Segmented Archives Readme

Return to Marathon v1.0 in digestible chunks...

In recognition of the fact that not every Marathon player with internet access is using a Macintosh sitting directly on a T3 line (or even, necessarily, a Macintosh), several of the larger archives are being segmented into chunks small enough to download and stick on a floppy. A little explanation is needed, though, because these segments aren't like a lot of segments out there...

Normally, what is done is the file is stuffed and binhexed, and then the binhex file is chopped up into chunks. This requires the user to attach all the pieces at the other end before debinhexing.

What I do is to stuff the archive, and segment the stuffed version into floppy-sized pieces. (I had originally tried to make them self-extracting, but that only seemed to corrupt them...) I then binhex the pieces. This has two advantages:

If the download doesn't go perfectly, you know which piece needs to be redownloaded, and
The pieces put themselves together at the end (saving you, the downloader, the hassle of doing it yourself).

It also means that if you do tack the pieces together before debinhexing, you'll end up with a mess...

HINT:

Because of the brain-dead (IMHO) way browsers go about handling encoded files, you'll have many fewer headaches if you get the files in reverse order if you're using a web browser (that is, get the twenty-second chunk first, then the twenty first one, and so on). Do not get the first one until the browser has finished debinhexing the other twenty one...

With all that said, here are twenty two pieces that, once combined, will expand into the spooky and exhilarating Return to Marathon scenario. Enjoy!

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