Marathon video game FAQ

 MARATHON FAQ 

 

Version 1.0, 29th November 1994 

 

 

(c)1994 Aapo Puskala (Aapo.Puskala@Helsinki.fi or puskala@kruuna.helsinki.fi) 

Please send any additional info to me and I will update this FAQ. 

Feel free to distribute this anywhere you wish. 

 

NOTE: There are probably many mistakes and inaccuracies in this FAQ. Please 

inform me when you notice them - otherwise they might never get corrected. 

 

 

What's new since last version (0.5)? 

 

Lots. Too much to be listed here. This section will get updated beginning 

in the next version. 

 

 

 

WHAT IS MARATHON? 

 

Marathon is a Doom-like game by Bungie Software Products Corporation. Its 

features include (from the DON'T READ ME file): 

 

- Texture Mapped 3-D, Continuous-Motion Graphics 

- Active Panning Stereo Sound 

- In-Your-Face Network Carnage 

- Digital Soundtrack 

- Dynamic Sensing Artificial Intelligence 

- Interactive Lighting Effects 

- Full screen graphics with 5 Degrees of Freedom 

- "Live" Automapping Feature 

- High Resolution graphics in 8 or 16 bit color 

 

 

It requires the following: 

 

- Macintosh 68020 or higher (68040 or faster recommended) 

- 8-Bit (256) Color display 

- System 6.0.5 or higher 

- 3 Meg of free RAM 

- Hard Drive 

- Networking requires System 7 

 

 

Where can I get it? 

 

The demo should be available on sumex-aim.stanford edu and its mirrors by now. 

And there are plenty of other sites that have it. It should really be no 

problem to find it anymore. 

 

 

 

TECHNICAL PROBLEMS 

 

 

The background music won't work 

 

There are several thing that could cause this. Check the following first: 

 

- You must have QuickTime 2.0 or newer and QuickTime Musical Instruments in 

your Extensions folder. 

 

- Music requires memory. Try allocating Marathon Demo 6000K or more memory, 

especially if you use 16-bit (thousands of colors) graphics. Also, if 

you're not able to use 16 bit graphics although you should have enough 

VRAM, try allocating more memory 

if you can spare it. Marathon seems to run fine with RAM Doubler installed. 

Marathon might require up to 8000 K. 

 

- To use stereo sound, you need Sound Manger 3.0 or newer. 

 

Sound Manager is available via anonymous ftp at several locations on the 

net, but QT 2.0 is not. You can obtain the needed files from the CD version 

of System 7.5 or purchase QT 2.0 separately. It is not legal to copy it 

from a friend. QuickTime 

1.6.2 is the newest QT that can be found on the net. That version will not 

help with Marathon music, though. 

 

 

Bugs 

 

The Mouse & Keyboard/Keyboard control bug 

 

If you select Keyboard control from the preferences dialog box, you can't 

change it back anymore. You need to trash the Marathon Preferences file 

from the Preferences folder in your System folder and launch Marathon again 

to fix this. You can switch 

from Mouse & Keyboard to Keyboard only, but not back. 

 

After Dark bug 

 

Marathon and AD don't like each other. You might be able to launch Marathon 

Demo and play it, but upon quitting you might get a message saying 

"Application 'unknown' has unexpectedly quit.' and your system might became 

very unstable and crash soon. 

I do not use AD and don't know whether it is Marathon Demo or AD to blame. 

 

Looking down 

 

Quite often when playing you can't seem to look down except for maybe 20 

or so. It is quite annoying, especially in the staircases. I know of no 

other fix for this except to look all the way up and back down again. I 

know this happens when playing 

with the mouse, could someone who uses the keyboard please verify if this 

happens with the keyboard, too? I do not know exactly what has to be done 

to replicate this, but it is really common whatsoever. 

 

Multiple monitors 

 

Currently you can't set the monitor you want to run Marathon on. Setting 

the monitor to 1 bit doesn't help. Either you have to disconnect your main 

monitor or make the play monitor your main monitor and reboot. 

 

 

CHARACTERS IN THE GAME 

 

Bobs 

 

These humans are the crew of colony ship Marathon that was attacked by 

aliens half an hour before you got there. They are of no use in the demo. 

In the release version you are supposed to rescue these, I believe, but you 

might as well kill them in 

the demo. Sometimes they kill the aliens, though. But much more often 

they're just in your way. 

 

Other players 

 

These look like the red guy in the second start-up screen (except that 

these can be in other colors). They can be friendly on not; I believe that 

on the demo you're always supposed to fight against each other. 

