请问到底降级了没 急 在线等
首先其实还没确定。如果确定了对网络相关研究人员是个很大的打击。本来infocom就算是A类里稍微够得上的一个会。其余的比如sigcomm和mobicom 收稿太少且对质量要求特别高。这两个会每年大陆一作的paper按我的经验加起来应该还是个位数。&br&这次好像还是搞网络的人提议降级的。mobicom sigcomm nsdi一年总共收不到100篇。这样下去搞网络真是越来越没意思了。可能好几年都搞不出一篇A类。甚至一辈子都搞不出一篇A。另一方面惊闻IPDPS居然搞到A类了。在国内混的话，功利地讲还不如去发IPDPS呢
首先其实还没确定。如果确定了对网络相关研究人员是个很大的打击。本来infocom就算是A类里稍微够得上的一个会。其余的比如sigcomm和mobicom 收稿太少且对质量要求特别高。这两个会每年大陆一作的paper按我的经验加起来应该还是个位数。 这次好像还是搞网络…
个人感觉，NSDI质量更高，更偏系统一些，应当属A。infocom今年录了330篇文章，太多了，质量下滑。&br&利益相关: 今年中了一篇infocom。我那一篇感觉应该希望很小的，但是中了。
个人感觉，NSDI质量更高，更偏系统一些，应当属A。infocom今年录了330篇文章，太多了，质量下滑。 利益相关: 今年中了一篇infocom。我那一篇感觉应该希望很小的，但是中了。
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写bug工程师…惨绝人寰
请问到底降级了没 急 在线等
请问到底降级了没 急 在线等
首先其实还没确定。如果确定了对网络相关研究人员是个很大的打击。本来infocom就算是A类里稍微够得上的一个会。其余的比如sigcomm和mobicom 收稿太少且对质量要求特别高。这两个会每年大陆一作的paper按我的经验加起来应该还是个位数。&br&这次好像还是搞网络的人提议降级的。mobicom sigcomm nsdi一年总共收不到100篇。这样下去搞网络真是越来越没意思了。可能好几年都搞不出一篇A类。甚至一辈子都搞不出一篇A。另一方面惊闻IPDPS居然搞到A类了。在国内混的话，功利地讲还不如去发IPDPS呢
首先其实还没确定。如果确定了对网络相关研究人员是个很大的打击。本来infocom就算是A类里稍微够得上的一个会。其余的比如sigcomm和mobicom 收稿太少且对质量要求特别高。这两个会每年大陆一作的paper按我的经验加起来应该还是个位数。 这次好像还是搞网络…
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辛辛苦苦答了一百多问题，加起来不如抖机灵的两句评论点赞多……我的知乎生涯好失败。XYZZYnews Exclusive: The Complete Infocom Bugs
The Upgraded, Consolidated,
Infocom Bugs List
by Graeme Cree
"Last version was better," says Floyd.
"More bugs.
make game fun."
--FLOYD's response to the VERSION command in all non-Solid Gold
versions of Planetfall.
This is a re-working of C. E. Forman's Infocom bugs list [originally
printed in XYZZYnews issues 2-5].
played through the
Infocom line and tried to recreate all of the bugs
mentioned in
previous installments of this list, to check them out, and to discover
exactly which versions the bugs appear in and which they do not.
Table of Contents
TURTLE, GO NORTH
The rainbow turtle, ever the good friend, leaves you.
Oh, no! Something slithered alongside you and feasted on your person!
*** The rainbow turtle has died ***
In later versions, the turtle could survive the darkness. -- Graeme Cree
Normally, if the player continues to wander around without sleep for
long enough, he'll drop from exhaustion.
If you happen to be near the
Engine Room when this occurs, however, you won't be able to sleep
because of the
After you drop, try typing "DIAGNOSE," and
you'll see garbage for the description of how rested you are.
this several times, and eventually you'll start seeing the Rainbow
Turtle's dialogue mixed in.
This one works
in all versions.
Here's a bug that erases the entire contents of your spell book.
the Landing, enter the following sequence:
"MEMORIZE BLORB. EAST.
KULCAD THE STAIRS.
CAST BLORB ON ME."
When Belboz restores you to
life, your spell book will be empty when you try to read it!
You can do
this in any version.
(SG) *31/871119
Reader response
Hi Eileen,
Thought I'd let you know about a bug in the Infocom Hitchhiker's game:
At the start of the game Ford offers Arthur a towel, so Arthur (in order to continue in the game from the vogon hold, traal etc.) takes the towel. When you come back as ford, all you have to do is offer arthur the towel. BUT (ha ha!) if you don't offer to give it to him again, he can't take it. ford still has it when the scene finishes, and arthur has it when he returns to the heart of gold.
Yup, that's what made Infocom games so cool. The fact that neither Hitch-Hiker's Guide or the programming made any sense at all.
Happy camping,
*37/861215
You can empty the bucket while swimming underwater with it. -- Edharel
1 2 3 4 5 6
*22/830916
Y Y Y Y Y Y
The wooden mast of the Royal Barge is responsible for several bugs in
this game.
According to the hint book, you're supposed to need both
free to take the beam, which means you have to put the torch in
the knothole. However, if you remove the shim, then go back up to the
main deck of the barge, you'll be able to remove the beam no matter what
you're holding.
So you never have to put the torch in the knothole.
Also, try dropping the beam aboard the barge or in the area
immediately surrounding it.
