Bugs in EM and EMC

Found a bug in R'n'D? Report it here!

Moderators: Flumminator, Zomis

Post Reply
User avatar
Eizzoux
Posts: 567
Joined: Wed Oct 30, 2013 5:32 am
Location: Russia
Contact:

Bugs in EM and EMC

Post by Eizzoux »

1. Level 8 in Emerald Mine is unsolvable!
Image

How I can solve the level if I'll kill 2nd player? I can't save him!

2. Level 12 in Emerald Mine is unsolvable!
Image

How I can solve this thing if we have one key?

___________________________________________________


And many levels of "Emerald Mine Club" is unsolvable.
Last edited by Eizzoux on Mon Nov 11, 2013 4:48 am, edited 1 time in total.
𒈟
Anonycat
Posts: 47
Joined: Thu Mar 27, 2008 4:45 am

Re: Reported bugs in Rocks'n'Diamonds

Post by Anonycat »

Level 8 is indeed unsolvable in 2-player mode--even by handcrafting a tape to ensure both players attempt to make their first move simultaneously, P2 is not allowed to walk over P1, and as soon as P1 moves out of the way, the rock (by virtue of its position higher up, thus earlier in the reading order) takes precedence in entering the vacated square on the very same frame, before P2 can. In the RnD engine, only one player needs to reach an exit in order to finish the level (also, a dead player there turns into gems, which can block off the tunnel in level 8 so the starships are forever stuck on the top row, and which also enables a very fast "suicide strat" on level 26), but the EM engine forces all players to find an exit.

Additionally, the EM engine destroys an exit tile once a player enters it, so if there's only one exit in the level, two players have to be synchronized to the point where they both hit the exit at the EXACT same time, or they've blown the entire level and have to start over. If a level has only one exit that can only be approached from one side (such as 4, 32, and 52) there's nowhere for the second player to stand to even attempt to synchronize their movement to the exit, so that's another reason that can cause unsolvability in that engine, though such levels are often unsolvable anyway for key-related reasons.

Level 12 actually is solvable with two players. There is that wrinkle I just mentioned where both players have to time their last step precisely, and of course since there's only one key, only one player can explore the bulk of the level, while the other can only hang around near the exit until they get back. By default, players are not allowed to move far enough away from each other to put the other one off the screen, but you can get around that by pressing F5 to lock focus on player 1, or F6 for player 2, and then go as far to the left as you need to, aven though it's far more than one screen away from the starting hall.

Levels 80 and under were actually designed for a single player, with multiplayer play just an afterthought, so you might try knocking them out with the multiplayer option turned OFF. 81 is the same as 0 but with a second exit tile to avoid the last-step conundrum, while 82 and up were the only levels that were really meant for players to work together (and even some of those can be done with 1 player if you're quick, careful, and/or lucky).
Post Reply