Difference between revisions of "Sneaking"

Revision as of 19:49, 20 February 2021

Language:	English • français

Sneaking is part of the basic controls in Minetest with many useful capabilities. In its most basic form, it just slows you down. But some games, the Sneak Glitch is available, allowing you to climb special vertical structures very quickly.

Sneaking is a surprisingly diverse move; this article will explain all the details.

Controls

The default key for sneaking is Shift. You will sneak as long as you hold down the sneak key. You can not sneak while you are at a ladder, inside a liquid or have activated Fly Mode.

Capabilities

Sneaking has many capabilities, some of which are not available in all games:

Slowdown
Fall-off protection
Sneak Glitch
Sneak Jump

Note that some features of sneaking, like the Sneak Glitch, can be disabled by games on a player-to-player basis. By default (i.e. if the game code did not make any changes), the Slowdown and Fall-off Protection capabilities are enabled, but the others are not.

Slowdown

´If you sneak, you will automatically walk slower. This is the most basic eature of sneaking and available in almost all games.

Fall-off Protection

The Fall-off Protection is another very common feature of sneaking. If you try to walk beyond the edge of a cube while holding down the sneak key, you won't fall. You can walk a bit beyond the block's edge while sneaking, up to a certain limit, of course. This is very useful to safely walk at places with steep drops, like cliffs.

For this to work, you normally need enough space to stand on. You can't sneak if you have only one block of empty space (not enough for the player to stand normally). However, this rule does not apply if the Sneak Glitch is available.

In some games, sneaking does not have a fall-off protection. In these games, you will simply fall off the block if you sneak to the ledge.

Sneak Glitch

Sneaking at the edge of a ledge by using the Sneak Glitch

The Sneak Glitch is probably the most unique feature about sneaking.

Without the Sneak Glitch, sneaking won't stop you from falling off a ledge if there is only 1 block of space. However, with the Sneak Glitch in place, this rule no longer applies, meaning you won't fall off the ledge even if there's only one block of space. The screenshot demonstrates this.

The Sneak Glitch also enables a very powerful move which allows you to climb so-called sneak elevators very quickly.

Because the Sneak Glitch is so powerful, it is not available in all games.

Sneak elevators

A simple sneak elevator in a wall

Alternative sneak elevator in a corner formation

In its simplest form, a sneak elevator (also known as “sneak ladder”) is just a vertical line of solid blocks which are spaced apart by one empty block (like air) each, so that empty and solid blocks are alternating. Sneak elevators can be built very easily built into high flat walls and cliffs, because you can continue to dig out the holes for the sneak elevator while climbing up. Sneak elevators don't have to be that simple, there are some variants that also work (see screenshots).

To use the sneak glitch, stand in front of the sneak elevator, then hold down both the sneak key and the jump key. You will move up the entire structure at an insane speed.

Sneak elevators only “work” if you have the Sneak Glitch capability, however.

Sneak Jumping

With this capability, you will jump slightly higher when you were sneaking. Just hold down the Sneak key and jump.

The increased jump height of a sneak jump might help you climb some obstacles you couldn't climb with a simple jump.

Internally, this capability is also known as new_move for some reason.

Sneaking in Minetest Game

In Minetest Game 5.3.0, sneaking has the Slowdown and Fall-off Protection capabilities. But there's no Sneak Glitch or Sneak Jumping.

History

Sneaking used to be very buggy, but it has improved over time.

Avoiding fall damage

Up to version 0.4.15, you don't suffer any fall damage if you fall on a normal block's edge or on a slab or snow or on some other non-cubic shapes while holding down the sneak key. This bug is known as issue 329 and is fixed since version 0.4.16.

The Sneak Glitch was a bug

The Sneak Glitch was considered to be a bug before (hence the name), and it caused many other, and it was also impossible for games to get rid of it. I.e. you could not make a game in which sneak elevators would not work. Because of this, the Sneak Glitch used to be a thing in Minetest Game.

The Sneak Glitch was fixed (=removed) from the game in version 0.4.16 due to many technical problems, but in a later version (around 2017), it returned as a proper feature, just disabled by default. The Sneak Glitch always had a big fan base, because it was a powerful move, so unsurprisingly there was kind of an uproar when it got “fixed”.

