12/27/2015 Bugs in Lode Runner

Lode Runner Bug Collection

Unfortunately, a program of this complexity is bound to have a few problems. This page lists the
significant bugs that I know of in the new Lode Runner games. Level makers may want to read through
this list, as players can sometimes use them to their advantage.

Flying Lode Runner

The Legend Returns
Lode Runner On­Line

If you walk off of a monk and onto a tile where there is an invisible ladder, you will "fly" through that
and the next tile. You can fly right through some kinds of turf, but flying into other kinds of turf will
cause the level to restart. Download fly.zip to try some puzzles that take advantage of this. [Found by
Konstantin Seiler]

Suspended monks
The Legend Returns
Lode Runner On­Line

The falling rock created by the pickaxe falls faster than monks do. If a falling monk is hit by this rock,
the monk remains suspended in mid­air forever (unless you blow it up with a bomb). The tile with this
suspended monk behaves just like the tile with the fallen rock, except that it's permanent. It is also
possible (but difficult) to hit your fellow player, or even yourself, in this manner, with similar results.
Some other things to do [from Patrick Mihelich]:
­ Trap someone under a pile of rubble and set off a big bomb such that the turf immediately underneath
the victim is destroyed, but not the victim himself.
­ Hit someone with the pickaxe while he's using a jackhammer.
­ Hit someone when he's in a snare in midair.

Tool duplication
The Legend Returns
Lode Runner On­Line

http://entropymine.com/jason/lr/nr/lrbugs/ 1/6
12/27/2015 Bugs in Lode Runner

This bug occurs if you are carrying four small bombs and a tool, and standing on a fifth small bomb. If
you then press your "pickup/drop" key, the bomb you are standing on will magically turn into a duplicate
of the tool you are holding. (This was fixed in Lode Runner On­Line.) [Found by John Taylor]

You can't use that here

The Legend Returns
Lode Runner On­Line

In certain situations, there is a split second when you're running between different kinds of tiles, where
the rules for determining whether you can use tools get applied to one tile, but the tool will actually get
used on the other tile. This allows you to sometimes use tools (including small bombs) in mid­air, or
while hanging onto a bar, which you're not supposed to be able to do. Although the bug is consistent, it
does not work for all tools in all situations; e.g. the snare seems to be totally immune to it.

Walking through floors

The Legend Returns
Lode Runner On­Line

This works if you're on a ladder, with bedrock below. Hold down the "UP" key while you tap on the
"DOWN" key very quickly, many times. If you tap it fast enough, you will sink through the floor and
into the room below. If you're having trouble getting this to work, try changing the game speed. The
default speed seems to be about the easiest. This does not work with all versions of the game. [Found by
Dan Bank]

Bouncing off walls

The Legend Returns
Lode Runner On­Line

If you're standing on a monk with a wall to your right, and you try to move to the right, you will actually
move left! This is clearly a bug, since if the wall is instead on your left and you try to move left, nothing
happens.

Invisible hand­over­hand bar

The Legend Returns
Lode Runner On­Line

http://entropymine.com/jason/lr/nr/lrbugs/ 2/6
12/27/2015 Bugs in Lode Runner

If the tile after a hand­over­hand bar contains turf that has been temporarily removed, it will behave sort
of like there is a bar there also. This prevents you from, say, lighting a bomb at that position. It doesn't
support you like a bar normally does, however. The bug only occurs if you enter the tile from the side,
from a tile with a bar.

Can't climb down

The Legend Returns
Lode Runner On­Line

If you blow up the turf beneath a ladder, you will then run over it as if it were still there, and won't easily
be able to drop down into the open space. The same thing happens with phaze bricks beneath ladders in
Lode Runner On­Line. A workaround is to start to climb up the ladder, and then climb down.

Can't climb down II

The Legend Returns
Lode Runner On­Line

You cannot drop down through a phaze brick that is directly beneath a hand­over­hand bar. [Found by
Howie Pelton]

Trapdoor between ladders

The Legend Returns
Lode Runner On­Line

Trapdoors with ladders both above and below them don't work right. You can climb back up out of the
trap (wrong), but you can't move left or right (also wrong). The treasure in this picture is inaccessible.
However, if you use a tool (other than a bomb) at that tile, it will start behaving correctly.

