4-map version
The very oldest releases of the OHRRPGCE are collectively known as the 4-map versions. When James Paige originally wrote the OHR, he entertained ideas of releasing it for profit as a shareware program. His plan was to give away a free version that was crippled to allow only 4 maps, and to give the uncrippled version (which at the time only supported 16 maps) to anyone who registered.
After a few months he started giving uncrippled versions to anyone who would mail him a "good" game to prove they were serious about needing more than 4 maps, so that their games could hopefully be included as examples along with the full version. After a few months of that, James grew tired of trying to be the judge of what was a "good" game. That, combined with the fact that the 4-map limitation was rather easy to circumvent, made him decide to make the OHRRPGCE real freeware, and release an uncrippled version to everyone.
Circumventing the 4-map Limit[edit]
Clever designers noted that the editable Wandering Hamster had nine maps -- more than double the limit of four that was given in the crippled CUSTOM. A popular method of working around the limit was therefore to use Wandering Hamster as the starting file, replacing all of its content but maintaining the nine-map capability. This was frowned on by some members, especially those who had already received the uncrippled version.
Because of the map limit, designers tended to make much larger maps. Residual from this can still be noticed in some very old games.
See Also[edit]
- Timeline of the OHRRPGCE
- OHRRPGCE Download Archive
- Discussion and download links to oldest available versions
| Preceded by | Version Release Date | Succeeded by | Current version |
| Demo releases of Wandering Hamster | Nov 1997-early 1998 | Nameless versions | ichorescent |