[R'n'D 4.3.4.0/MM 3.1.0] In some cases beam is just janky

[TheOnyxGuy]

I don't really know if Mirror Magic was ever intended to be designed for such flexible manipulations, but such specifics just make it go wild. Can't really explain it much aside from just showing a screenshot of such actions.

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And also here's the video of that.

[Holger]

Oops, that should not happen. But I know that the MM engine indeed has some bugs that can cause such weird situations.

I re-created your level and tried to reproduce the situation shown in the screenshot, but failed. Could you record a tape that leads to such a situation? Then I might have a closer look to see if this is something that could be fixed...

[TheOnyxGuy]

Sure, here it is. Tried out just in case, displays everything for just how it was for me.

002.level

Level

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002.tape

Tape

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[TheOnyxGuy]

Before recording the Reflektor showcase video, I stumbled upon such weird scenario which despite looking really strange, kind of makes sense. To recreate such scenario, you need to use specifically the DF steel walls, because MM steel walls don't reflect on corners, and specifically MM fixed grids, because the DF ones just reflect it off in this scenario.
With such layout recreated on the screenshot, you can see how the laser, reflecting from corners of DF steel walls with a very specific layout, goes right into the middle of the grid and pretty much squeezes straight through the tight gap.

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I decided to go even further and did a chain of grids for the laser to go through and after just few of them laser just noticeably stops dead inside of one simply saying: "I can't, man, I can't."

this_is_stupid.png (33.01 KiB) Viewed 15450 times

[Holger]

I decided to go even further and did a chain of grids for the laser to go through and after just few of them laser just noticeably stops dead inside of one simply saying: "I can't, man, I can't."

Just wanted to note that this weird path for the laser now works until the end; that is, the laser can now not only pass the grid from top to bottom, but also from bottom to top!

It really looks crazy (and I never noticed this before), but it should at least work consistently now.

I think it would be cool to see this being used in a real level, relying on such a path to be required to solve that level.

[TheOnyxGuy]

Just wanted to note that this weird path for the laser now works until the end; that is, the laser can now not only pass the grid from top to bottom, but also from bottom to top!

Well, I mean, it was working upwards anyways, but the problem that was here is probably just too many lines. Doesn't the beam have, like, some kind of technical cap of how many turns does it take to just completely stop dead in track? I'll just assume that this was the main problem that was happening in the screenshot I've shown.
But anyways, intentional or not, it's pretty interesting and silly indeed, but I think at the same time, it's probably just one of the few cases when, as you said,

mixing MM style game elements with DF style game elements will cause unexpected or even buggy behaviour in quite some cases...

[Holger]

Well, I mean, it was working upwards anyways, but the problem that was here is probably just too many lines.

Yes, I think you are right -- probably forgot about this!

Yes, if I remember correctly, I had to increase the number of laser beam edges to improve support for this tricky behaviour!