Today, Sneak Glitch is still called "Glitch" but it isn't really a glitch anymore. It used to be a glitch (unintentional broken feature) but now is an officially recognized feature in Minetest. The name “Sneak Glitch” just stuck.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 {{Languages}}
-Sneaking is part of the basic [[Controls|controls]] in Minetest for preventing falling off edges. This move is a bit unusual in some aspects, so it deserves its own article.
+Sneaking is part of the basic [[Controls|controls]] in Minetest with many useful capabilities. In its most basic form, it just slows you down. But some games, the Sneak Glitch is available, allowing you to climb special vertical structures very quickly.
-== Basic sneaking ==
+Sneaking is a surprisingly diverse move; this article will explain all the details.
-The default key for sneaking is <kbd>Shift</kbd>. You will sneak as long as you hold down the sneak key. You can not sneak while you are at a [[ladder]], inside a [[liquid]] or have activated fly [[Controls/Movement_modes|mode]].
-Sneaking makes you walk slower and prevents you from walking and falling over a block's edge. If you try to walk beyond the edge of a cube while holding down the sneak key, you won't fall. You can walk a bit beyond the block's edge while sneaking, up to a certain limit, of course. This means for a spectator it will somewhat look like as if you float in mid-air while sneaking.
+== Controls ==
+The default key for sneaking is <kbd>Shift</kbd>. You will sneak as long as you hold down the sneak key. You can not sneak while you are at a [[ladder]], inside a [[liquid]] or have activated Fly [[Controls/Movement_modes|Mode]].
-== Sneak glitch ==
+== Capabilities ==
-[[File:Sneaking at the edge.png|thumbnail|Sneaking at the edge of a ledge by abusing the sneak glitch]]
+Sneaking has many capabilities, some of which are not available in all games:
-Normally, sneaking requires you to have enough space to stand on. As of 0.4.16, you can't sneak if you have only one block of space (not enough for the player to stand normally), as shown in the first screenshot.
-Being able to do otherwise is called the “sneak glitch”. Although this is no longer normally possible, Minetest 0.4.16 permits to re-enable the sneak glitch by using mods. The mod [https://forum.minetest.net/viewtopic.php?t=17734 Enable sneak glitch] does this.
+* '''Slowdown'''
+* '''Fall-off protection'''
+* '''Sneak Glitch'''
+* '''Sneak Jump'''
-== Old bugs ==
+Note that some features of sneaking, like the Sneak Glitch, can be disabled by games on a player-to-player basis. By default (i.e. if the game code did not make any changes), the Slowdown and Fall-off Protection capabilities are enabled, but the others are not.
-Up to version 0.4.15, there were many bugs (apart from the sneak glitch)
-=== Avoiding fall damage ===
+=== Slowdown ===
-Up to version 0.4.15, you don't suffer any fall damage if you fall on a normal block's edge or on a slab or snow or on some other non-cubic shapes while holding down the sneak key. This bug is known as [https://github.com/minetest/minetest/issues/329 issue 329] and is fixed since version 0.4.16.
+´If you sneak, you will automatically walk slower. This is the most basic eature of sneaking and available in almost all games.
+=== Fall-off Protection ===
+The Fall-off Protection is another very common feature of sneaking. If you try to walk beyond the edge of a cube while holding down the sneak key, you won't fall. You can walk a bit beyond the block's edge while sneaking, up to a certain limit, of course. This is very useful to safely walk at places with steep drops, like cliffs.
+For this to work, you normally need enough space to stand on. You can't sneak if you have only one block of empty space (not enough for the player to stand normally). However, this rule does not apply if the Sneak Glitch is available.
+In some games, sneaking does ''not'' have a fall-off protection. In these games, you will simply fall off the block if you sneak to the ledge.
+=== Sneak Glitch ===
+[[File:Sneaking at the edge.png|thumbnail|Sneaking at the edge of a ledge by using the Sneak Glitch]]
+The Sneak Glitch is probably the most unique feature about sneaking.
