Downloads

A work-in-progress update of Hopper & Ares Ex Machina’s texturing plugin Vasara (which itself is based on treellama & Jon Irons’ Visual Mode.lua), with several new features:

• Support for Aleph One 1.7’s new 2x, 4x, and reverse slide transfer modes
• Vastly more control over texture alignment, including:
  • Options to decouple X and Y snaps
  • Options to align textures to the center, right, bottom, north, west, south, or east
  • 19 more grid sizes.
• A “decouple transparent sides” option that allows you to apply different textures, alignments, and lights to each transparent side of a line.
• Options to apply only the texture or only the transfer mode rather than both.
• A toggle for the “realign textures when retexturing” option.
• Overlays that show what you’re looking at (useful if you want to use Lua scripts on part of the level).

It also fixes several bugs, including:

• The Lua error spam that happened whenever you had “apply texture” and “apply light” selected with a light value above 55.
• “Must Be Explored” polygons being reset to “Normal”.
• “Align adjacent” failing to work with many textures placed on empty lines. (Some transparent textures still won’t align properly; “decouple transparent sides” may mitigate this issue somewhat.)

To install:

• Visit the GitHub site.
• Click “Code”.
• Click “Download ZIP”.
• Save to the “Plugins” directory for the scenario you want to use it with. If one doesn’t exist, make one. Mac users may need to make one here instead: https://github.com/Aleph-One-Marathon/alephone/wiki/File-Locations#mac-os-x-1
• Set it up in Weland. Windows and Mac users can refer to https://aaronfreed.github.io/mapmaking101.html#welandsetup if this proves challenging. (One of these days I’ll write a guide for Linux.)

This remains a work in progress, and updates may be slow, as Vasara’s code is sparsely documented and frequently quite dense, but I intend to continue working on it. I welcome constructive suggestions (best delivered through GitHub or Discord) and will attempt to implement them as time permits.

Enjoy!

Marathon: Pathways into Darkness Version 0.5 now available!

I am sorry it took so long to get this beta out to the public. The reason was that the MPiD Images file was giving a lot of trouble and so I have decided to replace it with a regular Infinity Images file.

If you download the beta I would love to hear your opinions and/or suggestions. I will not appreciate ugly rants but any sort of constructive criticism is VERY welcome. Please post your thoughts here or email me at: nhoad at sunbeach.net

Now, there are several problems in this beta that I am already aware of. If you have a suggestion for how to best fix them I would be happy to hear it:

Most blue in the game is transparent: This is a problem caused because of the blues used in PiD. DeepThought is indirectly helping me fix this problem. Monsters get stuck in walls or don't attack immediately: This is a mapping problem which I intend to fix as I polish the levels. Any mapping tips are welcome! There is no resting: Bobwithkeycard is helping me implement resting, for the moment there are only a set number of health potions per level. Some items are undersize or oversized Levels seem really short. This is simply a fact of PiD levels, if you move at any sort of decent speed the levels become much shorter PLAY ON NORMAL DIFFICULTY! PiD was not designed for multiple difficulty levels and neither is MPiD! Monsters on Total Carnage WILL eat you alive! You cannot go back between levels: A1 doesn't like this feature and it would be incredibly hard to implement (and not really worth it in the end). So there will be no backtracking.

Those are the big problems and I hope to fix them all. I REALLY want to hear your recommendations, opinions or even encouragement! If there are any problems in the beta (such you cannot travel between level 3 and 4) let me know and I will upload a corrected map file for the beta.

What to expect in future versions:

A completely new Images file. New high-res textures, weapons and sprites by DeepThought New LUA by bobwithkeycard (LUA which will allow resting, talking to the dead PiD style, nuclear bombs and more) Chapter screens by Phobos-Romulus All of the original PiD levels

Thank you all very much for your support and I hope you enjoy this beta until the full version of MPiD is released! Note: There is no release date so don't bother asking.

Many of the MPiD team members have come and gone over the years and I believe that myself and Patrick White are the only remaining active members of the team listed below.

Beta Credits:

Raul Bonilla Nicholas Hoad Loren Petrich J�³hannes Gunnar Alexander Strange Tim Vogel Patrick White - Images Hugo Forss - Icons

Special Thanks: Bungie Forrest Cameranesi The Marathon Mape Making Guild Hamish Sinclair (for maintaining PiD at Bungie.org) The Aleph One Team James J Cousar Goran Svensson Claude Errera Gregory Smith (Treellama)

PS: The MPiD Team is in no way responsible for any damage caused to your computer by this beta.

PPS: I have a serious issue with crediting people, I MUST do it. If you notice anything in this beta you believe you were not credited for let me know immediately please!