 

Aliens 

 

There are three different colors, red, yellow and blue (maybe green ones, 

too, I can't remember). The blue ones are the meanest. All these are your 

enemies. Bungie says that in the final version there will be 15 classes of 

aliens. It is unsure 

whether each of these different color aliens count as one or as three 

aliens,. 

 

Compilers 

 

These are the aliens in the red robe that usually hang around the computer 

terminals. They can fly and cannot be hurt by the flame-thrower, but are 

relatively easy to kill with guns. I do not know why they are called 

"Compilers". 

 

 

 

SECRETS (SPOILER ALERT!) 

 

 

Level 1: Arrival! 

 

The Bob in the maze 

 

There is a single human in prison in the maze. You can go free him, but it 

is of no use. If you kill him, a new one will appear in 10 or so minutes. 

Here's how to get to him: 

 

Activate the switch in the stairs near the first save-game terminal. Walk 

on the ledge; now you will be able to reach the other corner of the ledge. 

Open the door (tab)with the Marathon symbol on it and enter the maze. Walk 

until you come to an 

intersection, turn right and right again; walk up a couple of steps. There 

is a secret door to the right of you (you will see a flashing square in the 

map (M-key) showing the location of this poor fellow.) The Bob is behind 

this door, but that's all 

there is. No weapons, no ammo, no secret doors. And you get no points for 

freeing him, at least not in the demo. 

 

The secret ammo room 

 

There is a secret ammo room on level 1. You can see it on the map at the 

first terminal that you find when you start the game. Here's how to get 

there: 

 

Go first by the secret door to the bob in the maze (see the previous 

entry). Run over the hallway you just came along, but turn diagonally to 

the right. You will land on the other side of the hallway on an another 

ledge. Turn right (run straight 

over yet another hallway) and walk along the corridor. Kill the Compiler 

(the alien in the gown) at the end, and view the terminal if you wish. Turn 

back to where you came from and turn left - you will arrive at a door; open 

it. There is a big room 

which as aliens in the bottom. You might want to jump down or kill them 

from the ledge, but they should all be dead before you continue. 

 

When the room is empty of aliens, open the door again (if you jumped down, 

you have to walk a long way to get back up), take a few steps back and run 

and turn left in the air until you land on the ledge left from the door 

(you might also try jumping 

first on the other side of the room on the opposite ledge, it is possible 

to jump from that ledge to this one, too). The secret door is about halfway 

of the ledge you're standing on. 

 

 

Level 2: Bigger Guns Nearby 

 

The TOZT-7 Backpack Napalm Unit (the flame-thrower) 

 

I assume you have gotten to the room with the switch that lifts the stairs 

up. Get onto the elevator that lifted you up there. On the opposite side of 

the room from the elevator there is a corridor near the ceiling of the 

room; the flame-thrower is 

located there. There is also an invisible compiler, fire a few grenades 

first to kill him. Next turn around, so that your back faces the corridor 

(you might want to align yourself with the corridor using the map, M-key by 

default). Look as much down 

as you can. Start running backwards and fire a grenade or two in the air; 

you should be able to land on the ledge. This will most likely take several 

tries before you make it, but it is certainly possible. By the way, the 

flame-thrower won't hurt 

the compilers (the aliens in the red gowns). 

 

The Infrared Scanner 

 

There is an infrared scanner that lets you see the dark corners of the 

rooms for a few minutes located on a passageway between two large rooms on 

the second level. This object looks like a square that has a b 

all in the center and is blue in color (if I remember correctly). The ledge 

is about chest-height, but you cannot climb there. Instead, you need to 

look down and fire a grenade at your feet, the blast should throw you up 

there. You need good shields 

so that you won't die in the attempt. Usually the infrared scanner is not 

worth the trouble, IMHO. 

 

 

Level 3: Blaspheme Quarantine 

 

I'm stuck in the very beginning; can't find an exit! 

 

There are stairs leading down in the end of the pillar that has the two 

terminals (one for recharging the shield and one for activating the 

elevator at the bottom of these stairs). 

 

How to get to/open the door in the large square room? 

 

Go activate the switch that starts the elevator up to the tunnel that leads 

to the ledge. Get on the elevator and run over the hallway below, you'll 

land on the ledge. But be sure to kill the bunch of aliens on the ledge 

before your jump (actually, 

you cannot jump, just run over the corridor). The door on the left should 

be open now, but there is ammo at the other end of the ledge. Run there and 

back, you should be able to get the ammo and go through the door. If not, 

just repeat the steps 

described. 

 

How do I solve the puzzle? 

 

Very simple. All you have to do is activate the switch that lifts the last 

of the elevators: turn right , walk to the end of the ledge, and activate 

the leftmost switch. then run towards toe furthest of the four elevators 

(you'll fall down from the 

ledge first, but it won't hurt). 

