Marathon 2 for Windows 95

[Avenues]

I am able to play the Aleph One remakes but I would also like to run the original Windows 95 version of Marathon 2 in a Windows 98 Virtual Machine, but the .iso image available from http://trilogyrelease.bungie.org appears to be corrupted and neither be be read by Windows in VMWare nor mounted on the physical computer. How can I access what's on it?

[treellama]

I have it on a disc somewhere, but I also know I've used that ISO before. Try downloading it again?

[Avenues]

I have tried downloading it again several times, including just now, but to no avail.

[Avenues]

Are you at all able to post your disc here as an .iso please? Thanks.

[Avenues]

I managed to open the iso by briefly installing my copy of PowerISO on another virtual machine, extracting the contents of the iso there, copying them to the Mac, and then reverting that virtual machine to its backup, before remaking the iso using https://matt.berther.io/2008/12/14/crea ... er-in-osx/. That worked.

However, while my Windows 98 SE virtual machine can support 2D resolutions at 32-bit colour depth all the way up to 1,920 x 1,440 (and this was in use when I took the screenshot at the top of this topic), and it also has DirectX 9 installed (the latest DiretX that operating system will support and much better than the DirectX 2 supplied with the game), when I open Marathon 2 on it, only 256 colours are available (8-bit colour depth) and the other option, "Thousands", (16-bit colour depth) is greyed out, even though even "High Resolution" is a lot less than 1,920 x 1,440 (as shown by the fact that the window shrinks considerably when I launch the game). Is there anything I can do to get "Thousands" available? I am using VMWare Fusion to run these virtual machines, and the hardware version of that virtual machine is version 9, which to the best of my knowledge is the highest that works with Windows 98 SE. This does mean that I can't simply make more of the RAM available for graphics, which I can by changing the virtual machine settings for a virtual machine which uses a later hardware version.

[ravenshining]

So, why are you trying to do this, exactly? Why not just run A1 with the Windows 95 map file?

[General Tacticus]

A1 can't read the map format the windows 95 version uses

[Avenues]

Plus there are some map differences in the Windows 95 version on some levels, notably Waterloo Waterpark (see http://traxus.bungie.org/index.php/Waterloo_Waterpark). Furthermore, I am a VM hobbyist. Finally, yes I have run A1 on the Mac itself.

[Wrkncacnter]

A1 can't read the map format the windows 95 version uses

Thanks for this extremely helpful post.

[treellama]

A1 can't read the map format the windows 95 version uses

Thanks for this extremely helpful post.

Not to mention wrong.

[Avenues]

But in any case, as I say, there are some important differences in the levels in the Windows 95 version, and I am finding more all the time. That's why it is really interesting to play in my virtual machine as well as playing Aleph One on the Mac itself.

[General Tacticus]

wrong

Wait, I thought that the maps were in a different format. when did A1 suddenly become able to read it? I must be operating under some incorrect or outdated info

[Wrkncacnter]

Wait, I thought that the maps were in a different format.

They're not.

[General Tacticus]

Wait, I thought that the maps were in a different format.

They're not.

Huh, I guess the fact that the file extension was .sce2 rather than sceA threw me off.
Cant remember where I read the bit about differing formats. Now I feel dumb.

[Pfhorrest]

M2Win did some different stuff from the original M2 format (mostly to avoid using resource forks) but AO has supported the Windows variation of the map format for ages and ages and the scenario packages distributed online have used the Windows format for ages as well for the sake of cross platform compatibility.