Eric's Doom Files

This has been one of those Columbine things that has been on my mind for about six years now, and I'm still looking for any new information.
I originally posted about this on the old forum a long time ago but noticed that it hasn't really been discussed here. I assume that everyone here is aware of the maps which Eric Harris made for Doom.

Searching for the missing maps which he uploaded to his site has been extremely tough and seemingly hopeless, seeing as the FBI took down his webpages and (rather surprisingly) the files haven't made their way onto the internet from any other sources, but I'm willing to bet that someone back in the day must have downloaded them and put them on a CD or have them on an old hard-drive. Eric's WAD file, Station, made it into the top 25 Deathmatch levels on AOL, so there is a slim chance that people got the rest.

Files publicly available|

BRICKS.ZIP
FIGHTME.ZIP
KILLER.ZIP
UACLABS.ZIP
STATION.ZIP
HOCKEY.ZIP

Files unavailable|

OUTDOORS.ZIP
ASSAULT.ZIP
REALDETH.ZIP
TECHOUT.ZIP
THRASHER.ZIP
REALDOOM.ZIP (Eric's patch which could only be acquired from him by e-mail, probably because it was so GOD-LIKE )
TIER.ZIP (Eric's final WAD, which he claimed to be his "Life's work" and that "..a person could write a freakin book on all the symbolism and double-meanings used in these levels.."

Additionally, I've found a little snippet taken from one of the unreleased WAD's text files, which was in an old article.
It doesn't appear in any of the readme documents that came with the others.

""It took me about 10 hours to finish this level, so send some comments to me once in awhile!" Harris wrote in one file, dated Nov. 26, 1996."

Is there any valid reason why Jeffco didn't release the files from his computer? They could have at most just removed anything sensitive and made the rest public, as I see it.
Has anyone tried to contact them regarding the release of other non-sensitive evidence?


- Verse

There is a video around of a guy doing a walk through of what he's making out are Eric's levels - I'm not sure if it actually was the ones he made though?

Radioactive_Clothing wrote:

There is a video around of a guy doing a walk through of what he's making out are Eric's levels - I'm not sure if it actually was the ones he made though?

There are a few videos on YouTube of different people playing/doing a walk through of Eric's Doom levels. Probably not the rare levels though.

The videos show the available files which can be downloaded from acolumbinesite but the others have been missing since 1999. I think that since the FBI took possession of Eric and Dylan's computers, the files were never brought up for release as part of the Jeffco documents, maybe omitted accidentally.

There is a doom wad that recreates the columbine shooting and let's you play as one of the two shooters. Here is the link for the download. [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

I don't know if we'll ever see the files. Perhaps there is some hope, if the FBI actually held onto archived versions. I know that they took disk images of all computer hard drives involved. However, it was hard to store data back in 1999. Things mostly ended up burned on early CDRs, or just plain old floppys. Even Zipp disks were costly and rare. Even if physical copies remained, the short life of electronics almost guarantees it would have become e waste by now.

However, there might be hope in the way of finding out who manages JEFFCO's data storage and disposal. There might be a few old hard drives sitting in old PC towers in a warehouse somewhere in Colorado.

I know Eric Harris played in the RC Quake clan. maybe the first line of action is to put out a call on social media to see if anyone from the clan downloaded it? Of course, you might get a few trolls, but you still might net a player or two from back in the day.

Also, the Denver Public Library has an archive of photos, negatives and other media related to the case. I guess it was from the RMN, but I can't really remember. They might have something there.

Knowing what I do about modders and level creation, I am almost certain there is a file that represents Columbine High School, or at least the killer's neighborhoods. it's such a common thing for map creators to use their schools, not to train for a killing spree, but mainly due to the fact that they tend to have the layout memorized so it translates easily to a game map.

At any rate, good luck in your quest. There is a lot of stuff that survives the ages sitting in someone's garage : )

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Outdoors is actually on there, but I think the reason it's considered lost is that whoever originally found it tried to run it with Doom2 and assumed it didn't work, it works only with Doom1.

hicklespickle wrote:

There is a doom wad that recreates the columbine shooting and let's you play as one of the two shooters. Here is the link for the download. [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Interesting, Thank-you. This is probably one of the most complete attempts at a Columbine level. Of course there is only so much that can be done in Doom.

