MBP 1.50 FAQ Thread

Hey folks,

We've been asked a lot of the same questions in the hours following the public release of 1.50. We've compiled a quick list of frequently asked questions and known issues for your convenience. Please feel free to report additional bugs or ask additional questions in this thread so other users may contribute from this knowledge base. Thanks.

Last Updated: 27th Oct 2014.

1.50 Frequently Asked Questions:

1. The Marble Blast Community still exists? Yes, and we're more active than ever before with the release of 1.50 and the anticipation of PQ. We have been steadily gaining new users each month, and you can always find at least five people online.


2. I am trying to download 1.50, but the website is telling me I have reached my download limit for the day. This is a known issue with our downloads system for Guests. You can bypass this filter by logging into the website with a MarbleBlast account to download 1.50. You can create an account easily from the Login screen, located here .


3. What happened to all of the zip files that we had to manually install? With the new launcher application, you no longer have to hassle with downloading and unzipping any files. Simply download the MBP 1.50 launcher and open it. You will need Java 7.x or above to open the launcher properly. Once the launcher is opened, pressing the Play button will automatically download any missing game files to your system, and automatically patch the game when new files are available on our server. It's that easy!


4. Help! The Launcher won't open! What do I do? In order to run the launcher properly, we recommend downloading and installing Java 7.x + . You can check your version of java here.


5. [strike]I am on a Mac, and Marble Blast Platinum 1.50 will not launch! Help! Marble Blast Platinum 1.50 will not launch on OSX if you are using any version of mac under 10.7. This is because the C++ libraries supported by 10.6.X and below are too old for the Extender. In the meantime, you can upgrade 10.9.0 for free if your Mac's hardware can support it. Future update to add 10.6 support (but no extender) may occur.[/strike] This issue is no longer relevant, as proper 10.6 support has been added into the Extender.



6. Where is Marble Blast Platinum 1.50 being installed? For windows, MBP 1.50 is installed to C:/Users/<Username>/AppData/Roaming/Marble Blast Platinum , and for Mac it is installed in your <user>/Applications/ directory as 'Marble Blast Platinum.app'.


7. Can I change where Marble Blast Platinum 1.50 installs to? No.


8. I'm trying to login to MBP Online, but the game is frozen on the "Logging in ..." screen. What do I do? This generally happens if the leaderboards master server is slowing down or has experienced a crash. Please check the shoutbox to see if there is any word from an administrator regarding server status. We have added a server status module to the front page of the website to help you determine when the servers are up or down.


9. Why are scores not showing up when I am browsing singleplayer levels? Sometimes the game client experiences some latency between you and the server, and it could take a few seconds for scores to display properly.


10. How come I am seeing multiple lines of chat? This occurs when you have inadvertently logged into the game client more than once (either through a dropped and re-established connection, or you are logged into Webchat and the game simultaneously). To fix this issue, simply close out of your game client and re-open the launcher.


11. Why do I sometimes see yellow text in the chat that state "<user> has reached level X"? These are a special type of announcement message, currently used by the mod Marble Blast Fubar, lead by Aayrl. These messages are related to users currently playing Marble Blast Fubar, and are a way of announcing when players are progressing through the game. You should congratulate the user when you see this message!


12. How come when I try to join someone's multiplayer server I get the error "Invalid Packets"? This typically occurs if your game files are outdated, or do not match the game files of the hosting user. To minimize the chance of this occurring, we recommend you launch MBP 1.50 from the launcher exclusively to avoid these types of errors, ensuring your game always has the most up-to-date files installed. You may see these errors when attempting to connect to developer servers, such as HiGuy, Jeff, IsraeliRD, or Aayrl, as they may sometimes be working on newer scripts that will not be compatible with your current game client.


13. What is a 'grey' / platinum gem, and how much is it worth in multiplayer? The platinum gem is an exclusive item only for levels from PlatinumQuest. It is worth 10 points upon pickup.


14. Can I use the Platinum Gem in my custom levels? Absolutely not. These are designed to be used for PQ levels only. If you manage to hack around this, you will be banned from the forums and leaderboards. Don't be mean.


15. I completed a level, but my score is not sending. What's happening? This generally happens as a result of latency between you and our servers. If the delay is greater than roughly 10 seconds, then it's possible our leaderboards server has crashed or been taken offline.
    
