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« Blogs Index < Game Guides < HATPC Guides < Useful Tricks and Glitches
« jellsprout's Blog

For the 5 years the Cavemaker has existed, the biggest problem in cavemaking has been the Shockwave error. But not once has anyone taken a close investigation to it to find out exactly what causes it and how to work around it. But now, that investigation has come.

Luckily, I did not start this without any prior knowledge. From my own experiences and some insight CSD had provided some months ago, I had a few myths I investigated. Here are the results.

Myth #1: Using many Water Taps increases the chance of a Shockwave error.
False
If you put several Water Taps which individually don't cause a Shockwave error in the same cave, you still won't get a Shockwave error. You may use as many water taps as you'd like, as long as they aren't positioned anywhere where they cause the error.

Myth #2: A Water Tap has to be high in the level for it to cause a Shockwave error.
False
It doesn't matter how high a Water Tap is. If it is in the same collumn as when it would cause a Shockwave error, only lower, it still causes a Shockwave error.

Myth #3: A Water Tap has to be at the side edge of the level for it to cause a Shockwave error.
True
This little fact was brought forward by CSD a few months ago, who noticed that you don't get Shockwave errors when you put a Water Tap at the center of a level. After testing I have found out that a Water Tap will cause a Shockwave error if only 1 tile exists between it and the side edge of the level. It doesn't matter if that tile is terrain, air or anything else. It will always cause the Shockwave error if position there and will never cause a Shockwave error if positioned anywhere else.

Myth #4: The water level has to reach the tap/top of the level/top of room for the error to occur.
False/False/True
If the water level reaches the Tap, nothing particular happens. The tap animation disappears and the water level will keep rising as normal, but no errors occur. But once the water has filled up the entire room and would normally go upward through the terrain, the error will pop up. Because once the water reaches the top of the level, it will have filled up the entire room, it will still cause the error then. But this is not the cause and the error can still occur before the water reaches the top. Note that if the water does reach the top, it doesn't matter what the top tile is. No matter if it is terrain, air or anything else, the game will concider the that room as filled up and the error will occur.
Note that the condition mentioned in Myth #3 has to be met, otherwise no error wille ever occur.

Taking these facts into account, I needed to come up with a hypothesis as to what exactly cause this error. When testing some conditions, I re-encountered the Water Through Wall Glitch. This occurs when you position a Water Tap next to a single wall and the Tap fills up the entire room. Once the room is filled up, the water will appear to flow through the wall at the top and the room next to it will also fill up.
This instantly reminded me of the conditions in Myth #3 and Myth #4. There it was also required that the tap was positioned right next to the wall on the side and the tap had to fill up the entire room.
Also note that it is impossible for a water tap to fill up squares at the edges of the level. The game always lets the side edges act like terrain when in contact with water, regardless of what tile actually occupies that square.

I have come to the conclusion that the game probably tries to load water in an unexisting part of the cave because of the Water Through Wall Glitch. And because that part doesn't exist, the program receives an Undefined Error and quits. This results in the Shockwave Error and the game freezing.


This is just one cause of the Shockwave error. There are probably many more cases where the Shockwave error appears. If you know any of these cases, post the exact code here and I can investigate them.
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User Comments (24)
« Forum Index < The Hannah and the Pirate Caves Board

jazz
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Monday, December 29 2008, 6:29 pm EST

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I don't work with water taps much, but I have got a ton of errors in WEWA (made in CC 22 or something). It has not been tested in the beginning, but it still bores me. Some of them taps filled the whole entire room and caused a Shockwave Error. Actually, I think there should be a whole section in the Manual dedicated to the Shockwave Error.
Yaya
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Monday, December 29 2008, 6:36 pm EST

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Very interesting, so basicly the game trys to create space for water???



COMING SOON: A giant meteor. Please.
Give me +karma. Give me +karma.
jellsprout
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Monday, December 29 2008, 6:38 pm EST
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It tries to load a part of the cave that doesn't exist. Because it can't do that, the game hangs.


Spoiler:
Livio
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Monday, December 29 2008, 6:39 pm EST

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like I said, this would be a great addition to the manual. but I'll wait few days before adding it in case there will be any revisions.

I got this strange shockwave error while testing the PCCA Comp 17 Template.
http://www.interguild.org/galleries/index.php?browse=103

the glitch happened when I tried to add a small thing of terrain in the middle-right part of the very bottom-right section. then when the water rises, something happens and the error comes up. Maybe you'd like to investigate that.
jellsprout
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Monday, December 29 2008, 6:47 pm EST
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Do you know exactly where you added that terrain?

I've also added a small notice at the bottom of my first post about posting other situations where the Shockwave error occurs. We need to get to the bottom of this.

Edit: Nevermind. I appear to have reconstructed it by adding some makeshift water drain there.


