July 15, 1999

Added the next level Beware of Low-Flying Nightmares. What's behind that Gold Door? And take that Diamond Necklace off!

July 13, 1999

Mauro Braunstein <EllBrau@aol.com> and Aaron Davies <agd12@columbia.edu> both write concerning the level names: They May Be Slow... ...But They're Hungry. Aaron Davies <agd12@columbia.edu> writes concerning the level name: Lock&Load.

July 11, 1999

Mark Levin <mglevin@students.uiuc.edu> writes concerning the Infra-Red Goggles: If you have more than 1 pair of goggles, you can put on more than 1 at once. But putting on the second pair neutralizes the first! A third will return the red vision, and so on.

July 10, 1999

Added the next level A Plague of Demons. Talk to John your dead buddy.

July 6, 1999

Made a few additions to Feel The Power. Getting ready to go down to A Plague Of Demons. Aaron Davies <agd12@columbia.edu> writes concerning the level name The Labyrinth

July 4, 1999

On this festive occasion why not stop and chat awhile with Walter on Feel The Power. Shoot a few Oozes too!

July 3, 1999

Well we're on our way back up to Ground Floor.

July 1, 1999

Bungie announce the Mac Action Sack. Six games, one sack, all action. Part of the blurb reads: Bungie Software burst into the computer gaming world with the release of Pathways Into Darkness, the first Mac game to use texture-mapping in real-time. Pathways garnered numerous fans and awards, and set the stage for the legendary Marathon trilogy. Marathon, Marathon 2: Durandal, and Marathon Infinity were the most successful action titles ever published for the Macintosh. Mauro Braunstein <EllBrau@aol.com> writes: On the "getting started" page of the Trilogy PID manual, it says that the game can hold up to 6 saved games. On the screenshot above, however, there are 8 slots. Is this a typo or something more? How odd. In the hard copy (paper) version of the Pathways manual it reads: Pathways will keep track of up to eight different saved games. As Mauro points out the electronic version of the same manual reads: Pathways will keep track of up to six different saved games. This electronic version dates from Aug 31, 1995 and first appeared on the now rare Pathways Into Darkness CD and later on the Marathon Trilogy CD. There are a number of differences between the hard copy version and the electronic version notably the section on Copy Protection was removed in the electronic version. But why does it say six saved games in the more recent (electronic) version of the manual when the correct number (eight) is given in the older (hard copy) version of the manual? Why was there a need to change it? Six and eight? In an early version of the story the Jjaro diplomat informed the President and five of his senior military staff that they had "...six days to save the world". In the final game however the Jjaro representative told them they have "eight".

June 30, 1999

You see a crystal ladder going up. Ascending to The Labyrinth. Omer Shenker <oshenker@iname.com> writes concerning the level name: A Plague of Demons.

June 29, 1999

Canvas bag in the dark? Andrew Malcovsky <wackyslav@hotmail.com> writes: I was just playing through the level "We Can See In the Dark...Can You?" while looking at your page, and I found something that I think may have gone unmentioned. I found a Canvas bag with 5 Walther P4 magazines in it in a 2 X 2 room in the lower right of the map, a room and a corridor above (and slightly to the left of) the save rune (in the lower right) I don't know if this was included in your total of things to find on the level, but I just thought I'd e-mail you to see. Andrew sent in a screenshot showing the location of the canvas bag. Yes this went unmentioned on the We Can See In The Dark... Can You?. Indeed the Official Hint Book doesn't mention it nor do any of the third party spoiler guides. Aaron Davies <agd12@columbia.edu> writes concerning the level names: Feel the Power and But Wait!- That's Not All!. Omer Shenker <oshenker@iname.com> writes concerning the level names: Please Excuse Our Dust and But Wait!- That's Not All!.

June 28, 1999

Activated the What's in a Name section to discuss the possible origin or inspiration behind the level names. A man turned into a cyborg to defend Earth against invading aliens ends up as a forerunner to a Bolo in an eons-long interstellar war? Chris Huth <sherwinh@interlog.com> writes concerning the possible origin of the level name "A Plague of Demons". See the What's in a Name section.