 

High Passageway near NW corner of beginning part of Level 3, with red 

switch in it. 

 

You can see a passageway from the outside area (NW corner), after you kill 

the aliens there. There is a red switch in this passage, but I don't know 

how to get to it. (Jamal Hannah). I haven't verified this yet. 

 

 

Network play level: Mars Needs Women 

 

How do I get to the secret room and what can I do there? 

 

Enter the circular room with the staircase to nowhere. Go out of there 

towards the greenish area with the elevators. Turn right into the second 

short corridor and press tab (or whatever you have set as the action key) 

in the end - a secret door 

should open. The missile launcher is in this hidden corridor, as well as 4 

different switches at the end of 4 separate corridors. These switches are 

used to turn on/off the white lights on the walls in some places, such as 

the stairs going to the 

second floor. Not much use IMHO, except maybe when you have the infrared 

goggles. 

 

 

 

MISCELLANEOUS 

 

 

When will the release version be available? 

 

The demo was released in the end of November, 1994. Bungie says the release 

version will be in stores on December 1st 1994. On the other hand, they 

were three months late with their demo  

 

 

Network play 

 

Network play is possible over LocalTalk, TokenTalk or Ethernet connection. 

I have heard reports that it won't work over ARA (AppleTalk Remote Access), 

but I have heard other reports that it will. Perhaps tjis has something to 

do with ARA version 

number (1.0/2.0). I have heard someone managed to play over IPRemote, but 

since I don't even know what that is, I will not say anything about it. 

 

 The network game in the demo is also limited to 5 minutes and 2 players. I 

hane vot heard of a patch around this. Let's hope we get the actual game 

soon! 

 

 

Function keys 

 

You can use the function keys on your extended keyboard to access the game 

settings during the game: 

 

Key Function 

F1 Full Screen size 

F2 100% size 

F3 75% size 

F4 50% size 

F5 High/low resolution 

F6 Draw every other line (low res only) 

F7 Floor textures on/off (low res only) 

F8 Ceiling textures on/off (low res only) 

F9 ? 

F10 ? 

F11 Darken the environment 

F12 Lighten the environment 

 

 

Saving the game 

 

Games can be saved only at pattern buffers, terminals that have a picture 

of a man. Read the DON'T READ ME file and the text in the terminals:-). 

 

Performance notes 

 

From the DON'T READ ME file: 

 

There are a few things you can do if you need to speed up the animation in 

Marathon. 

 

- Run Marathon in 100%, 75%, or 50% to make the animation smoother. The 

smaller the window, the faster the animation. 

 

- Low Resolution setting will increase game speed. The every other line 

setting will further speed the Low Resolution setting (especially on 

machines with slow VRAM, such as Powerbooks). Turning off floor and/or 

ceiling textures will also increase 

speed. 

 

- Make sure nothing is running in the background (i.e. open applications, 

print monitor, control panels, etc...) 

 

- To increase performance, use fewer sound channels. The number of sound 

channels is the number of sounds that can be played simultaneously. The 

stereo sound option effectively doubles the number of sounds that can be 

played at once. Since the sound 

manager is not native on the Power Mac, using 3 or more sound channels will 

greatly impede performance. (Don't blame us. Native sound manager should be 

available before too long.) 

 

I died and can't continue! 

 

Yes you can: press the tab key (or whatever you have set as your action 

key). 

 

The self-playing demo 

 

If you don't do anything at the startup screen for a couple of minutes, the 

game will start on its own to demonstrate you the capabilities of the game. 

In the network demo, the name of the player can be seen on the left blow 

the oxygen and shield 

indicators. By pressing the "delete" key you can view the same situation 

from the perspective of the other player(s). 

 

How can I make film other than level 1? 

 

You can't, at least not in the demo. Hopefully possible in the final 

version. 

 

Hints 

 

- Switches can be activated with your fist or the grenade launcher, too. 

 

- The terminal often contain maps of the levels 

 

- For most technical problems, allocating more memory (up to 8000K) will 

help. If you can't get background music to play, if you can't get enough 

colors on screen, if your microphone ceases to work, allocate more memory. 

 

 

 

Thanks: 

 

Bungie 

comp.sys.mac.games 

Jamal Hannah (jamal@bronze.lcs.mit.edu ) 

Petteri Sulonen 

 

 

 

 

- - - - - 

 

...Aapo 

 

 

--  

Aapo Puskala, Aapo.Puskala@Helsinki.FI *** University of Helsinki, Finland 

Kirjatyontekijankatu 6 B 36, 00170 Helsinki, Finland, tel. +358-0-278 1345 

  A conclusion is simply the place where someone got tired of thinking.