In my recent projects I have had to delve deep into the mists of time surrounding Blood's development. In so doing I have uncovered an anomaly.
The mystery of which I speak is tied to Plasma Pak and its versioning. Forget One Unit: Whole Blood and 3DFX. Our focus is earlier and surrounds the very early days of Plasma Pak's release, specifically, v1.11 and identifying its mysterious twin, v1.10.
Monolith Productions released two patches for Plasma Pak if we ignore 3DFX. These were named pcd11.exe and p1011.exe. These patches both exist and are legitimate. Both of these patches were designed to bring about parity between Blood and Plasma Pak, since Plasma Pak was released with its versioning being slightly behind that of the base game at the time.
I don't have proof of it, but it seems like Monolith Productions initially released p1011.exe acting under the misconception that the Plasma Pak rollout was Plasma Pak v1.10. The patch was intended to update the v1.10 of Plasma Pak to v1.11.
This was a mistake. They removed the patch from distribution and instead replaced it with pcd11.exe. This patch updates a "slightly older" Plasma Pak v1.11 (August) to the "up-to-date" Plasma Pak v1.11 (September). Yes, to make things nice and complicated, this means that two versions of Plasma Pak v1.11 exist.
This would be the end of the story were it not for the fact that I can still see ancient Internet whispers of Plasma Pak v1.10. I also have a vague recollection of hearing it mentioned historically, but I made the mistake of paying it no mind at the time.
I recently spent days delving into different Blood updates to try replicate the existence of Plasma Pak v1.10. I have searched the Internet for every reference to it.
I theorised that perhaps there was some peculiar outcome that arose from upgrading a certain version of Blood to Plasma Pak which would result in Plasma Pak v1.10 manifesting. I have attempted multiple patch configurations and combinations, but the result is always the same. I've tried Windows 98. I've tried DOS. I've tried DOSBox. I've tried updating European Blood. I've tried updating Special Edition Blood. Whatever I do, no matter the path I try, Plasma Pak v1.11 (August) stares back at me enticingly after installation. This occurs with multiple different copies of Plasma Pak. The only thing I've yet to try is to have Blood tools in the mix while updating, but this is truly reaching and I doubt it would result in success.
I have compared all the images I could find of Plasma Pak online against what I know and what I own. Plasma Pak's release was quite limited, and I believe there was only a single release cycle for it in a single region (obviously ignoring OUWB's Plasma inclusion, as said). Everything checks out. All Plasma Paks appear identical -- all will update Blood to Plasma Pak v1.11 (August).
The way I see it, four possibilities exist:
- Monolith Productions released two sets of Plasma Pak during distribution, somehow managing to press Plasma Pak v1.10 as part of the release and Plasma Pak v1.11 as the other part, i.e. there are rare, earlier version Plasma Pak prints that are imperceptible until such time as the discs are run, but which otherwise appear identical to the others, in which case, I do not own any of these. Monolith Productions received reports of these, released p1011.exe, received conflicting information regarding the version actually being v1.11 (August), took that as truth, and replaced the patch with pcd11.exe, it remaining unknown even to them that two separate distributions took place simultaneously.
- Digital distribution was of course almost entirely a twinkle in the eye of game developers at the time, but perhaps Plasma Pak was leaked prematurely (through GT Interactive?) and made its way to the world wide web. This early version, v1.10, then spread, resulting in the reports and release of p1011.exe. Monolith Productions later realised that this was not a legitimate release, pulled the patch and then replaced it with the correct patch. That is to say, that Plasma Pak v1.10 is only available as a leak that the fanbase kept alive and circulating; it was never bought and never sold.
- There is some kind of arcane ritual a person can perform with file-swapping while installing Plasma Pak that somehow makes it install Plasma Pak v1.10 instead of v1.11.
- Plasma Pak v1.10 is entirely a myth as a result of Monolith Productions' erroneous post. Certain owners of Blood got confused by their own version numbering in combination with Monolith Productions' handling of the situation and the idea that Plasma Pak v1.10 exists and is public took on a life of its own, but the version doesn't actually exist outside of a Windows 95 computer in Monolith's basement somewhere.
Does this version exist? Do you have a copy of it? Do you remember or know where it came from?
This seems like information that is at great risk of being lost to history. It's part of the objective of this site to prevent Blood information from fading into obscurity. Please do reach out and help fill in the gaps so details regarding this patch can at least partly be set in stone.