June 27, 1999

Abhaya Hess <kanrah@compuserve.com> writes: Has anyone ever noticed that Sentinels look alot like Zombies or Ghasts when they were alive? The clothes and weird hat thingys look really similar. Coincidence or something more? We haven't come to the levels with the Sentinels yet but if you are curious to know what they look like you can see one on the Pathways Into Darkness section of the Marathon's Story page.

June 25, 1999

Mark Levin <mglevin@uiuc.edu> writes: I remembered this when reading the PID page about the level "Happy Happy, Carnage Carnage", and just verified it: The hint book got the colors of the arrow runes wrong. It tells you the monsters attack when you step on the *yellow* arrows, and the *green* arrows will open the exit. Yes the Official Hints Book mixes up the function of the green and yellow arrows on the floor of the Carnage Room TM on Happy Happy, Carnage Carnage.

June 24, 1999

Surviving the Carnage Room TM and finding the Easter Egg on Happy Happy, Carnage Carnage.

June 23, 1999

Talk to Thomas the last of the five Germans on Happy Happy, Carnage Carnage.

June 22, 1999

I am Muller. At last we meet the infamous Muller on Happy Happy, Carnage Carnage.

June 21, 1999

He's coming... Made a few additions to Happy Happy, Carnage Carnage.

June 20, 1999

Glass vial? Imprisoned demon? Destruction on a massive scale? Friedrich (Muller's second in command) reveals all... or does he? Read the Conversation with Friedrich on Happy Happy, Carnage Carnage. PID_Docs.sit is a folder of documents relating to Pathways Into Darkness compiled by Loren Petrich <petrich@netcom.com>. The list of files (from the Read Me) is as follows: PIDMapReader.h -- C++ header file for reading in the map file. It contains the level format as the object PID_Level and its subobjects. PIDMapReader.cp -- Code for reading in the level. SimpleVec.h -- a utility class for arrays with automatic deallocation. sector_types_sqr.gif -- map of all the levels, showing their sector types. Thanks to Steve Campbell's Oni Hotline Server for the file.

June 19, 1999

Want to visit the Carnage Room TM on "Happy Happy, Carnage Carnage"? Loren Petrich <petrich@netcom.com> has added level-name captions to his PID sector-type diagram. You can see it here. Now you shouldn't have any difficulty in identifying those levels.

June 18, 1999

Censorship on Happy Happy, Carnage Carnage?

June 17, 1999

At last... some six years after the release of Pathways Into Darkness (Aug '93) we now have the definitive layout for each level thanks to Loren Petrich <petrich@netcom.com>. All the secret areas are now revealed... AND MORE! Warning if you don't want to be spoiled don't read any further. Loren writes: ...here is something interesting I worked out just recently -- the types of all the PID map sectors. I've created an image that contains false-color maps of all the levels. The individual maps go top to bottom, in a rightward sequence of columns. You can see the image map here. There is also a legend for the different colors used in the image map (see below the image map). Remember you can make a frame bigger by click on the edge and dragging it. Check the FAQ section for details on how to optimally view this site.

June 16, 1999

The following interesting usenet post from Loren Petrich was found on alt.games.marathon: Subject: Pathways Into Reverse Engineering (Preliminary) From: petrich@netcom.com (Loren Petrich) Newsgroups: alt.games.marathon Date: Wed, Jun 16, 1999 12:06 am Message-ID: <petrichFDE5IM.87F@netcom.com> I've taken on the challenge of reverse-engineering the data files for Pathways into Darkness. The one with the sounds is relatively trivial, so I've focused on the map and shapes ones. My findings so far: * Maps file: These consist of the data for 25 levels, each of which is specified by a block of data exactly 16834 bytes long. There is no sign of anything like an overall header or catalog. The level names take up the first 128 bytes, and are in MacOS Pascal format (first byte: length of name, followed by name-character bytes). The level names, like the various Marathon level names, show evidence of having been rewritten before release. This is followed by the level number, in the form of a long (4-byte) integer. I'm still not sure about the remaining 318 header bytes, though there are some interesting patterns in these. The remaining 16384 bytes are data for all of the sectors, which are a 32*32 array (Marathon map polygons are examples of sectors). Each sector has 16 bytes of data associated with it, which is probably 8 short (2-byte) integers. The second-to-last one seems to be some sort of item ID (-1 is "none"), while the last one is 0 if the sector is impassable. * Shapes file: A set of ".256" resources, which most likely contain each sprite set. However, these differ in format from the Marathon 1 .256 resources, which also contain sprite sets. The header seems to be much smaller, and there is something odd about the color tables. They have a form similar to those in the Marathon shapes chunks: Index in table Red value (?) Green value (?) Blue value (?) but the color values are sometimes doubled and followed by zeros. I've been unable to find any pattern in the "sometimes", other than that of stretches of single values alternating with stretches of double values. -- Loren Petrich Happiness is a fast Macintosh petrich@netcom.com And a fast train My home page: http://www.petrich.com/home.html Concerning the level names and the visible changes made to them I've added the Original Level Names section which I originally wrote for the Pathways Into Darkness Story page back in March 1998.