It will reappear on the central deck, no
where you drop it.
Sometimes it even drops there just by
passing through the
central deck!
You can "LIGHT THE TORCH" anywhere in the game, regardless of
whether or not the torch is present.
After you put the beam in the niches, if you type "GET BEAM" from
anywhere in the game, you fall into a pit of rats. [NZT]
Filling the silver chalice when it's already full responds with "The
silver chalice is filled with water.
The silver chalice is now empty."
The container bug from Starcross and Zork I is also here, this
involving the knapsack and the silver chalice.
Putting each inside the
other simultaneously makes them both disappear.
While looking for the white stone (after having found the dwarf-,
nymph- and elf stones), I sent Hurth down a hole, where he found
a key and a skull. Although Esher was at the top of the pit, the
description when asking him to examine the key still starts with
"Esher took the key and looked it over." This seems even more
strange if you consider that the pit was too deep for the rope to
reach all the way down.
-- Torbj|rn Andersson
Earlier in this search, Bergon is wounded. It is possible to heal
him, but out of curiosity, I wanted to see what would happen if I
left him to die. On getting out of the caves, the party is trapped
by some half-sentinent trees. Although Bergon was no longer in the
party, he remarked darkly that he had seen those trees before (when
looking for westflake root, or whatever it was that could cure the
bite of Nightfang). -- Torbj|rn Andersson
To get to the Misty Isle, you have to use the 'wind' spell. If you
haven't figured out the direction, the game will prompt you for if
you really want to chance it. If you do, the party will perish. If
you don't, you still use up one unit of air essence, even though
the text says Praxix puts the essence back into his pouch. -- Torbj|rn
On using the 'wind' spell to successfully get to the Misty Isle,
Praxix is struck unconscious. Even though he is out cold, he still
remarks that the spell used up the last of the air essence. -- Torbj|rn
Dropping the rope while Praxix is unconscious still earns a reprimand
from him. -- Torbj|rn Andersson
Reader response
Dear XYZZYnews:
Here's an interesting one from Infidel (off
Masterpieces):
>put all in pack
knapsack: You take the knapsack off and place it in
the cigarette pack. As
it settles in the cigarette pack, the cover flaps
farewell note: There's no room.
cigarette pack: How can you do that?
You are carrying:
A farewell note
A cigarette pack
The cigarette pack contains:
A knapsack
The knapsack contains:
Copyright 1983 by Infocom, Inc. All rights reserved.
INFIDEL is a trademark of Infocom, Inc.
Release 22 / Serial number 830916
The Infocom Bugs List mentions the "container bug' in
Infidel -- putting the knapsack and the chalice in
each other at the same time makes them disappear. It
works with the knapsack and the cigarette pack too.
You can trigger it with the amusing sequence:
>put sack in pack. put pack in sack.
Shades of Dr. Seuss!
jcmason@uwaterloo.ca
At any point in the game, you can examine or push the purple and
buttons on the barge, even when you're not in the same place as the
For example:
>EXAMINE THE PURPLE BUTTON
You can't see any purple button.
The huge purple button reads: Go With The Flow.
This one is only present in the Solid Gold release (4/880405).
This isn't exactly a bug, but sort of an excessively long way to go
to avoid having to add another feature to the game:
The software
refuses to
let you take the portable circle into the mad scientist's
house on Venus.
He will ask you to "leaf your tube outsite,", claiming
that he's allergic,
and will make you drop it before dragging you
inside, even if it is hidden
inside something else, like the basket. --
John Payson
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
*203/870506
Y Y Y Y Y N N
219/870912
Y Y Y Y Y N N
221/870918
Y Y Y Y Y N N
When you encounter the rats in the steam tunnels, try escaping them
climbing on the coaxial cables above you. Eventually the rats will swarm
up and start to bite you, making you fall.
But if you try letting go
of the cables before they do this, you'll get two descriptions of your
death -- one saying that you let go of the cables, and the other saying
that the rats bit you and made you fall.
If you ask the hacker about the keyring or a single key, the
goes like this: "I've accumulated a few keys over the years.
I'm a licensed
locksmith, which helps.
I can get into any room at
He pulls the
keyring out on its chain, and *shows off a key you
hadn't noticed before*."
This happens every time you repeat the
question, even if you already do know
about the master key.
You are able to go through the login procedure on the PC more than
If you enter the wrong values while the PC is already up
running, the response goes as usual: "Invalid Login, Login Please".
pc", on the other hand, shows that the computer still executes its
The behavior of the PC after your returning from the 'stone-scene'
isn't consistent.
The command "x screen" produces the reasonable reply
"There's nothing recognizable on the screen", but "x pc" still answers
the screen you see a menu box".
In addition, the help key doesn't
that the pc has crashed and works as before.
When let the hacker sits in the plastic chair during the debugging
sequence, go south and return north to the terminal room.
description says that the hacker is sitting in the plastic chair, while
the output from EXAMINE HACKER claims that he is sitting in his own
chair. -- Martin Braun
In version 203, after you obtain the master key from the hacker, try
losing it in a way which prevents you from retrieving it. (Dropping it
the pit beside the altar works well.)
Now if you go back to the
Room and ask the hacker for it again, he'll give it back to
I couldn't get this one to work in any version, even 203.
time I asked the hacker for the key a second time, I was told "You can't
any master key here." -- GC
GIVE THE FUNNY BONES TO THE HACKER, and he will swallow them.