Spoiler:
Livio
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Monday, December 29 2008, 6:54 pm EST

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something like this:
  
Code:
...
...
x        xKKKKKx         xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx                            x  x   x x
x        xKxKxKx         xxxxxxxxxx                                     x  x   x x
x        xKxKxKx         xxxxxxx              xxxxxxxx  x              xx  x   x x
x        xxxxxxx         xxxxxx               xxxxxxxx  x   xxx    xxxxxx      x x
x        xxxxxxx         xxxxxx            xxxxxx++xxx  x          xxxxx       x x
x   xxxxxxxxxxxx         xxxxx             xxxxxxzzxxx             xxxxx       x x
x             xx         xxxxx     xx     xxxxx     xx             xxxx        x x
x             xx         xxxxx      x     xxxxx     xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx         x x
xxxxxx        xxxxxxxx    xxxx      xx    xxxxx      xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx          x x
xxxxxx             xxx      xx       xxxxxxxxx       xxxxxxxxxxxxxx            x x
xxxxxx             xxx      xx                       xxxxxx                    x x
xxxxxx             xxx      xx                       xxxxxx           XXXXXX   x x
xxxxxx             xxx    xxxx       xxxxxxxxx       xxxxx                     x x
xxxxxx             z     xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx      xxxxx                     x x
xxxxxx             z     xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx         )z                     x x
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx x
I don't think it matters where the block is (it's the capital Xs) b/c I tried moving and changing its shape and it still happened. I ended up removing it altogether. I dunno, try experimenting with it.
jellsprout
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Monday, December 29 2008, 7:10 pm EST
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I found out that by making a structure where the water would go through the wall on both sides and there are two different taps flowing into the structure, there will be a Shockwave error depending on how much difference there is between the two taps and how high of a wall you make next to the structure.


Spoiler:
neofriendly
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Monday, December 29 2008, 7:27 pm EST
LOLZ LOLZ LOLZ

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On an old computer that was old even when I played it in 2005, HATPC would give the error on level completion. I have no idea why this happened, it just happened.
Silver
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Monday, December 29 2008, 7:35 pm EST

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Shockwave errors are also common in treasure-sunken levels, near the end of the tally. Maybe it happens because there are too many treasure coins and it creates a shockwave error.

It also happens if you have treasure, lives and gems and they all calculate to more than 100.
jellsprout
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Monday, December 29 2008, 7:37 pm EST
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By continueing the research I posted in my previous post, I found out that it is possible to create a shockwave error by making some sort of semi-water drain, where 1 tap is directly above the drain and the other 3 squares away in any direction, but has terrain on its route so that it moves directly into the drain. But the situation is very specific and difficult to explain. So if you get a shockwave error in a cave with two taps where the water moves through the wall somewhere, just move 1 of the two taps a bit to avoid it.

Now to research Accel's situation.


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Silver
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Monday, December 29 2008, 7:45 pm EST

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What about the treasure sunken error? Did I already figure that out??

That the tally chart can't tally all the treasure coins because there is too much so it creates a error??
Cedric
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Monday, December 29 2008, 7:46 pm EST

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The only myth I know is myth #1. But the rest are very interesting!
neofriendly
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Monday, December 29 2008, 7:47 pm EST
LOLZ LOLZ LOLZ

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An accumulation of all the knowledge about the glitch is on http://hannahpedia.wiki-site.com/index.php/Shockwave_Error
jellsprout
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Monday, December 29 2008, 8:08 pm EST
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I've researched Accel's thing and I think I know the conditions.
First the end of the platform closest to the edge has to be removed less than a certain distance from that edge. I think this distance varies by level, as in Accel's testing level this appeared to be 6, while in my own test cave it appeared to be 4. It probably depends on the total size of the cave.
Second, one of the two taps has to pour directly on to the platform, while the second has to pour next to the platform.
Third, remember that if a water tap pours on a platform, the flow first goes over one edge but not the other, but slow crawls to the other edge and finally pours down from there too? It appears that the water flow has to reach the second edge before the water level hits the bottom of the platform.

So if you want to avoid this glitch, your best bet would be to move both taps to either directly above the platform or next to it. If the platform is large enough, you can also move the tap above the to the very edge of the platform, to make sure the water level is high enough before the flow reaches the other end.


Spoiler:
snowman
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Monday, December 29 2008, 8:09 pm EST
I am a person.

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'12cattatron10' said:
Shockwave errors are also common in treasure-sunken levels, near the end of the tally. Maybe it happens because there are too many treasure coins and it creates a shockwave error.

It also happens if you have treasure, lives and gems and they all calculate to more than 100.


Lives don't count.
You need 105 treasures + gems to get shockwave error.






jellsprout
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Monday, December 29 2008, 8:20 pm EST
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106 actually. 105 makes it still possible to pass.