    
16. My game has force crashed - What do I do? If your game client is crashing, relaunch the game and attempt to replicate the crash after presssing CTRL+T to activate game tracing. Then, please post your console.log in a response to this thread below with a description of what you were doing when the crash occurred so we may attempt to fix any stability issues.


17. How do I submit a console.log? It's very important that you DO NOT re-open marbleblast after recording a trace log (see the previous FAQ), otherwise your precious crash data will be overwritten. If you have successfully recorded a crash in your console.log, you can upload it to the forums by clicking the 'Add File' button below your response window and then navigating to your Marble Blast Platinum directory, and attaching 'console.log' from the root MBP directory. You can then add the console.log to your post by clicking the 'Insert' button once your console.log has been uploaded. On Windows, your MBP Directory will be located at C:/Program Files/Marble Blast Platinum or C:/Program Files (x86)/Marble Blast Platinum. On Mac, your MBP Directory will be located at <user>/Applications/Marble Blast Platinum.app.
    
    
18. How do I "challenge" another player? Click on Singleplayer, and then click on the "more" button on the bottom left of that screen. Then, click on the icon that looks like two arms engaged in an arm-wrestling match.


19. How do I initiate a "super challenge" with other players? Click on Singleplayer, and then click on the "more" button on the bottom left of that screen. Then, click on the icon that looks like two arms engaged in an arm-wrestling match with a trophy beneath it.


20. How many players do Super Challenges support? Super challenges can support up to 4 players, and require at least 2 players to begin.


21. Where are the fun Multiplayer game modes like SP2MP and Tag? These game modes were simply some test code that HiGuy developed early on in the development of Multiplayer, and they will not be making an appearance in MBP 1.50.


22. What is the timer on the bottom right of the screen during a challenge or super challenge? This timer appears when one of your opponents in your current challenge has completed all of the required levels. This is a timeout bar, showing you how much time you have left until you automatically lose. If you see this appear, you better hurry!


23. Okay, What about the timer on the bottom left of the screen during a challenge or super challenge? That shows your total time versus your opponent(s) times to give you an idea of who is in the lead for the current challenge.


24. Hey, where did all of my Easter Eggs from 1.14 go? The easter eggs are safely stored in the old version of the leaderboards, and we will import these in an upcoming game patch. You're welcome to re-obtain some easter eggs if you can't wait, though.


25. Why are there no MBUltra levels in Singleplayer mode (non-Online version)? You cannot play MBU levels without logging into the Online version of Marble Blast Platinum 1.50.


26. How do I unlock MBU and Custom Marble Skins in Multiplayer? In order to unlock MBU and Custom marble skins in Multiplayer, you need to complete 10 / 30 multiplayer achievements.


27. How do I unlock MBP and Custom Marble Skins in MBU? In order to unlock MBP and Custom marble skins in MBU, you need to complete 5 / 15 MBU achievements.


28. How do I unlock PQ Multiplayer Levels? In order to unlock PQ multiplayer levels, you need to complete 65 / 95 achievements (overall achievements).


29. How do I build and share a custom Multiplayer Level? To build and share custom multiplayer levels, design the level as you would in your favorite editing program (QuArK, Constructor) and then customize it in Singleplayer (as you would a normal custom level). You can grab the multiplayer resources kit here . Once that is complete, then load your custom map in Multiplayer and modify your mission info accordingly (to add in music, gold / ultra scores, time limits, etc). NOTICE: If you share your multiplayer map with a user, and then modify the original map file or mission file, and then attempt to re-share the map with the same player, the player WILL CRASH because the map files are now incompatible. Please be cautious when building and sharing multiplayer maps to ensure your map is built properly before sharing it with other players. To share a custom multiplayer map with friends, simply place your completed multiplayer map in the multiplayer / custom directory of Marble Blast Platinum 1.50, and then load up the game. Once in a multiplayer match that you are hosting, you can select the Custom tab and then select your level and click 'Play'. This will automatically send the custom level you designed to all members of your party.


30. Why can I not load Custom Multiplayer Levels in the Dedicated servers? Custom Multiplayer Levels cannot be sent to the dedicated servers from the Marble Blast client. We currently do not have any plans to support this feature in the future.


