Marathon-Phile Juggler is a program designed to manage your Marathon files. I wrote it because I was not satisfied with any of the current file managers. One unique feature is that you have the ability to save your sets as double-clickable icons. Another is a feature that tells Marathon where to look for its resources—no longer will you have make copies of your files for each patch or combination of patches you want to apply. Note to users of previous versions of Phile Juggler: Phile Juggler no longer needs the "MPJ INIT" system extension, so you should trash it before using this version of Phile Juggler.
Getting Started
The first thing you need to do is put everything in its proper place. Phile Juggler itself should be in the same folder as the Marathon application(s). Put Map, Music, Physics, Shapes, and Sounds files in their appropriate folders named "Maps", "Music","Physics", "Shapes", and "Sounds", respectively. All your patches should go in a folder named "Patches"—please read the section about ResCompare patches below.
Using Phile Juggler
When you open Phile Juggler, it will search the appropriate folders for the various Marathon Files and place their names in the pop-up menus or list box. It will also display the names in their respective Finder label colors. Then you're ready to go.
Making a Set
To make a set, select the various files you want in the set (as well as if you want to kill the Finder), choose the new set command, and name the set. The new set will now appear in the sets pop-up menu. After you make a set, don't change the names of the files in the set since all that is saved are the names of the files.
Deleting a Set
To delete a set, just choose the set from the Sets pop-up menu and choose the delete
command.
Saving a Set as an Icon
This is the neat part, and probably the main way you'll use Phile-Juggler. Select a set, or choose the files you want in the set and choose the Save Set as Icon command then select a name and location for the set. Whenever you click on the icon for the set, Phile Juggler will open, do its thing, and then launch Marathon.
Update File List
If you add or remove more files, you'll need to select Update File List, so that Phile Juggler will display them. I added this option in response to complaints about Phile Juggler loading up too slowly. minor note: apparently the Finder only updates it's color information when all open applications are closed, so if you happen to happen to change a file's color while MPJ is running and then update the file list, the color won't change until you quit all open applications and update again.
Launching Marathon
To launch Marathon simply click on the Launch Marathon button. Phile Juggler will take a moment to do it's business; if Kill Finder is checked, the Finder will quit; then Marathon will launch.
Convert ResCompare Patches
Patches made with ResCompare—ones that have little "patched" application icons—don't store their resources in the normal format, so they need to be converted so that Phile Juggler can use them. First you need to temporarily increase Phile Juggler's memory partition by about 1 meg. Then you can either drag and drop them on Phile Juggler, or select Convert ResComp and choose the file you want converted; the converted files are then automatically put in the Patches folder. IMPORTANT NOTE: In order for this option to operate correctly, you need to have the original, unpatched Marathon files in their respective folders with their "default" names, i.e. "Marathon", "Shapes", and "Sounds".
How Phile Juggler Works
Phile Juggler first modifies Marathon so that it uses the support files you specify in the various pop-up menus. It then installs a temporary trap patch that makes Marathon first look in the files you specified in the patches list box for its resources before searching the standard support files.
Obligatory "don't blame me if your computer blows up" section
Phile Juggler uses a temporary trap patch to make Marathon look for resource files in the patches. I've done my best to insure it behaves nicely; however, it's entirely possible you may experience problems when using it. There is a known bug that will cause the text in the desktop to temporarily turn orange after quitting; I'm not sure why it does this, but I'll try to fix it at some point. If you experience any problems, merely take out all the patches out of your set—the extension will not be installed when there are no patches in the set—and be sure to let me know.
Version release history
1.7
- now installs traps through VBL Task instead of system extension (thanks to Christian Bauer)
- added Finder label colors to pop-up menus and list boxes
- cosmetic changes to interface
- Launch Marathon and Quit made default and cancel buttons, respectively
- "new set" now selected in new set name dialog box
- added "<none>" option to Music and Physics pop-ups
- added "Stay Open" option
- added "Update File List" option
- memory in system heap now cleaned up properly (as far as I can tell :)
1.6.1
- fixed bug that prevented all the files from being displayed (doh!)
1.6
- found out the right way to code the system extension (a very big thanks to Gilles Berkovitch)
- fixed major bug that caused the application heap to grow as time went on (should've spotted that one early on)
- ability to convert ResCompare files
- nice icons for system extension and converted ResCompare files
1.5
- added system extension(thanks to Dave Mark and Jorg Brown from Ultimate Mac Programming)
- fixed bug that made it impossible to delete sets
- changed Kill Finder default to off
1.0
- faster file search on large volumes
- support for patches
- filenames now listed alphabetically
- quit Finder on Marathon launch
- raised file limit from 50 to 255
- snazzier interface and cool-looking icons
0.91b
- first release version
And a very big thanks to Ruud "Dutch" Altenburg and all the other beta-testers at ETI in the Netherlands.
Improvements for future versions
I'm always looking for ways to improve my software, so if you have any suggestions, feel free to drop me a line. Here are some things I'm planning:
*- add support for readme files and comments
*- have ResCompare patching work with less available memory and include resource verification
*- Marathon 2. Bungie completely changed the format of the files for Marathon 2 (now everything's stored in the data fork), so I'll have to totally recode the extension for it (it'll also be a lot harder to do :( Thanks a lot Bungie!)
Please send bug reports, comments, suggestions, hate mail, etc. to rickb@intellinet.com.
The latest version of Phile Juggler, as well as other cool stuff, can be found on my home page at: http://www.intellinet.com/~rickb/