However, the Bones remain in your inventory, closed and untouched.
I couldn't get this to work in any version.
When I tried, they
left my inventory, but they still existed in the room.
They couldn't be
spotted by examining the room or the hacker, but when I tried to take
them again, the hacker responded "Hey, no snarfage, loser,", which the
game tells you means "Stop". -- GC
The lunch can be eaten an infinite number of times.
If you eat it,
get a message saying that it was yummy, but it will still be in your
inventory.
This is likely a bug and not a "feature" because a) it
work this way in the full-size version of Zork I, and b) the
lunch is not
necessary to win the game. -- Graeme Cree
If you give another character a sequence of commands, ending with a
request that the character follow you, the character will instantly
your side, no matter where he or she is.
For example, lead a
character to
the first-floor gallery.
Now type: ", GO DOWN
THEN GO WEST THEN
GO NORTH THEN GO WEST THEN GO DOWN THEN GO WEST THEN
FOLLOW ME."
character should now be somewhere in the basement, but
if you go east, into
your room, he or she will instantly reappear at
your side.
This works in
both versions of the game.
I couldn't get this to work in either version.
something like ", go west", they would reply "I think you can
that better yourself.
Also, everyone refused to follow me.
On a certain turn, Bolitho will always ask if you are the famous
young detective, even if he has already told you so on a previous turn,
the same turn!
As a result, this odd exchange can be generated:
>ASK BOLITHO ABOUT ME
"You're [your name], the famous young detective.
Bolitho coughs
diffidently,
and asks [your name]?
Am I right in assuming that you are
the well-known
young American detective? -- Graeme Cree
*19/870722
Although I can't recall details, I once got the game into an
unsolvable state by performing several actions out of sequence, with the
skeleton in the bathtub in the "Meet the Mayor" scene.
I remember
unable to interact with the skeleton, despite the fact that the
description said it was still there. -- C. E. Forman
*37/851003
(SG) 10/880531
In version 20, pushing the elevator button more than once will
make it restart its descent, with no ill effects.
In later releases,
pressing the
button again has no effect.
In Version 20, taking the fused bedistor, then dropping it, would
make it impossible to pick up again without the pliers, since the game
thought it was still fused to the socket. [NZT]
In Version 20, the game does not know the word "microbe"!
the microbe drops in front of you on the relay strip, the command
MICROBE will not work.
I managed to make do with SHOOT MONSTER.
sure what other words will work. -- Graeme Cree
In Versions 20 and 29, Floyd will bring you the shiny fromitz board
over and over, unless you have already installed it in the socket.
versions, he tells you that he already did that.
Ordering Floyd to take an item was interpreted by the game as if the
player typed "TAKE FLOYD." [NZT]
In all four versions,
asking Floyd to take something just made
him say "Enough talking!
Let's play Hider-and-Seeker!" -- GC
Reader response
I found some bugs in Planetfall, but most of them are a
matter of opinion:
>look at benches
I see nothing special about the benche.
I can scrub the scrub brush!
Kicking the you is as worthwhile as cleaning a Grotch
>push/kick/turn/get on me
pushing the you...
Chad Schultz
[No Known Bugs]
*26/870730
Reader response
Plundered Hearts: In the cargo hold with the burning fuse, if you throw
your hand through the gap, you lose your hand.
Second, in the gallery, if you type BURN ROPE, it tells you:
You have no source of fire. The rope is consumed instantly in flames.
The version I found those bugs in is: Release 26, serial number 870730.
m_cuffa@alcor.concordia.ca
Trying to burn anything with a sub-menu (such as any item acting as a
container, or a creature holding an item) causes the game to crash.
Several locations, such as the Charred Room, will eventually set your
party on fire and also lead to the crash.
This one caused so much
trouble that Infocom even reported it in an issue of The Status Line.
*16/850603
If you try to use the words RESTART, RESTORE, VERSION, or $VERIFY as
either your first or last name, the program will regard them as
commands, not
names, and react accordingly.
This can be very
interesting with VERSION,
since the player's name is a part of the
game's title.
If you try to use
VERSION as your last name (i.e. JOE
VERSION), the output from the version
command will list the games title
as "SEASTALKER:
JOE --- AND THE
ULTRAMARINE BIOCEPTOR".
If you try to
use VERSION as your first name, the
title is "SEASTALKER:
--- --- AND
THE ULTRAMARINE BIOCEPTOR." -- Graeme Cree
*21/871214
In all versions, it is possible to travel through the
streets of
London without the lamp if you know where you're going, and
can arrange for
a light to be there.
On the first turn (for example),
typing GO NORTH will
generate the response:
You start off into the fog, but think better of it
when you realize you have
no light to guide your way.
However, try the following commands at the start of the game:
BLOW WHISTLE.
DRIVER, GO TO YORK PLACE.
The driver will go to York Place without a passenger in the cab, and the
game will let you walk there without the lamp on the next turn because
is a light at the destination (all cabs have lights, even though
they aren't
mentioned in the descriptions).
As a result, you can go
anywhere in town
without the lamp simply by sending the cab on
You must have an accurate map, however.
In the preceding example, you
must type DRIVER, GO TO YORK PLACE, because DRIVER, GO NORTH will not
work. Incidentally, speaking of light sources, there is one exterior
where it is never dark:
outside Holmes residence, where there
light, the only one in the game.
