mckafka99 Posted March 1, 2018 Share Posted March 1, 2018 Looks like computer AI has found a couple of bugs in Qbert, one which appears to trigger endless point accumulation: https://www.theverge.com/tldr/2018/2/28/17062338/ai-agent-atari-q-bert-cracked-bug-cheat 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andromeda Stardust Posted March 1, 2018 Share Posted March 1, 2018 a computer algorythm has found exploitable code in a computer game? oh, the irony! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaybird3rd Posted March 1, 2018 Share Posted March 1, 2018 Posted earlier in this thread, but probably more likely to get noticed by 2600 players here. I'd love to see if a human player can reproduce this on a real 2600: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=meE5aaRJ0Zs&feature=youtu.be I'd need to read the paper by the discoverers of this exploit, but judging from the video, it almost looks as if it was stumbled upon by accident rather than through some sophisticated analysis by the AI. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R.Cade Posted March 1, 2018 Share Posted March 1, 2018 I tried moving after completing the level and I can't do it... I wonder if it's an emulator bug in the system they are using? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supergun Posted March 1, 2018 Share Posted March 1, 2018 I played the hell out of 2600 Q*bert back in the day. It's still one of my favorite ports on the 2600. And I never found or had that bug ever happen to me. But another 2600 Parker Brothers game gives you the ability to 999 your score through a glitch / bug in the game, so it is possible. (Montezuma's Revenge treasure room) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CapitanClassic Posted March 1, 2018 Share Posted March 1, 2018 It might be the case that this bug of being able to move after the level ends only happens while moving up/down or left/right simultaneously. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlsson Posted March 1, 2018 Share Posted March 1, 2018 Perhaps the fact the AI is on the last life has any relevance, if it screws up some memory location when you complete the first level on your last life, perhaps in combination with moving in a certain direction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R.Cade Posted March 1, 2018 Share Posted March 1, 2018 OK, I will try again tonight. I'm sure someone will find it before then... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atarian7 Posted March 1, 2018 Share Posted March 1, 2018 I can get infinite points on q*bert by passing coily or the other enemies in mid-air. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+FujiSkunk Posted March 2, 2018 Share Posted March 2, 2018 I played the hell out of 2600 Q*bert back in the day. It's still one of my favorite ports on the 2600. And I never found or had that bug ever happen to me. I did. I never could get it to happen consistently, but it happened often enough that I knew it was a bug in the game and not some other random hardware glitch. While I don't think it has anything to do with the number of lives (I could be wrong), I know it does have something to do with playing with the joystick while the end-of-level bonus is in progress, and I'm pretty sure Coily has to be on the board at the end of the level (he always was when it triggered for me). Often I would tug on the joystick so that I could get moving immediately when the next level started, before enemies started appearing. Sometimes instead I would end up suiciding off the bottom of the platform, and then the starting color for the next level would be radically different. I can say for certain now that it's the same bug. It always caught me by surprise that I'd end up dying before I could exploit it. In fact I don't think I ever noticed that I was getting extra bonus points while the glitch was in progress. While I don't know for certain how to trigger this bug, I do know of two other exploits that can get you infinite points on the first level, if you're that bored. They both involve luring Coily up to the top cube. If you can get Coily to jump on the top cube and then you jump down left and right to the bottom of the pyramid, always hopping across the "gap" that splits the pyramid more or less in half, Coily for some reason just might commit suicide instead of chasing after you. This isn't a guarantee, but give each Coily enough chances and eventually he'll take the plunge. Alternatively, if you can get Coily to jump onto the top platform at the same time you're jumping up and to the left right (edit: still can't get my directions right sometimes) off of the platform, you will "die", but Coily will still jump after you and your death won't count against you. This one does work every time, so you can rack up your score faster with this exploit than the first one. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glazball Posted March 2, 2018 Share Posted March 2, 2018 According to this BBC article that I read yesterday, the researchers "used an updated version of the game" - whatever the hell that means! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+nanochess Posted March 2, 2018 Share Posted March 2, 2018 The "gym" suite is impressive https://gym.openai.com/envs/#atari I gave a look to the Github but for the Atari emulator I could only find the suite with Atari ROM set, but not a clear reference to the emulator. Well, my abilities in Python are of apprentice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+stephena Posted March 5, 2018 Share Posted March 5, 2018 It's an old version of Stella, whatever was used in the "Arcade Learning Environment" (ALE). Something like a 3.x version, I believe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gsampson35 Posted March 28, 2018 Share Posted March 28, 2018 OK, I will try again tonight. I'm sure someone will find it before then... It's been found. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Phillips Posted April 2, 2018 Share Posted April 2, 2018 It's been found. Do you have any details on the bug? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gsampson35 Posted April 2, 2018 Share Posted April 2, 2018 I have a video on YouTube showing me doing it on my console. There really isnt much to it. After you follow the pattern that the ai found. Then when the level ends to pause for a split second then move. Movement is limited to the bottom 2 rows. Thats the trick. Just search Qbert glitch on YouTube and you should see my video. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Phillips Posted April 2, 2018 Share Posted April 2, 2018 Thanks. Should be quite helpful if anyone wants to dive into the 6502 code and figure out the underlying bug. A link to the video right before the bug is triggered: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGyeUuysyqg&t=86 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kisrael Posted August 17, 2018 Share Posted August 17, 2018 Great work reproducing this gsampspon! Wonder if anyone (thinking Thomas Jentzsch) could track down the triggering cause Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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