Ha. It would be years til I played Doom. Mrathon was my first FPS experience. Good article. Good memories. A nitpick, though...this paragraph:

"To install and run Aleph One, first download the current build, then copy the program over to any folders the freely distributed versions of Marathon, Marathon 2 and Marathon Infinity )available over the Internet through the beloved SourceForge.net) happen to be in. The program will tap into the resource files in the folder and launch the app natively within OS X and bring you to the main screen where you can start a new game, load a saved one or adjust your preference settings."

...is so poorly constructed, I can barely understand. And that's important when giving technical instructions.

I was disappointed in the MacOS X port of Marathon. There are a lot of user-authored scenarios, and almost none of them work in the new OS X version. I didn't think it was possible for those data files to be version-specific, but apparently they are. There are loads of old scenarios in the Bungie archives that I'd love to play again, some of them are kill-everything-until-you-die scenarios, which are great fun. But I doubt they will ever be workable on Aleph One.

Quite a few people have put effort into such projects as these. The problem was that these conversions used not only data files, but also the tool engine modifying tool (Was it "fux"? I'm not sure).

However, individuals, or the origonal creators have now often replaced these modified engines with "MML" scripts, which are simply placed in the "Scripts" folder withing Aleph One's current directory. The best place to find these is fileball.net , which seems to have become the main repository for Marathon and Aleph One files. I know, for example, that scenarios such as Rubicon, Evil, Siege Of Nor'Koth, Red, and many other favourites, now work easily with the game.

Happy carnage!

I'm an Apple guy, and I have been ever since the late 70s, but I have to say that in all honesty Doom was a lot more fun than Marathon. The quality of the music and artwork in Doom was phenomenal, and the monsters were really scary. By comparison, Marathon looked very amateurish. And trying to throw in text-adventure-style communiques to add "depth" was just an annoying distraction.

DarelRex@gmail.com

Quote

Anonymous wrote:
I'm an Apple guy, and I have been ever since the late 70s, but I have to say that in all honesty Doom was a lot more fun than Marathon. The quality of the music and artwork in Doom was phenomenal, and the monsters were really scary. By comparison, Marathon looked very amateurish. And trying to throw in text-adventure-style communiques to add "depth" was just an annoying distraction.

DarelRex@gmail.com

Maybe you mean that Doom was a lot more fun FOR YOU than Marathon. I played both, and while Doom had its moments, I found Marathon to be far more enjoyable that Doom.

In fact, the comparison is a bit strained because the two games are so different: Doom was a 'blast everything and let God sort them out' game, no real thinking needed, just reflexes and an ice pack for your trigger finger.

Marathon, on the other hand, was dripping with atmosphere, and offered something to think about. It actually made me jump a few times because it was so immersive.

The first Doom game was not graphically superior to the first Marathon; they were both on par, in my opinion. If you are not a fan of the graphic style of Marathon, that's fine, but they both were fairly pixelated and simulated 3D.

The music in both games fit the respective mood of the games. if you prefer one over the other, that's cool too.

So, Marathon and Doom were both fun games, but I like them for different reasons, and I happen to like the original Marathon more than I liked the original Doom. Personal preference.

Vern Seward

This article barley mentions Alephones Internet capabilities, Just join the chat room "Aleph One" in AIM or iChat and you can join or host marathon games with others. For the stable build you must type their IP into a box in the join page but most of the room uses newer nighties ( available at the link at the bottom of the screen ) These allow you to "Find Internet game..." which brings you into a chat/game selecting room where you can double click a game to join.

http://marathon.sourceforge.net/nightly/

If anyone has any questions please visit pfhorums.com or check The Alephone quick start guide http://www.users.on.net/~mark/A1QuickStartGuide.html

Quote

VSeward wrote:
they both were fairly pixelated and simulated 3D.

