Okay, so that name sounded confusing? Well you will understand what I mean in the video. :)

You will need to pause the video at some parts to be able to read the text, as it's quite quick.

http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/322663/Midnight%20Mansion%20-%20Invisi-Ladderjump%20Glitch.mov.zip

It's also possible in that mansion to jump over a Gold door!
I hope you've found this interesting.

Rohful

Wow!  I thought you meant the well-known ladderjump but this is not quite the same.  I bet even Freddy didn't know about this.  Allows new possibilities in building.

Yes, when Freddy comes back, he'll be all over that one like flies on.... well, you get the idea.
;)

:o

:rubs eyes:

:o :o :o

Semi-native: surely you mean like flies on beer? [smiley=beer.gif]

Unbelievable!
I really find it strange that no one of us should have never stumbled over this one before.....
:-?      :-/

Of course I meant beer, Toybox. What else could I possibly mean?
::) [smiley=evil.gif] [smiley=beer.gif]

aquaMat wrote on 16.02.2009 at 23:14:11:

Unbelievable! I really find it strange that no one of us should have never stumbled over this one before..... :-?      :-/

Which shows us that the ways of MM are still not fully explored.

also, it's not very intuitive to do this, it takes a few tries to make it work

another question, what software did you use to make the movie? I assume you recorded what happened on the screen while you played?

Hi Olle,

I used iShowU HD (the full paid version - the demo has a fat watermark over the recording) recording at 60 frames per second with the Apple MPEG4 Compressor format, then I imported it into iMovie 08, and added in the titles and cropped the video capture, and exported as the same compression as iShowU. :)

That jump is very interesting. Now I'm off to give it a try (probably more like 20 tries)

That jump is very interesting. Now I'm off to give it a try (probably more like 20 tries)

That jump is very interesting. Now I'm off to give it a try (probably more like 20 tries) But I don't like the idea of someone going through a mansion and maybe skip parts due to this.

Catwoman wrote on 17.02.2009 at 08:10:11:

That jump is very interesting. Now I'm off to give it a try (probably more like 20 tries) But I don't like the idea of someone going through a mansion and maybe skip parts due to this.

Bulders must take care not to let that happen, or at least give the player a chance to go back.  Perhaps we should ask Vern to fix this because it might raise complications?

Maybe you're right, Brell.

As funny as this feature might seem, I don't see myself checking each room in any future mansion I will design whether it's foolproof for/against this "gimmick-jump".

(I have problems choosing the correct English words here, I feel.... :-? )

We would also have to check old mansions as well since now this "feature" is known and at least some people will surely try it in every given mansion.

And not only designing, but beta testing new mansions would be a real pain if this became a regular feature.

Everyone: This is a game exploit; a bug that Vern will probably fix.

DO NOT try to make puzzles in your mansions with this, Vern WILL most probably remove this.

There are SO many places in the built-in mansions that you could do this, and in the upcoming mansions in the expansion. This would cause players to skip possibly sections of content.

This is very bad, this could've been used to cheat to get top score on the Midnight Mansion Online High scores easily.

Cheers to you Rohful for finding this, it could've gone very, very badly with having exploits in the upcoming expansion.

My first thought were all of the custom mansions we already have. That would be a lot of work to go through and fix.

And Semi-Native, you bring up a very good point as to beta-testing.

Wingy, I doubt they could get a high score if they skipped any sections. But I guess it would be possible to avoid a creature by doing that maneuver.

You never know. Better safe then sorry.

Hmm... I have try this ladder-bug but it isn't going..  :'( ;)

Same here Mikee. I haven't managed to perform this jump.

I tried the first time using only one hand... didn't work :) but with two it did, since you have to run sideways, and then go down-up-jump instantly, it was hard not to say impossible to hit downupspacebar in a single move with one hand...

Vern will fix this - so don't make any mansions where this is needed.

:o Stunning!! Congrats and thx for detecting this bug.

But like my doors in the Whisky Bar (whisky without 'e' because it is Scottish), this feature feels like a bad idea to be used in mansions.

@ brell: Any news from Vern yet?

Only that he is aware of this bug and will release a new version soon.

To the original person who reported this bug -- could you turn on movie recording within the game, replicate the bug, and then send me the movie file? That will make it easy for me to fix, and verify that my fix works. :-)

Just set it to "support" at "actionsoft" dot com.

-Vern

Vern, I've sent you a zip file containing the recording and the mansion, in case it needs it. I'm very sorry for not seeing this post until now.

Rohful wrote on 29.03.2009 at 08:56:21:

Vern, I've sent you a zip file containing the recording and the mansion, in case it needs it. I'm very sorry for not seeing this post until now.

Got it. Thanks!

I've identified the problem and repeated it myself quite a bit now, so I should be able to fix it.

The ladder-climbing code is some of the most complicated movement code in the game. I remember spending nearly 2 weeks just to get the initial code written the first time around, not to mention bug fixes along the way afterward. So it's tricky, but I'm sure I'll manage.  

Thanks, Rohful, for sending me such a nice package to demonstrate it so well!

Okay, it's fixed now. I should be able to release an update sometime this week, possibly even today.

I'm sure it must have been different to program a ladder system!
And that's great news about the update. That's fantastic that you're able to fix it! I appreciate that :)

Yeah, ladders were tricky to code. Consider these situations:

Let's say Jack is standing near, but not directly aligned with, a ladder. He pushes up or down to climb it. First, he should walk over to the ladder, then climb it once it's aligned with it. So when you push up or down, the code first has to find the nearest ladder (to Jack's left or right), determine if it's within range, and if so, make Jack walk left/right towards it, OR start climbing if he's close enough.

That was the easiest part. The actual mechanics of climbing a ladder, and falling off at the right times, esp. the climbing-onto-a-ledge animation handler, were the hardest.

Although there's also something very rewarding about doing something hard and succeeding.

Rohful wrote on 16.02.2009 at 03:32:41:

It's also possible in that mansion to jump over a Gold door! I hope you've found this interesting.Rohful

Wow, that was cool to see!  And very well made video, Rohful!  Has Vern signed you up as a beta tester yet?   ;)