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Livio
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Monday, December 29 2008, 8:33 pm EST

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'jellsprout' said:
I've researched Accel's thing and I think I know the conditions.
First the end of the platform closest to the edge has to be removed less than a certain distance from that edge. I think this distance varies by level, as in Accel's testing level this appeared to be 6, while in my own test cave it appeared to be 4. It probably depends on the total size of the cave.
Second, one of the two taps has to pour directly on to the platform, while the second has to pour next to the platform.
Third, remember that if a water tap pours on a platform, the flow first goes over one edge but not the other, but slow crawls to the other edge and finally pours down from there too? It appears that the water flow has to reach the second edge before the water level hits the bottom of the platform.

So if you want to avoid this glitch, your best bet would be to move both taps to either directly above the platform or next to it. If the platform is large enough, you can also move the tap above the to the very edge of the platform, to make sure the water level is high enough before the flow reaches the other end.
I didnt really understand that. Maybe I did understand it, but not know it... are you adding these changes to the front post?

my caves always seem to change when I reupload them. I don't remember making drain test lab have shockwave error. >_>

and yeah, you need to also include sections about non-water-related errors. like the treasures at the end of a level and the dynamite border explosion thing.
jellsprout
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Tuesday, December 30 2008, 12:26 pm EST
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And using the numbers 6-0.


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Livio
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Tuesday, December 30 2008, 12:39 pm EST

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you mean all other numbers besides those?
Isa
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Tuesday, December 30 2008, 12:45 pm EST
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I think he means that if you include a 6, 7, 8, 9 or 0 in your cave your cave will get a Shockwave Error from the start.

Also, caves with a lower height than 3 (I think) is glitched from the start.
jazz
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Tuesday, December 30 2008, 10:13 pm EST

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I tryed to test the following
  
Code:
uyiascafase
terrain 4
background 1
water clear
xxxxxxxxxxxoooooxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx/xxx"x
x"        +ooooox  x / / / / / / / / /  "x
x"        xooooox  x/ / / / / / / / / / "x
x"        xooxxxx  xx/x/xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"x
x"       xxxb         / / /      x..x Dx"x
x"       w         x   / / / tt     x xx x
x"    xxxm         x    / / /       x  x x
x"      xx         x     / /        xx x x
x"   "             x      /            x x
x"      "          x xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx x
x"                 xmwxxxxxxx  xxxxxxx   x
x"         ++      xx          !     +   x
x"        #++      xw      +  x xx xxxxx x
x"       xxx^xx    x   xxxxxxxx x  xxxxx x
x"        xxxx     z  xxxxxxxx          +x
x"         xx      zzxxxxVVxxx +  xxxxxxxx
x"      m          w zzxx  xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
x"      x+           zzxx^^xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
x"      xx           xzzx | wwmwmmmwmww<xx
x"       x           xzzx Vxxxxxxxxxxxx xx
x"       x           zzxx  xVVVw  VV    xx
x"       x           zzxxV  >| > >|     <x
x"    x/xx     mm    xxxx  x   mV> <   ^ x
x"    K|Kx     xx    xxxx      x     xx  x
x"    KKKx          xoxxxV     w>V   xo  x
x"    x+xx          xoxxx  x   mm    xo^ x
x"    xxx           xoxxx  xx  xx    x |^x
x"                  xbxxx  xx xxxmmmxx  xx
x"                 +x xxx  x  xKx|KKxx  xx
x"               xxxx xxx  x  xKxx||xx  xx
x"mmmmmm+mmmm mmmxxxx^xxx  xx  bxw     ^xx
x"xxxxxxzzxxxzxxzxV<<|<xxKK x^ b       oxx
x"zzzzzzzzxxxzzzzx xx  x KK xxxxxx==x==xxx
x"xxxxxxxzzzzzzzzxVxK /x K/ +       x   xx
x"xxxxzzzzzzzzxxxxVxK  x KKK=       x   xx
x"xxxxzxxxzxxxxxxxVxK  x  KK     b +    xx
x"         xw  xxx xK  x  KK      ===  +xx
x"   +         xxxVxK=xxo KKK =        "xx
x"xzxxxxzxxxxxoxxx xK xxb KKK  +        xx
x"x          xo   V |   == KK  "        xx
x"mmmmmmmmmmmx o  >>|  mommKKmmmmmmmmmmmxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

and got a shockwave error in the beggining. Previosusly, I could still get it with the / on the top but now it does not work .
Livio
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Friday, June 4 2010, 11:45 pm EST

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just converted this topic into a blog post
canadianstickdeath
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Saturday, June 5 2010, 1:52 am EST

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I would hope jell would fill this out with all the other ways to cause a shockwave error?
FlashMarsh
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Saturday, July 3 2010, 2:53 pm EST

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Quote:
wille


Change this to will.

Edit: 400th post... yay! My celebration will be using the new smiley...  

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