June 15, 1999

Chris Huth <sherwinh@interlog.com> writes: One of the dead people says: Ninjas, too. They're everywhere." The Tick mentions something similar: "Ninjas. I can't stand 'em. They're everywhere." This phrase was uttered by The Tick in Tick #1, which was published at least as early as 1989. It's on page 6 of the issue. Likely that Bungie has at least heard of the Tick. Yes this is Greg on "Watch Your Step". He also says: Spiders. They're everywhere. Can't stand 'em. The phrase "They're everywhere" is in fact used throughout Pathways and appears later as a Bob sound in Bungie's next game "Marathon". Could this be the origin of the famous Marathon Bob phrase?

June 13, 1999

Added a few more things to We Can See In The Dark... Can You?

June 12, 1999

Seeing is believing... but can you see in the dark?

June 10, 1999

Aaron Davies <agd12@columbia.edu> writes: I just finished PID for the first time w/o cheating and I just for the fun of it, I pulled everything out of the red velvet bag so I could see my total inventory weight, which turns out to be 327.07 kg. I still couldn't get the "too encumbered" message (STR# 1000, string 1) to come up. I guess the player really is the Marathon cyborg! Aaron continues: On a side note, that "encumbered" reminded me of something I've always thought interesting: the similarity of PID to RPG's. The term "encumbered" is a good example--these days, most action games (assuming they have an inventory, which they generally don't) would simply say "you're carrying too much." "Encumbered," on the other hand, is a technical term from AD&D (and other pencil & paper RPG's, I'm sure, but that's the only one I've played). Other similarities are the mere existence of a real inventory (with active pick-up, search, examine, and drop), conversation, health measured in "hit points," combat expertise, the term "melee combat," and the message window (a hold-over from text-only and top-view 2-D computer RPG's).

June 9, 1999

Wrong Way! for the third time!

June 5, 1999

Want to talk to the crazy guy on Welcome, Tasty Primate: Reprise?

June 2, 1999

Back up on Wrong Way! again.

May 31, 1999

Added the first part of Welcome, Tasty Primate.

May 28, 1999

Who wants to go the Wrong Way!?

May 26, 1999

Who else made it down to the Ground Floor in one piece?

May 25, 1999

Concerning the Great Devoid in Myth Michel <michelm@home.com> writes: Pg. 46 Myth manual ...created by the Callieach during their final days. ...the Callieach destroyed themselves and many Trow, leaving only the Devoid. Pg. 47 Myth manual Fifty years ago Fallen overcame the armies of the Cath Bruig, sacked Muirthemne and turned the empire East of the Cloudspine into desert (now called the Devoid). So when it says they left only the Devoid are they referring to the desert? ... or perhaps The Barrier since on page 46 of the Myth manual we get a different story: Barrier, The: Desert east of the Cloudspine Mountains. This area used the [sic] be the fertile Empire of the Cath Bruig, but was put to the torch and blighted after the passing of the armies of the Dark fifty years ago.

May 23, 1999

Andreas Orphanides <Dre.Orphanides@oberlin.edu> writes: Regarding Ben Fisher's observation that each rest period in PiD is 7 minutes long-- it occurs to me that on most digital alarm clocks sold in the US, the snooze button turns the alarm off for seven minutes, allowing (you guessed it) a seven-minute rest period. Not that this -really- has anything to do with PiD, but I thought it was cute. How interesting. Seven minutes? Did Andreas have a reference for this? Andreas replied: Well, having done some rudimentary research, the closest thing I found to a cite for this was a document in which someone was describing their dream alarm clock, where they wanted snooze time to be adjustable, instead of "the usual seven minutes," or words to that effect.

