Why many software programs are self-evident or contain help sections within the program itself, many others are complicated enough that the use of them is not self-evident. To counter this, piracy groups would transcribe the manual of the program so that anyone who got a copy of the program would know how to use it. In this say, Software-Based Documentation was born. It was shortened in name to "Soft Documentation" and then "Soft Docs", and even "dox" in some cases.
An interesting side-effect of this process, which was pretty tedious by any standard, was that the writer/transcriber would include a lot of interesting side-comments about the program, or the BBS world as they saw it, or any amount of gossip/opinion they could fit in.
This is not the only section with Soft Documentation; there is a very large collection of Apple II-Based Documentation in the Apple II section.
| Filename |
Size |
Description of the Textfile |
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$readme.txt | 8919 | Soft Documentation for Broderbund's License to Kill by The Firm (October 12, 1989)
| $readme2.txt | 4974 | Soft Documentation for Taito's Operation Wolf by The Firm (September 15, 1989)
| 688.txt | 156457 | SOFTDOCS: 688 Attack Sub User Manual
| a-10tank | 61934 | Soft Documentation: A-10 Tank Killer
| aaargh.txt | 4301 | SOFTDOCS: Aaaarg, by Arthur Dent of M.A.A.D.
| abdtg.nfo | 3062 | Documentation for the Arrested Bus Drivers Tone Generator
| adandd.cards | 12772 | Soft Documents: Magic: The AD&D
| alienleg.asc | 17656 | Soft Documentation: Alien Legacy by Dynamix
| allnet.txt | 3809 | Documentation for Allnet Hacker v4.0
| appendix | 13955 | Documentation for Crack Version 4.1 by Alec Muffett
| arkanoid.frm | 1278 | Soft Documentation for Arkanoid II: Revenge of Doe by The Firm
| atrain.txt | 131950 | SOFTDOCS: The A-Train
| aultrafd.txt | 22367 | Soft Documentation to Archon Ultra, by Lorus
| autoduel.txt | 13376 | Soft Docs: Autoduel
| azure.sol | 60274 | SOFTDOCS: Curse of the Azure Bonds
| bakcht{}.not | 3892 | Betrayal at Kondor Cheat Version 1.0, by Null Set
| batchess.txt | 13894 | SOFTDOCS: Battle Chess
| batman.txt | 9175 | SOFTDOCS: Batman, typed by Golden One of the API
| beast2.txt | 29108 | Soft Documentation: Shadow of the Beast II Docs, by Fizban of G.O.D.
| beast3.txt | 7304 | Soft Documentation: Shadow of the Beast III
| bic-sol2.dox | 26490 | SOFTDOCS: Bicycle Solitare v2.01 by Swfte, Documentation by Genesis of HumbleDox (May 29, 1991)
| bluegrey.txt | 23246 | Soft Documentation for The Blue and the Gray
| bp.txt | 18615 | Soft Documentation: Balance of the Planet (199)
| buckroge.txt | 22246 | Soft Documentation: Buck Rogers: Countdown to Doomsday
| cas-trg.txt | 6933 | Soft Documentation: Command Adventures: Starship Version 1.0 Technical Reference Guide
| caveman.txt | 21078 | SOFTDOCS: Caveman Ugh-Lympics by Azreal
| centudox.txt | 27350 | Centurion "Defender of Rome" by Electronic Arts Documentation (1990)
| centurio.txt | 13120 | SOFTDOCS: Centurion by Gironimo of the Something Different BBS
| champion.txt | 42304 | The Champions of Krynn Adventurer's Journal by Archon
| chessii.txt | 2944 | BattleChess II Game Codes
| civi.txt | 161402 | Full Documentation for Civilizations
| civiguid.txt | 371990 | The Official Guide to Sid Meier's Civilization, typed by Baser Evil of Alliance
| civildox.nfo | 9349 | DOCUMENTATION: Complete Civilization Documentation from United Software Association and Mokedage/Organism
| civiliz.dox | 160101 | DOCUMENTATION; Complete Civilization Documentation
| conr-dox.nfo | 10826 | DOCUMENTATION: Jimmy Connor's Pro Tennis Tour from United Software Association/Fairlight PC
