Conference 7.286::macintosh

I'm devoting far too much of my life to Marathon 2: Durandal recently (the
live-panning stereo sound is gorgeous on the new MicroWorks speakers:-), but
have this one question:  is there supposed to be music while you're actually
playing Durandal?  Some of the discussions on the Marathon web site talk about
the music in Marathon 1, and there's definitely a music file in the Durandal
folder; but the only music I ever hear is during the initial button screen
(continue / preferences / new game / quit), and a few seconds with some of
transition art screens.

Am I missing anything?

	-Neil

    
    You had to go and mention Durandal! Great, now I'll never get anything
    done! I 'knew' there was no music during the actual play, but to be on
    the safe side I fiured I'd fire it up and check it out...that was a
    half hour ago...lucky for you those floating things shoot better than I
    do or you'd still be waiting for verification. 8)
    
    There is no music while you play through the levels. There are lots of
    ambient sounds though. Make sure you turn them on in the preferences.
    
    Durandal is a great game. I picked my copy of Marathon II: Durandal
    from Mac Warehouse it was one of their specials. It came with no box,
    no book, nothing but a white sleeve over the CD. The cost was $12, not
    bad. everything is on the CD including demos of other Bungie games. 

>    There is no music while you play through the levels. There are lots of
>    ambient sounds though. Make sure you turn them on in the preferences.

I love the ambient sounds.  Actually, you probably don't get tired of them as
fast as you do hearing the same music track over and over.  Have you noticed
that if there is something clanking or bubbling or roaring off in the distance,
then as you turn around you will hear it on your left side, then straight ahead,
then on your right?

>    Durandal is a great game. I picked my copy of Marathon II: Durandal
>    from Mac Warehouse it was one of their specials. It came with no box,
>    no book, nothing but a white sleeve over the CD. The cost was $12, not
>    bad. everything is on the CD including demos of other Bungie games. 

I got it from MacWarehouse last month free with any purchase ($3 shipping). 
Since the manual's on the CD, the absence of a book doesn't seem like a big
loss.  Now I just have to find a free Marathon 1 offer somewhere. :-)

	-Neil

    
    Well when all the sound you have is the built in speaker and the box
    sits three feet to your right, you don't get that sound traveling
    around the room sensation! 8) 
    
    Wish I had $280 for speakers too, but I spent it on memory - got 64MB
    now. (I had to brag about something, you got better speakers and you
    paid less for your game and if you have more memory than me I may have
    to invoke my moderator privs!)
    
    8) Mario 
    
    (For the record, I am just kidding (about the moderator thing, wish I
    was kidding about the lousy 3" built in spearker))

>    Well when all the sound you have is the built in speaker and the box
>    sits three feet to your right, you don't get that sound traveling
>    around the room sensation! 8) 
    
Try headphones, they're even better with Marathon sounds.

 - Ken

> Try headphones, they're even better with Marathon sounds.

Mostly true, but they can't match the sound from a good subwoofer for the
rumbling as you cross the bridge over a lava pit.

>    Wish I had $280 for speakers too, but I spent it on memory - got 64MB
>    now. (I had to brag about something, you got better speakers and you
>    paid less for your game and if you have more memory than me I may have
>    to invoke my moderator privs!)

I bought my Performa with 8Mb in November '95.  It took me about a week to
discover that that was hopeless, so I spent $350 to replace  my 8Mb chip with a
16Mb chip.  (So that was after the trade-in on the original chip.)  About six
months later, I spent $135 to add a second 16Mb chip.  What would be today --
around $180 for a 32Mb chip?

	-Neil

Descent has active panning stereo.  And, if you put your headphones on wrong,
you can set the "reverse stereo" option in the game ;-)

-Chris

    Remember, all you Marathon fans, there's Marathon Infinity to tax your
    resistance even further.  It builds on Marathon 2: Durandal; it uses
    the same sounds and shapes (unlike Marathon 1, which uses sounds that
    are marginally less enjoyable).
    
    Marathon Infinity has all-new maps, of course.  It also has a new
    weapon, the SMG fully-auto flechette gun, which - thank you, Bungie! -
    works underwater.  There are BOBs who have fusion pistols like yours.
    It also has the ability to use a different physics model on each level,
    which makes things exciting when you suddenly discover that those
    fusion-armed BOBs are shooting at *you*!  (The sound of a fusion bolt
    is excitingly different from the target's point of view.)
    
    Infinity also includes Forge, Bungie's own map editor and Anvil,
    Bungie's shape/sound/physics editor.  You can make your own maps that
    are guaranteed to work (unlike some of the maps you could make with
    Pfhorte), and you can add new nasties.
    
    And there's a complete strategy guide to Marathon 2 on the Infinity CD.
    
    I'm just waiting for someone to set up a Marathon net game here in
    ZK.  Hmm, maybe that someone ought to be me.  Does MArathon work
    between zones?

    Hi,
    	I'm trying to run some custom Dark Forces levels and cannot
    seem to get them to load. I've got v1.2 w/ the no-cd patch. I've
    done a "large install."
    
    	Do I need to copy something else from the CD to my hard drive? And
    if so, specifically, what?
    
    	Note that this was a v1.1 DF game. Perhaps it won't work w/ v1.2?
    
    thanks,
    Ben
    ps - please mail reply to me also if possible.thx
    

    Ben (.191) and I figured out why we couldn't load and run custom Dark
    Forces levels.
    
    Most of the Dark Forces custom game levels are provided in .ZIP files
    which look like TEXT documents to StuffIt Expander.  By default StuffIt
    Expander attempts to convert what it thinks are TEXT files from a
    Windows/DOS system by changing <CR><LF> to just <CR>.
    
    Anyway, in the v4.01 StuffIt Expander Preferences... there is a "Cross
    Platform" pref dialog where you can tell StuffIt Expander to never
    Convert TEXT files to Mac format.  Once this is selected, any .ZIP
    files that are unstuffed will be left along.
    
    After that it was just a matter of changing the .GOB Type/Creator pair
    to DATA/dRfO and then drag and drop the .GOB onto the Dark Forces
    application and you are playing a Custom Level.
    
    	<http://outpost.simplenet.com/DarkForces/>
    
    					Bob Harris
    
    PS.  A FileTyper "AutoTyper" docs makes changing the Type/Creator childs 
         play.