May 22, 1999

Omer Shenker <oshenker@iname.com> writes concerning Matt Soell's recent comments about the Great Devoid. Matt wrote at the time: ...but then there's the Great Devoid. The Great Devoid was the big hole in the ground at the end of Myth:TFL. How did it get there? Omer points out that the origin of the Great Devoid is given in Myth. Omer writes: MTFL manual p. 46: Great Devoid: A bottomless chasm near Myrgard, created by the Callieach during their final days. Rather than be hunted to extinction by the Trow, the Callieach destroyed themselves and many Trow, leaving behind only the Devoid. This is the only mention of the Callieach ever made. Then there's the MTFL level http://myth.bungie.org/legends/journal/j25_great_devoid.shtml by that name, in which the survivors of the confrontation at the Fortress take Balor's head to be thrown into the Devoid. So what was Matt referring to when he said: How did it get there? You can find some interesting speculation on possible connections between Pathways Into Darkness and Myth in the Legends & Lore section at myth.bungie.org.

May 21, 1999

A possible connection between Pathways and Myth? A few days ago on the Marathon's Story page Matt Soell (Bungie Software) revealed the following about story connections in Bungie's games: ...things are often more related than they may first appear. For example, there's no obvious similarity or connection between the Marathon world and the Myth one.... ...but then there's the Great Devoid. The Great Devoid was the big hole in the ground at the end of Myth:TFL. How did it get there? Now Michel <michelm@home.com> writes: "Sixty-four million years ago, a large extra-terrestrial object struck the Earth..." When the alien entity crashed into the earth some 64 million years ago it must've left a pretty big dent in the landscape. "The object itself was buried thousands of feet below ground, its nearly two kilometer length remarkably intact. It remained there, motionless, for thousands of years..." It remained there for thousands of years before it began to dream....thousands of years from 64 million years ago is still pretty far back. Maybe in the Myth days when there was still a pretty big hole, some might even say it left a 'Great Devoid'. "....before it finally began to stir- and to dream." It's dreams become a reality, right? Those Fallen Lords and all their minions sure seem like something out of a nightmare... Interesting point. The timescale of events as Michel points out would suggest that the Dreaming God had been dreaming for tens of millions years. Enough time to raise an army of the Dark! But didn't Ryu'Toth, the Jjaro diplomat, tell us: Only during the last few centuries has the god begun to effect changes on the surface of the Earth. Grotesque creatures have been sighted deep in the trackless forest of the Yucatan... Then again perhaps he lied! ;-) And didn't Cortana say: I have walked the edge of the Abyss. and also: I've had the strangest dreams lately - raging seas, howling beasts, a Demon folded in black clouds. I believe I know what it guards, and I will have it...

May 20, 1999

Brent Thompson <brentt1072@hotmail.com> makes an interesting discovery. Brent writes: Concerning Pathways and the Cthulhu Mythos: I just finished reading a story by HP Lovecraft called "The Temple." The story is supposedly told from a manuscript found on the coast near Yucatan. Anyway it is about a German Submarine during WWI that loses power and drifts toward an underwater temple. The sub torpedoed an American Ship, I can't remember what kind, and one of its passengers latched itself onto the Sub. The crew search the body and find an ivory carving of a head. That's when things start to go wrong. A Crewman named Müller goes insane, then commits suicide along with a couple others. Then the sub looses power and drifts. Eventually the narrator is the last survivor on the ship and leaves in the diving apparatus to go die in the Temple. Coincidences, I think not (Müller, Germans, a Temple, Yucatan). If you read Lovecraft's short story "The Temple" and fail to come across a reference to the Yucatan this is the reason why. Brent explains: According to my copy which is from the collection entitled "The Transition of H.P. Lovecraft, The Road To Madness," Underneath the story title it states, "Manuscript found on the coast of Yucatan." That is the only place in the story that mentions Yucatan. It may not have been in the copy you read, because a few of the stories in the book I read have slightly different titles than the same stories in different collections.