Apparently Holmes'
importance to the
nation was so great that he was the first person in
London to get one installed. -- Graeme Cree
[No Known Bugs]
292/890314
295/890321
311/890510
322/890706
*15/851108
In Version 4, you could TAKE any spell scroll except VARDIK and
at any point in the game, no matter where it was.
If you try to take
VARDIK, you are told that your twin refuses to part with the smelly
AIMFIZ can only be taken after the chest is opened.
try to TAKE
SWANZO, the glass maze rearranges, whether you've been in
it or not.
get a second Aimfiz scroll this way.
In versions 4 and 6, Belboz's journal can be opened with the key,
cannot be closed.
If you try, you get a message saying "It's
already open."
This was fixed in the LTOI1 version. -- Graeme Cree
In versions 4 and 6, Spell Books were ruined by water, but scrolls
were not. -- Graeme Cree
In earlier versions, it is possible to GNUSTO the Golmac spell.
Trying to leave with the Golmac scroll causes a paradox, and you lose
grip on the rope if you try to enter the room with the spell book.
if you cast the GASPAR spell on yourself, and then leave the
room without
picking up the scroll, you'll reappear in the room after
you're resurrected.
When this happens, all your possessions will be
intact, and you'll be able to
take the scroll and GNUSTO GOLMAC.
Unfortunately, the Infocom programmers
never planned for this, so
casting it elsewhere in the game doesn't
accomplish anything.
Interesting trick, though.
I couldn't get this to work in any version.
In the early
versions, you didn't reappear with all your possessions, and in the
versions, you didn't reappear with the golmac scroll.
did something
wrong, or there is another version of Sorcerer not on the
above list where
this trick works.
In an early version, you could open the chest with a Rezrov spell,
although you would fail to gain points by doing so, and thus be unable
finish with a perfect score.
I can't find a version that this works
but it was reported in the New Zork Times. -- Graeme Cree
*87/860904
In the first release (63/850916), if you tried using the knife to cut
up the magic carpet while you were sitting on it, the status line would
you were still sitting on the carpet, even though it was destroyed.
then got off the carpet, the status line would show garbage,
and you would
find yourself in a location with no description and no
Attempting to
use the Blorple spell to get out of this location
would make the game hang.
If you're playing the first release, it's impossible to offer the
merchant an exact number of zorkmids in exchange for the magic carpet
example, you can't "OFFER 250 ZORKMIDS").
All you can do is offer
opal or the coin.
Also in the first release, typing "THANKS" gives you the response,
"How do you do that with a ?"
Weird, considering
usually handled Q&A and rhetorical replies pretty well.
And then there's the famous Girgol/Blorple bug that caused quite a
commotion in the rec.games.int-fiction newsgroup a couple months ago.
Normally, if you try to get by the ogre by casting Girgol, the scroll
gold box will be frozen in time and you won't be able to take them
spell wears off, at which point the ogre will come in and
casting the Blorple spell on a non-magical object, and
then waiting in the
Nondescript Room until Girgol wears off, would
allow you to exit and take the
Espnis spell and gold box without being
killed by the ogre.
considerable disagreement as to whether
or not this was really a bug, until
it was discovered that, in the
second release (version 87/860909), included
with LTOI, the
Girgol/Blorple solution to the ogre's cave does not work. Apparently the
folks at Infocom decided that it was in fact a bug and removed
1 2 3 4 5 6
Y Y Y Y Y N
*17/821021
N N Y Y Y N
In version 15, you were able to get the red rod from the rat's nest
typing "NEST, DROP RED ROD."
In version 15, you can turn off the beam of energy in the Laboratory
by typing "BEAM, GO WEST", generating the reply "The beam leaves the
room." -- Graeme Cree
In versions 15 and 17, you can put the red disk on the blue disk,
then put the blue disk on the red disk.
This causes them both to
disappear,
along with anything else that was on either of them.
Similar bugs appear in
early versions of a few other games (such as
Zork I and Infidel) that have
items acting as containers.
Climbing the tree and typing "THROW HANDS" results in, "The
hands sails away, drifting in a long arc towards the ground."
The bunk on the Starcross is not openable, yet if you try to PUT THE
TAPE LIBRARY IN THE BUNK, you will get the response "The bunk isn't
open." -- Graeme Cree
Trying to shake an object would put the game into an infinite loop.
Reader response:
Dear XYZZYnews:
I have found a bug in Spellbreaker which is not
listed on the bugs list:
If you have water in the bottle then casting tinsot on
any body of water except for the one in the Oubliette
will give the message "The water and bottle freeze and
shatter into a million pieces!" and destroy the bottle
even if the bottle is not in the same room or if it is
inside the closed zipper.
If that's not clear, here's a concrete example. At the
Enchanters' Retreat I dropped the bottle which
contained water. I then blorpled the earth cube and
went west then south to get to the Ruins Room. I then
cast tinsot on the water there and received the
message about the bottle shattering. Going back to the
Enchanters' Retreat I found that the bottle was gone.
I found this in version 87/860904 of Spellbreaker.
[No Known Bugs]
*107/870430
*14/841005
It is possible to get to Veronica's office before her
murder occurs.
At the beginning of the game, you have to get to the
office by going west 3
times, south 6 times, west twice, and then north
This will get you to
the office at 9:13 P.M., where you will
see the fairy mask, but not the
description of Veronica's body.