| control.txt | 3229 | Explanation of the Code-Name ICEMAN Control Panel
| cruisdox.nfo | 4113 | Cruise for a Corpse: Complete Documentation by Delphine Software
| cruisref.txt | 13598 | The Humble Guys: Cruise for a Corpse : Reference Manual for the Cimematique System
| cw.txt | 9200 | DOCUMENTATION: Crime Wave, by Access Software
| cy3-dox.txt | 2504 | Soft Documentation: Chuck Yeager's Air Combat, by Gopher of POWR
| d-lair.txt | 2477 | How to Win at the NYCrack of Dragon's Lair
| darkleg.txt | 6859 | Quick Documentation to Dark Legions by The Beholder
| darkspyr.txt | 1024 | DOCUMENTATION: Dark Spyre, by T-Bo
| ddragon.txt | 1406 | Double Dragon Docs, by the Blue Adept
| deltav.txt | 6336 | Solution to Delta V from Bethesda Softworks
| diehard.hnt | 3792 | The Security and Inovcations for Die Hard
| digger2.txt | 1922 | Documentation for Diggers PC v1.49 from Milleniuum Interactive 1993-1994
| diggers.txt | 9897 | Soft Documentation for Diggers from Millenium
| dinoterr.txt | 5554 | Review and Soft Documentation for Dino Park Tycoon
| dkok.txt | 96768 | Death Knights of Krynn Adventurer's Journal Part I: The Players Manual. typed by Repo Man
| dmkeys.txt | 6211 | DOOM key commands (December 16, 1993)
| dragonw | 61861 | DRAGON WARS by Interplay, IBM version (September 1990)
| ds-colon.nfo | 5820 | Documentation for Colonisation by SlackJaw (September 23, 1994)
| dsd-canf.dox | 11311 | Documentation for Cannon Fodder by Virgin
| dsd-canf.nfo | 4207 | Full Documentation for Cannon Fodder by Acid Queen of Dream Syndicate
| dsge.txt | 7522 | Documentation for DSGE v1.00 by ANdrew Pye
| dstrike.txt | 54439 | SOFTDOCS: Documentation to Dragonstrike: The Dragon Combat Simulation by The Redman
| dtrack.hnt | 6336 | Solution to Deathtrack by Activision
| dtrack.txt | 2707 | The Death Track Protection Document
| dtrack3.txt | 4722 | Deathtrack Documentation
| dun2trns.nfo | 7502 | Documentation for Dune II Megatrainer by David Jury (1993)
| earthsei.dox | 2657 | Quick Docs for MetalTech: Earth Siege (October 31, 1994)
| ecstatic.txt | 9378 | Documentation Transcription of Ecstatica
| elite2.txt | 2745 | Quick Documentation for Elite 2
| enchant.txt | 19804 | Documentation for Curse of Enchantia by Scooter of Skid Row
| epic-thg.dox | 69755 | The Humble Guys HumbleDox: Epic: The Complete Game Manual
| epic.txt | 6777 | Soft Documentation for Flight Simulator "Epic"
| f-15docs.txt | 1638 | SOFTDOCS: F-15 Strike Eagle, by The Blue Adept
| f15ii.txt | 2373 | The Underground Council: F-15 II (August 15, 1989) Member List and Docs
| falcon2.txt | 13704 | Softdocs: Falcon Missions Disk II: Operation Firefight typed by Renegade
| falfun.txt | 5562 | Some Strange and Funny Things to Do with Falcon 3
| fatal.nfo | 2536 | Documentation for "Fatal Challenge
| ffbtof.txt | 30942 | SOFTDOCS: Fiendish Freddy's Big Top O'Fun by Mindscape
| fistfast.txt | 1386 | Documentation for Armored Fist by Ars Nova
| fl-aoe.dox | 14481 | Documentation for Aces of Europe by Fanfan LaTulipe
| formula1.txt | 61175 | Soft Documentation for Microprose's Formula One Grand Prix
| gamtools.txt | 20260 | SOFTDOCS: Gametools Version 3.4 by Wong Wing Kin (1994) (Cracks Software Protection)
| gshipibm.txt | 5470 | DOCS: Gunship, by Microprose
| gunbelt3.txt | 8525 | Softdocs: Gunbelt III by Lord Blix (August 25, 1987)
| heimdall.txt | 24754 | SOFTDOCS: Heimdall, by Skid Row and Scooter
| idd.nfo | 5520 | INC: Civilization Hintbook (July 23, 1992)
| indymodm.txt | 6115 | Indycar Racing Modem Play
| indypass.txt | 6410 | Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade Translation Table
| java-esd.txt | |