May 19, 1999

Added the next level Ascension

May 18, 1999

John Robey <TheGneech@aol.com> writes: ...when I watched Jackie Chan's _Operation Condor_, particularly the second half or so of it, I kept thinking of PID. It has more to do with _Raiders of the Lost Ark_, but there are some interesting parallels. * Jackie is "The Condor," a highly trained government agent/soldier, sent on special missions * The plot centers around a cache of Nazi gold hidden under a mysterious temple (not a pyramid, tho) * The heroes find the cache full of dead Nazis, who were killed by their leader (not Muller, tho) * The heroes have to escape from the catacombs under the temple before it explodes No alien influences, LoveCraftian horrors, or conversations with the dead, I'm afraid, but there are strange voodoo cults and Jackie Chan falling off a cliff in a giant beachball, if that's any compensation...

May 16, 1999

Added the next level Evil Undead Phantasms Must Die!

May 15, 1999

Good news from E3. Bungie will be releasing an Action Sack containing six of their games: Minotaur, Abuse, Pathways to Darkness, and the complete Marathon trilogy. This will hopefully introduce a whole new audience (mostly iMac users) to Pathways to Darkness. Action Sack or Canvas Bag? ;-)

May 14, 1999

Concerning the seemingly unused Conversation on They May Be Slow... to train Mexican troops for an invasion of Texas and California, but they were wrong, obviously. Omer Shenker <oshenker@iname.com> writes: It's a reference to the scheme best known for the Zimmermann telegram, involving the Mexican invasion of the US Southwest with help from Japan. This plan was intended to keep America too busy to fight in Europe. However, the telegram was intercepted and decoded by the British, who publicized it and used it to gain Wilson's support for joining the war. Nice find. Although the proposed invasion relates to World War I it is possible that Bungie reworked this to fit the World War II theme in Pathways. Here are some details concerning the Zimmermann telegram: On February 26, 1917, President Woodrow Wilson received the decoded text of a secret message sent by German Foreign Minister Arthur Zimmermann to the German Minister in Mexico proposing a German military alliance with Mexico and Japan against the United States. Zimmermann held out to the Mexican Government the possibility of German assistance to regain New Mexico, Arizona, and California. American Congressional and public shock to the Zimmermann telegram was a major turning point in the attitude about intervening with the Allies against Germany, and the first of a series of rapid steps culminating in the American entry into the war in April 1917. Added both sides, left and right, of ...But They're Hungry.

May 13, 1999

This day five years ago the Dreaming God under the pyramid was due to awaken... at least according to the Jjaro diplomat Ryu'Toth. Exactly two and half years later the Jjaro were suppose to arrive on Earth to take "more permanent measures". Did they?

May 12, 1999

Ben Fisher <ben@fisher.enterprise-plc.com> writes: here's a seven for you: each rest takes 7 minutes That's right! When you rest time passes in 7 minute increments. Also the amount your health bar increases with every 7 minutes of rest depends on the number of health points you have. When you start out you have 6 health points. With every 7 minutes of rest your health bar will increase by 1.0 point. When you get 8 health points your health bar will increase by 1.3 points with every 7 minute rest. When you get 10 health points your health bar will increase by 1.7 points with every 7 minute rest. Here's a short table of the rates of increase: health         increase per points         7 minutes   6                 1.0   8                 1.3 10                 1.7 12                 2.0 14                 2.3 16                 2.7 18                 3.0 20                 3.3 22                 3.7 etc. etc. Note the 7 and 3. The average rate of increase as a proportion of health points is approximately 17%.

May 11, 1999

Matthew Wanlin <stoolgod@excite.com> writes concerning the level They May Be Slow... ...when I walked straight forward into the northwest column in a western room, my view switched to this endless void. It only happened when I walked straight toward the column, and when I moved it went back. Granted, this is probably just a glitch, but I thought it interesting nonetheless. See the attached picture for a view, and the other pic for the map location. Although you can't make out much detail in Matt's pic if you try this in the game you'll be able to see an inaccessible area beyond the column which has floor and ceiling textures. As Matt's suggests it's most likely a glitch.

