The Pfhorums

recently installed the new version of Marathon Eternal, totally clean install

and it crashes upon starting the first level, I have no idea what is wrong, I've reinstalled several times now

I assume you’re on Windows? If so, the problem is Aleph One for Windows’ memory management. There are two options: you can reduce replacement texture quality for walls under preferences > graphics > rendering options; or you can run the Aleph One 1.3 beta, which runs most levels using the highest graphics quality without a hitch. You may still have to lower your settings for one or two levels here and there.

We should probably put something about this on the website. You’re not the first person to have this problem and certainly won’t be the last.

Well since I can't find the 1.3 beta, guess it's option #1

See here. The link is at the top right of https://alephone.lhowon.org, for future reference.

The Man wrote:See here. The link is at the top right of https://alephone.lhowon.org, for future reference.

Apparently I'm blind

It’s a really small font, so it’s easy to miss the link. Arguably a design flaw – perhaps they should make the links more prominent. The website doesn’t seem to have been updated in awhile – the Eternal maps up there are still the 1.1 versions, too. I doubt many people are playing those now.

The beta links are not prominent for a reason. You need to look for them.

I totally get that you want people to download the stable release unless they have a specific reason to want the beta, but if people actively looking for the beta don’t notice the link, then I think perhaps it’s a bit too concealed. I think it’d probably be fine to make it more prominent and simply accompany it with a notice that it’s an unstable piece of software that hasn’t been tested as thoroughly as 1.2.1. Obviously, it’s ultimately not my call, but since the standard response to “Eternal crashes on Windows” is “Run the AO 1.3 beta”, a lot more people are going to be looking for it, and I’d be grateful as one of the Eternal devs if it were easier for them to find. (I mean, I suppose I could just link it myself, but seemingly half the time I write these responses, I’m on a phone, where copying and pasting links is not a trivial task.)

Having the latest beta version didn't do anything to fix it, it seems, I lowered the textures and whatnot but instead that leaves the liquids looking...

odd, let me obtain a screenshot


edit: does aleph one have a function to take screenshots?

That's a known bug on the to-do list to be fixed, but thanks for letting us know. :-)

Pfhorrest wrote:That's a known bug on the to-do list to be fixed, but thanks for letting us know. :-)

oh so it's...not something on my end? ohhhhhhhh

The liquids thing (stripey transparency, right?) has been observed by at least one other Windows user who turned down their texture quality to avoid crashing Aleph One.

HunterOfShadows wrote:edit: does aleph one have a function to take screenshots?

On a PC use f9 and it's put in a subfolder named screenshots in the AlephOne folder. They will be png's.

Pfhorrest wrote:The liquids thing (stripey transparency, right?) has been observed by at least one other Windows user who turned down their texture quality to avoid crashing Aleph One.

correct, I have no idea how to fix it at the current time, as I cannot turn the texture quality up

I wanted to report a bug that the terminals in 'the philosophy of time travel' don't work

They're turned off initially, as are most all of the switches on the level, but that's a feature, not a bug. There's a way to turn them all on.

Pfhorrest wrote:They're turned off initially, as are most all of the switches on the level, but that's a feature, not a bug. There's a way to turn them all on.

oh i see