[RESOLVED] Searching for Pre-rep MBP Levels

THEY'VE BEEN FOUND!   marbleland.vaniverse.io/pack/1034  

Yo.

I'll make this quick, I'm trying to collect every pre-rep level for a future thread. All I got to work off is the March 2007 build.

While most of the original levels were found through the CLA and the build itself, I've been missing a few, most notably from Andrew Sears. The only lead I have is a FTP that Matan operated during the Proboard days, here's one of the many links that mention its existence:
marbleblast.proboards.com/thread/3307/new-hazard-magnet
marbleblast.proboards.com/thread/3292/ne...learn-backward-force
marbleblast.proboards.com/thread/3266/of...staff-marble-texture

Here's the bounty list:
Andrew:
Loop Exits (Link)
Skill Zone (Link)
Treacherous Path (Link)
Thief  (Link)
Catwalks (Link)
Platform Race (Link)
Ultimate Tree (Link)

Matan:
Platform Race 2  (Link)

I'm assuming that the March 2007 build is the earliest we got for pre-rep levels, most of the links provided here are dated after that build, so unless an earlier build exists with those levels, all we got to work with are a few forum links and a hypothetical FTP server that's most likely long gone. Still, I hold onto the hope that someone out there has this shit stored in some dusty hard drive somewhere in their basement. Better yet, maybe the creators still have the files, but that's a matter of communication.

Thanks!

Have you tried contacting Andrew or Matan directly? Old backups sometimes surface unexpectedly.

coveygamy wrote:

Have you tried contacting Andrew or Matan directly? Old backups sometimes surface unexpectedly.

 

Matan is completely off-limits as far as I know, his circle consists of people he trusts with his life. If I were to try and contact him, I might have to do it through someone like HiGuy, though, they're busy doing their own thing, like having a life.
As far as I know, Andrew Sears still exists on the internet, though for direct communication, I'm kinda out of luck with finding anything.

Maybe when Im not busy doing my own thing, like having a life, I might try and reach out to them about the archives.

You won't believe this but the planets have aligned and Matan himself was able to recover most of these levels (and some more!).
Here they are!
marbleland.vaniverse.io/pack/1034

Edit: At the time of writing, these levels are missing interiors. I'll collect them soon from the archive.
Edit 2: They have been reuploaded with interiors.

WAIT WHAT? cant belive its real, ill play those.

RandomityGuy wrote:

You won't believe this but the planets have aligned and Matan himself was able to recover most of these levels (and some more!).

Yeah sure you just casually got in contact with Matan just to disprove my earlier comment...

The interiors are most likely still in the files, you just need to redirect the .mis to interior_mbp to restore everything, unless the level is using some MBG assets. That's how I was able to restore most of the Pre-Alpha levels. I imagine that's how you fixed those files before the reupload. Im also kinda gutted that you called all of this "(Alpha)" instead of "(Pre-Alpha)," but that's a nitpick on me.

But yeah nah, that's pretty much the bounty complete...but since I have you here, Im gonna prop up a new bounty!
I tried getting in contact with Phil about this since he's the creator of this level, but as far as I know, he never responded to my friend request, I haven't logged back into the Discord for a while so I don't know if anything changed.

But to get to the point. MBP was supposed to have a "limited edition" level called "MarbleRally" , but from what I've seen in this post and anything that follows its mention, the level could've remained incomplete after it was scrapped from release.

I just wonder if this thing exists in some form, maybe the incomplete version hovered somewhere in the FTP, or it was completed, basically I wanna know its story.

Until we find some answer, and if there's no other pre-rep levels Im aware of, Im fine with locking this thread.

Could you ask him what character he and HiGuy are playing as in their Baldur's Gate 3 run?

EDIT: I checked out the levels in the Webport, Ultimate Tree is pointing me to the current iteration. I don't know if you got the wrong interior or if the .mis file is fucked, but maybe check that.

This is semi-relevant to this subject, Im gonna elaborate on this whenever I finish setting shit up for wine tasting. That's code for writing that future thread I mentioned at the start.
Listen up level artists!

What about a pre-rep level creation project? Not really a Community Group Level, moreso a community level pack.
A bunch of us build LE levels using 3x3 platforms and other loose pieces (believe me there's a lotta remnants in PQ), which then gets replicated by the next level creator.
I don't have anything concrete on this yet, just concepts of a plan, I'll probably have a good idea to what it'd look like once I finish that thread. But would you guys be down for something like that? Even though it kinda sounds like a scheme for free Constructor/Blender/QuArK levels.

This is not marking early interests, Im just checking the temperature.

> Could you ask him what character he and HiGuy are playing as in their Baldur's Gate 3 run? 

Him: Durge (druid) and Karlach (returning pike barbarian). Me: Lae'zel (arcane archer) and Wyll (warlock)

Also I have MarbleRally's map file but i dunno if i have anything for the mis. SVN commit states "MR is incomplete." and no other commits reference it, so it's likely the only remnant of that level. Commit date 2012-08-19. Enjoy.

HiGuy wrote:

Him: Durge (druid) and Karlach (returning pike barbarian). Me: Lae'zel (arcane archer) and Wyll (warlock)

Oh nice you guys are doing a Dark Urge run! Me and my two other friends started one two(?) years ago, but haven't made any progress after Shar's Gauntlet because the guy running our save got a job in the industry.
Most of us were running custom characters though, only one of us made a serious character, see if you can tell who. I was a Monk Orc named "Goa'Kau", save runner was a Druid Halfling named "Ice Spice", and my best friend was a Fighter Drow named "Baefryn." For our fourth slot, we just had whoever was convenient for the task, most of the time it's Shadowheart, I think the save runner controlled her? I don't remember, it's been a while.
Me and my best friend already finished the game on a normal run, custom characters too, I was a Barbarian and she was a Wizard, we had a whole character development thing going on between each session. I think I still have my character's journal somewhere in my laptop back home, but Im already going completely off-topic as is.

Thanks for the file! I figured it stayed incomplete after getting scrapped from release, I was kinda hoping it was still finished regardless, maybe Im projecting my arrogance a little haha! It's a bit exciting to see a scrapped official level, even if it didn't make the cut. I'll probably show it off after I convert it, unless one of the community members already beat me to the rally.

I've read that Moshe came back and showed off some old shit, maybe this thread can stay open incase we find anything worth archiving...

Glad to help. As far as I could tell, that map was never completed. The map doesn't have any items or shapes so it's not possible to say how the final level would have looked. Still, it's neat to see it. If I find anything else interesting in the SVN, I will post it here.