Although Veronica actually reaches the
office at 9:11, two minutes
earlier (which can be confirmed by playing the
game using ZIP for DOS
with the -o switch active), her description doesn't turn up until 9:14.
Typing "LOOK" the turn after you enter the office will cause time to
pass, making it 9:14, and Veronica's body will suddenly appear out of
nowhere. -- Paul David Doherty
In the earliest version (5/830222), there was no way to
which of Iris' chips was shorted and needed to be repaired.
You don't need to use two robots to move Fred from the cabinet.
all versions, you can cheat and use just one: "BOTH SENSA AND SENSA,
In any release, you can configure the game on the second move, not
just the first.
This means you can make one move (most likely picking
object) and then re-configure the game to put the robot with the
object in a
better position.
This can be a great time-saver if used
correctly.
There's also an error with the map that was never fixed.
to the southeastern section:
Primary Channel
--- Cavernous Room --- East End --- Beta FC
Secondary Channel
While you can walk northeast from East End to the Alpha FC, there is no
direct route back from Alpha FC to East End, and no indication that this
is a one-way corridor. An attempt to backtrack results in the standard
"You can't go that way" message, despite the fact that it directly
contradicts the map.
To get back to East End, you have to walk south
through Primary Channel and Beta FC.
Have Waldo get the four-inch cable and be incapacitated.
drag him to Alpha Repair to be fixed, and send them back to the Primary
Channel, this time letting Waldo get zapped.
If Poet LOOKs, he will see
non-functional Waldo in the room, while Waldo will see a
non-functional
Poet. -- Graeme Cree
Reader response
I have an addition to your complete Infocom Bug list:
In Suspended (early versions, I never tried it
on LTOI), you could type HUMANS, KILL SELF, and the
humans would obey the order and kill themselves.
Although this kept the humans from turning you (the
player) off, it had the side effect of making the game
unsolvable, since the humans wouldn't be alive to
perform their necessary plot functions. I don't think
the humans obeyed any other orders.
Reader response
I once reported this to you, only the humans don't actually obey the
order per se -- they notice that someone receives an order to attack
them, so they turn that someone off in self defence -- only it happens
to be themselves that they turn off. Put Auda in the room with them,
and you'll see.
Also, they will still carry out their tasks, but they will be described
as "non-functional humans" or something similar by other robots, and
they can't accept a cryolink again, since they have been turned off.
Reader response
Suspended bug: Iris (the one who can see) can be used
to describe all rooms.
There was something that you plug in so that can see
the room that you are in. Anyway, have one robot
(e.g., Poet) plug in the device, then direct that
robot to follow another robot (e.g., Sensa), then move
Sensa. Poet will forget to unplug the device, and you
can then view the descriptions of all rooms, including
the ones that are in the section that requires the
wedge for access.
Perhaps stranger that such descriptions exist... or
have I missed something?
Peter Ferrie
*12/860926
The Book of Hours is not reversed after passing through the Pergola
in any version of the game.
This could be considered more of a design
than an actual bug.
(Or perhaps the book doesn't change because
represents time, which, unlike directions, cannot be reversed.)
When you're on the paper bird above Nagasaki, and you hear the plane
approaching, type "LISTEN."
You'll die, but the message will be the
same as if you'd still been on the ground rather than flying on the
paper bird.
Saying "ROADRUNNER, DROP ME" results in "The roadrunner drops
yourself at your feet."
The room description then says "There's
Leaving the location and coming back does not change
the situation.
And strangely, referring to the dropped "yourself" is
interpreted by the game as an attempt to interact with the roadrunner.
The roadrunner will only drop "you" once -- trying it again causes the
game to say "The roadrunner doesn't have that."
Carrying the splinter into the bottom of the reservoir also reveals
a small blooper.
The room description talks about the lantern's beam,
even if you are carrying the splinter instead of the lantern.
the author never considered the possibility of someone going to the
Trinity site without solving all the other puzzles first.
The "shining" bug, which involves getting a string of garbage from
shining the splinter without specifying an object, is not present in the
LTOI version.
Earlier versions should have it, though. -- C.E. Forman
I couldn't get this to work in either version 11 or 12. -- GC
*69/850920
(SG) 23/880706
1. In Version 68, you can take the gold coin back from Miss Voss
buying a movie ticket, enabling you to repeat the action and earn
an infinite
number of points.
This version was included in the
Macintosh version of
*22/840924
In Version 13, if a player got into the shower or the broken window,
he would become trapped.
If you tried to leave, the game would think
needed to get up first, because it thought you were sitting in the
Getting up would not work.
You can "GET A DRINK" anywhere in the game.
This is present in all
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The earliest release of Zork I (release 5, no serial number) would
become very confused if you nested objects too deeply in your inventory,
such as putting the lunch in the sack, then the sack in the coffin.
output of the "INVENTORY" command would get spurious "Such language in a
high-class
establishment like this!" messages, with other random junk
interspersed in
This would also lead to the object hierarchy
getting screwed up, in such
a way that an "INVENTORY" would claim that
you were carrying a bunch of rooms
In version 5, commands such as GO DOOR or GO TREE can send players
into random locations.
