the protectors of the guild.
Given full responsibility for the
welfare of its member, we are also
given the full rights of a guild
member of equal rank.

They are the scholars of the land,
responsible for wiping out the scourge
of ignorance. It is an honor to be
their arm and sword.

Dues
Requirements
Order of the Lamp
The Mages Guild
Last Entry

JEREMY~1.txt

Contains a description from a developer who goes uncredited in the final game's manual. It looks as if he's just added a few things to the game.

Here are some of my first efforts with the house builder
They include, a Mages guild, a tavern, a shop, and a temple.
My buildings start the the prefix, "jr", my initials. Then comes the 
description of what the building is. I'm sure you can figure that out.

Note that not all the buildings have markers added - I wanted to wait until
we get the final version of the house editor to do that.

Shop - Fairly small, good combination of walls and prefabs

Tavern - Again, pretty simple.

Temple - Really fun to make and roof. Has a multi-level roof, some roofing
on the 3rd level, and some on the 2nd. It took me a while to figure out 
Note that the prefab with the portal has a misplaced door in the icon.

Mage's Guild - Completely constructed using walls and such. I know it's
probably too complicated for the eventual use in Daggerfall, and will 
probably choke the computers for those of you without Pentiums, but I 
think it's really cool looking. Looks almost castle like from the outside.


Remember, use the "r" key to make sure all floors are being rendered for
the outside.


      Let me know what you all think.

                               Jeremy the handle-less

Development Text

There are a few pieces of error text not present in the final game.

Unable to load %s
Sound number 0 requested
%03d
Leaving a region...
disposing...
scaping block #%d index #%d

Status Messages

It seems that the game would have constantly informed the player of their status.

You are poisoned.
You are paralyzed.
You are cursed.
You are suffering from a spell that continuously damages your health.
You are suffering from a spell that continuously saps your power.
You are resistant to fire.
You are resistant to frost.
You are resistant to poison.
You are resistant to shock.
You are resistant to magic.

Guild Promotion and Demotion Talk

It seems you would have been able to talk to NPCs about your promotions, demotions, and explusions from various guilds.

Congratulations on your promotion, %pcn.
I hear you are now %lev %pcn. Congratulations.
There is much good talk about you I hear, %lev %pcn.
Now you are %lev %pcn? Quite surprising, I dare say.
Apparently anyone can be called %lev these days.
Standards in promotion requirements seem to be slipping, I see.
I heard about your demotion, %pcn. My condolences.
The elders were pretty hard on you, I heard. Not to worry - you will prove yourself.
Promotions and demotions are all political, %pcn. Your luck will turn around.
So it's %lev, again, eh, %pcn? I wonder what you will be next week.
Your rather amusing fall from grace is on everyone's lips, %lev.
Consider your demotion unwarranted charity. There has been serious talk of your expulsion.

Warring

Factions would have originally warred against each other. Some dialogue regarding this can be found in the demos, but is removed from the final version.

Did you know that we're at war now?
%oth, we're at war with %enc now.
Looks like %cn's gonna beat %enc!
Our army just won a major victory against %enc.
Looks like we're losing the war with %enc.
I can't believe %enc is actually beating us.
%oth! We beat %enc!
%enc surrendered to us!
The war with %enc is over, and we lost.
I hear %enc is celebrating their victory over us.

Additional Text

An additional joke that was removed from the final game.

Did you hear there are a couple dyslexics at the %tem? They're always arguing about the existence of Dog.

Apparently, the player would have been able to use poison on their weapons and poison their enemies quicker.

Anoint %wea with poison?
There is already poison on your %wea.

Music

In the demo, only two tracks play, which are played as XFM or XMI files depending on the sound card. However, there are several more XMI files than what plays at any point in the demo.

Used Tracks

GSTORY_B.XMI, FSTORY_B.XMI

Used in the menus for this demo, but removed from the final game. In the final game, there is no music playing over the menus upon starting the game up. G is for General Midi, F is for FM sound. This track was also included among the 12 tracks released by Bethesda around the same time to promote the game.

CUNGEON.XMI, FUNGEON.XMI

Same as dungeon5 in the final game.

Unused Tracks

DUNGEON.XMI

A track not present in the final game.

PERCNTRO.XMI

A track leftover from Arena.

ARABVLG.XMI

This file, as well as the below, only exist in this demo version. This is a brief ditty leftover from Arena.

WALKING.XMI

Whereas this is a dramatic music track unique to this demo. It's unknown what this was used for.