31. Is there any way for me to share my Custom Multiplayer Levels on the Dedicated Servers? If you send your map to one of the server administrators, we can add it to the dedicated server's list of missions. We plan to have an upload form to allow users to add custom missions to the various dedicated servers in the future.


32. How do I view my achievements in-game? How do I know my in-game progress and statistics? To view all of your achievements, double-click on your username in the userlist on the in-game interface, and then press the trophy icon. For statistics, click the page icon to the right of the trophy icon. See the screenshot below for a visual explanation.
    
    
    

Thanks,
~Aayrl

And if I'm used to download MBP via a zipped folder, what do I do?

There are no more zip files that you have to manually download - the shiny new launcher will handle retrieving and updating core game files accordingly. Simply download the launcher and press Play.

~Aayrl

I don't mean to sound annoying, and I apologize if this would better belong somewhere else, but if you have to point out how to view your profile and achievements, isn't that a sign of a place where the UI could be improved? I would suggest just adding "My Profile" and "Achievements" buttons to the bar at the top, considering that they're probably going to be used frequently and it will save users a few clicks.

This sounds like a great idea, I will pass the word along.

~Aayrl

Might as well crosspost what I said in the other topic since you said bugs go here.

"So far the RC 1 build is looking great so far on Mac OS X Mavericks, though it isn't without a few bugs, mostly in multiplayer mode.

For one I have tried choosing different marble skins to play on multiplayer servers and even though the scoreboard shows I'm using a custom marble skin I still appear to be controlling the default marble anyway. On top of that last night I was having a really strange bug during a match where one certain player was a mega marble the entire game. If it's a bug I think it needs to be looked at, if it's not a bug then that is some extremely cheap gameplay because I could never get near the gems he was camping around.

On the subject of the Mega Marble power up, I've realized during multiplayer matches that it doesn't work for me at all. I'm clearly being notified that I picked up a mega marble power up, but when I use it all I hear is the super jump sound effect and my marble remains the same size."

Also if it's possible I would really love to have the Marbleblast Ultra levels available for offline play. I'm not sure why it can only be accessed online right now but if the online mode goes down and people want to play the MBU levels then that's going to cause some problems.

New bug... if you turn on glass mode with more than two players, the glass splits into the right amount of sections, but more than one player spawns in one section, and one section is left empty. Next time it happens I'll grab up the console.

New bug:multiplayer achievements not transferred from beta 3 to RC1.
I had gotten all the multiplayer achievements in beta 3 and now I have to hard work again, I HATE IT.

Practice scores don't show on all-time mp except in the mp levels in beta 3

In challenge(not super challenge), once reaching finish pad crashes the game often.

That would just be us having to recalculate scores (something we'll do in the next upcoming patch). Not an actual bug.

Another bug: Was playing MP and I couldn't use an MBU marble, even though other players could. I definitely have over 10 achievements (15-20). I was trying to use Skully (marble18.skin.png ... there was also a marble18.normal.png next to it in the file, I was thinking this might be the problem?).

If you need me to specify which achievements then I'll do it asap.

Krishiv wrote:
Practice scores don't show on all-time mp except in the mp levels in beta 3.

In order for Practice Scores to display on the all-time Multiplayer score list, you need to be hosting a Multiplayer game session with ratings ENABLED and no other users in your party, otherwise this information is not sent to the database. Not sure if we will enable score saving for servers where rating is disabled.

~Aayrl

It appears as if I can't log into the online mode anymore because I apparently modified a file that I never actually touched so I'm being forced to re-download the game.

By the way thank you for the audio clipping scream sound file when I got the redundancy error. That was so absolutely necessary.

I hate attempting to get some achievements that can be impossible to get (ex. the "First Try" challenge achievement; if I got all my really excellent best times on all of the LB levels without challenging another player, getting my best time on my first try, and then winning a challenge, then that achievement is impossible to get.) All achievements that can be unattainable should be replaced by possible achievements; that will be the one achievement I've talked about, I think.