In version 5, the command "HIT MIRROR WITH SWORD" will generate
combat responses, such as "The mirror parries", or "The mirror dies in a
cloud of sinister black fog." -- Graeme Cree
In version 5, the command "GIVE AXE TO TROLL" will generate a
response like:
"The troll accepts your gift, and not having the most
discriminating
taste, eats it.
The troll, dismarmed, is cowering and begging for forgiveness in
the gutteral language of the trolls."
Though the troll can no longer attack you, he still blocks the
and parries, while continuing to beg for forgiveness.
In version 5, if you give the troll to himself, he eats himself
disappears (though he still bars you from leaving the room). -- Graeme
In version 5, if you give the troll to the thief, the thief
the troll in his bag, but the troll still blocks the exits.
thief is killed, the troll reappears. -- Graeme Cree
In all versions after Version 5, if you try to use a compass
direction while in the boat, the game will tell you that you can't go
way in a magic boat.
In Version 5, it will tell you that you
can't go that
way in a tan label. -- Graeme Cree
In all versions after Version 5, when you reach the portion of the
river where the buoy is, the description will tell you that the buoy is
"(outside the magic boat)".
Version 5, tells you that the buoy is
the room)"! -- Graeme Cree
If you try to GET OUT OF THE BOAT while floating down the river, all
version of the game tell you that you realize "just in time" that such
course would be suicidal.
In all versions after Version 5, the game
you from leaving the boat.
In Version 5, it lets you leave
and kills you,
despite having told you that you had realized not to do
it. -- Graeme Cree
In versions 5 and 15, shaking an open container that isn't empty may
crash the game.
This works with the sack, but not the bottle.
In versions 5, 15, 23, 25, 26, and 28, you can bump your head on
things such as the river by trying to enter them. [NZT]
If you knock the thief unconscious and try to take his stiletto, the
game says that it is "white hot", and that you drop it -- obviously
of protective magic.
However, in versions 5, 15, 23, 25, 26,
28, 30, and 75,
if you try to "PUT STILETTO IN SACK" (for example) it
will let you, but when
the thief wakes up, he continues to attack you
with the stiletto, even if you
have moved it to a different room!
later versions, it refuses to let you
put it in the sack at all, saying
that you don't have the stiletto. -- B.J.
Here's a variation on the Starcross disk bug.
If the sack and the
bottle are both empty, it's possible to put the sack in the bottle, then
the bottle in the sack, causing both to vanish.
This exists in all
except the Solid Gold.
Here's a minor glitch that appears in all versions except the Solid
Go to the temple, and enter the following commands.
SOUTH, BLOW
CANDLES, NORTH, SOUTH.
The description will say "On the two ends
altar are burning candles.", when in fact they are no longer
burning. -- Graeme Cree
Another container bug, but this one is in all versions, even the
Solid Gold edition.
If you put the (inflated) raft in the coffin, then
coffin in the raft, both will disappear.
This does not work the
around, however.
If you put the coffin in the raft first,
then the raft in
the coffin, you get a message saying that there is no
room.-- Graeme Cree
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In version 7, you were able to give commands to some inanimate
Contrary to the report in XYZZYnews #2, you cannot use
the standard Infocom command syntax (such as AQUARIUM, GO EAST, which
generates the reply "You must supply a verb"), but must use the same
types of commands that you use to direct the robot.
For example, you
could say TELL AQUARIUM "GO EAST",
and the game would say "The aquarium
has left the room."
TELL AQUARIUM "GO
EAST THEN GO EAST" results in a
message saying that you have been killed by a
grue, but in reality it
is the aquarium that has "died.", as the next line
informs you.
There is a parser bug in Versions 7, 17, 18, 19, 22, and 23 that
stems from having two objects of the same color in the same room (such
blue label and the blue sphere), and then referring to the
object simply by
its color when trying to take it.
For example:
>TAKE THE BLUE
do you mean?
In the LTOI version (48/840904) the parser bug has been fixed,
and the reply "There seems to be a noun missing in that sentence"
replaces the garbage. (Early parser versions of other Infocom games may
have similar bugs.)
In versions 7, 17, 18, 19, 22, and 23, you could take immovable
objects by reading them.
For instance, "READ UNICORN" will (provided
the unicorn is actually present in the first place) reply:
Taken. How can you read a unicorn?
Another example:
Reading the stands on the Wizard's workbench will let
you take them, even though the game claims they are firmly bolted to the
table. However, since the text about the stands is a part of the room
description, they remain attached to the table, even if you're carrying
them, and even if you drop them elsewhere, even though the table itself
doesn't move along with them.
When the wizard appears before you, but doesn't cast any spell, you
will see the following text:
The Wizard seems about to say something, but thinks better of it, and
peers at you from under his bushy eyebrows.
If you type "KILL THE WIZARD," you will get the following reply:
The Wizard retreats, waving his wand and chanting.
He says, "Fear!"
Nothing happens!
With a terrified glance at the demon, the Wizard runs
past you and out of the room.
This text clearly belongs much later in the game, after you've freed the
demon and ordered him to kill the wizard.
This works in all versions.
In all versions, if your sword is "filched" by the Wizard, filching
it back with the Wizard's wand may be a little confusing, since there
nicked swords of other adventurers in the room also.
If you try to
wand at sword", you will be asked "Which sword do you mean, the
sword, or the
nicked swords?"
Saying "the sword" will not work and
starts the process
over again.