CharlesWhitman wrote:

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Outdoors is actually on there, but I think the reason it's considered lost is that whoever originally found it tried to run it with Doom2 and assumed it didn't work, it works only with Doom1.

Unfortunately, that is not the real outdoors.wad, I found the exact same file in it's original zip, along with the text file which identifies the author as Scott Weiss and the date as 1994.

radaddio wrote:

I don't know if we'll ever see the files. Perhaps there is some hope, if the FBI actually held onto archived versions. I know that they took disk images of all computer hard drives involved. However, it was hard to store data back in 1999. Things mostly ended up burned on early CDRs, or just plain old floppys. Even Zipp disks were costly and rare. Even if physical copies remained, the short life of electronics almost guarantees it would have become e waste by now.

However, there might be hope in the way of finding out who manages JEFFCO's data storage and disposal. There might be a few old hard drives sitting in old PC towers in a warehouse somewhere in Colorado.

I believe the FBI would have the capacity to keep digital back-ups of everything, but it would be very difficult to get access unless you worked in some law enforcement agency. JEFFCO apparently destroyed ALL the remaining Columbine evidence along with the basement tapes; But who knows how much of that is true.

radaddio wrote:

I know Eric Harris played in the RC Quake clan. maybe the first line of action is to put out a call on social media to see if anyone from the clan downloaded it? Of course, you might get a few trolls, but you still might net a player or two from back in the day.

This is definitely something to try. Also anyone who played Doom with Eric, though no-one seems to have stepped forward.

radaddio wrote:

Also, the Denver Public Library has an archive of photos, negatives and other media related to the case. I guess it was from the RMN, but I can't really remember. They might have something there.

It would be fantastic if anyone ever gets the chance to go there and see what they have. I doubt it's anything too rare, but probably some nice, hi-res imagery and exclusives in any case.

radaddio wrote:

Knowing what I do about modders and level creation, I am almost certain there is a file that represents Columbine High School, or at least the killer's neighborhoods. it's such a common thing for map creators to use their schools, not to train for a killing spree, but mainly due to the fact that they tend to have the layout memorized so it translates easily to a game map.

Absolutely, I remember reading somewhere not too long ago, that it was Dylan who made the Columbine level for Doom, but the article below states that it was Eric, according to people who knew him. It even mentions a Duke Nukem 3D map of the school,

Quote :

"He actually made a level of Doom that was the same layout as the high school," one metro area young man, who asked not to be identified, said during a visit to the memorials set up at the school. "He called the level "CHS.' It was as close as you can get for a computer game. It wasn't the entire school - you couldn't make levels that big. But it was definitely part of it."

Source: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

radaddio wrote:

At any rate, good luck in your quest. There is a lot of stuff that survives the ages sitting in someone's garage : )

Thanks! If one of his WAD files made it into the Top 25, then he must have had some traffic on his webpage. I am convinced that all those files are out there somewhere in their untouched form, considering that the media also went through his page, it isn't hard to believe that other people would have as well.

Also, if anyone wants to get an idea of what REALDOOM might be like, you can play a WAD called "Obtic" that apparently was a source of inspiration for it, if I am interpreting JC-001-026032 correctly. ;)

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Thanks for the "Obtic" tip. In looking at it, it seems like some of the map elements would translate over to a CHS level really easily. That's just pure speculation, but a kid at another Colorado high school got in trouble in 2007 for doing a counterstrike or half life map of his school. When you looked at it, it was his high school layout, but translated through the existing map editor tools.

CharlesWhitman wrote:

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Outdoors is actually on there, but I think the reason it's considered lost is that whoever originally found it tried to run it with Doom2 and assumed it didn't work, it works only with Doom1.

Quote :

Unfortunately, that is not the real outdoors.wad, I found the exact same file in it's original zip, along with the text file which identifies the author as Scott Weiss and the date as 1994.

And why that wad is on AOL directory of Harris' site. I looked that wad on internet and all what I found is same file without readme.
Where you found file with readme?
Sorry bumping it BTW