This article also fails to mention the vastly improved graphics of Alephone, Alephone has incorporated OpenGL into marathon which works with downloadable "Enhancement packs" containing MML linking to Textures and Sprites as detailed as 1024x1024, Links to the "Texture Enhancement Pack" are on http://source.bungie.org/ and a Weapon Enhancment Pack Is in development in the pfhorums http://www.pfhorums.com/

unfortunately, it seems the aleph one project has stalled in the last year or so...

the marathon series was great-- my brothers and i would have LAN parties before it was called a LAN (y'know, network parties... over appletalk... in the printer port with phone cables...)

many an hour was wasted on that stupid alien ship in the first (which i STILL have not finished) and even more hours playing on a network

marathon offered varying environments with challenging puzzles and difficult enemies (running out of ammo with three hunters still alive is not a good feeling) while doom was run down a dark hallway-- dont worry about vertical aiming, we have that taken care of-- and blast the living crap out of 50 demons with your 90 rockets-- then do it again

oh, and for those of you ready for the next chapter in the saga, there is the fan based eternal project (through aleph one) located at http://eternal.psyjnir.net/index.php

which do you hate more, bungie's betrayal... or tycho's?

TRO

problem solving aspects made maraqthon much more immersive. the ability to shoot up and down in any direction while movig was a bummer in dune afer gettibng used to the feel of it in marathon. $#!% my favorite move when matching an overwealming amount of enimies was running in a cercile and turning yhe upper half of my body to shoot with both weapons into that circle. was that even possible in dune, ever? or even halo for xbox now? it was a kickass move. oh yea and who can forget the gernade jump. that $#!% was the bomb.
k

"which do you hate more, bungie's betrayal... or tycho's?" Ha. I can remember when Halo was going to be the mac killer app. Instead, it single-handedly launched the Xbox to heights of fame and fortune. Mac users had to wait years to get their hands on a port of of port, with framerate issues and network lag problems. Such is the life of a mac gamer.

For those off you who thought Doom was better than Marathon... I can still feel the winds of Lh'owon. Doom made no such impression on me. Nor did Quake, even with it's fully 3D environments and characters. A good story and setting can create an immersion that even superior technology cannot match. I'd rather take part in the "planet-hopping, psychological thriller" that is Marathon than slog it out with the same old demons in yet another corner of hell. That's why I haven't bought Doom 3 yet (I will when the Dark Mod comes out, though). It's the same thing wrapped up in a shinier package, and it bores me. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to follow a whim of Durandal's, which I'm confident is all part of his master plan... "See ya starside."

I remember hunting and hunting for some really fun secrets, and the deprivation chamber was one of the best! And grenade hopping? how about grenade climbing? Sadly, that was lost with M2. But I still play Marathon, although I tend to play the M1A1 version, with mp3 music instead (Tobacco, CWF and Craig Hardgrove). M1 seems to have an atmosphere, for me, at least, that no other games have equaled, and few come close. Halo is close, but it's more like Moo than M1, for me. Once I played through Halo and H2 a couple times, that was enough for me. M1 just keeps coming back, and what's funny is that the levels I hated the most the first time around (Colony Ship for Sale, Cheap, to name one) are some of the ones that are now my favorites. Those guys knew how to make a level flow, yet feel claustrophobic at the same time, kind of like a maelstrom, dragging you down and down against your will. And those nasty bug things that blew up (lookers) were my favorites to hate!

Thanks for the reminiscing. and as someone else already said, "See ya starside!"

Don't forget Excalibur: Morgana's Revenge

http://www.excaliburworld.com/emr/

Doom was much better than marathan..


Chicago Geek..............
http://www.jobs.co.in/

"Doom was much better than marathan.."

Now, that's totally unfair. Doom never overlooked such a beautiful swimming pool.

http://www.planetholiday-es.com/hotel/4964.htm

I'm running Mac OS X 10.3.9, and when I try to play Marathon, the music plays but the display is all screwed up, just a bunch of digital noise. I can kind of see the splash screen but the colors are all funky.

Anyone have any idea what the problem is, whether there's a fix or work-around?

Sorry if this isn't an appropriate question. I'm itching to play Marathon again and I'm stuck!

Thanks!

Daniel

Quote

Guest wrote:
I'm running Mac OS X 10.3.9, and when I try to play Marathon, the music plays but the display is all screwed up, just a bunch of digital noise. I can kind of see the splash screen but the colors are all funky.

Anyone have any idea what the problem is, whether there's a fix or work-around?

Sorry if this isn't an appropriate question. I'm itching to play Marathon again and I'm stuck!

Thanks!

Daniel

I think you have to change back to thousand of colors or more , it happened to me when I changed to 256 color.

-Assassingao

P.S. Marathon ∞ data editor (forge , anvil) Can change everything on marathon ∞ , Sounds , maps , pictures and even physhics !

Can't doom do that ? No , doom don't let us change any graphic in the game !