Fortunately, this can be gotten around
if you have the sense to
say "the Elvish sword". -- Graeme Cree
Yet another early Zork II bug: If you looked into one of the three
spheres when they were all in the same place, the game would recursively
describe the room as seen through each sphere, which would overflow the
interpreter stack.
I couldn't get this to work in either Version 7 or 17.
If I looked into a sphere while holding all three, I saw only darkness.
dropped them all and looked into one, the room was described
normally, with
However, one of the two spheres that I didn't
look into was always
missing from the room description. -- GC
Another minor parser bug:
Restart the game, and try using a pronoun
in your first command, such as "EXAMINE IT."
You should get the reply:
There's nothing special about the .
This happens in other games running early versions of the Infocom
parser, but I first noticed it with Zork II.
In games where the problem
corrected, it will say "There's nothing special about the ."
In all versions, I got "There's nothing special about the
If you time it right, you can blow up the base of the volcano while
in the balloon.
This requires dropping the bomb on the ground and
lighting it, then crawling into the basket before it explodes.
do it right, the computer should tell you that the balloon settles to
the ground, followed by "You can't go that way." -- John Payson
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In version 10, the chest was too big and could thus contain items
that normally weren't supposed to fit.
The most notable was the wooden
staff, which, if put safely inside, would not get broken when the player
fought and killed the man at the cliff ledge. Thus a player could get
treasure and keep the staff intact as well.
Another interesting
use of this
bug involved using the chest to transport the lamp or torch
across the lake,
thus eliminating the need for the grue repellent and
viewing table.
allowed the player to win with only 6 of the 7
possible points.
incredibly difficult to find a version with this
bug still intact.
SUBJECTIVE COMMENTARY:
IMHO, the solution created a bug rather
than fixed one.
Since the old man took the staff out of the chest, what
sense in saying that it doesn't fit if the player tries to put
if the staff fits, the lamp should also.
I would have
fixed the bug in the
following two ways:
1) Make the chest leak, thus
preventing the lamp or
torch from surviving the trip across the lake,
and 2) Allow the player to get
both the staff and the treasure in this
way, but have the Dungeon Master
reject him at the end of the game.
Interestingly, the _broken_ staff fits
in the chest in all versions.
If you enter the Dark Room with the lamp, the
grues won't attack or
even be mentioned, but the room is still called the
Dark Room, and
there is no room description.
Typing LOOK generates no
response at
all, and send you to the next turn. -- GC
In Version 10, it's possible to get the Dungeon Master to follow you
beyond the Dungeon area, if you get beyond the door, drop one of the
you need, then knock on the door again, from the INSIDE!
even possible
to get the DM stuck in the area from Zork I.
If you use the previous bug (in Version 10 only) to go to the Zork I
area with the Dungeon Master, you may occasionally (but not always) be
to produce the following exchange:
>dungeon master, go east
"I prefer to stay where I am, thank you."
You suddenly find yourself back in the viewing room!
The dungeon master leaves the room.
Very strange.
The Dungeon Master leaves the room after refusing to do
Also, not only are you not really back in the viewing room, you and
the DM will be stuck in the Zork I area permanently. -- Graeme Cree
At the very end of Version 10, the sword was often a source of
If the player happened to be holding the sword when he/she was
cell #4, the game would crash when the player asked the Dungeon
push the button.
This was because there were two different
possible exits to
the north, and the sword routine got confused when it
checked the adjacent
rooms to see whether or not the sword should glow.
Infocom's testers didn't
find this originally, because they'd been
leaving the sword to block the beam
After you've climbed down the rope to the cliff ledge, you can't
climb back up again with the chest.
However, typing "CLIMB THE ROPE"
opposed to "CLIMB UP THE ROPE") will make you climb DOWN the rope
putting you at the cliff base, even though the rope ends a few
feet above the
cliff ledge!
This one's present in all versions.
When you get to the Dungeon area, try this (in any version):
DUNGEON MASTER, KILL ME WITH THE STAFF
"If you wish," he replies.
If you insist... Poof, you're dead!
**** The dungeon master has died ****
The dungeon master follows you.
Your sword has begun to glow very brightly.
>DUNGEON MASTER, KILL DUNGEON MASTER WITH STAFF
"If you wish," he replies.
"If you wish," he replies.
You aren't even holding the staff!
The last message appears even though you ARE holding the staff!
I'm still scratching my head over these.
This bug is not only in all versions of Zork III, it also exists in
most Dungeon/Zork ports.
While you're shoving blocks around to solve
Royal Puzzle, drop the book in the slot to open the door, then move
in front of the door and leave the usual way (via the ladder).
Walk around
to the side door and you'll find it's not blocked!
re-enter the
puzzle via the side door, the sandstone block will be
If you move away
from the door (without exiting the puzzle) the
sandstone block will reappear
in the area as soon as you leave.
reported this bug to Infocom many years
ago, but I doubt it was ever
fixed. -- Dave Newkirk
Interacting with the pedestal in the Jewel Room is always difficult.
In all versions after Version 10, if you try to TAKE PEDESTAL, you get
response "YOU CAN'T REACH IT THROUGH THE CAGE", even if the cage is
present (i.e. you travelled back to a time before it was
installed.) In
Version 10, it says "YOU CAN'T SEE ANY PEDESTAL HERE.",
even though it is
mentioned in the room description.
Thus, in all
versions, if you take one of
the crown jewels other than the ring, and
realize your mistake, there is no way to put it back. -- Graeme Cree
When you reach the Zork I area, go east and south.