May 10, 1999

Added the next level They May Be Slow... Stefan Stadlberger <stadlberger@yadur.com> points out that in the Marathon Evil Manual (Chapter: Hail to the Chief, Baby) Randall Shaw (better known as Frigidman) makes reference to his early "Pathways map making skills". Stefan wonders if any 3rd party maps were actually made back in those days? I had the opportunity to ask Randall about his early Pathways map making skills. He replied: I never made anything that was playable... i was only able to edit them I had moved some walls around, and some items and monsters.. but that was it. Had to be done through hex editing at the time. And I have no idea how I did any of that (too long ago). Yup... well over five and half years ago.

May 9, 1999

Rob Schultz <silvertail_wolf@hotmail.com> writes: This may or may not have been addressed before, but I always thought it was odd that a sword appeared in PID's map view. Funny, I don't recall any swords involved with PID.... Maybe it has a name? ;) I'm no sword expert, but the PID sword doesn't seem to resemble Durandal's sword/skulls pic. (M2;Map: PICT# 12601) Questions, questions... Is there a sword name in Pathways Into Darkness? I guess we'll have to play the game to the end to find out! ;-)

May 8, 1999

Made some structural changes to the page and moved some stuff around. Yeah the fourth frame is gone. Keep the feedback coming. Matthew Wanlin <stoolgod@excite.com> writes with some helpful playing advice: if you have been playing Marathon for a while and then go to play (or REplay) Pathways, there are a couple important concepts to fix in your head. first, unlike Marathon, Pathways has no sensor, and the majority of the enemies are silent until they actually attack. This means that you need to keep your eyes open at all times, and look around before running ahead. Even if you think you have cleared an area, just do a quick 360 to make sure nothing is sneaking up on you before you venture into new areas. second, I think the guy in PID is broader-shouldered than the Marathon dude (assuming they aren't the same person....?). In Marathon, a projectile (grenade, Pfhor energy bolt) can get really close to you without hitting you. strafing is obviously the key here. if you strafe to the right in Marathon, a projectile will miss you if it flies right by your head. however, in Pathways, a projectile will tend to hit you even if it looks like you are well clear. The best way to deal with this is to back up as you strafe, thereby putting additional distance between you and the THING flying at you. Another tip when dodging projectiles - turn as you sidestep and watch the projectile fly past you. This appears to increase your dodging efficiency. Matthew also finds it odd that the nameless German soldier on Ground Floor knows nothing about the Headless creatures or other things higher up in the Pyramid? Did he stay behind? In response to the word friends he says: All my friends are dead now. Seven above, the rest below. Muller killed them all... So he did know about the death toll above... or did he? How many people really did die above? ;-)

May 7, 1999

Added the next level Lock&Load. Also added Chuck Gray's Dead Scripts: (Part 1/2) and (Part 2/2). These appeared on comp.sys.mac.games back in Jan '94. Since they are already available on the net at David Coufal's Pathways Into Darkness Home Page there is really no reason for not making them available here. Warning though - potential spoilers are contained within. Reading these may spoil your enjoyment of discovering a conversation yourself.

May 6, 1999

If you have problems viewing this site please let me know at <Hamish.Sinclair123@gmail.com>. I'm working on some problems picked up already. Keep the suggestions coming. The Frames stay however. A number of people have asked if this page will be updated daily like the Marathon's Story page? Well that really depends on people playing (or replaying) the game and sending in comments, corrections, tidbits, theories, etc. Suffice to say that the page will be regularly updated until the May 5, 2000. After that it won't matter. ;-) hmmm... May 5, 2000 is exactly six years after he Jjaro diplomat arrived. Coincidence or... How did Cortana say the world ends again? Stefan Stadlberger <stadlberger@yadur.com> writes: Will there be a Page 6580334? HEY! You forgot your oath of secrecy as a Special Forces Agent. The penalty for divulging this top secret information is death! ;-) But thanks for reminding me to add the bomb arming information to the Story Introduction.

May 5, 1999; 1500 hours (3:00pm) EST

Exactly five years ago Ryu'Toth, the Jjaro diplomat, appeared via hologram before the US President and five of his senior military staff deep within the Pentagon. It told them they had eight days to save the world. This is what happened...