+Without the Sneak Glitch, sneaking won't stop you from falling off a ledge if there is only 1 block of space. However, ''with'' the Sneak Glitch in place, this rule no longer applies, meaning you won't fall off the ledge even if there's only one block of space. The screenshot demonstrates this.
+The Sneak Glitch also enables a '''very''' powerful move which allows you to climb so-called sneak elevators very quickly.
+Because the Sneak Glitch is so powerful, it is not available in all games.
-=== Sneak elevator ===
+==== Sneak elevators ====
 [[File:Sneak_bug_2.png|thumbnail|A simple sneak elevator in a wall]]
 [[File:Sneak_bug.png|thumbnail|Alternative sneak elevator in a corner formation]]
-A common structure for using/abusing the sneak glitch is the so-called sneak elevator (also known as “sneak ladder”). In its simplest form, a sneak elevator is just a vertical line of solid blocks which are spaced apart by one [[air]] block each, so that air and solid blocks are alternating. Sneak elevators can be built very easily built into high flat walls and cliffs, because you can continue to dig out the holes for the sneak elevator while climbing up.
+In its simplest form, a sneak elevator (also known as “sneak ladder”) is just a vertical line of solid blocks which are spaced apart by one empty block (like [[air]]) each, so that empty and solid blocks are alternating. Sneak elevators can be built very easily built into high flat walls and cliffs, because you can continue to dig out the holes for the sneak elevator while climbing up. Sneak elevators don't have to be that simple, there are some variants that also work (see screenshots).
-To use/abuse the sneak glitch, stand in front of the sneak elevator, then hold down both the sneak key and the jump key. You will move up the entire structure at an insane speed (Ca. 6.2 blocks/second in [[Games/Minetest Game|Minetest Game]] 0.4.15, compared to only 2 blocks/second at a [[Wooden Ladder|wooden ladder]]).
+To use the sneak glitch, stand in front of the sneak elevator, then hold down both the sneak key and the jump key. You will move up the entire structure at an insane speed.
+Sneak elevators only “work” if you have the Sneak Glitch capability, however.
+=== Sneak Jumping ===
+With this capability, you will jump slightly higher when you were sneaking. Just hold down the Sneak key and jump.
+The increased jump height of a sneak jump might help you climb some obstacles you couldn't climb with a simple jump.
+Internally, this capability is also known as <code>new_move</code> for some reason.
+== Sneaking in Minetest Game ==
+In [[Games/Minetest Game|Minetest Game]] 5.3.0, sneaking has the Slowdown and Fall-off Protection capabilities. But there's no Sneak Glitch or Sneak Jumping.
+== History ==
+Sneaking used to be very buggy, but it has improved over time.
+=== Avoiding fall damage ===
+Up to version 0.4.15, you don't suffer any fall damage if you fall on a normal block's edge or on a slab or snow or on some other non-cubic shapes while holding down the sneak key. This bug is known as [https://github.com/minetest/minetest/issues/329 issue 329] and is fixed since version 0.4.16.
-Sneak elevators are no longer possible in version 0.4.16, even if the sneak glitch has been re-enabled by using a mod.
+=== The Sneak Glitch was a bug ===
+The Sneak Glitch was considered to be a bug before (hence the name), and it caused many other, and it was also impossible for games to get rid of it. I.e. you could not make a game in which sneak elevators would not work. Because of this, the Sneak Glitch used to be a thing in Minetest Game.
-=== Climbing high blocks ===
+The Sneak Glitch was fixed (=removed) from the game in version 0.4.16 due to many technical problems, but in a later version (around 2017), it returned as a proper feature, just disabled by default. The Sneak Glitch always had a big fan base, because it was a powerful move, so unsurprisingly there was kind of an uproar when it got “fixed”.
-Normally, you can only jump high enough to climb 1 block at once. But sometimes you can climb a wall of a height of 2 blocks while jumping and sneaking at the same time. This is not reliable and requires many attempts to actually climb the wall. This bug has been fixed since version 0.4.16.
+Today, Sneak Glitch is still called "Glitch" but it isn't really a glitch anymore. It used to be a glitch (unintentional broken feature) but now is an officially recognized feature in Minetest. The name “Sneak Glitch” just stuck.
 [[Category:Gameplay]]