It will say:
"You have come to a dead end in the mine.
There is a small pile of coal here."
However, the coal is not really there and cannot be interacted with.
fact the game doesn't even know the word "coal".
This bug is present in
versions, but is very hard to find because of the difficulty in
staying in
the Zork I area long enough. -- Graeme Cree
Reader response
I may have a new bug for your Zork bug list.
The Boat Of Holding Bug.
I have recently started replaying Zork I (last time was
ages ago, and I forgot almost everything since then).
therefore cannot be sure if this is a bug or a feature,
but it has the earmarks of a bug.
The bug is a artifact
of there being two distinct objects for the boat: one
inflated, one deflated.
It is possible to inflate the boat, take everything that
is not sharp, pile it in the boat, and deflate the boat.
You may now pick the boat up and carry it around (along
with the pump and whatever sharp objects you want to
This was discovered in Zork I 88/840726.
On a different note, I noticed on your bug list, you
When you get to the Dungeon area, try this (in any
>DUNGEON MASTER, KILL ME WITH THE STAFF
"If you wish," he replies.
If you insist... Poof, you're dead!
**** The dungeon master has died ****
The dungeon master follows you.
Your sword has begun to glow very brightly.
>DUNGEON MASTER, KILL DUNGEON MASTER WITH STAFF
"If you wish," he replies.
"If you wish," he replies.
You aren't even holding the staff!
The last message appears even though you are holding the
staff! Very surreal. I'm still scratching my head over
It would appear to me that these messages are caused by
the engine performing output while interpreting the
orders with the dungeon master as the subject.
differently, some of the messages are the game talking
to the Dungeon Master.
For instance, in the last case:
YOU> DUNGEON MASTER, KILL DUNGEON MASTER WITH STAFF
DM> KILL DUNGEON MASTER WITH STAFF
Parser interprets:
Subject: DM
Verb: KILL
Game engine checks for staff in inventory of DM (since
Not there.
Engine dumps out
with error:
You aren't even holding the staff!
which is displayed.
From the point of view of a Lisp hacker, this is a
fairly straightforward bug.
However, the dungeon master
dying but not dying in the first message is what twigs
Perhaps I will know more when I experiment with
that bit of the game.
One final item.
In Zork I, if you type DIVE while at
Aragain Falls, you plummet to your death.
accompanied by a couple of messages, such as:
Aragain Falls
This was not a very safe place to try jumping.
In the movies, your life would be passing before your
You have died ****
(You are then resurrected in whatever manner is
appropriate for your situation.)
The second line
varies, although I have not yet figured out what it is
At one point, I elicited garbage.
have to get back to you to tell you just how to do this.
This is also in Zork I 88/840726.
joelh@gnu.org
In issue #17, a reader named Piquan asked a few questions
about the following
Zork III bug:
> DUNGEON MASTER, KILL ME WITH THE STAFF
"If you wish," he replies.
If you insist...
Poof, you're dead!
**** The dungeon
master has died ****
The dungeon master follows you.
Your sword has begun to glow very brightly.
The game sees that the command is directed at the DM, so it
prints out
"If you wish," he replies.
I think that at this point, in accordance with Piquan's
theory, the game temporarily treats the DM as the player
and acts as if he typed "KILL ME WITH THE STAFF". At this
point, I can think of two possibilities: either the phrase
"KILL ME" is reserved as a special case
interpreter skips the standard battle rules (It would be
silly to say, "The you parries") and just calls the
subject's "suicide" routine
or, alternatively, any
"ME" in this context would be interpreted as referring to
I don't have any experimental evidence, but I'm leaning
towards t after all, if the second one
were true, a command like DUNGEON MASTER, FOLLOW ME would
cause the poor guy to start following himself around.
Anyway, assuming the interpreter has reduced the
instruction to "MAKE THE DM COMMIT SUICIDE", it would
rightfully print out "If you insist... Poof, you're dead!",
which is the standard output when you commit suicide. Then
a different level of the game code notices that the guy
just died, and prints out that message.
Quick tangent: I bet that when the programmers were writing
the make-the-DM-follow-the-player routine, they probably
made it work something like this:
If the DM is in follow-the-player mode, and he's not in the
room, then:
print "The dungeon master follows you"
change the DM's location to match the player's
That way, whenever the player moves to a new room, the
routine is called.
So anyway, now the DM is dead, which probably is internally
accomplished by setting his location to some null room.
He's still in follow-the-player mode. So the "if" statement
is true. So the text is printed out, and the DM's location
is set to the room the player is in, so suddenly he's alive
I have no idea, however, why the sword is glowing brightly.
It's only supposed to do that if it's in the same room as
an evil object.
Then again, maybe the game is smarter than we think
I'd be pretty scared of an undead corpse, Dungeon Master or
otherwise. :)
Mike Schiraldi
mgs21@columbia.edu
296/881019
366/890323
383/890602
*393/890714
After you put John Paul Flathead's spyglass in the
cauldron of Megaboz, you can go back to the Frigid River Valley and ask
Otto for it
again, which allows you to get infinite points.
use this technique
to throw more than 24 Flathead items into the
cauldron, you'll start getting
garbage to describe what the cauldron is
Unfortunately, the spell of
Megaboz, which breaks the Curse,
won't work once you get more than 1000
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