Uh challenge achievements e.g. First Try want you to get your best time IN THE CURRENT CHALLENGE, not you BEST EVER OVERALL.
Example if you and I play Battlecube Finale and your BEST TIME IN THIS CHALLENGE (you vs me) is 10 minutes and mine are all 10+ (I suck so I can't beat you), then YOU WIN THE ACHIEVEMENT. It doesn't care if your best LBs time is 2 minutes on BFinale.

No achievement is impossible. It only looks at your current challenge/superchallenge. never at anything else.


Chaos: which file was it? it might be easier if you told us which one. Also Launcher would detect which file was modified and redownload appropriately (by deleting said file it would be easier if indeed it got modified). You don't need to redownload the whole thing, that's what the launcher is for.

Also thanks for the comment on the screech. It's been there since 1.10 and it's something we love. We got some really good feedback on it.

In challenge(not super challenge), once reaching finish pad crashes the game often.

I'm not being rude, but I will put no time into fixing this unless you provide us with the proper console.log like we have asked a million times already.

IsraeliRD wrote: Chaos: which file was it? it might be easier if you told us which one. Also Launcher would detect which file was modified and redownload appropriately (by deleting said file it would be easier if indeed it got modified). You don't need to redownload the whole thing, that's what the launcher is for.

Also thanks for the comment on the screech. It's been there since 1.10 and it's something we love. We got some really good feedback on it.

It literally said in the error message to re-download the game, if the launcher was supposed to fix it, then it didn't do anything after it encountered the error. What's done is done though, I re-downloaded it and it works fine again.

Look, all I'm saying is that it wouldn't hurt to be a little more professional here. All of these poor quality online taunts along with the ear-piercing screech for what's supposed to be a serious error message is just downright childish and immature. I'm almost positive it wouldn't be back-breaking work to just change or remove a few audio files.

I'm in favor of upgrading some of the audio events

~Aayrl

Hey, is there a chance that RC1 will crash during first use?
Because I am working on a level with constructor 1.0.3, and I don't want to lose my data, because if I try to save my data, the program crashes and the data is unsaved. I'm trying to leave constructor open for that reason. If something crashes the computer, all the applications will close, and constructor's data will be unsaved.

So will it crash?

With appreciation, eguy5947 a. k. a. mathmusicandmarbleblast

There have been reports of the game client crashing, though not too many. Chances are if you only play a few levels and you only play half-hour increments, you should be fine. We cannot predict what the game client will do on a variety of computer systems, so it's going to be entirely situational based on your hardware and software setup and how it reacts to the game process.

I would look into your Constructor install - it should not be crashing every time you attempt to save data. How are you even able to test levels you're building in constructor if you can't save the interior?

~Aayrl

MasterOfTheBattlecube told me that it's a known bug for constructor v1.0.3. In 1.0.4, it's fixed. Do you know where I can find a patch to 1.0.4?
Thanks

EDIT: Promarbler gave me a link via the forums.

Ziggurat has an incorrect par time of 5:00. It should be 4 minutes.

^ fixed for next build, and changed par/plat/ult scores

Just letting everyone know that I've managed to find a way to get the engine extender working on Windows without Administrator access. This should be very helpful for a few people who were having issues on Windows XP. I'll talk to Jeff and see if we can get a patch out soon for that.

I've been trying to get the environment maps (the marble reflecty thing) to work. I enabled them in mbpPrefs.cs but for some reason it doesn't seem to be working correctly. I've tried using the MBU marbles, which are supposed to be transparent, to no effect. And for some reason it causes gems and the finish sign to have no texture, but they "reflect" the MBG skybox (even in MBP levels ). It worked perfectly fine for me in MBG and MBP 1.14, so I don't know why it's not working here.
I currently am running Windows XP (ancient, I know ), and have the most recent patch/update.
Any suggestions on what to do? Is there any way to make it work at all, because I like the "reflection" effect.

I think I have a problem running the custom level "Oversimplified" online for some reason. It seems to hang at the "Loading..." screen.

The problem also occurs at GD PIY R.

Both levels have been fixed on the dev build and should be pushed live soon.

what is that "*" next to the ranking (on LB)?

for example: "* 19,2300"

btw, can't login to LB :<

Read the Help section by pressing the Help button

FYI, the asterisk means that it was a time imported from PhilsEmpire, but due to rating changes, has had its score recalculated.

So, how do I update MBP? It says I have to...

(Look at the next page!)