Eternal is one of the largest scenarios ever created for Aleph One, initially created by Forrest Cameranesi (Pfhorrest) and subsequently revised and expanded by a massive team known as the Xeventh Project, which, as of this update (March 2024) now includes more than 40 people. Besides Tempus Irae, it may be the oldest scenario still being actively developed; it was first released in 2004 and has been refined and expanded almost continuously ever since. Features include, but are hardly limited to:

• 52 levels, some revisiting familiar locations from the Marathon trilogy and some being among the largest ever created for the engine
• An intricately layered plot featuring dense political and philosophical themes, a tragic romance, time travel, major events from the Marathon trilogy’s backstory, complex original characters, and returning faces from the trilogy’s cast
• A huge, acclaimed soundtrack with unique music for every level, lasting more than seven hours total, and created by over a dozen composers and arrangers (significantly expanded in 1.3 previews 4 through 6)
• Redesigns of most of the game’s familiar cast (new in 1.3), some old foes from Pathways into Darkness, and some new faces (some new in 1.3)
• Hundreds of gorgeous terminal images (many added for 1.3 preview 4 through 6)
• Five texture sets, encompassing 650 high-resolution textures, 12 detailed original landscape textures, and several separate human and alien environments
• An in-game menu system (new in 1.3 preview 6) that toggles several optional features, including:
  • Simplified overhead map views in around twenty levels (new in 1.3 preview 6)
  • A secret tracking system (new in 1.3 preview 4)
  • Auto-save the game on level transition (new in 1.3)
  • An RPG-style monster health display (new in 1.3 preview 6)
  • Shared pickups between players in network games (new in 1.3 preview 6)
  • Disabled friendly fire between players in network games (new in 1.3 preview 6)
• More than 360 sounds, remixed or remastered in CD quality, in stereo where possible (new in 1.3)
• Atmospheric weather like rain and snow (new in 1.3)
• A final boss battle of sorts (new in 1.3)
• Detailed documentation including illustrated field guides to Eternal’s weaponry, aliens, and humans, detailed credits, a meta-history of Eternal, and technical notes on how its maps and scripts work (new in 1.3)

The current development release, 1.3 preview 6 (released on 2024-03-07), is perfectly playable despite still being incomplete; it is now our recommended way to play the game. We’ll refrain from estimating the release date of 1.3 final, as we’ve overshot too many estimates to count (thank you, feature creep). The current “stable” build, 1.2.1 (released on 2021-11-07), is missing several features listed above but is still an enjoyable game in its own right.

The screenshots seen on the right are from a development release from between 1.3 previews 4 and 5 and are a reasonable reflection of Eternal’s current appearance. Although they were taken on Normal (so as to show more monster types), we do recommend playing Eternal on the highest difficulty you can manage.

Marathon Gambit

What is it?

Marathon Gambit is a recreation of Bungie's Destiny 2 gametype of the same name

How do I play?

The objective of Gambit is to kill things, collect the keys they drop, and turn in the keys to summon a final Boss. The first team to summon its boss and kill it wins the round. (a pdf is included that explains this more in depth)

What is included?

The download includes the following

• Netscript
• 3 Netmaps.
• MML and phyA files for merging with your own maps.
• A pdf manual that explains how to play and what is required for making your own maps.

Included Maps

Zoranel: This map was created for testing purposes and is not the prettiest, but i feel it was fun to play on so I'm including it. It is the largest map in this pack currently.

Wrath Eternal: This is a modification of the Bungie netmap "Wrath No More?" to support Gambit. It is the smallest map in the pack and can get very hectic!

Salinn: This is a modification of one of my own netmaps to support Gambit. In terms of size this map is somewhere between Wrath Eternal and Zoranel

Future Updates

The main feature I am looking into adding is an intro cinematic. Other than that all currently planned features are present, so updates will be limited to bug fixes or adding new netmaps

Feedback or Bugs

Feedback and Bugs can be reported on the pfhorums thread here

Credits

• Original Mode: Bungie
• Marathon Scripting: Aurorable_Fox, level47otter, liacrow
• Custom Physics: liacrow
• Levels: Aurorable_Fox (with some maps being modifications of official Bungie netmaps)
• Testing: level47otter, liacrow, spooky

• Marathon Gambit Artwork: wyvernzu

• W’rkncacnter and jteg for answering all my dumb questions when I was getting started.

• Benoit whose Survival2.0 script helped me learn the setup of many things (and which I basically lifted Health Regen from)
• Ku-rin for sharing their cameras.lua file on the pfhorums and providing additional help!
• Everyone else who helped test or jumped into random netgames!

ATTENTION: Trying something slightly different this time and that is, adding brief descriptions of the individuals maps, with a purely subjective personal assessment included.

