Welcome!

Welcome to Marathon Alpha International Test!

We are excited to have you test the operation of Marathon around the world. Your work will help
make sure that we can have a great player experience for people that live in your part of the
world!

Goals:

• Please coordinate with your Lionbridge contacts about the days and times that we
want you to play.
• We will be looking at the network performance of the game to ensure that it meets our
expectations in all global regions.
• We expect that our Matchmaking system will automatically place players into servers that
are located near them and provide a good gameplay experience.
• Because we have a limited number of international testers, we will have the opportunity
to see how Matchmaking performs in low population scenarios. We want to see if the
service provides the right tradeoff between wait times, finding full games, and placing
players together on servers that they have a good connection to.

When:

• The Marathon Alpha International Test will go from April 28th, 2025 - April 30th,
2025.

When does the Alpha start and end?

• The Marathon Closed Alpha Test will start on April 23, 2025, at 10 AM PDT, and will run
until May 4, 2025, at 10 AM PDT. You are also welcome to play at any point during this
period, so long as you play for your designated test time slot.

Platform:

• While the Marathon Alpha does support PS5 and Xbox Series S/X, all network testing
should be done on Steam.

What are the minimum specs for PC?

Below are the minimum specs for the Marathon Closed Alpha test:

• Processor: Intel Core i5-6600 / AMD Ryzen 5 2600

• Memory: 8 GB RAM
 • Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti (4 GB) / AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT (4 GB) /
Intel Arc A580 (8 GB)
• Video Memory (VRAM): 4 GB
• DirectX: DirectX 12 with Feature Level 12_1 support
• Operating System: Windows 10 64-bit (latest Service Pack)

Please note that certain Intel ARC GPUs may not be supported.

• More Info here: https://help.marathonthegame.com/hc/en-

us/articles/36494704086420Marathon-Closed-Alpha-FAQ

How to Play

Follow this YouTube guide for how to play and reach out in the Discord to Joseph Mosley with
any questions!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvJIQoWIQP8

Playtest Instructions

Form Your Crews: We encourage you to pre-form your crew of 3 players in the lobby! Playing
with friends will enhance your enjoyment and cohesion during gameplay. Please play with other
people who are in the same network region as you (EU North, APAC South East, etc).

Want to Play Solo or Duo? - If you prefer to play on your own or with just one other Player,
make sure to turn off crew fill in the lobby. This will ensure you enter the match as a solo or duo
crew without adding another player during Matchmaking.

Searching for a Crew? - If you have crew fill turned on in the lobby, and there are not enough
people to form a Crew of 3 members but find no matches due to a low player population in your
region, you might encounter Error Code: Oregano. The Alpha build will have limited players
outside of North America. We're working to improve matchmaking and appreciate your patience.

When you've made it into a Run, play as you normally would! Good Luck!

What to look out for?

If you experience a Networking related issue, please take note of these Network Indicators that
might appear in the top right side of your screen during gameplay. Make sure you provide
relevant information in the report!
 Condition Explanation Player Impact

The round-trip time for

packets from client to Interactions are delayed; shots may be missed.
Latency dedicated server is too "Lag"
long.

The client is not able to

render frames fast enough Critically low client framerate causes "time dilation"
Client FPS to provide a smooth which if not corrected will result in the player being
experience. Kicked to Lobby with error code "rutabaga".

The server is Any drop in server framerate causes time dilation on

experiencing performance the server which will cause server corrections to
Server FPS problems and is not player interactions, ability timing, motion
running at full speed. synchronization.

Packets are lost on the Player actions may not register on the server. Objects
Packet Loss network. may appear to teleport around.

Actions will not register. The player cannot move.

The connection to the They will be disconnected unless their connection
Server quickly recovers. This typically results in the player
server has been
Disconnect being Kicked to Lobby with the error code "anteater"
interrupted or lost.
 The connection to the No impact while in a game session, if the connection
Investment investment world server recovers. If the connection does not recover the
Disconnect has been interrupted. player may be Kicked to Login.

Key Terms:

1. High Latency: You experience a significant delay between your input and the game's
response. For example, you might press a button, but there's a noticeable lag before the
action occurs on screen. Latency is also called “Ping” or “Round Trip Time”
2. Rubberbanding: You move your character forward, but it feels like you are moving in
glue, and you can’t move away from your position.
3. Warp: You move your character, but you are snapped back to a previous position, or a
different position. For example, you are running and you get snapped back. Or you jump
onto a ledge successfully, but then you get snapped down to fall on the ground.
4. Lag Spikes: You encounter sudden, temporary increases in latency, causing the game to
freeze or stutter momentarily. This can be particularly disruptive during intense gameplay
moments like combat.
5. Delayed Registration: Actions such as shooting, reloading, or activating abilities don't
register immediately.
6. Teleporting: Characters or objects in the game appear to "teleport" from one position to
another without transitioning smoothly.
7. De-synchronization: The game state on your client becomes unsynchronized from the
server. For example, a door might appear open on your screen but remain closed
according to the server.
8. Positional Inaccuracy: Players or objects might visually be in one place on your screen
but are somewhere else according to the server, leading to misses on shots or incorrect
positioning.
9. Server Disconnect: In severe cases of network lag, you may be disconnected from the
game server entirely, causing abrupt interruptions and potential loot loss.

Network Claw

How to Use:

Controller:

• PRESS and HOLD: left thumb stick + right thumb stick + Y/ , then PRESS L1/LB to
toggle between the different screens.

Keyboard:

• PRESS and HOLD: (Right) CTRL + TILDE + Q, then PRESS N to toggle between the
different screens
 • Alternate Option: PRESS and HOLD (Right) Ctrl + Q + 4 and PRESS N between the
different screens (This is useful if you don’t have a ~ key on your keyboard)

Important Info:
When you are in a run, the fourth screen (Activity Instances) will tell you the server datacenter
that you are connected to. The information that we need is the last part after the second colon, in
this example “auw2” which means Amazon US-West 2.

Bug Reports

Troubleshooting:
For any problems troubleshooting access to the build, please use the Discord server.

How to Report Bugs:

Please write down the exact time that the issue occurred and any notes on what happened.

When making your bug report always provide the date, time, and your Bungie Name
e.g. “milktoast#1234 For Example:

• Datacenter: AUW2
• Bungie Name: Treewoof#1234
• Date/Time: 4/28, 11:32am PST
• Issue Observed: Server FPS warning and delayed interaction when opening a door
• Videos/Screenshots uploaded to Discord are encouraged but not required.