Hidden within Marathon Infinity is a secret level called "Hats off to Eight Nineteen". On the face of it, it's a very basic multiplayer map. However, located at the very top of the map is a terminal, and the map itself appears very similar to some of the blurry images you can find throughout Marathon Infinity.

You can do it the easy way by downloading an Aleph One compatible version online (there's one uploaded to ModDB by TheUnbeholden). If you opt to do it the easy way, then after you download the file, pop it into your plugins folder in Marathon Infinity. Enable it in the settings of Marathon Infinity, and you're good to go.

There are multiple steps here you can fast forward if you want, but I'm giving you the whole method.

First, believe it or not, the easiest way to do this is by using a MacOS emulator. Your best bet is one that runs System 7.5.3, released in 1996. Infinite Mac[infinitemac.org] hosts such an emulator, and you can use it even in your web browser! It even comes pre-installed with all the things you'll need, including Marathon Infinity.

Familiarize yourself with Classic MacOS controls (remember, right clicking doesn't exist!). In the Finder (File Explorer), open Games, then Bungie, and finally Marathon Infinity. Here you'll see the game itself as well as Forge and Anvil. Forge is the map editor for Marathon, while Anvil enables asset modding.

What we're looking for are two terminals hidden within two different levels of Marathon Infinity.

We find ourselves at another fork in the road.

Your first choice to find the terminals are to play the game. The entire game. Luckily, you don't have to do it on MacOS if you don't want to.

The first terminal is found a secret area in the first level, Ne Cede Malis.
https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/ugc/2374046728398581143/3BECB6E3B5AAE8D4CA496B625A335C86DFD18E24/?imw=256&&ima=fit&impolicy=Letterbox&imcolor=%23000000&letterbox=false

The second is found on the "final" level (not including The VidMaster Challenge levels), Aye Mak Sicur. It's near the second Jjaro chip.
https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/ugc/2374046728398601013/0251C547DFB34039D7F5444644A6DBB0BBB7F6CA/?imw=256&&ima=fit&impolicy=Letterbox&imcolor=%23000000&letterbox=false

Within these terminals are 27,100 letters of hex code. The first terminal has the first chunk, while the second terminal has the other chunk. If you want to do this in-game, then have fun typing out all the letters to save for the next step.

This method involves MacOS earlier than the others.

Using MacOS, look for your Marathon Infinity installation. Within, there should be a file called "Map". This is the entirety of every level included in Marathon Infinity, made easy to access for users of Forge.

Map files contain the text of the terminals within, but you cannot access that text with Forge (or any other pre-installed program). What you have to do instead is find a program called Marathon Map Splitter by SirBlastalot. You can find it on Simplici7y. Be aware that this program only has compatibility with MacOS. If you're using Infinite Mac, you can drag the file into the emulator's window. You'll then find it in "The Outside World" -> "Downloads".

Using the program, open the Map file. Split it to the default path, and explore the contents. You're looking for two text files:
T00.Ne Cede Malis
T24.Aye Mak Sicur

These contain the hex code we're hunting. Copy the entire hex code and nothing but the hex code. In a new SimpleText document, paste the first chunk of code followed by the second. There shouldn't be any spaces; line breaks are ok.

Hamish Sinclair runs a website called Marathon.Bungie.Org. It's a giant repository of info regarding the Marathon trilogy.

Archived on the site are all the terminals in the game, for your copying pleasure.

Ne Cede Malis hex code[marathon.bungie.org]
Aye Mak Sicur hex code[marathon.bungie.org]

Take the code, and paste it together in one text document. No spaces, line breaks are ok.

Now we need to bring this code over to MacOS (assuming you're not doing the above on MacOS, of course). You can save the text document and drag it onto the Infinite Mac emulator. The file will appear in "The Outside World" -> "Downloads".

So now we have the hex code. Cool!

You may be wondering why we have to use MacOS. We're now at the point where it's needed.

The hex code, when decoded, becomes ASCII code. That ASCII code can be used by a MacOS program called Stuffit (That's Stuff + it, if the former was too difficult to parse). Doing this will result in an archive file appearing, which can be opened with Stuffit. Opening it reveals our prize.

So first things first, decoding the Hex.

In the Finder, go to Developer. Towards the bottom of the folder will be a folder called ResEdit. Open it, and use the program on the right of that folder.

ResEdit will allow you to mess with various resources on MacOS. We don't actually need to, we just want to use ResEdit's ability to decode hex.

With ResEdit open, go into "Examples" -> "CExamples" -> whichever folder speaks to you.

This should show a new window called BuildEditor. Open the MPSR, then whichever ID number angers you.

In the middle of this new window will be the lines of hex. Delete all of them. Then, paste our new hex code.

The right side will show us the ASCII we need. Copy the right side (yes, certain characters won't appear normal. This is fine.) and paste it into a text document. Name it something cool.

Now, close all that stuff. Our Mac's processor and RAM can only handle so much.

Go into the Finder and look for Utilities. At the bottom of that folder will be "Stuffit Expander 5.5.". Use the program on our ASCII text document. This will give us an archive folder, which we will then open with the same program to get our map file.

If done correctly, a map file will appear on the desktop called "Hats Off to Eight Nineteen".

If you're still in Infinite Mac, it actually comes with Marathon Infinity pre-installed. You'll find it under Games -> Bungie.

Dragging our new level onto the .exe file will let us run it, and finally see if any of this was worth the effort.

Of course, you could also try to bring our new map file out of Classic MacOS and onto a machine running Aleph One, letting us see this map in modern glory.

To do this in Infinite Mac, we need to first change the file. Put simply, the code in the file as is doesn't transmit properly into our modern OS. To fix this, we need to use Transit 1.0. You'll find it under "Networking" on Infinite Mac.

Reincode the map file as MacBinary III. Then you can use Infinite Mac's "The Outside World" feature to let use download the map to our main system. Rename the extension to .sceA. Drag and drop it onto Aleph One's executable in Marathon Infinity's folder.

If done correctly, and assuming no gremlins in the computers involved, the map should work fine. That said, the terminal at the top of the map may be missing a single "image", which is a completely black image used to format the text better.

https://marathon.bungie.org/story/terms/hats-off-to-819.html

Marathon Infinity was developed by Double Aught, a studio of former Bungie developers striking out on their own. Their next game was slated to be "Duality". This terminal is a teaser for an early concept of Duality, however the concept would change over time.

Double Aught closed before Duality could be completed, and as such this ultimately remains just an obscure curiosity.

The map name, by the way, references the host of the website linked above. Hamish Sinclair has had many shout outs over the years by Bungie.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsaqHW6cEnY

Thanks to the Aleph One team for all of the work over the years, for bringing Marathon to Steam, and for helping in the Discord when I asked for some guidance with this silly guide!

Thanks to Hamish Sinclair for keeping the site going for so long!

Thanks to the developers of the Marathon trilogy for the never ending rabbit hole!

***TRANSPORT WHEN READY***