Idgames archive

The idgames archive (or /idgames archive) is the largest online archive of levels, modifications, tools and other material for Doom engine games. The archive was founded in by Barry Bloom, and is currently hosted on the  site of gamers.org, where it has been housed since. To alleviate bandwidth usage and ensure that data will not be lost, the archive is mirrored on various alternative FTP/WWW sites around the world which are recommended for downloads.

The /idgames archive is one of three sister FTP archives for game add-ons, also including a Quake & Quake II engine archive (/idgames2) and an archive (/unreal). Of the three, only the idgames archive accepts new uploads, while the other two are closed.

Content management
The archive accepts submissions freely but includes several restrictions and requirements on what may be uploaded, either due to copyright reasons or to keep a certain standard in the quality of the files collected, which are described in a document in the main directory of the FTP entitled README.INCOMING. Uploaded files that are rejected for any reason are listed on another file named REJECTS that notes the reasons the file was not accepted. Uploads are packaged in the ZIP format and require an accompanying text file based on the standard Doom file template, UPLTEMPL.TXT, which must be uploaded separately, as well as in the ZIP file.

The archive has a demos section (/lmps), but it has been closed for years, which has given rise to alternative demo recording archives, notably the competn FTP, which hosts the files for Compet-n, as well as the Doom Speed Demo Archive.

For easy browsing of the archive, the Doomworld website provides a database of the archive with searching, user commenting and ratings, and download links to official mirrors.

History
The archive was preceded by an informal set of disjoint archives on various university FTP servers, including wuarchive.wustl.edu and ftp.uwp.edu, beginning in December 1993 with the release of Doom. The need to have a centralized and moderated location where all files could be uploaded and then mirrored from led Barry Bloom to create an authoritative /doom archive at ocf.unt.edu in March 1994. However, administrators eventually disapproved of the use of resources, forcing a move of the primary archive to a new server at infant2.sphs.indiana.edu, at Indiana University, administered primarily by Jim Pitts beginning in May 1994. After the release of DOOM II it was joined by a /doom2 sister archive.

The server at infant2 gathered a strong set of mirrors, and persisted until November 1994 when Jim Pitts lost administrative access to the server. ftp.orst.edu was promoted as a temporary primary site, but users were not able to successfully upload files to that server. The two archives were picked up a month later by, also known by its domain name of cdrom.com, which was already a mirror. They were originally administered by Joost Schuur, later joined by Jeff Makaiwi for the /lmps section. The release of Heretic prompted Joost Schuur in February 1995 to combine and reorganize the two archives into /idgames, as it was henceforth known, and allow submissions for all Doom engine games. In April 1996, with Quake soon to be released, he founded and moved on to administrate the idgames2 archive.

In October 2001, cdrom.com was purchased by a new parent company and announced that it would no longer host such archives. That same month the archive was moved to its present location at ftp.gamers.org (which was already a mirror), with the primary download server hosted at 3darchives.in-span.net, until its discontinuation in January 2005.

In February 2021, after repeated concerns about accessing and uploading to the archive via FTP, gamers.org launched the Idgames Upload form to facilitate uploading files via the website. It was developed by Frans P. de Vries (Xymph).

Modern maintainers
Frans became the primary maintainer in December 1995 and remained in that role until February 1997, when he passed it on to Ty Halderman. Halderman held the role without interruption until April 2015, when illness prevented him from continuing his duties, at which point Bill Koch (Bloodshedder) and Eric Baker (The Green Herring) were named interim maintainers. After Halderman's death in July 2015, Koch and Baker were retained as the new maintainers.

Reviews
Despite the age of the Doom games, numerous WAD files are still submitted to the archive each week. These were reviewed in The /newstuff Chronicles on Doomworld until late 2018. This is named after the /newstuff directory, where the latest submissions to the archive can be found. Several community reviewers post reviews of the latest levels, typically including screen shots.