Survive Liquid Tile

The Legend Returns
Lode Runner On­Line

Liquid tile won't hurt you if there's a ladder directly above it. You'll fall right through it! Download
lavagames.pzl to try this out. [Found by Loyalle Chin]
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12/27/2015 Bugs in Lode Runner

Also, if your starting position is over liquid tile, you will fall safely through the first 2 tiles. [Found by
Jim Winkler]

Tool duplication II
The Legend Returns
Lode Runner On­Line

If you try to drop an item on top of a treasure that you can't collect because it is the wrong color, the
treasure will turn into a duplicate of the item you dropped. This renders the level unsolvable, though,
because you can then never collect the vanished treasure.

Walk on air
The Legend Returns
Lode Runner On­Line

If you use a big bomb to blow up the rubble created by a pickaxe, it doesn't destroy it. Instead, it makes it
permanent, and invisible!

The fossil
The Legend Returns
Lode Runner On­Line

If you use the pickaxe to drop rubble onto a hand­over­hand bar, the graphic on that tile may change
somewhat randomly when you zap some nearby turf, or when nearby turf reappears. The graphics that
you get are different on the bottom row of the screen than on the other rows. The only really strange
graphic that appears is shown above: a dinosaur fossil? [Found by Dan Bank]

Slippery
The Legend Returns
Lode Runner On­Line

If you zap a hole 2 tiles above a bar, and 3 tiles above liquid tile, and then drop through it, you won't be
able to grab onto the bar, and will fall to your doom. Strange... [Found by Jim Winkler]

Ad infinitum
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12/27/2015 Bugs in Lode Runner

The Legend Returns

Lode Runner On­Line

On a puzzle with no exit doors, if you enter a teleporter and the top row of the screen at the same time,
you will get caught in an infinite loop. You will start to exit the level, then start to teleport away, then
start to exit the level, etc. One could argue that this is not a true bug, but it is very unusual. [Found by
Jim Winkler]

No exit
The Legend Returns
Lode Runner On­Line

You can destroy exit doors and invisible ladders by picking up the last treasure while they are covered
with rubble from a pickaxe. [Found by Patrick Mihelich]

Stuck
The Legend Returns
Lode Runner On­Line
If you are carrying a boss bomb, enter a teleporter, and press the Use button just as you finish
rematerializing, you may get permanently frozen at that position, even if it's in mid­air. [Found by
Patrick Mihelich]

Stretch
The Legend Returns
Lode Runner On­Line

If you have a light touch, you can grab treasure or a tool on an adjacent tile when you are on slimed turf.
You have to use this trick to solve these puzzles. Maybe not really a bug, since this behavior is not
illogical, but barely­possible things like this aren't really consistent with the spirit of the game. [Found by
Loyalle Chin]

Cut, mangle, and paste

The Legend Returns
Lode Runner On­Line

Beware of the Cut­and­Paste and Copy­and­Paste features in the level editor. If you have numbered your
monks to tie them to particular entrances, their numbers will get reset back to zero when you select them.
This does not apply to Legend, since it does not have the monk­numbering feature.

Other possible bugs

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12/27/2015 Bugs in Lode Runner

Two monks will occasionally get permanently stuck together, typically when trying to climb on or
off of a ladder.
You can travel down a vertical column of hand­over­hand bars very quickly, much faster than you
fall. (You also drop off of the bottom of ladders too quickly.)
Monks that are on ladders or bars are immune to befuddlement gas. See also Notes on
befuddlement gas.
In the level editor, recently pasted objects will sometimes vanish if you move to another level
before you make any additional changes to the level.
You can move through slime a little faster than you should be able to if you tap repeatedly on the
left or right movement key.
You can't set a snare at a monk­regeneration location. (This comes into play on level 84.)
A monk that's climbing out of a pit can walk right through trapdoor (or liquid tile) cells that are
diagonally adjacent to the pit.

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