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. 
 