The Vol. 3 maps are:

1. "100% UESC Choice Carnage" by BrianV430 - April 1996: Very dark, very perilous map, especially in the (+A) mode. Great for three players, plus. Excellent if dangerous flow. Center chamber hole has the goodies, and is not easy to reach.

2. "Billy" by John Howard (aka, Rugburn) - April 1995: Repeatedly revered as one of the top 3rd-party netmaps ever made for M1, this feels more like something for M2 or Infinity. Great flow, cool but understated design, great times with three or more.

3. "Cannon Food v1.1" by Michael Reiske - July 1995: Simple, but a great time to be had by two players. Add more, and it's a regular riot.

4. "Carnage Haus" by Nick Roemer (aka, StompBox) - November 1995: This is not so good with less than three, but otherwise a fantastic layout for high-energy play. Personally, I think the design rocks, with the drop-down mezzanine, etc.

5. "Dark & Light" by Dan LaSota - May 1995: An excellent early example of interesting but simple lighting techniques. Gameplay ranges from so-so to quite fun. Really needs four or more.

6. "Dead Ringers" by Randall Scott - September 1995: The architecture is so-so, but the gameplay? Awesome. Confusing, crazy, cramped. Probably five, max, on this one, And that's pushing it.

7. "Dogfight" by Evan Vetere - September 1995: An example of a map from old that matches well with some of the newer standards. Perfect for CTF Lua experiences, or really any sort of "team"-oriented gameplay. However, it's great just as it is. Watch-out for the green river!

8. "Look At the Loser In the Middle" by Mike Salegui - February 1996: A different approach to the netmap: A center "cage" where you get invincibility...for a time. Meanwhile, everyone else tries to take you out while shifting around the room.

9. "Pfhor the World Is Hollow..." by Sriranga Veeraraghava - August 1995: Name obviously based on the old "Star Trek" episode. Interesting situation on this one: Which came first? The "World Wide Web" variants, or this? Difficult to tell, even with all the dates gathered. If you know the "WWW" sets, you know this. If not, play. It's also a vacuum level. Usually, that's bad. In this case, it's fun.

10. "Pfhree Pfhor All" v2.6.3 by Randall Shaw (aka, FrigidMan) - April 1995: A very early Pfhor incarnation. Lots of variation to the gameplay, very good flow and fantastic for four or more. The elevated "pads" in space are a great little side-trip on a pretty large map.

Disclaimer and Credits

Please note that this is a hybrid scenario. I take no credit for any of its custom content beyond level design, the opening text, and the title screen logo and subtext. All other credit goes to the creators of Project Conflict (for the enemies), Mararthon: Yuge (for textures), Female Bob Shapes, Marathon: Pathways Into Darkness (for scenery), Tempus Irae (for scenery), Rubicon (for scenery), Damage, Inc. (for scenery), Weland (for the menu screen), the logo in the title screen, Hardcore Sounds, Hardestcore Sounds, common use movie sounds, and some sounds I took off YouTube.

Also, this scenario is (arguably) best viewed in GL Shader graphics, mainly for the platforms.

Introduction

With a new cast of enemies based on edits of RadBurn’s Project Conflict mod, Marathon: Shadervoid is a brutalist, structuralist, and continuously-mapped-for take on Marathon gameplay that takes place in a strange other dimension and deals thematically with humans’ war with themselves. Released here with two levels (one an introduction) and meant to have many more individual levels made for it over time, it is intended as an ongoing exploration of the possibilities of a certain efficiency-based level design formula, and infused with a kind of uncanny Lynchian horror never before seen in Marathon.

Plot

“Humanity is currently living in deep strain under the horrid reign of the Tribecom regime and their Erosion Task Force enforcers. Somewhere and in spite of this, a secret grassroots research and development organization has formed called Inteflow Enterprises, specializing in dimensional travel technology. They eventually find and access a dimension for the first time — a strange one consisting entirely of oddly arranged colorless block units, which are distinguished by varying light shades and appear to be carved out of a great void that mixes with liftable “door-like” blocks, earning it the nickname The Shadervoid. Its exact nature, and the source of its constructions, remain unknown; yet it is technically habitable with no sign of other life, and IE hope at least to learn from it and use it as some kind of refuge spot. As such, a team of members begin setting up and testing machinery near teleportation spots in several different parts of The Shadervoid, all while keeping communication signals with other crewmembers in their original world. However, at one point, signals mysteriously start to become intercepted, and the environment within The Shadervoid reportedly begins to falter in some respects, making teleportation problematic. Eventually, all signals are abruptly cut off. You, a guerilla fighter in the precinct that IE is based out of, decide with some fellow fighters to grab some arms and teleport into The Shadervoid to check on the crewmembers “just in case”. Yet there’s some sort of malfunction, and you black out.

When you finally wake up, alone…”