pk3 mods aren't able to execute

[Guest]

Whenever I try to drag a pk3 file over GZDoom, a message saying "You cannot -file with the shareware version. Register!" How do I fix this and get the mods to work

Im using the newest version of GZDoom

Thank you

[wildweasel]

Are you playing the shareware version of Doom (doom1.wad)? The message means exactly what it says: you need to be using the full version of Doom to use mods. (Or use Freedoom, the open source alternative.)

[camper]

Is it only in GZDoom? Because it seems that in some ports it was possible to connect the mods together with the shareware.
Is this an independent ethical decision of the developers of GZDoom or a request from id software?

[wildweasel]

Is it only in GZDoom? Because it seems that in some ports it was possible to connect the mods together with the shareware.
Is this an independent ethical decision of the developers of GZDoom or a request from id software?

It is part of the original Doom's "Data Utility License":

3) AUTHOR'S DUTIES: You, the author of the Utility, may use the Trademark
to promote Distribution of the Utility on a non-exclusive basis and may
use the Binary Space Partition to develop the utility during the term of
this limited License so long as you:
[...]
b) Certify that your Utility doesn't work with the shareware version
of the Program;
[...]

In addition, "You cannot -file with the shareware version" has always been a part of the Doom code. If any source ports have ignored that, then they're the ones in breach of the agreement.